Tanka, also known as Waka, were the traditional short poems and songs in Rokugan. They were written in short lines with thirty-one syllables following a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern. The more modern form of poetry called renga was based on the same syllabic pattern as waka, and haiku as well, a development of the first three lines of the tanka, known as the hokku.