{"id":230274,"date":"2016-06-20T06:06:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-19T20:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=230274"},"modified":"2016-06-20T06:06:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-19T20:06:59","slug":"uog-professor-inoue-smith-receives-award-tanka-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/uog-professor-inoue-smith-receives-award-tanka-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"UOG professor Inoue-Smith receives award for tanka poem"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_230275\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-230275\" style=\"width: 203px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Tanka-pix-Inoue-Smith.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-230275\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Tanka-pix-Inoue-Smith-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Yukiko Inoue-Smith\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-230275\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-230275\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yukiko Inoue-Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>University of Guam School of Education professor of Foundations, Educational Research and Human Services Dr. Yukiko Inoue-Smith recently received the Certificate of Merit for a poem she submitted to the 8th International Tanka Festival 2016. <\/p>\n<p>The Festival, held in Karuizawa, Japan from June 4 to 6, 2016, brought together nearly 300 people from around the world who appreciate and write tanka, an ancient style of Japanese poetry that requires the writer to develop a five-line lyric poem utilizing as few words as possible. In the Japanese language, the poem should consist of 31 syllables in one line.<\/p>\n<p>Out of 300 total entries submitted, Inoue-Smith\u2019s poem was one of 13 to receive the Certificate of Merit\u2014the event\u2019s highest award. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWriting poetry is my religion,\u201d Inoue-Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s a way of life.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Aya Yuhki, one of the panel judges for the competition, commented that Inoue-Smith\u2019s poem \u201cexcellently expressed her feeling\u201d [of loneliness] arising in a moment of change and over the course of many years, skillfully using the tanka form to record both \u201can instant inspiration\u201d and \u201cemotion spanning\u2026half one\u2019s life.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Inoue-Smith has published nine poetry books, the latest titled \u201cThe Shape of Love,\u201d which expresses her innermost thoughts and feelings about her life.<\/p>\n<p>Inoue-Smith started writing poetry during her undergraduate studies and has developed her tanka writing skills over the years\u2014exploring topics of struggle and loneliness to document her life\u2019s journey of learning to adapt in a new country. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a part of my life, I struggled, but I was constantly making efforts to improve,\u201d she said. \u201cImprovement is the key to surviving.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Inoue-Smith said she enjoys the tanka because it forces the author to be meticulous in word choice and succinct, which creates a greater impact for the reader. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s short and to the point,\u201d she said. \u201cIt takes time, but I enjoy the challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Read the poem below. <\/p>\n<p>Rain brings the color<br \/>\nOf pearls to foreign skies\u2014<br \/>\nI have lived hard here<br \/>\nUsing loneliness<br \/>\nAs food for the spirit<\/p>\n<p>(Japanese translation)<br \/>\n\u771f\u73e0\u8272\u306e<br \/>\n\u96e8\u306e\u964d\u308b\u306a\u308a<br \/>\n\u5bc2\u3057\u3055\u3092<br \/>\n\u7ce7\u3068\u3044\u305d\u3057\u307f\u3057<br \/>\n\u5916\u3064\u56fd\u306e\u5730\u306b <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University of Guam School of Education professor of Foundations, Educational Research and Human Services Dr&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":230275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12111,12112,21,445],"class_list":["post-230274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-aya-yuhki","tag-international-tanka-festival","tag-life","tag-uog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}