Haiku and Tanka

Haiku 

Haiku is a style of Japanese poetry. A haiku is a short verse composed of three phrases: 5 syllabics, 7 and 5. Each haiku includes a season word called kigo.

haiku 俳句
kigo 季語

Let me show you a sample haiku.

Ikemizuno   池水の

Nihoini geshino   にほひに　夏至の

Yokaze kana   夜風かな

by Takeda Outou    武田鶯塘

 

Here is my translation.

The smell of pond water

The Summer solstice night breeze

 

The summer solstice night breeze (geshi no yokaze) is a season word in this haiku.

Tanka 

Tanka is another style of Japanese poetry. A tanka is composed of five phrases: 5 syllabics, 7, 5, 7, and 7. It has 31 syllabics in total.

 

tanka 短歌

 

The following sample tanka includes a season word but it does not have to have one.

 

Natsu no yo wa   夏の夜は 

Mada yoi nagara  まだ宵ながら 

Akenuru wo   明けぬるを 

Kumo no izuko ni   雲のいづこに 

Tsuki yadoru ran  月宿るらむ 

By Kiyohara no Fukayabu 清原深養父 

 

On a summer night

It is the early hours of the night

Yet the sun has already come out

Where in the clouds

Is the moon sheltering behind?

 

Onono Komachi (小野小町), a legendary poet, wrote a famous tanka:

 

Hana no iro wa    花の色は 

Utsurini kerina     移りにけりな 

Itazurani   いたづらに 

Wagami yoni furu   わが身世にふる 

Nagameseshimani  ながめせし間に

By Onono Komachi  小野小町 
  

 

The color of the flower

Has changed

Vainly,

While I was viewing myself getting older,

And a long rain damaging the flower and my love-life.

This tanka also has a season word, nagame. Nagame comes from nagaame (長雨) or a long spell of rainy weather. The Japanese rainy season comes in June. I hope the rainy season will end soon.

For better translations, please find books on Kokinwakashū.
Man’yōshū is also an anthology of classic tanka.

Basic Japanese Characters by Calligrapher Nao