Category: Tanka

Twenty-first Bowerbird Tanka Group Meeting

The twenty-first Bowerbird Tanka group meeting was celebrated on 30th November 2019, in the Crommelin Arboretum at Pearl Beach. Again it was heart-warming to note how far poets will travel to explore and share the poetic genre of tanka.

In addition to a presentation by Michael Thorley on shasei, and a ginko relevant to this, appraisals by three poets of a tanka they particularly enjoy, written by someone they have not met were shared and helped us to explore the more distant national scene as well as the international one.
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Hyakunin Isshu

And a new opportunity for English-speaking tanka poets

As most tanka writers would be aware “Hyakunin Isshu is an anthology of one hundred Japanese waka poems composed between the 7th and 13th centuries. The anthology was later adapted into a card game deck and played a significant role in familiarising Japanese people, both young and old, with classic literature.” It still does.

Although the anthology has been translated into English in book form by various people, until very recently the card game deck had not. In September 2019, the Japan Foundation (JPF), in Sydney promoted the game’s first English translation and offered the opportunity to play it in their premises at Level 4, Central Park, 28 Broadway, Sydney.

Please read about this game and invitation here.

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Twentieth Bowerbird Tanka Group Meeting

The twentieth Bowerbird Tanka group meeting was celebrated on 30th March 2019, in the Crommelin Arboretum at Pearl Beach. Again it was heart-warming to note how far poets will travel to explore and share the poetic genre of tanka. Delegates came from Canberra (3), Bathurst, Tamworth, Newcastle and various parts of Sydney and each contributed so much to the day.

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