The Tanka

A short Japanese poem of thirty one sound units arranged in five phrases of five, seven, five, seven and seven, the oldest and historically most prestigious of the classical Japanese short forms, older than haiku, which developed centuries later as an offshoot of tanka's own opening unit. Tanka dominated the courtly poetry collected in early anthologies including the eighth century Man'yoshu and the tenth century Kokin Wakashu, where it was called waka, and served as a vehicle for court correspondence between lovers as much as for formal composition. Where classical tanka favored the seasonal and amorous themes of court life, the modern tanka movement associated with poets such as Masaoka Shiki and Yosano Akiko, from the late nineteenth century onward, opened the form to everyday and personal subject matter outside the courtly register.