Poetic Musings: Color of Love Tanka by Izumi Shikibu

in this world

love has no color --

yet how deeply

my body

is stained by yours

The Ink Dark Moon, 1990

Izumi Shikibu

Commentary: In this tanka, Izumi Shikibu demonstrates a masterful use of the “tanka twist,” pivoting from a broad philosophical claim to an intimate, embodied realization. 

Ls 1&2, “in this world / love has no color,” present a familiar, almost axiomatic idea of love as universal and abstract, something beyond physical qualities; however, this expectation is immediately unsettled by the turn in L3. The tanka shifts from abstraction to corporeality in Ls 3-5: “yet how deeply / my body / is stained by yours.” The verb “stained” is especially striking. It introduces a sense of permanence and physicality that contradicts the supposed “colorlessness” of love. What was initially framed as pure and intangible becomes something that marks, alters, and lingers on the body.

The movement from the generalized “love” to the specific “my body” gives the tanka its emotional force. “Stained” also carries layered connotations—intimacy, passion, and even a hint of transgression—suggesting that love is not merely an abstract ideal but an experience that leaves tangible, and perhaps irreversible, traces. In this way, the tanka doesn’t simply describe love; it reveals its paradox: though said to be without color, it nevertheless leaves the deepest impressions.