Masaoka Shiki

was the pen-name of a Japanese author, poet, literary critic, and journalist in Meiji period Japan. His real name was Masaoka Tsunenori (正岡 常規), but as a child he was called Tokoronosuke (処之助). Later, he changed his own name Noboru (升).

Shiki also played baseball in his early days and entered Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Early life

Shiki was born in Matsuyama city in Iyo province (present day Ehime prefecture) to a samurai class family of modest means. His father Tsunenao was a low-ranking official, and his mother Yae was the eldest daughter Ohara Kanzan, a teacher at the clan school. Shiki lost his father when he was five,

Literary career

Shiki was a strong advocate of modernization of Japanese poetry, even coining the terms "haiku" (see Haiku) (replacing hokku) and "tanka" (see Tanka)(replacing waka).

Later life

Shiki suffered from tuberculosis much of his life. In 1889, after coughing up blood, he adopted the pen-name of "Shiki". His illness was severely aggravated by a stint as a war correspondent with the Imperial Japanese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War. Upon return from military service in 1895 he convalesced at Natsume Sōseki's house in Matsuyama, but he realized that he was terminally ill. He continued to write vigorously, but was largely bed-ridden by 1898. He kept a series of journals dated 1901-1902, in which he described his physical deterioration and the progress of his illness in clinical detail. These journals also contain numerous tanka and haiku, which occurred to him while he was writing. He died in Tokyo on 19 September 1902.

Legacy

Shiki is today often credited with single-handedly revitalizing the poetry forms of haiku and tanka. Although his ideas and theories were regarded as revolutionary by his contemporaries, he mostly remained within the bounds of the traditionally established “rules” and formats, unlike his more radical free verse successors. His work has an austerity, and a freshness that remains popular today. He is now regarded as one of the four great masters of haiku, along with Bashō, Buson and Issa.

References

• Janine Beichman, Masaoka Shiki, Kodansha International. 1986 ISBN 0-87011-753-X, Cheng & Tsui Edition 2002 ISBN 0-88727-364-5
• Masaoka Shiki, Masaoka Shiki: Selected Poems, Burton Watson, translator, Columbia University Press © 1997 ISBN 0-231-11090-1 cloth ISBN 0-231-11091-X pbk 120 pp. 144 haiku, 35 tanka, 3 kanshi)
• Masaoka Shiki, Songs from a Bamboo Village: Selected Tanka from Take no Sato Uta, translated by Sanford Goldstein and Seishi Shinoda, Rutland, VA, Charles E. Tuttle Co. © 1998 ISBN 0-8048-2085-6 pbk [488 pp. 298 tanka]

See also

• Haiku
• Japanese poetic diary

External links

• e-texts of Shiki's works (Japanese only) at Aozora bunko
• Selected Poems (haiku and tanka) of Masaoka Shiki, Translated by Janine Beichman at University of Virginia Library Japanese Text Initiative poem translations from 'Masaoka Shiki' by Janine Beichman
• Ehime University site on Masaoka Shiki with photos, poetry
• fan site with bio and poems
• National Diet Library bio and photos