Tanka 短歌, literally “short poem”, is a 31-syllable poem consisting of five lines in the pattern 5−7−5−7−7; the dominant form in classical Japanese poetry (waka 和歌) from the 7th century to the present.
Takuboku's first collection of tanka, Ichiaku no suna (tr A Handful of Sand), was published in 1910 and contains 551 poems written in simple, direct language. Dealing with emotions and experiences taken from his daily life, these poems have a frankness and vitality all but unprecedented in Japanese poetry.
[Read tankas from A Handful of Sand]
Takuboku died of tuberculosis on April 13 of 1912 at age of 27. A second tanka collection, Kanashiki gangu (tr Sad Toys), contains 194 poems, was published a few months later. Considered by many to be Japan's finest modern poet, Takuboku exercised a major influence upon the subsequent development of tanka written in the modern language.
Takuboku's first volume of poetry, Akogare (Longing), was published in 1905. Written in the free verse manner of the shintaishi (“new-style poetry,” after the example of European poetry), Akogare attracted immediate public and critical attention for its startling imagery and outspokenness.
A collection of poems in nontraditional forms, Yobiko to Kuchibue (1912; “Whistle and Flute”), shows some influence of anarchistic and socialistic thought.
[Read poems from Yobiko to Kuchibue (ja)]
He also published fiction; but, despite its flashes of brilliance, it fails to match his poetry.