tanaka

A full Haiku sonnet is composed of three parts: a haiku (5-7-5), a tanaka (7-5-7), then another haiku (5-7-5). Of course, creating one in English is just silly, because whereas in Japanese the haikus resonante due to Japanese being a very melodic and rhythmic language, English is neither, and so it just sounds silly and causes a lot of people to think that Japanese poetry is just about getting the right syllable counts.

Tanaka is also a name. Pronounced: Ta-knock-ka. It is often a last name to families of Japanese or Hawaiian decent.

Today, Tanaka is also a female first name.

The meaning of the name Tanaka is, “one who lives in or near a rice field.”

This was written with the assistance of my niece, Tanaka. She is 1/4th Japanese. Her grandmother’s last name was Tanaka. In her honor and memory, my niece is now named Tanaka. Truly a special child – as unique as her name. =)

Below is the great wisdom from my 11-year old niece, Tanaka:

“The most important thing in life is to be yourself – and if people make fun of you, screw `em!”