Author: ML and Cursor AI
Source: Yosano Akiko, Myōjō 1901
Corpus: 50 tanka (of 399 in the full collection)
Analysis date: March 2025
Report saved: 2025-03-13T20:19 (50-tanka corpus,
refined)
This report examines patterns, statistics, and characteristic
features of the tanka in tanka_data.json. The poems are
from Yosano Akiko’s Tangled Hair (Midaregami), a
landmark collection of early 20th-century Japanese poetry known for its
bold treatment of female desire, the body, and the sacred.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total tanka | 50 |
| With titles | 1 (2%) |
| Page range | 27–51 |
| Lines per tanka | 5 (fixed) |
| Total lines | 250 |
A mora (plural: morae) is a unit of phonological length in Japanese—roughly equivalent to a “beat” or timing unit. It is not the same as a syllable in English. In Japanese:
A mora line is a line of verse measured by its mora count. Traditional tanka use five lines with a fixed mora pattern:
| Line | Mora count | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Upper verse, first phrase |
| 2 | 7 | Upper verse, second phrase |
| 3 | 5 | Lower verse, first phrase (pivot) |
| 4 | 7 | Lower verse, second phrase |
| 5 | 7 | Lower verse, closing phrase |
Total: 31 morae. The 5-7-5-7-7 structure creates a rhythmic asymmetry: short (5) and long (7) lines alternate, with the final two lines both long, giving the poem a weighted closing. This pattern has been the standard for waka and tanka since the Man’yōshū (8th century).
Traditional tanka follow this 5-7-5-7-7 mora pattern. Analysis of the corpus shows strong adherence:
| Line position | Expected morae | Observed avg. (approx.) | Romaji syllables (avg.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 4.8 | 5.2 |
| 2 | 7 | 6.5 | 6.6 |
| 3 | 5 | 4.8 | 5.3 |
| 4 | 7 | 6.5 | 6.8 |
| 5 | 7 | 6.3 | 6.7 |
Finding: The poems follow the classical form closely. Lines 2, 4, and 5 (the 7-mora lines) remain consistently longer than lines 1 and 3. The 50-tanka corpus maintains the pattern with only minor variation.
| Chars per line | Count |
|---|---|
| 5 | 67 |
| 6 | 66 |
| 4 | 57 |
| 7 | 38 |
| 3 | 17 |
| 8 | 1 |
| 11 | 2 |
| 2 | 2 |
Average: 5.24 characters per line. Most lines fall in the 4–6 character range; longer lines (7+ chars) appear mainly in positions 2, 4, and 5.
| Kanji | Count | Gloss / theme |
|---|---|---|
| 春 | 15 | spring |
| 夜 | 13 | night |
| 髪 | 11 | hair |
| 子 | 10 | child / girl |
| 神 | 10 | god |
| 水 | 8 | water |
| 御 | 8 | honorific prefix |
| 歌 | 7 | poem/song |
| 君 | 7 | you / dear (addressee) |
| 花 | 6 | flower |
| 紅 | 6 | crimson |
| 色 | 5 | color |
| 人 | 4 | person |
| 十 | 4 | ten |
| 雨 | 4 | rain |
| 百 | 4 | hundred |
| 夏 | 4 | summer |
| 小 | 4 | small |
| 今 | 3 | now |
| 誰 | 3 | who |
| 女 | 3 | woman |
| 血 | 3 | blood |
| 桃 | 3 | peach |
| 見 | 3 | see |
| 二 | 3 | two |
Pattern: The lexicon centers on spring (春), night (夜), hair (髪), child/girl (子), the divine (神), and song/poetry (歌). 君 (you/dear) emerges as a major addressee (7×). 雨 (rain), 夏 (summer), 水 (water) expand seasonal and elemental vocabulary. 御 (honorific) remains prominent (8×).
| Ending | Count | Function |
|---|---|---|
| の | 40 | Possessive / nominalizer |
| に | 21 | Locative / directional |
| る | 17 | Verb (non-past) |
| き | 16 | Classical adjective / past |
| な | 13 | Prohibitive / exclamatory |
| を | 12 | Object marker |
| し | 10 | Past / nominalizer |
| む | 8 | Volitional / speculative |
| ぬ | 7 | Negative |
| て | 7 | Conjunctive |
| よ | 6 | Vocative / exclamatory |
| へ | 6 | Directional |
| 神 | 5 | Noun (god) |
| り | 4 | Verb suffix |
| 子 | 3 | Noun (child/girl) |
Pattern: の dominates line endings (40 occurrences—16% of all lines). The classical き-form (16×) and む (8×) remain prominent. な (13×) has risen—more prohibitives and exclamations.
| Phrase | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| きし | 4 | Past/continuative |
| しき | 4 | Adjective (うつくしき, etc.) |
| かな | 3 | Exclamatory |
| の神 | 3 | “god of” |
| まへ | 3 | Honorific (たまへ) |
| かむ | 3 | Volitional |
| 神の | 3 | “god’s” |
| ゆる | 2 | Verb |
| 夜の | 2 | “night’s” |
| やど | 2 | “lodging” |
| りき | 2 | Past perfective |
| るる | 2 | Continuative |
| 髪の | 2 | “hair of” |
| 春の | 2 | “spring’s” |
| べを | 2 | “evening” (ゆふべを) |
| の子 | 2 | “child of” |
Finding: しき (4×) rises with うつくしき (beautiful)—a recurring aesthetic judgment. きし, の神, まへ, かむ remain stable or rise.
| Phrase | Count | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 夜の | 11 | “night’s” / “night god” / “night’s dancing stage” |
| 春の | 10 | “spring’s” / “of spring” |
| たま | 7 | Honorific stem (たまへ) |
| つく | 6 | “make” / “attach” (紅つくる, うつくし) |
| くし | 6 | Suffix (うつくし) |
| の神 | 6 | “god of” |
| 水に | 5 | “in water” |
| わが | 5 | “my” (first-person possessive) |
| の子 | 5 | “child of” |
| うつ | 5 | Stem of うつくし (beautiful) |
| しき | 5 | Classical adjective |
| うつくし | 5 | “beautiful” |
| まへ | 5 | Honorific (たまへ) |
| たまへ | 5 | “please” (imperative) |
| きし | 4 | Past/continuative suffix |
| 髪の | 4 | “hair of” |
| の花 | 4 | “flower of” |
| おも | 4 | “think” / ものおもふ |
| の御 | 4 | “honorable” |
Pattern: 夜の (11) now surpasses 春の (10) as the most frequent phrase—night gains lexical dominance. うつくし (beautiful) appears 5×, reinforcing the aesthetic register. たまへ appears in 5+ poems—petition remains central.
| Word | Count | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| spring | 15 | Season |
| with | 10 | Relation |
| hair | 10 | Body / image |
| night | 10 | Time |
| for | 10 | Relation / purpose |
| god | 9 | Sacred |
| you | 8 | Addressee |
| red | 7 | Color |
| evening | 7 | Time of day |
| this | 6 | Deixis |
| girl | 6 | Figure |
| love | 6 | Emotion |
| and | 6 | Conjunction |
| dont | 6 | Prohibitive |
| water | 5 | Element |
| beautiful | 5 | Aesthetic |
| your | 5 | Addressee |
| from | 5 | Source |
| temple | 4 | Place |
| poem | 4 | Art |
| flower | 4 | Nature |
Spring (春)
Appears in 15+ of 50 poems. Spring functions as: - Temporal setting
(春の暮れ, 春雨に) - Metaphor for youth and desire (春の子, 春よ老いな)
- Sacred geography (春の国, 恋の御国) - Ritual and rain (春雨,
春のゆふべ)
Night (夜)
Appears in 13+ poems. 夜の (11×) is now the top phrase.
Night functions as: - Setting for intimacy (夜の神, 夜の淡紅色) - Ritual
space (夜の舞殿 — dancing stage by wisteria) - Temporal frame (夜の帳,
ひと夜)
Hair (髪)
Appears in 11 poems. Hair remains: - Erotic and sensual (髪五尺, 黒髪の,
とき髪に) - Linked to Tangled Hair (乱れ髪) - Paired with scent
(梅花のあぶら, 百合のかをり)
君 (you/dear)
Appears 7× as addressee: 君みずや, 絵師の君に, 子羊きみを. The speaker
addresses a lover, a painter, a lamb—intimate second-person voice
intensifies.
Gods and the sacred
- 神 (10×): 夜の神, 秋の神, 宵の春の神 - 廬舎那仏
(Rushanabutsu/Vairocana): tanka 36 — Buddha among young leaves -
二十五菩薩: tanka 20 - 御 (8×): 御国, 御裾, 御手, 御衣, 御相
Seasonal expansion
- 夏 (summer): 4× — 二十の夏を, なつかしき -
雨 (rain): 4× — 春雨, 雨みゆる - 秋
(autumn): 秋の神
Beautiful (うつくし)
The phrase うつくし/うつくしき appears 5×—a recurring aesthetic
judgment: うつくしきかな, うつくしと見ぬ. Beauty is thematized
explicitly.
Place
- Kyoto: 清水, 祇園 - 奥の院, 山ごもり, 室むつまじ - 夜の舞殿 (dancing
stage) - 泉の底 (bottom of spring) - ゆふべの宮 (evening palace)
The particle の is used heavily (40 line-endings). Examples: - 下界の人の髪のほつれ - 春のおもひのさかりの命 - 夜の神の御裾さはりてわが髪ぬれぬ - 秋の神の御衣より曳く白き虹 - 奥の院の二十五菩薩 - 御相いとどしたしみやすきなつかしき若葉木立の中の廬舎那仏 (tanka 36) - 春雨にゆふべの宮をまよひ出でし子羊きみをのろはしの我れ (tanka 38)
The speaker uses direct address extensively: - 経たまへきみ, 歌たまへ, 歌ひめたまえ, 歌うけたまへ - 神おとしめな, 帰る夜の神, ささへたまへな - 春よ老いな, 束の間老いな (tanka 34) - さて責むな (don’t blame me — tanka 37) - 君みずや (can’t you see — tanka 37)
Report generated from tanka_data.json using pattern
analysis and statistical extraction.