A representative sequence leading to Mikako Umenai’s first collection. It sharply frames urban scenery and bodily perception, layering the everyday crossing with a young speaker’s loneliness and tense movement toward independence.

At the crossing underfoot, a young emotional solitude and strength rise into view.

A Kadokawa Tanka Prize honorable mention sequence by Noriko Uemura. Taking its seasonal title as a cue, it carries shifting feeling and traces of daily life in the controlled rhythm of tanka.

A spring wind carries the contours of daily life and tremors of feeling.

An honorable mention sequence by Sanae Hirosaka for the Kadokawa Tanka Prize. It hints at the later qualities of her work, turning the tremors of familiar time, school, and daily life into poetry.

In the turbulence of spring, daily time and emotional waves overlap.