Tanka Checker

Here is how to verify a tanka by hand while our dedicated checker is in development:

1. Count each line separately. A tanka needs exactly five lines: 5 syllables, then 7, then 5, then 7, then 7.
2. Use a dictionary first. Every word should be checked against a pronunciation dictionary before you guess from spelling. Our syllable counter uses a dictionary-backed engine, so paste each line in to verify it.
3. Watch the tricky words. Silent e endings, -ed endings, and words with two valid pronunciations (like fire or hour) are where counts go wrong. See our guide on how to count syllables for the six rules that handle these cases.
4. Read it aloud. If a line feels crammed or stretched when spoken, the count is probably off, even if the math says otherwise.

When our tanka checker launches, it will validate all five lines at once and flag which line breaks the pattern, the same way our haiku tool does now. Read about how our syllable engine works to understand the dictionary and rule-based system behind it.

Tanka means "short song" in Japanese. It is the oldest major Japanese poetic form, over a thousand years older than haiku in its independent form. A tanka has five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern, 31 syllables in total. Where haiku captures a single observed moment, tanka is more personal and emotional: it typically presents an image in the first three lines, then turns inward for a reflection or feeling in the last two.

That turn has a name. The first three lines (5-7-5) are called the kami-no-ku, or "upper phrase," and the last two lines (7-7) are the shimo-no-ku, or "lower phrase." The energy of a tanka lives in the pivot between them: an image, then what the image means to the speaker. Learn the full definition on our what is a tanka page.

The two extra lines are the whole difference in spirit. Haiku shows; tanka shows and tells you what it meant. For the detailed comparison, read haiku vs tanka.

Our tanka checker is being built on the same engine as our haiku tool: a pronunciation dictionary of roughly 126,000 words as the first authority, with a rule-based fallback for words the dictionary does not recognize. The tanka version adds five-line pattern validation, per-line syllable badges, and notes on the turn between the upper and lower phrases.

We are building it carefully because tanka has subtleties a plain counter misses: the pivot between line three and line four, the more personal diction, the way the final two lines reframe the first three. A counter that only adds syllables would miss the form entirely. Until it is ready, the combination of our haiku checker and syllable counter covers every line.

1. Start with an image, end with a feeling. Give the first three lines something seen: rain on a window, a train pulling away. Let the last two lines say what it did to you.
2. Make the turn earn its place. The pivot between line three and line four is the poem's engine. If the last two lines just repeat the image, cut them and write new ones.
3. Keep the language plain. Tanka's emotion lands harder in simple words. "I miss you" territory is fine here, unlike haiku, but concrete detail still beats abstraction.
4. Count honestly. 31 syllables is the classic target. Modern English tanka sometimes runs shorter, but learn the pattern first, then bend it on purpose.

Here is an original example showing the turn:

Image in the first three lines, memory and feeling in the last two. That is the tanka turn, working as intended.