Masaoka Shiki

Masaoka Shiki (正岡子規) was the pen-name of a Japanese author, poet, literary critic, and journalist in Meiji period Japan. His real name was Masaoka Tsunenori,, but as a child he was called Noboru.

Early life
Masaoka 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. Masaoka lost his father when he was five, and was educated in the Chinese classics by the strict, conservative Kanzan. He was also influenced by his uncle, Kato Takusen, who later served as a diplomat and the mayor of Matsuyama

In 1883, Masaoka, inspired by the Freedom and People's Rights Movement traveled to Tokyo, intending to study philosophy or politics in anticipation of a political career. Masaoka attended the Japanese language department of Tokyo Imperial University with Natsume Sōseki and Akiyama Saneyuki. However, he became fascinated with literature and eventually forfeited a scholarship by dropping out in 1892 to work as a columnist for the newspaper company Nippon.

Literary career
Masaoka was a strong advocate of modernization of Japanese poetry, even coining the terms "haiku" (replacing hokku) and "tanka" (replacing waka). Using Nippon as his forum, Masaoka published a series of articles attacking existing poetry as sterile, imitative and limited in subject matter and approach. He was especially vehement in his criticism of the works of Matsuo Bashō, the revered and accomplished haiku poet who was regarded at the time as the supreme model for Japanese verse in his article Bashō Zatsudan ("Miscellanies about Bashō"). On the other hand, Masaoka extolled the yet-known Yosa Buson for his technically refined and concise verse without the explanatory prosaic elements Bashō was noted for.

Masaoka advocated freedom of subject matter and dictation, and strongly stressed the use of realism in haiku, which was the single most significant break from the then conventional forms. He termed this technique shasei (写生派, sketching from life). One of Masaoka's disciples was Takahama Kyoshi, who later became one of the most influential poets of the late Meiji period. The haiku literary magazine, Hototogisu ("Nightingale"), which Masaoka helped found, was also one of the most influential literary magazines of the Meiji and Taisho periods.



From 1898, Masaoka then turned his attention to tanka in a series of newspaper articles. The stagnation and the weight of tradition were even heavier on this form of courtly poetry than they were on haiku. Masaoka published scathing criticisms of the imperial anthologies Kokinshu (c.905) and Shin Kokinshu in a serial called "Utayomi ni atauru sho" (A Book Bestowed on Composers of Poems). He strongly advocated a return to the vigorous tone, artlessness and directness of the ancient 8th century Man'yōshū. He also led a revaluation of the works of Minamoto no Sanetomo, the third Shogun of Kamakura Shogunate.

Masaoka established a literary circle called the Negishi Tanka Society to promote his ideas on the development of the tanka format. One of its members was Ito Sachio, who continued in Masaoka's efforts after his death.

Later life
Masaoka suffered from tuberculosis much of his life. In 1889, after coughing up blood, he adopted the pen-name of "Shiki", which he wrote in the same kanji used to write hototogisu, a bird in Chinese legend which sang until it coughed blood. 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 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
Masaoka 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.