Editing Tanka (section)

==Form==
[[File:Last tanka poems by Miyazawa Kenji.jpg|thumb|Last tanka poems by Miyazawa Kenji wrote in September of 1933 before his death.

It reads: <poem>Within these ten square miles: is this in Hinuki alone?
The rice ripe and for three festival days
                                the whole sky clear

Because of an illness, crumbling,
                                        this life—
if I could give it for the [[dharma]]
                            how glad I would be
</poem>
]]
Tanka consist of five units (often treated as separate lines when romanized or translated) usually with the following pattern of ''[[On (Japanese prosody)|on]]'' (often treated as, roughly, the number of syllables per unit or line):
:5-7-5-7-7.<ref>Carter 1991, ''Translator's Note'', p.xiii</ref>

The 5-7-5 is called the {{nihongo|''kami-no-ku''|上の句||"upper phrase"}}, and the 7-7 is called the {{nihongo|''shimo-no-ku''|下の句||"lower phrase"}}. Sometimes the distinction between [[Waka (poetry)|Waka]] and Tanka are drawn on where the division is placed, either after the first [[couplet]] or after the first [[tercet]], but sources disagree.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> Even in early classical compilations of these poems, such as the ''[[Ogura Hyakunin Isshu]]'', the form is often broken to suit the poet's preferences.<ref name=":0" />