Pravat Kumar Padhy
Historical
Perspective
Tanka
is a more than 1300 years old short form of Japanese poetry, traditionally
written as a single unbroken line in the form of 31- speech sounds. In English,
it is a non-rhymed lyrical poem consisting of 5 lines (quintain) of independent
poetic phrases in the style of short, long, short, long, long syllable count. According
to Japanese mythology, it is believed that the goddess Wakahime ('Poetry
Princess') sang over the body of her dead husband and thereby invented tanka. Waka or uta originated in the 7th
century AD in Japan as a part of the oral or communal tradition of expression songs
of love between men and women. The term waka (wa means
‘Japanese’, ka means ‘poem’) originally encompassed different styles: tanka (short
poem) and chōka (long poem). The songs were
written by the royal family. The waka (Song of Yamato/Japan) has been
written on seasonal subjects (kidai).
Traditionally it was
written in one continuous line, with a break (kugire), referred to as
shifts or pauses. The waka remained as the neoclassical
Japanese literature as characterized by the poets of the Man’yōshū, Kokin
Wakashū, and Shin Kokin Wakashū eras. Manyoshu, which literally means ‘A
Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves or A Collection for Ten Thousand Ages’, is
the oldest collection of waka, probably compiled after AD 759 in the Nara
period. It contains 4496 poems. The main compiler is thought to be Otomo no
Yakamochi (718-785). Later waka was widely known as tanka
(short
song) by Masaoka Shiki in the pattern of 5-7-5-7-7
(known as ‘sanjuichi’) which in English has been commonly practiced in
short/long/short/long/long style.
From
the 10th to 13th centuries waka evolved as the poetry of Imperial Japan Court
and the writings were comprised of imperial reign, nature, love, travel and
other topics. Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s
eleventh century novel The Tale of Genji contains more than four
hundred tanka. In Japan,
Manyoshu, Kokin Wakashu (the first imperial anthology of tanka compiled in 905)
and Shin Kokin Wakashu (the eighth imperial anthology of tanka compiled in
1205) are referred to as iconic treatises.
The earlier
classical waka written at an early time have been given below for
understanding the poetic excellence of the Japanese poets.
As the morning
mist trails
Over the ears
of rice
In the autumn
fields,
I know not when and where
My love will end.
-Empress Iwa no Hime
(d.347)
From the peak
Of Mt. Tsukuba
Minanogawa River flow down.
Love accumulates
And becomes a pool.
-Emperor Yozei (869-949)
Trailing on the
wind,
the smoke of Mount Fuji
fades in the sky,
moving like my thoughts
toward some unknown end
Saigyō
Hōshi (1118 –1190) Tr. by Burton Watson & Hiroaki Sato
Modern Tanka in English
Yosano Tekkan (1873-1935), his
wife AkikoYosano (1878-1942), and also Ochiai Naobumi (1861-1903) tried to modernize the concept
and usher in a new spectrum of tanka writing. The poetry magazine, Myõjõ, greatly influenced Japanese poetry in the early
20th century. Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), initiated sketch for life (shasei)
moment to give momentum to tanka writing and further supported by Ishikawa
Takuboku (1886-1912), Mokichi Saitō
(1882-1953), and others to give rise to finally the modern tanka (Tanka (TAHN-KAH;
not tank-kah) genre. In Japanese, tan means
‘short’ and ka means ‘song’. Tibetan origin, Tanka means: ‘image,
painting’ (t'áṅ-ka). Shūji Miya , Kunio Tsukamoto, Fumiko Nakajō ,
Shūji Terayama,
Takashi Okai,Yukitsuna Sasaki,Tada
Chimako, Machi Tawara, Madoka Mayuzumi,
and others are some of the twentieth century reputed Japanese tanka poets.
Probably
the appropriate definition of tanka goes
as follows:
The bucket's water
poured
out and gone,
drop by
drop
dew
drips like pearls
from the
autumn flowers.
-Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)
after my
bath
I dress
myself smiling
in the
long mirror
a
portrait of yesterday
one can
not deny
-Akiko Yosano
(1878-1942)
I close my eyes
yet nothing whatever
floats up in my mind
out of sheer
loneliness
I reopen them
-Takuboku Ishikawa (1886-1912)
freezing my smile
for half a second
I look
toward your camera
that can’t photograph
my heart
-Machi Tawara (b.1962)
Jun
Fujita (1888-1963) is the first generation Japanese-American tanka poet and
written his collection, ‘Tanka: Poem in Exile’ 1923. William Carlos Williams’ short “Love Song,” from his
first collection Al Que Quiere! (1917), Ezra Pound’s “April” from Personae
(1926) look like the present day tanka in its
structure and tonal expression, of course with a title. Amy Lowell , Carolyn Kizer, Kenneth Rexroth, Sam Hamill, Cid Corman, and others wrote tanka poems. David Terelinck, Danis
Garrison, Richard MacDonald, and Robert D. Wilson have written many scholarly
articles. Stanford Goldstein, Jeanne Emrich, David Rice, Michael McClintock, R.
K. Singh, Kala Ramesh, Beverley George, Michael Dylan Welch, M Kei, Jane
Richhold, Beverley
George, Angela Leuck, J. Zimmerman,
Karina Klesko, John Daleiden, Carmen Sterba, Larry Kimmel, Elizabeth St.
Jacques, Randy Brooks, an’ya, Pamela A.
Babusci,
Julie Thorndyke, Claire Everett Amelia Fielden Marilyn
Hazelton, H. Gene Murtha, Kirsty Karkow, Aurora Antonovic, Sonam Chhoki, Joy
McCall, Susan Constable, Don Miller, Liam
Wilkinson , Rika Inami and many others enriched the genre in modern time.
Basic
Elements Tanka and Poetic Expression
Tanka (both singular and
plural), a lyric verse,
is composed in 5 lines or units or phrases each odd in number of onji,
and ending in the traditional 7-7 onji pattern. Makoto Ueda gave details
on the reform and modernized review of tanka elaborately in his book ‘Modern Japanese tanka’. In English
language, we have adopted tanka in five lines (s/l/s/l/l) without stressing the
syllable count. But generally, syllable counting is preferred between 21 and
31. The tanka is divided into two strophes. The first three lines of tanka are
known as kami-no-ku and the last two
lines as shimo-no-ku. Sometimes there
is a rare composition of three strophes. The art of image building in the two strophes and
the interrelationship (juxtaposition) with a twist make a tanka different from
the conventional five-line free verse. The upper part portrays an image of nature and the last
two lines or lower part conveys human feelings with a shift or twist. One can express feelings of
nostalgia and melancholy through tanka. Tanka is characterized by only one
break that occurs either in the 1st, 2nd,3rd
or 4th line. The break can be indicated by punctuation (em-dash,
ellipsis), or it can be implied without any punctuation. In Japanese, this is
known as ‘kugire ’, a technique of employing
caesura or metrical pause/break at different lines such as: Shokugire (caesura
in the first line), Nikugire (in the second line), Sankugire (in the third
line), Yonkugire (in the fourth line) and Mukugire (no caesura). In
contrast to haiku, tanka embodies subjective judgment rich in lyrical
intensity, musicality, and emotional emancipation. There are many subgenres of
tanka like kyoka, gogyohka, gogyoshi, zuihitsu, etc.
Briefly enumerating the characteristics of tanka writing, Jenny Ward Angyal writes, “Each line is ideally comprised of a single, coherent poetic phrase. Enjambment is used rarely and then only to create a carefully considered effect. ….The language should flow smoothly, with musical cadence and attention to the sounds of words. Tanka typically juxtapose two parts with a grammatical break between them. The art lies juxtaposing the images with dexterity. Sentence tanka and those with more than two parts are less common. The most effective tanka saves the best for last, with the fifth line being the most powerful in terms of sound and sense. Tanka derives its power from the interplay of concrete, sensory images. Ideally the poem goes beyond description, exploring the relationship between the poet’s inner and outer landscapes and offering multiple layers of meaning, both literal and metaphorical. By employing such Japanese aesthetic qualities as wabi-sabi, yūgen, aware, and makoto, tanka evoke emotion without sentimentality and without telling the reader what to feel or think. Tanka are open and thought-provoking, leaving ample ‘dreaming room’ for the reader, but they are not vague or obscure.”
Renowned tanka poet, Sanford Goldstein,
opines 3/2 arrangements as seen in traditional tanka is the best way to write.
Generally, line-3 serves as the pivot line and swings away from the two lines written
above by imparting expression of fervent elucidation to the tanka with the
imagery of the last two long lines. The fifth long line in tanka is very
important and it summarily reflects the elegancy of the poem.
I painted
throughout night
my memories
of grief and anguish
remain as patches of white
-Pravat Kumar Padhy, Undertow
Tanka Review, 2014
The above
tanka is in the format of 3/2 and the swing line (line 3) shifts the imageries
creating a subtle juxtaposition. J
Zimmerman reviewing my collection, “The Rhyming Rainbow” comments (Ribbons,
Vol.15, No.3, Fall 2019):“I am particularly charmed by Pravat’s delicate
juxtapositions: ‘I painted’ contrasts night’s darkness subtly with the patches
of white that remains unpainted.”
Goldstein in his interview
with Patricia Prime opines, “I have believed that tanka are moments of the
human condition, but part of the human condition is nature.” The following tanka (3/2) format juxtaposes
the disappearance of the rainbow with the rolling of tears as a symbol of strain
of separation.
the rainbow
slowly disappears
into the sky
the stain of separation
drenches me with tears
-Pravat Kumar
Padhy, A Hundred Gourds, 4:4 September 2015
The pivot line (kakekatoba) or the swing line (zeugma)
is the main characteristic that distinguishes tanka, by “link and shift” with a
sense of musicality, from the five-line free verse. In the following poems,
line 3 twists the essence of the poem and broadly juxtaposes the upper and
lower parts of the poem. The pivot line,
like a common phrase, can be read with the lines before it like a haiku, and
with lines that follow.
wave after wave
on an incessant journey
another sunset
when I long to change the taste
of salt, the colour of the wind
-Pravat Kumar Padhy , Skylark, 2:2 Winter Issue 2014
Tanka embodies wide thematic values of
human expression: pathos, anguish, emotion, romanticism, and other reflections
like humour and wordplay with the poetic spell. Distinct imagery with elegance and juxtaposition with
‘link-shift’ are the lifelines of tanka writing. The structural style,
word-phrase with simplicity (show but not to tell) and musicality are some of
the poetic ingredients.
Dennis M.
Garrison writes, “Definition of English tanka is that it is “five phrases on
five lines.” It is essential that the five phrases be cohesive, not just a
list. The five lines must be integrated into a unified poem. The fifth line
should be a strong line; the strongest.” The following is an example of 2/3
format blending emotional cohesiveness and nature with poetic
essence (honi).
her cloth
soaked with tears…
on the edge
of curled green leaf
the burden of the heavy rains
-Pravat Kumar
Padhy, Cold
Moon Journal, 15 October 2000
Tanka is more subjective in contrast
to haiku which is objective in nature. The writer should create enough space for the readers to
search within the tiny song. Exhibition of personification or anthropomorphism, use of
metaphor, similes, metrical exhibition, the imaginative blending of
alliteration, assonance, and occasionally oxymoron are highly embedded in tanka
writing. The limited use of the article at the beginning of the line would
craft a better poetic flow .Tanka is written in lower case and there is no
title of tanka unless it is written as tanka sequences (rensaku) or tanka
strings. It is better to keep punctuation to a minimum. Also, there is no full stop at the end of the last
line.
Jane Reichhold in her scholarly essay,
“The Wind Five Folded”, describes the wider spectrum of contents of tanka based
on mystical expression and loneliness (yugen
tei), gentle expression (koto
shikarubeki), exotic beauty and elegance (urawashiki tei), human
feeling, love, grief (ushin tei), grandeur
(taketakaki tei), visual
description (miru tei), witty with conventional subject (omoshiroki tei). Some tanka, in contrast
to elegance or balanced narration, exhibit strong diction in style of
expression. This is classified as demon-quelling (onihishigi tei or kiratsu no
tei). Often the subject matters may be described with the unusual poetic
concept (hitofushi aru tei) or
narrating in precise details with complex imageries (komayaka naru tei) as enumerated below:
argument
after
argument
at
the end
I
burn the garbage
as
snow covers the night
-Pravat Kumar Padhy, Presence # 64, 2019
The beauty, as
Garrison opines,
lies with “the tanka spirit”, and “leave the reader dreaming room” for the
reader, as a “co-creator” to fill from his experience. The “objective correlative” in imagism needs to be evolved as he further
adds. In the following tanka, the salient activities of the spider and the
handicapped boy have been compared facilitating the readers enough space for
envisioning.
the spider climbs
up the corner
edge
on stepping stones
the handicapped
boy
aims towards
the starlit sky
-Pravat Kumar Padhy, Ribbons,
Fall Issue, Vol. 9 No.2, 2013
Like
good haiku having a ‘whitespace’ or ‘negative space’(ma), the tanka
should have a poetic space to transgress the meaning of the poem into a
different orbit. The art of comparison adds a poetic sensitivity to the poem.
Here is an example of the psychological
anxiety associated with transgender.
black and white
paintings on the pot
the transgender
searches the streak of colors
to fill the gap of the emptiness
-Pravat Kumar Padhy, Atlas Poetica,
Chiaroscuro LGBT Tanka, August
2012
The tanka spreads its
fragrance through its resonance, the myriad of beauty and sensibility, delicacy,
and art of ‘link and shift’. This age-old genre has a distinct poetic spirit
that will continue to cherish the generations to come.
I wish
to conclude with my following tanka published in the Special Feature on “Yin, Yang, and Beyond: Short
Poems of Sex and Gender in the 21st Century”, Atlas Poetica.org, October 2015,
edited by Tokido
Kizenzen.
the temple steps
lead to the corner end…
with Ardhanarishvara*
the devotees divinely sense
the softness of the stony carvings
(* The half-female Lord. It is a form of Lord Shiva
combined with his wife Parvati)
**********
Brief-Bio
Pravat
Kumar Padhy holds a Master of Science and a Ph.D from Indian Institute of
Technology, ISM Dhanbad. He is a mainstream poet and a writer of Japanese short
forms of poetry (haiku, tanka, haiga, haibun, tanka prose). His poem “How Beautiful” is included in the undergraduate curriculum at
the university level. Pravat’s haiku own The
Kloštar Ivanić International Haiku Award, Vancouver
Cherry Blossom Festival Invitational Award, IAFOR Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award, Setouchi
Matsuyama Photo Haiku Award and others. His haiku are published in many
international journals and anthologies including in Red Moon Anthology. Haiku
are featured at “Haiku Wall”, Historic Liberty Theatre Gallery in Bend, Oregon and
at Mann Library, Cornell University. USA. His tanka
is figured in “Kudo Resource Guide”, University of California, Berkeley.
His tanka has been put on rendition (music by José Jesús de Azevedo Souza) in the Musical
Drama Performance, ‘Coming Home’, The International Opera Through Art Songs,
Toronto, Canada. His
Taiga (Tanka-Photo) is featured in the 20th Anniversary Taiga
Showcase of Tanka Society of America. His photo-haiku
is presented at Haiku North America Conference, 15-17, October 2021.
Pravat is nominated as the panel judge of ‘The Haiku Foundation Touchstone
Awards’, USA and is presently on the editorial board of the journal, ‘Under the
Basho’.
His publications can be read at http://pkpadhy.blogspot.com
********************
Publication: The Wise Owl,
Tulip Edition, April 2022
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