Okinawa high school students place in national tanka poetry competition

Okinawa high school students place in national tanka poetry competition

Second-place winners of the tanka competition (from left) Noa Shimabukuro, Reina Kuniyoshi and Honoka Tokumura, pose with their award certificates in Morioka, Iwate, on Aug 18.


August 19, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

The final rounds of the National High School Tanka Competition were held in Morioka city, Iwate prefecture—hometown of the poet, Takuboku Ishikawa. Tanka is a Japanese thirty-one-syllable poem, written in a single unbroken line. The Yukari Kojima Special Jury Prize, reserved for the best submission in the competition, was awarded to Reina Kuniyoshi, 17, a sophomore student at Syowa Pharmaceutical University High School. The school also placed second place in the group division. It is the first time for Syowa Pharmaceutical University High School to compete in the tanka competition.

The Yukari Kojima Special Jury Prize is awarded to the best tanka out of all the individual and group division submissions combined. Kuniyoshi’s winning poem read: “Pouring concrete into the blue sea they made a grave for the dugong in Henoko.” Kuniyoshi said of her tanka and the Henoko base issue: “Contestants come from all over Japan. I wanted to address the difference in perception between Okinawa and the rest of Japan.”

Kuniyoshi teamed up with fellow sophomores, Noa Shimabukuro and Honoka Tokumura, for the group division tournament. The theme for the final round was “in bloom,” and the jury evaluated the submissions. Kuniyoshi commented on winning second place in the group division: “It was our first time competing, so I was surprised [to win].” She shared her ambition and said, “next year we will take first place.”

First place in the group division went to students of the Hachinohe Aomori Prefectural High School; First place in the individual division was awarded to Kaito Tamakoshi, 17, a senior at Hidakami Gifu prefectural High School.

This year’s National High School Tanka Competition was the 14th competition held since its inception in 2006.

(English translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)

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