A Note on Tanka Selection

The Heart Mountain Tanka Group is now a half year old, and it is with great pleasure that I present this collection of tanka for inclusion in the journal. During those six months, some of the leading members of the group were sent to Japan or to other detention centers, causing us to feel a little disheartened, but the diligence of the new members has done well to compensate for this. The hard work necessary to devote oneself to a discipline of study is immense, but it is precisely the struggle involved in this work that also makes it admirable. For me, it is of great interest to see how many of the artists who contributed to this collection will continue to struggle along this path. The key to composing a tanka poem is to express the emotional core just as one sees it, naturally, honestly, and in everyday language. It must also be in the form of 31 syllables, with 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables per unit, and it is not as difficult as most people think. The fact that ancient poems are said to be the products of a childlike mind also reminds us that, after all, poems should be composed naturally and honestly. 

I am currently endeavoring to do what little I can for those among us who aspire to create poetry as food for the soul in our current dry and flavorless life. I am doing this by setting my sights on a wide range of poetry circles without being partial to one group or school, and by having the writers learn from influential and advanced poetry and the mutual study of each other’s works. It’s been just six months since the establishment of the poetry group, but if the result of my guidance can be seen in this compilation, I will be ultimately satisfied. 

The literary minded individuals of this Center have long worked toward the publication of the Heart Mountain Bungei, and I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the efforts of Mr. Iwamuro Yoshiaki and Mrs. Ishigo,¹ and to the Sentinel’s Japanese Editorial Department² for their support, and to congratulate them on their success.