Back to Tanka Student Activities

Go to the site'Black Ant's Journey to Japan: A Modern Tanka Journal' located at http://www.ahapoetry.com/blackant.htm.

1. Read Randy Brooks' story of his visit to Japan. Then read his tanka 'travel sketches':
   • 'The Sun Never Goes Down'
     
   • 'Tokyo Breeze'
     
   • 'Hotel Pastoral'
     
   • 'Kiyosumi Garden'
     
   • 'Ambassador's Reception'
     
   • 'Road to Nikko With Sensei Ishihara'
     
   • 'Matsuyama Under Yoshino's Star'
     
   • 'Matsuyama castle: Wisteria's War Cry'
     
   • 'Pine Mountain Pilgrimage'
     
   • 'Other Side of the World'.

   Write down the titles of the travel sketches. Next to each of them, write one or two sentences about what happens in the sketch. (Use Randy Brooks' story as well as the tanka themselves.)

2. As a class, make a list of interesting or unusual expressions used in Randy Brooks' tanka. Discuss the meanings and imagery of the expressions chosen. Also discuss why Randy Brooks might have chosen to be 'Black Ant'.

3. Choose one of the travel sketches and prepare a talk to give to your class about the mood and imagery suggested. Alternatively, practise reading one of the travel sketches aloud and prepare it for reading to the class.

4. Think of a journey you have made yourself and write a series of travel sketches. Your journey need not have been a long one, or even an unusual one. As in Machi Tawara's tanka, some of the best work can come out of seemingly ordinary events. If you like, you can give yourself a suitable pseudonym, like 'Black Ant'.

   When you have finished a first draft, talk to a partner about your work. Then discuss it with your teacher. Be prepared to change and reduce the number of tanka for your final draft. Share the completed work with the whole class, either by reading it aloud or by displaying it in your classroom.

5. Write an essay which compares Machi Tawara's tanka (Hanabi, pp. 20-21) with those of Randy Brooks. Discuss:
   • the subject matter;
     
   • the places mentioned;
     
   • the language used;
     
   • the mood and imagery;
     
   • the role and character of the narrator;
     
   • the other characters introduced.
     

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