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Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)
SHIKI: The Discovery
of Haiku
Source:
http://shiki.toward.co.jp/~kim/masaoka1.html
In
1868 Japan launched into a civilized society from the feudal age. Western culture
had a great effect on it and civilization rapidly developed modern culture.
In the previous year 1867, Masaoka Shiki was born in Matsuyama. His father served
the Matsuyama domain in the lower rank of samurai. Shiki lived to be 35 years
old and died of tuberculosis of spine in 1902. In his last seven years, he had
to be confined to his bed; however, during that time he accomplished three of
his great works on modern literature: Haiku Reform, Tanka reform, Advocating Sketch-from-Life-Prose.
1. Shiki's Discovery of Literature
When Shiki was in the fifth grade he composed a Chinese poem.
Under
the moonlight, cuckoo cried as if it coughed up blood.
The sad voice kept
me waking up,
the cry reminded me of my old home town far away.
(It
is said that a Japanese cuckoo, hototogisu , Žq‹K (Shiki) will sing
until it coughs out blood because of its sad voice.)
In those days Chinese
poetry and prose were considered as important learning and culture, so even young
children used to compose them. The interesting thing about this young Shiki's
Chinese poem is that he composed on a sad voice of cuckoo which would cough up
blood. Later he was to cough out blood and he picked out his pen name, Žq‹K
(Shiki) a hototogisu. Shiki wrote about 900 Chinese poems in his life.
At
the age of 15, Shiki began to composed tanka with 31 Japanese letters of 5-7-5-7-7
syllables. He composed about 2300 tanka in his life.
2. Interest in Haiku
When
he was 18, he became interested in short poems with 15 syllable,haiku, written
on portraits. And he liked drawing by nature. He found something in common between
drawing and literature when he was 11 years old. The sense of observation helped
his sense of appreciation for the haiku on portraits.
Besides, drawing flowers
and things around him later became one of his indispensable remedies for his bedridden
life.
When he was a college student in Tokyo he sometimes enjoyed word games
with his friends. He also like baseball very much. He is said to have introduced
baseball to Matsuyama. One of his pen names was '-e‹…',baseball. In
this pen name he used a complex bilingual pun. The kanji -e‹… literally
means field ball and 'field ball' can be translated into 'no boru' in Japanese.
Shiki was called Noboru in his infancy. Noboru was the name by which Shiki's friends
and family loved him. In his youth Shiki believed word play was the wit of literature.
He once composed a haiku on '-Ý,a green herb rice cake.
green
in the field
was pounded into
rice cake
'-Ý
a green herb rice cake is made of rice pounded in a mortar with steamed leaves
of mugworts. The expression ' green in the field is pound into rice cake' was
interesting, but overuses the images.
When he was 22, he coughed out blood.
He changed his name to Shiki,which is an another name for the bird a Japanese
cuckoo 'hototogisu'. Since those days, he was inspired by his uncle, haiku teacher
Ohara Kiju. He began to devote himself into haiku. Shiki composed over 25,500
haiku in his short life. After Ohara Kiju passed away, he began to classify old
haiku according to season words. At that time there were several ways of using
season words and they were different according to writers. For instance, there
were many kinds of 'tofu' : cold tofu, yu-dofu (a simmered hot water tofu), etc.
So he began to consider what season each word should express.
3. Haiku as a Sketch of Life
When he was 24, he had 3 day walk around Musashino ( fields around present Warabi-shi and Kumagawa-shi in Saitama Prefecture where there used to be lots of rice paddy fields and forests.) at the end of the year 1891, when he realized that word play would not enough to express the truth and that we should write things as they are. He had an open-eye to haiku for the first time. He composed:
cold
winter blast
a cord of a sedge hat
cut into my neck
the
sun set behind
a traveling monk
tall in the withered field
Next year in 1892 he went to a hill ,Takao-san in the western suburbs of Tokyo and composed the following haiku:
wheat
sowing
the mulberry trees
lift bunched branches
pine
and cypress
in a desolate filed
a Fudodo shrine
He wrote a simple haiku from a simple common sight. This was a new experiment and discovery of new material and vision. Then he composed another sketch haiku in 1894.
locusts
fly low
over rice paddies
in the dim sun ray
red
dragon fly
in the sky of Tsukuba
no cloud
The former haiku has a very close eye to the insects and the latter one expresses a very spacy field with a dragon fly focused.
4. Shiki in Matsuyama
At the age of 28 he returned to Matsuyama and spent over 50 days recuperating from tuberculosis with Soseki Natsume, one of his best friends and a very famous author. Soseki was in Matsuyama as a teacher of English at Matsuyama Middle School. Soseki was living at Gudabutsuan <gudabutsuan.html>, where many Shiki's friends visited. Soseki and town people were quite inspired with Shiki's new type haiku. They gathered around him every night to hold haiku meetings. They also enjoyed writing haiku while taking a walk. Shiki composed this haiku when they paid a visit to Ishite Temple, the 51st pilgrimage temple.
looking
up
what a high pagoda
in the autumn sky
This
haiku just has a right direct expression of the great three storied pagoda, soaring
to the clear autumn sky.
At Hojoji Temple,where Buddhism Ji-sect founder
Saint Ippen was born, he composed:
a
gay quarter
just ten steps away
autumn breeze
Just
near the temple there used to be a gay quarter.
Also he composed another
haiku at Dogo Hot Spring from the building of Dogo hot spring spa, which is very
near the temple.
by
persimmon trees
surrounded
hot spring
From the 3rd floor of the main building of Dogo hot spring spa, we see the castle to the west, rice paddies beyond and hot spring quarters, where each house had persimmon trees in the yard. They were astringent persimmons. We remove the astringency of persimmons with low-class distilled spirits, 'shochu'. We spray 'shochu' over them until they become sweet, Shiki loved this sweetened persimmons very much. As for his haiku appreciation, that haiku describes only visible scene, and to tell the truth, we may say it is not so good a haiku. Shiki could have eaten up 15 or 16 of the sweetened persimmons at one time. So persimmon trees might have attracted Shiki.
5. Haiku Reform
Through
his haiku exercise, he studied how to improve haiku and wrote a theoretical text
on haiku literature, 'Haiku Taiyo', The Element of Haiku.
At this time haiku
was considered to be a low rank literature. It used to be composed in the hangout
of the barbers or rikisha-men. But Shiki's 'Haiku Taiyo' inspired people and they
began to think better of haiku.
Shiki composed more haiku:
water
plant blossoms
still white
autumn wind
I
wonder
a cow has eaten up the leaves
a spider lily
Matsuyama
Castle
lifted over the mats
of rice fields
In
the traditional Japanese literature, people used to attach much importance to
'yugen' and 'wabi'. 'Yugen' is the subtle and profound quiet beauty and 'wabi'
is quiet refinement. These concepts are based on imagination. But Shiki made much
use of realism as a methodology and also hit upon an idea of sketch, a technique
of drawing and then proposed the philosopher Hegel's theory of "Aufheben",
Sublimation as a true literature. He thought of how to use the selection of combination
with realism. He advocated 'the 3rd literature; Non imaginary and non realistic
literature'.
On his way to Tokyo, he dropped in at Nara, and composed the
best known haiku.
I
bite a persimmon
the bell tolls
Horyu-ji Temple
Shortly after, he suffered much agonized pain and had to be confined to his sick bed for seven years. Although he was a newspaper correspondent at Nihon Shinbun newspaper company, he could not get to work. During that painful period in bed, he initiated his haiku and tanka reform.
6. Some Interesting Haiku
Let's appreciate some of his interesting haiku:
Title:
Cat's Love
My cat Choma
waiting for neighbor's cat Tama
at night.
This haiku is humorous and it contains the real cats' names 'Choma' and 'Tama'.
many
a time
asking the height of
the snow
Since there was not so much snow in Matsuyama, Shiki might have been interested in the snow and he was curious about snow like a child. He kept such innocent spirit of a child.
an
infant
steps on the green grass
barefoot
This green grass haiku evokes us of the touch of the child's barefoot on the green grass.
at
this time
morning glories fix the color
deep blue
The summer is advancing and the color of the morning glories has become most blue.
I
eat green apples
facing to peonies
I will die
In
this peony haiku, both 'green apples' and 'peony' are summer season words. It
is usually said we should not use two season words because the haiku will be out
of focus with two images. But this haiku is beautiful and it describes Shiki's
character very well. Shiki liked fruit very much. When he wrote the haiku, he
had eaten apples to his heart content, thinking of the famous traditional haiku
master Buson, who composed famous beautiful haiku on peonies. Also Shiki believed
Buson was the greatest haiku poet that people should follow his way.
Shiki's
characteristic realism is not such realism as observing things merely objectively
but a value of realism appreciating the objects profoundly and reaching a mental
state of accepting just as they are, a state of simplicity.
7. Shiki's Curiosity and Humor
At the age of 34, his friend bought a new record player and they listened to Western Laughing Songs. In no time Shiki composed a humorous poem.
crows
come flying
scatter their dropping
on a man Gonbe, on the head,
a-ha-ha! a-ha-ha! a-ha-ha! . . . . (in 1901)
In
spite of his pain, he still seems to have had such sense of humor. Everyday he
had high fever. He was thirsty. Then he composed:
(in 1901)
full
of spring
rotten oranges
how sweet!
He
still devoted himself to eating fruit. Writing and eating were only his pleasure
in his sick bed. He submitted his article to the newspaper every day.
He was
tortured by pain, but when morphine could mask the main, he enjoyed painting.
While the death is closing to Shiki, he composed a haiku on a cicada.
a
late summer cicada
at the top of his voice
chirping, and chirping .
. . . . . .
The image of the life of the cicada overlaps his fate close to death.
8. Deathbed Haiku
On the morning of September, with the assistance of Hekigoto, one of his successor who was nursing him and his sister Ritsu, he wrote down three final haiku <http://cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~shiki/kim/newlast3haiku.html>.
sponge
gourd has bloomed
choked by phlegm
a departed soul
Sponge gourd vine juice was used to relieve coughing, but it could no longer help Shiki. Death came at one o'clock the following morning. Even sponge gourd, which is not so elegant, became the theme of his haiku. He found the poetic taste in it and took himself for a hotoke buddha (a departed soul).
----------- based on a talk given by Prof. Shigeki Wada, former curator of the Shiki Memorial Museum, for the EPIC 'Hand's On' project.
************
----------------------------------------------------------
The Poetry of Shiki
On how to sing
the frog school and the skylark school
are arguing.
A
spring day
A long line of footprints
On the sandy beach.
Double
cherry blossoms
Flutter in the wind
One petal after another.
At the gate
Under the oak the shoots
So luxuriant.
Oppressive
heat --
My whirling mind
Listens to the peals of thunder.
The
wild geese take flight
Low along the railroad tracks
In the moonlight
night
The snake gourd blossoms.
My throat blocked with phlegm,
I am already
a Buddha.
-------------------------------------------
I
can see the stones
On the bottom fluctuate
Through the clear water.
Frozen
in the ice
A maple leaf.
Shitting
in the winter turnip field
The distant lights of the city.
-------------------------------------------
the
pear blossoming...
after the battle this
ruined house
------------------------------------------
rowing through
out of the mist
the wide sea
------------------------------------------
Smoke whirls
After the passage of a train.
Young foliage.
------------------------------------------
Source:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/shiki/beichman/BeiShik.utf8.html
In
the coolness
of the empty sixth-month sky...
the cuckoo's cry.
the
tree cut,
dawn breaks early
at my little window
scatter
layer
by layer, eight-layered
cherry blossoms!
at
the full moon's
rising, the silver-plumed
reeds tremble
entangled
with
the scattering cherry blossoms-
the wings of birds!
wheat
sowing-
the mulberry trees
lift bunched branches
pine
and cypress:
in a withered field,
a shrine to Fudo
in
the coolness
gods and Buddhas
dwell as neighbors
I
turn my back
on Buddha and face
the cool moon
looking
down I see,
cool in the moonlight,
4000 houses
the
moon is cool-
frogs' croaking
wells up
coolness-
a mountain stream splashes out
between houses
fanning
out its tail
in the spring breeze,
see-a peacock!
Horyuji
I bite into a persimmon
and a bell resounds-
Horyuji
rice
flowers-
fair weather on
Dokanyama
rice
reaping-
no smoke rising from
the cremation ground today
old
garden-she empties
a hot-water bottle
under the moon
"Before
the Garden"
cockscombs...
must be 14,
or 15
again
and again
I ask how high
the snow is
snow's
falling!
I see it through a hole
in the shutter...
all
I can think of
is being sick in bed
and snowbound...
open
the shutter!
I'll just have a look
at Ueno's snow!
spring
rain:
browsing under an umbrella
at the picture-book store
the
nettle nuts are falling...
the little girls next door
don't visit me
these days
it's
drizzling...
devil's tongue, cold on
my belly button
getting
a shave!
on a day when Ueno's bell
is blurred by haze...
"Sick
in Bed Ten Years"
lifting my head,
I look now and then-
the garden clover
how
much longer
is my life?
a brief night...
the
peony seems
to think itself Yokihi
as she awakes
wisteria
plumes
sweep the earth, and soon
the rains will fall
purple
unto
blackness:
grapes!
I
thought I felt
a dewdrop on me
as I lay in bed
crimson
plum blossoms
scattered over the loneliness
of the bed...
fallen
petals of
the crimson plum I pluck
from the tatami
the
gourd flowers bloom,
but look-here lies
a phlegm-stuffed Buddha!
a
quart of phlegm-
even gourd water
couldn't mop it up
they
didn't gather
gourd water
day before yesterday either
a
jumble of
flowers planted-
see, the little garden!
hey!-even
snake gourds
become Buddhas-
don't get caught behind!
Buddha-death:
the moonflower's face,
the snake gourd's fart
the
wallet
by the bed is my
autumn brocade
chestnut
rice-
though a sick man,
still a glutton
I
sink my teeth
into a ripe persimmon-
it dribbles down my beard
surprise!
a moonflower fell-
midnight sound
-------------------------------------------
http://members.aol.com/markabird/shiki.html
The desolation of winter;
passing through a small hamlet,
a dog barks.
Evening
snow falling,
a pair of mandarin ducks
on an ancient lake.
Now
and again
it turns to hail;
the wind is strong.
With
a bull on board,
the ferry boat,
through the winter rain.
A
stray cat
excreting
in the winter garden.
Only
the gate
of the abbey is left,
on the winter moor.
------------------------------------------
aiming
at
deutzia blossoms
little cuckoo
spring
breeze
show off the castle
above the pine tree
-------------------------------------------
By
the ruined mansion,
Fowls roaming
Among the hibiscus
The
dead body
Of a trodden-on crab,
This autumn morning
Fallen
leaves
Come flying from elsewhere:
Autumn is ending.
Having
felled
A pasania tree,-
the sky of autumn.
-------------------------------------------
I
want to sleep
Swat the flies
Softly, please.
After
killing
a spider, how lonely I feel
in the cold of night!
For
love and for hate
I swat a fly and offer it
to an ant.
A
mountain village
under the pilled-up snow
the sound of water.
Night;
and once again,
the while I wait for you, cold wind
turns into rain.
The
summer river:
although there is a bridge, my horse
goes through the water.
A
lightning flash:
between the forest trees
I have seen water.
-------------------------------------------
Shiki Masaoka appeared in the haiku world as the critic to Basho Matsuo. Shiki criticized Basho's famous haikus in his criticism "Basho Zatsudan" (Miscellanies about Basho). He didn't deny Basho's all works, but he reproached his hokkus for lack of poetic purity and for having explanatory prosaic elements.
On the other hand, he extolled Buson Yosa who had been unrecognized yet. He thought that Buson's haikus are technically refined and they transmit efficiently clear impressions to readers.
After the discovery of the Western philosophy, Shiki convinced that laconic descriptions of things were effective for literary and pictorial expression. He insisted on the importance of "shasei" (sketching). This idea led his haikus to the visual description and to the concise style.
The haiku innovation by Shiki created a great sensation in the whole of Japan and revived the languishing haiku world.
The
tepid rain falls
On the bare thorn.
Thawed out pond.
A shrimp moves
Among old algae.
The cannon rolls its rumble.
Leaf buds of a tree.
How cool it is!
A small crab, in the rain,
Climbs on a pine.
Lotus leaves in the pond
Ride on water.
Rain in June.
Smoke whirls
After the passage of a train.
Young foliage.
The storm
During half-day
Has broken the stem of mallow.
We cannot see even the moon.
And rise big waves.
Above a hollow of rock
An ivy hangs.
One small temple.
The luffa flowered.
I am a soul
Choked with phlegm.
Shiki denied
the value of haikai-renga and always used the word "haiku" instead of
" haikai" or " hokku ". Today, haikai-renga is called "renku",
but few specialists are interested in this poetic form.
-------------------------------------------
Shiki'
Last Writing
http://www.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~shiki/kim/newlast3haiku.html
Because
of a debilitating disease Masaoka Shiki had to be confined to his bed for almost
7 years until he passed away. Despite the pain, he continued writing poems while
lying on his back. When Shiki came near to death, one of his disciples, Hekigoto
was at Shiki's bedside. Hekigoto wrote about how Shiki wrote his final three haiku
as follows.
It was around 10 o'clock on the morning of September 18.
I dipped his old writing brush ,whose stem and brush were both thin, full of ink
and had him hold it in his right hand.
Then quite abruptly in the center
of the paper Shiki began to write readily "sponge gourd has bloomed "
, and a little below that phrase, he again moved his brush in a breath "choked
by phlegm"
I was a little curious what he was going to write next and
was watching the paper closely, then at last he wrote "a departed soul",
which bit into my heart.
Hekigoto was very touched when Shiki began to write
the poem. Shiki was so weak, and desperately coughing, but he still had a determination
to write these haiku.
sponge
gourd has bloomed
choked
by phlegm
a
departed soul
gallons
of phlegm
even
the gourd water
couldn't
clear it up
the
gourd water
of
the night before yesterday
they
didn't get it either
-------------------------------------------
Spring
Spring
frost
dancing
in the air
a
shimmer of heat
a
cock crows
at
the foot of the small Mt. Fuji
peach
blossoms
my
hometown
many
cousins-
peach
blossoms
at
the root
of a pine tree
light lavender violet
moon
at twilight,
a cluster of petals falling
from the cherry tree
an
iris
whiter at twilight
My hometown
My
hometown
wherever
I look
mountains
laugh with vendure
a
fancy-free cat
is
about to catch
a
quail
perching
on a mud wall
in
the spring rain
a
crow
spring
breeze
show
off the castle
above
the pine tree
Mountains
in spring
overlapping each other
all round
cherry
blossom petals
blown by the spring breeze
against the undried wall
blooming
azaleas
in a hollow on a cliff
a Buddha stands
Summer
aiming
at
deutzia blossoms
little cuckoo
Mountains
are
yellow
green, pale yellow-
a
cuckoo cries
castle
hill
high
above
breezy
green
at
the front gate
dropping
their heads
lilies
blooming
through
a growth of weeds
runs
an open path
baseball
diamond
It's
a boy
after
five daughters
carp
streamers
two
rainbows
have risen over
the green paddy field
stillness
- -
fireflies
are glowing over
deep
water
summer
storm
white
paper on the desk
all
flies away
In Japan summer storm can be described as a green wind, because all trees in summer are full of green leaves. In this haiku, the color contrast of green and white paper gives a very sharp and clear and refreshing feeling.
leaving
me
something
on my chest
tears
on my mosquito net
my
remaining days
are
numbered
a
brief night
pruning
a rose
sound of the scissors
on a bright May day
a
yellow green spider
crawling
on
a
red rose
a
snail
luring
rain clouds
with
feeler tips
my
hometown
parents
are well
taste
of sushi
relieved
of a burden
in
the everyday life
an
afternoon nap
a
hollyhock
shot
up to meet
the
summer solstice
summer
mountain
all creatures are green
a red bridge
The
singing stopped
a
flying cicada
I
saw it!
loneliness
after the fireworks
stars' shooting
an
evening breeze
white rose petals are
all ruggled
one
spoonful
of ice cream brings me
back to life
biting
into a bitter weed
alone I bear
my feelings
Ten
year's sweat
washed
away
back
at Dogo Onsen
at
nightfall
a sunner moon, white --
on the white sail
hydrangeas
pale blue in the rain
blue in the moonlight
hydrangeas
---
rain
splashing upon
the crumbling walls
an
old pond-
floating upside down
a cicada's shell
Autumn
Locusts
fly low
over
the levee
in
the fading sunshine
Autumn
wind -
met,
returning alive
you
and me
Matsuyama
castle
the
keep is higher than
the
autumn sky
clouds're
running past
running
after clouds
the
Storm Day
autumn
is leaving
tugging
each others' branches
two
pine trees
on
a stormy night
while
reading a letter
wavering
mind
almost
black
deepening
purple
ripe
grapes
with
advancing autumn
I
am without gods
without
Buddha
I
am going
you're
staying
two
autumns for us
my
fate,
a
fortune tells
-
autumn wind
peeling
a pear
sweet
drops dripping
along
the knife edge
hometown
-
festivals
are over
flavorful
persimmons
lights
far
way, through
leaves
of dense autumnal tints
the
buight moon
something in my breast
I am alone
the
bright moon
I wonder where the clouds
are flying off to
following
clouds torn apart
autumn wind
morning
coolness
purple clouds are
vanishing
the
setting sun
remains on the mountain
castle flowering rice
crimson
sunset
even through clouds
vernal equinox
looking
through
three thousand haiku eating
two persimmons
sounds
of a temple bell
reverberate
in a circle
a
long night
a
dog howling
sound of footsteps
longer nights
Winter
two
or three rocks
strewn
about
dried
up field
winter
camellia
I
wish I could offer it
to
the sooty Buddha
coldness
looking
down from above
Matsuyama
Castle
splitting
wood
my
sister alone -
wintering
behind
the stand
of winter trees
a red sunset
just
outside the gate
the road slopes downward
winter trees
It
is cold, but
we have sake
and the hot spring
* * *
New
Year's greetings
with
a plum branch
in
hand
the
sky draws near
such
a bright sunrise
New
Year's Day
New
Year's Day
has
come -
quiet
streets
The
year begins
on New Year's day
our life is Now
the
stars vanished
and then --
five-colored New Year's mist
-------------------------------------------
Facing
away from me
Darning old tabi –
My wife.
When
the loofah bloomed
He choked on phlegm
And died.
-------------------------------------------
Devotion
to the Great Saint,
the temple of Ishite...
rice plants abloom.
(Alas
my) fortune;
drawing divine lots,
the aurumn wind.
-------------------------------------------
2001 Shiki Haiku Calendar
New
Year's decoration –
the table with my inkstone
becomes narrow
(1898)
Moon
and plum blossoms:
night after night
thea come closer
(1893)
Weary
of reading
I go out into a field
a hazy field
(1897)
The
Great Buddha
sinking in its whiteness:
cherry blossom cloud
(1897)
Full
sail, reefed sail
how far do you go?
fresh summer gale
(1891)
May
rain
falls as if falling
into a sleep
(1896)
One
by one
letting the cool breeze through:
finger holes of the flute
(1893)
Asleep
in a boat
I lie side by side with it:
the River of Heaven
(1894)
Pain
from coughing
the long night's lamp flame
small as a pea
(1897)
Oh,
autumn
in the boundless world!
its traces
(1893)
A
light
newly lit –
first winter srizzle
(1892)
My
heart
withering in winter
only the hokku...
(1896)
-------------------------------------------
One
fell,-
two fell,-
camellias.
Spring
rain;
holding an umbrella, and looking
at the picture books in the shop.
On
the sandy beach,
footprints:
long is the spring day.
A
hundred labourers
digging earth:
the long day.
One
canary escaped:
the spring day
is at its end.
A
willow;
and two or three cows
waiting for the boat.
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SHIKI
(1867-1902)
Translated
by Lucien Stryk
- Extracts from CAGE OF FIREFLIES, published by Swallow Press,
1993 -
White
butterfly
darting among pinks -
whose spirit?
Indian
summer:
dragonfly shadows seldom
brush the window.
Aged
nightingale -
how sweet
the cuckoo's cry.
Wicker
chair
in pinetree's shade,
forsaken.
Stone
on summer plain -
world's seat.
Summer
sky
clear after rain -
ants on parade
Imagine
-
the monk took off
before the moon shone.
Thing
long forgotten -
pot where a flower blooms,
this spring day
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Haiku Monuments of Masaoka Shiki
"It is a long time Since I saw the tree of Hyon Covered with very thick leaves"
"Greeting a Happy New Year A bush warbler just starts to chirp The Hototogisu was first published"
"In Shinbasho noted for paper Waterrails chirp every time, the sound of Pounding in a mortar pause"
"Getting cold in the morning My voice of "Hello!" sounded right through The hall of inner entrance"
"A bright moon threw light over The tiled roof on the second floor of this annex of temple"
"The member of fifteen men A priest and laymen are composing Haiku The ume blossoms are arranged"
"The ball failed to hit have been in Catcher's mitt and the runner cant't advance"
"Players filled the three bases just now, I feel uneasy in spite of myself"
"I'll go all by myself Parting from the members of eleven In this evening late in autumn"
"Snow is just falling now White cat on the ridge of roof Is apprehensive about a roar"
"I've had a busy time Souseki and Kyoshi came to see me Just on New Year's Eve"
"I feel that the man Who had been called Rokudo match well With the season of autumn"
"A bush warbler was singing Chikara would be just seventeen years old If he would be alive"
"The ear of chestnut tree Don't hit at the very part of The stone of this grave"
"In a foreign country, I remember that I had picked up horsetails in the field of my home country"
"The weather just clean up So as to let my mother view" Mt. Fuji covered with snow"
"The beggar at the year-end Have parted right and left each other At the crossing of Fuda"
"Hundreds of the stone steps It looks as if people go up Into the clear autumn sky"
"In mild day in spring I can see the road of Matsunawa That have twisted a little"
"Turning to the back street I just can see a number of Blue reed screen in Kaya-cho"
"When I stamp my feet On the bridge of Tachibana in wind That is fragrant with scent"
"I have found yet again A person having on a lined kimono Are going on through Mitsukuchi"
"An owl has just hooted Three-thousands of cavalrymen picked their ears for that and calm down"
"Spring breeze is blowing now Pilgrims boil the rice and have meals At Deva gate of Temple"
"Final duty to one's parents Will be well in keeping with Cherry blossoms than bamboo shoots"
"It is unusual for me To look the buds of ume blossoms And early cherry blossoms simultaneously"
"It could be hardly believed That the cherry blossoms of Izayoi are Come into bloom on Jan. 16th"
"I feel a longing for time-honored things A pine tree and a chrysanthemum That are familiar to us"
"It got to number 100 When the chrysanthemum just come into bloom It's a matter for congratulations"
"In the fresh young leaves The sound of drum in the Noh Hall Just come to my ears"
"The place of Ichi-no-tsubo now Have fallen into a state of devastated With a few scattered Tsubana"
"The Gosho persimmon add to The preparation for the festival of Oguri Just in the autumn season"
"Having put up a banner At the guardian deity of my family The following of rice plant"
"In the morning and evening The song at the rice-planting have just Come to God's ears"
"The grass of Juzu beads Remind me of my uncle residence that I used to go to"
"In the departing autumn season I feel as if the two pine trees Lead each other by hand"
"A rose of sharon is In bloom, I can hear the sound of weaving from every house"
"At the district of Nishiyama The master owned only a cherry tree In the precincts of Temple"
"I have many cousin now Peach blossoms have come into full bloom Just in my country home"
"In the coldness of morning I crouched all alone in front of The tomb of my grandfather"
"Though a lotus leaves Grow up in the muddy water How the dewdrops on the leaves Look like jewels"
"It's so sad to me That worriers will be eaten by globefishes In the bottom of sea"
"Roses of Sharon are bloom I wonder if Mr.Unrin would be well As I passed his residence"
"Sake and meals are served More than ten persons and one In the evening of autumn"
"Thus the elegance shows itself On the beard as the wheat of The last year put out"
"A full moon is brightening up ten thousand houses in Iyo - Matsuyama"
"Laying out chaff to dry Chickens frolic here and there on The inside of the gate"
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References
Addiss, Stephen, Old Taoist - the life, art, and poetry of Kodojin,
Beichman, Janine, Masaoka Shiki, previously published by Twayne Publishers in 1982, first paperback edition, Kodansha International, Tokyo, 1986
Beichman-Yamamoto, Janine, Masaoka Shiki's A Drop of Ink, Monumenta Nipponica XXX, 3, 1965
Blyth, R. H. Haiku, 4 vol., Hokuseido Press, Tokyo 1963-64
Brower, Robert H. , and Miner, Earl, Japanese Court Poetry, Stanford University Press, 1961
Brower, Robert H., Masaoka Shiki and tanka Reform, in Tradition and Modernization in Japanese Culture, ed. Donald H. Shively, Princeton University Press, 1971
Henderson, Harold, An Introduction to Haiku, Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1958
Higginson, William J., with Penny Harter, The Haiku Handbook - How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku, Kodansha International, 1985
Isaacson, Harold J. trans. & ed., Peonies Kana - Haiku by the Upasaka Shiki, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, First ed., 1973 (It was published by Theatre Arts Books, New York, 1972)
Keene, Donald, Shiki and Takuboku, in Landscapes and Portraits: Appreciations of Japanese Culture, Tokyo and Palo Alto, Kodansha International Ltd 1971
Keene, Donald, Dawn to the West - A History of Japanese Literature, vol. 4, Columbia University Press, New York, First published 1984
Kimata, Osamu, Shiki Masaoka: His Haiku and Tanka, Philosophical Studies of Japan, VIII, 1967, (compiled by Japanese National Commission for UNESCO and published by Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai)
Miner, Earl, The verse record of My Peonies, in Japanese Poetic Diaries, Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1969
Nippon
Gakujutsu Shinkokai, Special Haiku Committee of Japanese Classics Translation
Committee consisting of Aso Isoji et al., Haikai and Haiku, Tokyo,
Nippon
Gakujutsu Shinkokai, 1958
Rexroth, Kenneth, 100 More Poems from the Japanese
Ueda, Makoto, Modern Japanese Haiku: An Anthology, University of Tokyo Press, 1976
Watson, Burton, Masaoka Shiki - Selected Poems, Columbia University Press, 1997
Yasuda, Kenneth, The Japanese Haiku: Its Essential Nature, History and Possibilities in English
Rimer, J. Thomas and Morrell, Robert E., Guide to Japanese Poetry., Boston , G.K. Hall and co., 1975
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