Tanka

Quick meaning: Tanka is a noun meaning A form of Japanese verse in five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 morae.

Meaning

A form of Japanese verse in five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 morae.

More Meanings

1. A kind of boat used in Guangdong, about 25 feet long and often rowed by Tanka women; junk.
2. Alternative form of thangka (“Tibetan religious artwork”).
3. Alternative form of Tanka (“ethnic group of boat people living in China”).
4. (historical) A coin and unit of currency of varying value, formerly used in parts of India and Central Asia.

Example Sentences

Like haiku, tanka is a short, classical verse form that has attracted considerable attention in this century.

And when foreigners go and come from Whampoa to Canton, tanka-boats and boats with families must not be employed.

The notion of rhyming in Japanese tanka poetry is applied differently from what we observe in the Western poetry tradition.

He has hung up his tanka (Tibetan thaṅka, a religious painting that is usually mounted on fabric) on the wall and is sitting down to the left of it.

Word Forms

• tankas

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include katauta, haiku, sedoka, pentameter, pentastich, heptastich.

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