http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/329.html
|
About Masaoka Shiki Masaoka Shiki was a very important poet and although his life was short lived it was a great one. He was born on October 14, 1867 in Matsuyama. He was born into a Samurai family but sent to study in Tokyo in 1883 and started poetry in 1885. “Shiki was inspired by the Freedom and People's Right Movement and in when he went to Tokyo to become a politician, while studying at the Imperial University, his interest in politics and philosophy gave way to a growing fascination with literature.”
Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis later in his life and had to die a premature death because of it. However, although this was an unfortunate circumstance, he often wrote poems on his illness however they were completely void of any emotion and self-pity. |
Poetic acheivements |
Masaoka Shiki is often viewed as the man who reformed the art of Hokku and Haikai into modern day Haiku. He was considered to be both a “poet, essayist, and critic who revived the haiku and tanka, traditional Japanese poetic forms.” His personal style of poetry was very realistic and reserved but it also addressed the issue to modernize and reform this poetic form. His belief is that poets should create poems that are honest and contemporary and "introduced the word shasei (delineation from nature) to describe his theory." Although he had a brief life, his ideas of Shasei and the sketch from life principal greatly changed the history of haiku and reformed it into what it is today.
|
Shiki's Work |
Scatter layer I turn my back a hollyhock by layer, eight-layered on Buddha and face shot up to meet cherry blossoms! the cool moon the summer solstice |