tanka
- n a form of Japanese poetry; the 1st and 3rd lines have five syllables and the 2nd, 4th, and 5th have seven syllables
- n a Tibetan religious painting on fabric
- All must be in the requisite tanka form of 31 syllables in lines of five, seven, five, seven and seven syllables.
- Thousands of pilgrims made the climb to view the 138 foot-high portrait, or tanka, which was unveiled in a ceremony to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Buddha.
- Greatest, perhaps, of tanka turners was Kamo Mabuchi (1697-1769), who claimed to be descended from the divine Three-Legged Crow which guided the first Japanese emperor, Jimmu, in .