Tanka Journal: the Japanese tanka form in English

Tanka is a five-line Japanese poem, older than haiku by centuries, written in a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern and built to carry a real feeling: love, grief, gratitude, or the kind of reflection that stays with a reader after the poem stops. Tanka Journal is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating tanka poets and poetry. Everything here is free to read.

Start here

• What Is Tanka? — the form, the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern, our Tanka Recipe for writing one, and examples with the pivot pointed out.
• Tanka vs Haiku — the two forms side by side, and how to tell which one you are actually writing.
• Tanka Techniques — Fujiwara Teika’s ten tanka styles, each with a classical and a modern example.
• More Reading — books, journals, and organizations for tanka poets.

About the journal

Tanka Journal is published by Prolific Press. Our issues remain online to read, and the paperback editions are still available in the bookstore.

Submissions are permanently closed. (06/06/2020) The archive and the guides above stay open, and they are here for anyone learning the form.