STUDENT ACTIVITIES

• Activities based on 'The Fake Egg' by Kuniko Mukoda
  
• Haiku Activities: The Shiki Site
  
• Tanka Activities: A Modern Travel Journal
• Manga Activities
  

TANKA ACTIVITIES: A MODERN TRAVEL JOURNAL
Background Information
The student activities are based on 'Black Ant's Journey to Japan: A Modern Tanka Journal' located at:

http://www.ahapoetry.com/blackant.htm

At the beginning of the site is a short description of the journey of American poet Randy Brooks ('Black Ant') to Japan in 1997 for a haiku conference. During his trip, he keeps a journal, said to be in tanka form although the numbers of syllables used in each tanka varies. Most examples do, however, have five lines.

In writing these 'travel sketches', he is following the famous 17th century haiku master, Matsuo Basho. Some of Basho's work is found in Hanabi (p. 15). An easily available reference for Basho's work is:

Matsuo Basho 1966, The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, trans. Noboyuki Yuasa, Penguin, Harmondsworth.

It includes five travel sketches but 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North' is the most famous. Students could profitably study any of the Basho sketches.

The student worksheet complements the haiku and tanka sections of Hanabi. Their narrative form, however, means that they might most appropriately follow 'The tanka of Machi Tawara' (Hanabi, pp. 19-23). Some of them could also be used without reference to Hanabi, if students were already familiar with the work of Basho or had other background in haiku or tanka. The student worksheet can be printed.

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