Masaoka Shiki
Encyclopedia
, pen-name of Masaoka Noboru (正岡 升), was a Japanese poet
Japanese poetry
Japanese poets first encountered Chinese poetry during the Tang Dynasty. It took them several hundred years to digest the foreign impact, make it a part of their culture and merge it with their literary tradition in their mother tongue, and begin to develop the diversity of their native poetry. For...

, author, and literary critic in Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

 Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...

 poetry. He also wrote on reform of tanka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

poetry.

Some consider Shiki to be one of the four great haiku masters, the others being: Matsuo Bashō
Matsuo Basho
, born , then , was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku...

, Yosa Buson
Yosa Buson
was a Japanese poet and painter from the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. Buson was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province...

 and Kobayashi Issa
Kobayashi Issa
, was a Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest of the Jōdo Shinshū sect known for his haiku poems and journals. He is better known as simply , a pen name meaning Cup-of-tea...

.

Early life

Shiki, or rather Tsunenori (常規) as he was originally named, was born in Matsuyama city
Matsuyama, Ehime
is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on the Shikoku island of Japan. It is located on the northeastern portion of the Dōgo Plain. Its name means "pine mountain." The city was founded on December 15, 1889....

 in Iyo province
Iyo Province
was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Ehime Prefecture on Shikoku. Iyo bordered on Awa, Sanuki, and Tosa Provinces. It was sometimes called ....

 (present day Ehime prefecture
Ehime Prefecture
is a prefecture in northwestern Shikoku, Japan. The capital is Matsuyama.-History:Until the Meiji Restoration, Ehime prefecture was known as Iyo Province...

) to a samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

 class family of modest means. As a child, he was called Tokoronosuke (処之助); in adolescence, his name was changed to Noboru (升). His father, Tsunenao, was an alcoholic who died when Shiki was five years of age, but his mother, Yae, was a daughter of Ōhara Kanzan, a Confucian
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

 scholar. Kanzan was the first of Shiki's extra-school tutors, and at the age of 7 the young boy began reading Mencius
Mencius
Mencius was a Chinese philosopher who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself.-Life:Mencius, also known by his birth name Meng Ke or Ko, was born in the State of Zou, now forming the territory of the county-level city of Zoucheng , Shandong province, only thirty kilometres ...

 under his tutelage. Shiki later confessed to being a less-than-diligent student.

At age 15 Shiki became something of a political radical, attaching himself to the then-waning Freedom and People's Rights Movement
Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in 1880s....

 and getting himself banned from public speaking by the principal of Matsuyama Middle School
Matsuyama Higashi High School
is a Japanese high school founded in 1878 as Matsuyama Middle School.-History:The high school was founded as Matsuyama Middle School in 1878. Although the school was founded during the Meiji period, it has earlier roots in the Iyo-Matsuyama Domain's Han school, Kōtokukan, Shūraikan and...

, which he was attending. Around this time he developed an interest in moving to Tokyo and did so in 1883.

Education

The young Shiki first attended his home-town Matsuyama Middle School, where Kisama Jifuku, a leader of the discredited Freedom and People's Rights Movement
Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in 1880s....

, had recently served as principal.

In 1883, a maternal uncle arranged for Shiki to come to Tokyo, and he was first enrolled Kyōritsu Middle School and later matriculated into a university preparatory school (Kōtō Chūgakkō), Daigaku Yobimon. While studying here, the teenage Shiki enjoyed playing baseball and befriended fellow student Natsume Sōseki
Natsume Soseki
, born ', is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period . He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales...

, who would go on to become a famous novelist.

He entered Imperial University
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...

 in 1890. But by 1892 Shiki, by his own account too engrossed in haiku writing, failed his final examinations, left the Hongō
Hongo
Hongō is a district of Tokyo located in Bunkyō-ku, due north of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and west of Ueno. Hongō was a ward of the former city of Tokyo until 1947, when it merged with another ward, Koishikawa, to form the modern Bunkyō....

 dormitory that had been provided to him by a scholarship, and dropped out of college. Others say tuberculosis, an illness that dogged his later life, was the reason he left school.

Literary career

While Shiki is best known as a haiku poet, he also wrote other genres of poetry, prose criticism of poetry, autobiographical prose, and short prose essays. His earliest surviving work is a school essay, Yōken Setsu ("On Western Dogs"), where he praises the varied utility of western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

 dogs as opposed to Japanese ones, which "only help in hunting and scare away burglars".

Contemporary to Shiki was the idea that traditional Japanese poetic short forms, such as the haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...

 and tanka, were waning due to their incongruity in the modern Meiji Period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

. Shiki himself, at times, expressed similar sentiments. There were no great living practitioners although these forms of poetry retained some popularity.

Despite an atmosphere of decline, only a year or so after his 1883 arrival in Tokyo, Shiki began writing haiku. In 1892, the same year he dropped out of university, Shiki published a serialized
Serial (literature)
In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...

 work advocating haiku reform, Dassai Shooku Haiwa or "Talks on Haiku from the Otter's Den". A month after completion of this work, in November 1892, he was offered a position as haiku editor in the paper that had published it, "Nippon", and maintained a close relationship with this journal throughout his life. In 1895 another serial was published in the same paper, "A Text on Haikai for Beginners", Haikai Taiyō. These were followed by other serials: Meiji Nijūkunen no Haikukai or "The Haiku World of 1896" where he praised works by disciples Takahama Kyoshi
Kyoshi Takahama
was a Japanese poet active during the Shōwa period of Japan. His real name was ; Kyoshi was a pen name. He was one of the closest disciples of Masaoka Shiki.-Early life:...

 and Kawahigashi Hekigotō, Haijin Buson or "The Haiku Poet Buson
Yosa Buson
was a Japanese poet and painter from the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. Buson was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province...

" (1896-1897) expressing Shiki's idea of this 18th century poet whom Shiki identifies with his school of haiku, and Utayomi ni Atauru Sho or "Letters to a Tanka Poet" (1898) where he urged reform of the tanka poetry form.

The above work, on the tanka, is an example of Shiki's expanded focus during the last few years of life. He would die four years after taking up tanka as a topic. And, bedsore and morphine-addled, little more than a year before his death Shiki began writing sickbed diaries. These three are: Bokujū Itteki or "A Drop of Ink" (1901), Gyōga Manroku or "Stray Notes While Lying On My Back" (1901-1902), and Byōshō Rokushaku or "A Sixfoot Sickbed" (1902).

Later life

Shiki suffered from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 (TB) much of his life. In 1888 or 1889 he began coughing up blood and soon adopted the pen-name Shiki from the Japanese hototogisu, which is a word usually translated as cuckoo. It is a Japanese conceit that this bird coughs blood as it sings, which explains why the name "Shiki" was adopted.

Already suffering from the early symptoms of TB, Shiki sought work as a war correspondent in the First Sino-Japanese war
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...

 and, while eventually obtaining his goal, he arrived in China after the April 17, 1895, signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki
Treaty of Shimonoseki
The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing Empire of China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. The peace conference took place from March 20 to April 17, 1895...

. Instead of reporting on the war, he spent an unpleasant time harassed by Japanese soldiers in Dalian
Dalian
Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...

, Luangtao, and the Lüshunkou District, meeting on 10 May 1895 the famous novelist Mori Ōgai
Mori Ogai
was a Japanese physician, translator, novelist and poet. is considered his major work.- Early life :Mori was born as Mori Rintarō in Tsuwano, Iwami province . His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain...

, who was at the time an army doctor.

Living in filthy conditions in China apparently worsened his TB. Shiki continued to cough blood throughout his return voyage to Japan and was hospitalized in Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

. After being discharged, he returned to his home town of Matsuyama city
Matsuyama, Ehime
is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on the Shikoku island of Japan. It is located on the northeastern portion of the Dōgo Plain. Its name means "pine mountain." The city was founded on December 15, 1889....

 and convalesced in the home of the famed novelist Natsume Sōseki
Natsume Soseki
, born ', is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji period . He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, Chinese-style poetry, and fairy tales...

. During this time he took on disciples and promulgated a style of haiku that emphasized gaining inspiration from personal experiences of nature. Still in Matsuyama in 1897, a member of this group, Yanigihara Kyokudō, established a haiku magazine, Hototogisu, an allusion to Shiki's pen name. Operation of this magazine was quickly moved to Tokyo. Takahama Kyoshi, another disciple, assumed control and the magazine's scope was extended to include prose work.

Shiki also came to Tokyo, and his group of disciples there were known as the "Nippon school" after the paper of which he had been haiku editor, and which now published the group's work.

Although already bedridden by 1897, Shiki's disease worsened further around 1901. He developed Pott's disease
Pott's disease
Pott's disease is a presentation of extrapulmonary tuberculosis that affects the spine, a kind of tuberculous arthritis of the intervertebral joints...

, and began using morphine as a painkiller. By 1902 he may have been relying heavily on the drug. During this time Shiki wrote three autobiographical works. He died of TB in 1902 at age 35.

Legacy

Shiki may be credited with salvaging traditional short form Japanese poetry and carving a out niche for it in the modern Meiji Period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

. While he advocated reform of haiku, this reform was based on the idea that haiku was a legitimate literary genre. He argued that haiku should be judged by the same yardstick that is used when measuring the value of other forms of literature–something that was contrary to views held by prior poets. Shiki firmly placed haiku in the category of literature, and this was unique.

Some modern haiku are typified by deviating from the traditional use of 5-7-5 sound pattern and dispensing with the kigo
Kigo
is a word or phrase associated with a particular season, used in Japanese poetry. Kigo are used in the collaborative linked-verse forms renga and renku, as well as in haiku, to indicate the season referred to in the stanza...

 ("season word"); Shiki's haiku reform advocated neither break with tradition.

His particular style rejected "the puns or fantasies often relied on by the old school" in favor of "realistic observation of nature". Shiki, like other Meiji Period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

 writers, borrowed a dedication to realism from Western literature, and this is evident in his approach both to haiku and tanka.

Baseball

Shiki also played baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 as a teenager and was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame
The Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a Museum which includes a library, reference rooms and Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame ....

 in 2002. A group of 1898 tanka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

by him mention the sport.

Further reading

  • 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]
  • Masako Hirai, ed. Now, To Be! Shiki’s Haiku Moments for Us Today / Ima, ikiru! Shiki no sekai. U-Time Publishing, 2003, ISBN 4-86010-040-9

See also

  • Haiku
    Haiku
    ' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...

  • Japanese poetic diary
  • Takahama Kyoshi
  • Shiki Memorial Museum
    Shiki Memorial Museum
    The Matsuyama City is a museum devoted mainly to the life and work of Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki, who was born and raised in Matsuyama.Shiki is widely considered to be the most important figure in the modernization of the Japanese haiku and tanka poetry. The museum also includes exhibits about...

  • Samukawa Sokotsu
    Sokotsu Samukawa
    was a Haiku poet in Japan during the Meiji period. Sokotsu was a pen name and his real name was .- Life :Samukawa was born in Matsuyama on November 3, 1875. He became a student at Daisan Kōtō gakkō in 1894. Samukawa met Kawahigashi Hekigotō and Takahama Kyoshi at this school. He fell under their...


External links

e-texts of Shiki's works (Japanese only) at Aozora bunko
Aozora Bunko
Aozora Bunko is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available....

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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