Waka did not follow any rules of rhyme, nor line; it was a free style kind of poetry. This can be seen in this example of tanka written by poet Yamanoue no Okura (660 - 733)= = = Amiri Baraka = = =
w ɑ k ə WORD_BOUNDARY d ɪ d n ɑ t WORD_BOUNDARY f ɑ l oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY ɛ n i WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ uː l z WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ aɪ m WORD_BOUNDARY n ɔ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY l aɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ t WORD_BOUNDARY w ʌ z ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY f ɹ iː WORD_BOUNDARY s t aɪ l WORD_BOUNDARY k aɪ n d WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY p oʊ ɪ t ɹ i WORD_BOUNDARY ð ɪ s WORD_BOUNDARY k æ n WORD_BOUNDARY b iː WORD_BOUNDARY s iː n WORD_BOUNDARY ɪ n WORD_BOUNDARY ð ɪ s WORD_BOUNDARY ɛ ɡ z æ m p ə l WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ v WORD_BOUNDARY t æ ŋ k ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ ɪ t ə n WORD_BOUNDARY b aɪ WORD_BOUNDARY p oʊ ɪ t WORD_BOUNDARY j æ m ʌ n aʊ WORD_BOUNDARY n oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY oʊ k j ʊ ɹ ɹ ə WORD_BOUNDARY s ɪ k s h ʌ n d ɹ ɪ d WORD_BOUNDARY s ɪ k s t i WORD_BOUNDARY s ɛ v ə n h ʌ n d ɹ ɪ d WORD_BOUNDARY θ ɜː t i WORD_BOUNDARY θ ɹ iː WORD_BOUNDARY iː k w ə l z WORD_BOUNDARY iː k w ə l z WORD_BOUNDARY iː k w ə l z WORD_BOUNDARY æ m iə ɹ i WORD_BOUNDARY b æ ɹ ɑ k ə WORD_BOUNDARY iː k w ə l z WORD_BOUNDARY iː k w ə l z WORD_BOUNDARY iː k w ə l z WORD_BOUNDARY