Selected Poems

Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) is credited with modernizing Japan's two traditional verse forms, haiku and tanka. Born at a time of social and cultural change in Japan, Shiki welcomed the new influences from the West and responded to them by reinvigorating the native haiku and tanka forms. This text is a selection of his poetry - more than 100 haiku, more than 30 tanka, and four kanshi, arranged chronologically within each genre, revealing the development of his art. Burton Watson's introduction explores the course of Shiki's life: his poverty-stricken childhood, his early love for literature, his education, and his work as both a haiku editor for the newspaper "Nippon" and a correspondent during the Sino-Japanese war.