Akiko reshaped the tanka, the most popular form of Japanese poetry for 1,200 years, into a modern poetic form. In this new work, her tanka appear in their original Japanese, in roman transliterations, and English translations along with a new preface and notes. Suitable for literature programs and translation courses.

    Each of the tanka has the original kanji version, a romaji version and the English so readers in both languages can appreciate the depth of Yosano's poetry. One of the reasons these 399 tanka have not been translated before is the difficulty of discovering the ambiguity in the poems. Machiko Kobayashi, a professional translator with a degree in English Literature has teamed up Jane Reichhold, a tanka poet and translator of six books from the Japanese. Introduction to the book is written by Aya Yuhki, editor of The Tanka Journal in Tokyo.