Tanka Poetry

From a lecture by Dr. Hisashi Nakamura: "Japanese Women in Tanka Poetry: from the 4th to the 13th century"

As far as one can see,

No cherry blossoms

Or crimson leaves-

A thatched hut by a bay

In the autumn dusk.


"Tanka means “short poem” or “short song”. A tanka consists of 31 Japanese syllables. They are usually divided into syllabic units of 5-7-5-7-7. The tanka poems I will introduce tonight have been translated by me into English. When tanka poems are translated into English it is almost impossible to reproduce the number of syllables that occur in the Japanese. However, when original tanka are written in English it is possible to use the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable form. ." from a lecture by Dr. Hisashi Nakamura
"Japanese Women in Tanka Poetry: from the 4th to the 13th century"