A Poetic Spirit That Transcends Borders: An Exhibition of Donated Tanka and Haiku by Taiwanese Poets

A tanka has 31 sounds (5-7-5-7-7); it began among court nobles and has traditionally often expressed love between men and women. A haiku has 17 sounds (5-7-5), spread among ordinary people, and traditionally needs a kigo, a word that marks the season, though some poets do not hold to the count or the seasonal word. Both reached Taiwan from Japan under Japanese rule (1895-1945), and Taiwanese intellectuals gradually learned and composed them. After the war they became a very small corner of literature, yet a circle of people quietly passed them on, and some drew on the haiku spirit of few words and deep feeling to turn to local poetry in Taiwanese and Mandarin. "Poetic Hearts Across Borders" uses the National Museum of Taiwan Literature's collection to follow how these short poems crossed over from Japan and were learned, developed, and transformed by Taiwanese.

When you read a short poem on display, count the sounds in each line, then look for a word that names a season.