This tanka can be read as affirming the positive acceptance of nature’s gifts.
He was a journalist, tanka poet, and former editor of O'ahu's Japanese newspaper Nippu Jiji (later The Hawai'i Times).
Haiku or hokku literally means "starting verse" because it was originally the beginning of an older verse form called the tanka.
The poems, mainly in the 31-syllable, 5-line tanka genre, were written in Chinese characters.
