Tanka

Japanese uta poems

Noguchi preferred the term uta for the 31-syllable form of Japanese poetry, now usually called tanka (short poems) or waka (Japanese-style poems).

Noguchi generally preferred the 17-syllable hokku (haiku) to the 31-syllable uta (tanka) poems.  "I confess," he explained, "that my poetical taste desires far more intensity than the Uta poems, whose artificial execution often proves, in my opinion, to be their weakness rather than strength" (The Spirit of Japanese Poetry, 1914).  But he greatly admired the uta poems of Naobumi Ochiai, and was also the first English translator of the famous anthology Hyakunin Isshu.

• Through a Japanese Screen (on Naobumi Ochiai) (1906)
• Hyaku Nin Isshu in English (1907)