Brief history and description
Haiku poet, tanka poet and essayist. Born in Matsuyama City, Aichi Prefecture. His real name was Tsunenori. Brought about the practical reform of haiku and tanka poetry, and had an enormous influence on Japan’s modern-day literature. His representative works include haiku critique Haikai Taiyo, tanka critique Utayomi ni Ataurusho, and essays Bokuju Itteki, etc.
Relationship with Yaichi
Yaichi had great respect for Shiki from his youth. He visited Shiki’s hermitages in Negishi, Tokyo and introduced him to Ryokan’s poetry.
Comment by Yaichi
I have had many opportunities to come into contact with the poems composed by Masaoka Shiki, and I was immediately floored by the style of writing he expressed, and it was this that encouraged me to start composing lyrical haiku. (Quoted from the afterword in Rokumeishu.)
Related works
“Akatsuki no okinosusamini, fude torite egakishi hana no aiusukariki” (By Masaoka Shiki, Niigata City Aizu Yaichi Memorial Museum archives)
The booklet of poems given to Yaichi when he visited Shiki’s hermitage in Negishi in June 1900. Yaichi wrote about the occurrences of that time in the afterword of his poetry collection Rokumeishu.
