Let's try writing tanka about your favorite works #OshiTanka

A recruitment project for "Oshi Tanka" (tanka about your favorites) has started on note.

This project welcomes "any tanka about your 'oshi' (favorite person, thing, or activity)—whether it's your favorite idol, anime, music, or hobby time!" I'm happy to see that reading and writing tanka is gaining momentum. I've been asked to serve as a selection committee member for this tanka project, and I personally often write tanka based on the "things and activities I love."

Today, I'd like to introduce some of my tanka inspired by the "people, things, and activities I love."

Onna no Sono no Hoshi (Hoshi in the Garden of Girls)

This is a tanka I wrote inspired by Yama Wayama's manga 『Onna no Sono no Hoshi』 (Shodensha). This is from the "Class Dog" episode in chapter 2. Even though her real name is Setsuko, she is named Tapioca by the high school girls and pampered. I wrote this poem about the loveliness of a dog who reluctantly, yet not entirely unwillingly, goes along with humans.

Chainsaw Man

This is a tanka I wrote inspired by Denji, the protagonist of "Chainsaw Man."
The first poem is from the second half of Part 1, and the second is from Part 2. The author, Tatsuki Fujimoto, loves movies, and many movie motifs appear in the work. "Collecting and connecting cigarette butts" is based on Denji's actions in Part 2, but I also wrote it with my favorite movie, "Cinema Paradiso," in mind.

THE FIRST SLAM DUNK

This is a tanka I wrote inspired by Hanamichi Sakuragi from "THE FIRST SLAM DUNK." I had never read the "SLAM DUNK" manga, so the Sakuragi I saw in the movie was the first Sakuragi I ever met. Sakuragi, who should be a basketball beginner, grows rapidly stronger during the Sannoh match. He gathers attention with his wild actions, such as performing to provoke the audience or declaring victory, and I compared the way he shows overwhelming play during the game to a shogi piece "promoting."

PUI PUI Molcar

I love them so much that I sometimes fantasize about what it would be like if I were in their world...

A stop-motion animation that expresses a cute world where cars are guinea pigs... "PUI PUI Molcar". From the feeling that Molcars are just so cute and I love them, I imagined my daily life living with a Molcar. Unlike cars, Molcars have their own will, and it seems like they would bring all sorts of surprises into our lives.

I also write many tanka about things, works, and characters I love, such as a series called "Four Seasons and Dogs" which depicts encounters with dogs passed on walks, and a series from the perspective of Sosuke Shima from "Skip and Loafer" called "Step".

If you think, "I want to try writing a tanka!"

Please don't overthink it and feel free to give it a try!
I build my tanka using these 3 steps.

1. First, write down everything that comes to mind

2. Try putting it into the "5-7-5-7-7" form

3. Refine it to get closer to your ideal!

1. First, write down everything that comes to mind
I think the important thing when turning your favorite things into tanka is to organize "what you like about them" and "what makes them charming." It's okay to fit them into the 5-7-5-7-7 form right away, but sometimes you might get lost wondering, "What was I trying to say again...?" so try looking at the charms of your favorite character from various angles and organizing them. I recommend this because the notes themselves can become the poem or help with the refinement process.

2. Try putting it into the "5-7-5-7-7" form
Tanka follow the "5-7-5-7-7" form, and seasonal words are not required. People writing tanka for the first time often put spaces between the 5 and 7 or use line breaks, but like the tanka introduced in this article, those spaces and line breaks are not necessary. If you want to create a semantic break or add an effect that creates a pause, try using a "one-character space."

3. Refine it to get closer to your ideal!
Don't just leave the completed tanka as is; please try reviewing it after some time has passed! When time passes, you can look at it with a cool head, so you might notice rough edges you didn't see when you wrote it, or see points for improvement.
When you think, "It's in the form of a poem, but it doesn't quite click..." try "changing the camera position."
By changing the position of the camera that captures the image—such as changing the perspective from macro to micro, changing the speaker to a third party, or making an object the subject instead of a person—you can describe the poem from a new angle.

I believe that tanka is a creative pursuit that improves the more you read and write it.
Even if you have never written a poem before, please take this opportunity to give it a try!

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This text was written at the request of the organizer as a reference work for "#OshiTanka" hosted by note.

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