How to Write a Tanka
5 steps for complete beginners
Everyday Tanka — ordinary days in thirty-one sounds
You have heard of haiku. Then somewhere you came across the word tanka, and you thought: I would like to try writing one.
Maybe a teacher assigned it. Maybe you read a translation that stayed with you. Maybe you simply want to hold a small moment in words before it slips away.
And then the questions start. How long is it? What am I supposed to write about? Where do I even begin?
This page answers those questions in order. We will write one complete tanka together, step by step, and by the end you will have written your own.
No experience needed. No special knowledge. About fifteen minutes.
By the end of this page, you will be able to:
- Explain what the 5-7-5-7-7 form is
- Choose a subject to write about — often the hardest part for beginners
- Count syllables and shape your words to fit
- Finish one tanka of your own
The five steps at a glance
Here is the whole path before we start. Nothing here is difficult on its own.
STEP 1 Learn the basic form
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STEP 2 Choose your subject
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STEP 3 Write down every word that comes
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STEP 4 Shape the words into 5-7-5-7-7
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STEP 5 Read it aloud
| Time needed | about 15 minutes |
| Cost | nothing |
| What to prepare | nothing |
One thing before we begin. The trick is not to reach for beautiful language straight away. Nobody's first line arrives finished. You write something ordinary, then you shape it. That is the whole craft.
STEP 1 Learn the basic form
A tanka is a Japanese poem traditionally arranged in five parts:
5 - 7 - 5 - 7 - 7
Five, seven, five, seven, seven — thirty-one in total.
One thing is worth getting right from the start. In Japanese, those units are morae, a unit of sound that is not the same as an English syllable. In English-language tanka, syllables are used instead. The pattern is the same; what you count is not.
Tanka is older than haiku. It has been written in Japan for more than a thousand years, and it is still being written today — in newspapers, in magazines, on phones.
What exactly are we counting?
In English, count syllables — the distinct parts of a word that you hear when you say it aloud.
gar·den → 2
morn·ing → 2
um·brel·la → 3
qui·et → 2
If you are unsure, say the word out loud and tap once for each syllable. That is the whole method. There is nothing more technical than that.
For this beginner's guide, we will use syllables and aim for the familiar 5-7-5-7-7 pattern.
※ Worth knowing, though not where to start: many poets writing tanka in English deliberately use fewer than thirty-one syllables. An English syllable tends to carry more weight than a Japanese mora, so a strict thirty-one can come out heavier than the Japanese original feels. Once you have written a few, it is worth trying a lighter count.
Does it have to be exactly 31?
It is the target, not a rule you can fail. Poems that run over or under the count have always existed in Japanese, and they have names of their own. Aim for 5-7-5-7-7 while you are learning — the shape teaches you something — and let yourself off when a word is worth keeping.
STEP 2 Choose your subject
This is where most people stop before they have started. They wait for a subject worthy of a poem, and nothing comes.
Tanka does not ask for a grand subject. It asks for a small, true one.
A thousand years of tanka are mostly about this: weather, distance, a season turning, a person not being there. Ordinary things, looked at closely.
So pick something from the last day or two.
the light in the room when you woke up
a smell from a kitchen you walked past
the last message you left unanswered
how quiet the house was at some hour
something you noticed and told no one
Any of those is enough for a tanka. It does not need to be important. It needs to be yours.
For this page, I will use the most honest subject I have: the feeling of sitting down to write a tanka for the first time.
STEP 3 Write down every word that comes
Do not try to write lines yet. Write words. Single words, half-phrases, whatever surfaces. Do not judge any of them.
Here is my list for the subject above, exactly as it came:
hard difficult I thought too hard for me
wouldn't know how couldn't even try
step by step one at a time slowly
the words came it worked nearly done
That is not a poem. It is not meant to be one yet. You cannot shape material you have not gathered.
Ten or fifteen words is plenty. If you are stuck, write the plainest thing that is true — "I was tired," "it rained" — and go on.
STEP 4 Shape the words into 5-7-5-7-7
Now we build the poem, one part at a time. Watch how ordinary the moves are.
The first 5
Start with the plainest statement of the feeling.
I thought a tanka
I · thought · a · tan · ka → 5
Five exactly. Sometimes the first attempt lands. Keep it and move on.
The next 7
Continue the thought without changing the voice.
would be too hard for me to
would · be · too · hard · for · me · to → 7
So far: I thought a tanka / would be too hard for me to. The line breaks mid-thought, and that is fine — in tanka a sentence is allowed to run across the parts.
The next 5
Finish the sentence.
even try to write,
e · ven · try · to · write → 5
Now we have 5-7-5, and the first half of the poem says something complete.
The next 7 — and the first problem
Here the poem needs to turn. Something happened; say what.
but step by step the words appeared
but · step · by · step · the · words · ap · peared → 8
One too many. This is the ordinary situation, not a failure. Now look for the least necessary word — and it is almost always a small one.
but step by step, words appeared
but · step · by · step · words · ap · peared → 7
Dropping "the" fixed the count and cost the line nothing. Keeping the meaning and changing the words is the actual work of writing a tanka.
The last 7
End where you actually are now, not where you think a poem should end.
and now one poem is done
and · now · one · po · em · is · done → 7
Seven. The poem is finished.
STEP 5 Read it aloud
Put the parts together and say the whole thing out loud.
I thought a tanka
would be too hard for me to
even try to write,
but step by step, words appeared
and now one poem is done
Reading aloud is not a formality. The ear catches what the eye misses — a word that stumbles, a line that runs too long, a repetition you did not notice. If something snags when you say it, that is the line to change.
And notice what the poem is: five plain statements, in order, about an ordinary fifteen minutes. That is a tanka.
A tanka does not begin as a tanka
Look back at STEP 3. The material was "hard," "I thought," "step by step," "the words came." Nothing there sounds like poetry.
The poem did not arrive. It was assembled — a plain thought, then counting, then one small word removed.
This matters more than any rule on this page. If you are waiting to feel like a poet before you write, you will wait a long time. Write the ordinary sentence first. Shape it second.
Now it is your turn
You have watched one being built. Do the same thing with your own subject.
1. Pick one small thing from the last two days
2. Write down ten words about it, without judging them
3. Build 5, then 7, then 5, then 7, then 7
4. Count on your fingers; add or cut a small word
5. Read it out loud once
If it comes out clumsy, it still counts. A clumsy finished tanka teaches you more than a perfect unwritten one. Then write another.
Frequently asked questions
Is a tanka hard to write?
The counting is the only technical part, and you can do it on your fingers. What people usually find hard is choosing a subject — which is why STEP 2 exists. Start with something small and true and the rest follows.
What is the difference between tanka and haiku?
Haiku is traditionally 5-7-5 in Japanese; tanka is 5-7-5-7-7. Those extra fourteen units change what the form can do: haiku tends to hold a single image, while tanka has room to turn — to state something and then say what it means to you. Tanka is also the older form by centuries.
Does a tanka need a season word?
No. Haiku traditionally uses a season word (kigo); tanka does not require one. Seasons appear constantly in tanka, but because poets keep noticing them, not because a rule demands it.
Does it have to rhyme?
No. Japanese poetry does not rhyme, and English tanka generally follows that. Forcing a rhyme into thirty-one syllables usually costs you the meaning. Count the syllables; let the sound take care of itself.
I am writing this for school. Is this enough?
Follow the five steps and you will have a tanka in the correct form, on a subject of your own, that you can explain. If your assignment asks you to describe your process, STEP 3 and STEP 4 are the parts worth writing about — especially the moment a line came out one syllable long and you fixed it.
Can I write about anything?
Yes. Tanka has been used for love, grief, politics, commuting, and cats. The form does not restrict the subject.
If you want to go further
Once you have written a few, new questions start to appear.
- What happens when a line runs long on purpose?
- Where should the poem turn — and what is a "cut"?
- How do published poets handle the count?
- Where can I submit a tanka?
I am still working through these myself. This site is less a place where tanka is taught than a place where it is figured out and written alongside you.
The Japanese side of this site has more of that material — on counting, on lines that run over or short, and more being added.