Tanka Poetry

Reflections on Chapter Five of the book Out of Mao's Shadow: The struggle for the soul of a new China. What Deng called "socialism with Chinese characteristics" is really just authoritarian capitalism. The Communist leader died in 1997 and had succeeded in moving 200, 000,000 Chinese out of poverty. The price......creating a form of Capitalism that would shock Marx and Mao.

A leader of the Chinese American community in Los Angeles, he came to Los Angeles from rural Guangdong Province in the South of China at the age of 5. His family was in business in Chinatown district and they grew asparagus in the San Fernando Valley. They returned to China during the Great Depression only to be driven out of China by the Japanese invasion in 1940. His son Michael was the first Chinese American elected to the LA City Council. Wilber raised money for Nixon in 1972 among the Chinese of our city. He passed away in mid November, and was a banker and produce businessman. He helped to strengthen trade ties between the US and Taiwan.

As Professor Miyake noted in her lecture, Literature, especially poetry, played a central role in Heian Japan. The diaries are filled with poetry. People even exchanged poetry and letters within the confines of their own homes! Composing or reciting poetry on the fly was an essential skill in court. Failing to respond in a timely fashion, or responding with inferior poetry, could lead to the breakdown of relationships, whether between lovers, friends, family, or political associates. Poor and ill timed poetry correspondence life one vulnerable to ridicule, while timely and clever poetry could bring a person much respect and favor at court.

Heian poets used “kakekotoba” or “pivot word,” which is kind of like a sophisticated pun. They are words with multiple meanings placed in such a way in the poem that they tie two different levels or meaning of the poem together.
Soko ni sahe: Even from your pond’s depths,
Karo to ifu naru: they say iti has been reaped,
Makoma gusa: the wild rice,
Ikanaru sawa ni: in what marsh now does it put
Ne wo todamuramu: down its roots and stay to sleep
(Arntzen 1997:39)

soko which means both “your place” and bottom,” as in pond.
Karu, which means “to be separated from” but also “to reap”
Ne which means “root” and “sleep” Wild rice being used for bedding is another layer to the poem, and she suggests that there is something naughty in the supposition of “sleep” and “roots.”
The end result is a sophisticated, layer poem made up of, on the surface, a few short lines.
edited by mwatt on 12/6/2012

What a great lecture! I especially enjoyed the reference to tanka poetry, and the important role it has played through the thread of Japanese history. I've been teaching 7th grade world history for 6 years now, and every year, I have my students write their own tanka poems. Here are some of the really good ones over the last several years:
My Cousin
His name is Frankie
He wore an ankle bracelet
He went to prison
Another ankle bracelet
Finally free from the cops.

Izzy
Love is the greatest
I love Izzy forever
I love her so much
I wish we were together
Forever and forever.

Love
Love is so painful,
It makes tears run down my cheeks,
Love is so unfair,
I loved him more than life,
So now my life is useless.

Layla
Layla loves to scream,
Layla is my everything,
She is such a brat!
Layla loves to laugh and sing,
Layla Giselle Garcia.

Loneliness
Feel empty inside,
Nobody feels like you,
Have something to say,
Have nobody to talk to,
Yet there are people around.

Pain
Pain is so simple
You can feel it burning through
Tearing everything
Remembering happy times
And yet forgetting them too.

Celebration People so happy Music on the radio
The children laughing
Balloons flying in the air
All to celebrate her life.

I thought it was amazing how in the past, during Heian period one had to be a good poetry writer to conquer the person you wanted to share your life with. If there was someone you were interested you had to write to them in the form of poetry. Those of you who would like to follow the Heian tradition here is a website to help you with writing your very onw Tanka poem if you want to tell someone you want to spend the rest of your life: http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hennessey/how_to_write_a_tanka_poem.htm