Manga Jouhou's Win before you can buy Contest

[Jason]

The Holiday Season is upon us, so in the spirit of the season we have a holiday contest for you to enter: Manga Jouhou’s Chain Mail – Win It Before You Can Buy It Contest! We have eight copies of Chain Mail, the new Tokyopop novel that will be in stores next year to give away. Here's the synopsis from Tokyopop's site

The premise is simple: four disillusioned Tokyo teenagers who have never met are drawn together by a mysterious chain mail sent to their cell phones. In the tradition of classical Japanese tanka poetry, they each take on a role: the schoolgirl stalked by an older boy, the stalker, the schoolgirl's boyfriend, and the female detective. The further along in the story, the more the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to blur. Written in each character's point of view, Chain Mail carries the reader on a suspenseful adventure juxtaposing teenage angst against a colorful Tokyo backdrop.

Since the story is about tanka, we figured that we should let you express your poetic self and write us some tanka about your favorite manga. The eight best, as selected by the MJ Staff, win!

Don't know what a tanka is? Don't worry; it's not difficult; here's a brief introduction.

Introduction to Tanka

Tanka, also known as waka, is one of the oldest types of Japanese poetry and predates haikus. They are generally believed to be used to capture the feeling of a lyrical moment.

The basic structure of tanka can be noted as such:
A poem with thirty one syllables that are typically divided into five ku in the scheme of 5/7/5/7/7.
The 5-7-5 is called the kami no ku ("upper phrase"), which essentially is what evolved into haiku, while the 7-7 is called the shimo no ku ("lower phrase.")

In ancient Japanese times, tanka played a huge role of social interaction. As you may (or may not) have read from Tales of Genji, instead of speaking directly to each other, it was believed to be more polite to write each other tanka that expresses each other's feeling, after which the poem is then delivered by a servant. Tanka are essentially just poems of friendship or love.

Some examples of modern tankas:

Note that these are translation and the syllables are not translated. The idea is to be expressive about what you feel, delivered through imageries, without being too explicit about it.

Tawara, Machi. [u]Sarada no innebi[/i] Kawade Shobo, 1987. (translation by S. Arntzen)

ochite kita
ame o miagete
sono mama no
katachi de fui ni
kuchibiru ga hoshi

looking up at rain
that has just began to fall
just like that
taking that pose, suddenly
I long for your lips on mine

kimi o matsu
douyoubi nariki
matsu to iu
jikan o tabete
onna wa ikiru

Awaiting you,
finally Saturday
has arrived;
woman live by eating
the time of waiting

An example of a manga related tanka, composed and written in English:

His gun flashes bright
His glasses glint in moonlight
Blood soaks the dry ground
The Vampire lunges out
Alucard ends his false life.

There you have it: a simple poem written in 5/7/5/7/7 that involves manga or your love for manga somehow. Be creative! Be entertaining! Do your best, and send your tanka to me at firedog@manganews.net