Matsuyama and Masaoka Shiki

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Matsuyama and Masaoka Shiki (松山と正岡子規)

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A haiku friend asked: WHO was Matsuyama?
Well, here is the answer.

Matsuyama is an old castle town on the Western side of the Island of Shikoku, where Masaoka Shiki used to live and teach haiku.

The famous novel "Botchan" by Natsume Soseki also takes place in Matsuyama. It is a town full of literature inspirations.


And the old hot spring Dogo Onsen is a great place to relax.

Gabi Greve

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俳句は季題を詠む詩である。
Haiku is poetry
that expresses itself through season words.

Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規

17 September 1867 – 19 September 1902
Details in the WIKIPEDIA





Now, To Be! Shiki’s Haiku Moments for Us Today
今、生きる！子規の世界
edited by Masako Hirai (Hirai Masako 平井雅子).
Gyouga-Manroku 仰臥漫録 Gyooga Manroku, Gyōga manroku, GYÔKA-MANROKU
(Stray Notes While Lying on My Back).
http://www.modernhaiku.org/bookreviews/Shiki2004.html
.
http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv5n1/features/Hirai.html

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Visiting Shiki’s House

The home of Masaoka Shiki in the Negishi District of Tokyo was often referred to as
"Negishi no sato no wabizumai", the simple abode of the retired poet.

. Shiki in Negishi .


His younger sister Ritsu cared for him lovingly.



律といふ子規の妹木の実降る
Ritsu to iu Shiki no imooto kinomi furu

Ritsu
the younger sister of Shiki -
nuts are falling

Miyasaka Shizuo 宮坂静生



Shiki was in bed most of the time, in pain. . . and his sister had been there to do all the kitchen chores, care for the ill brother and keep the home warm during winter, go shopping, cleaning, preparing firewood . . .

薪をわるいもうと一人冬籠　
maki o waru imooto hitori fuyugomori

to split the firewood
there is only my younger sister -
our wintering　

Shiki


quote
Ritsu is a literal-minded woman. She is like an unfeeling tree or stone. She will nurse an invalid dutifully but can not comfort him emotionally. She will do anything the invalid orders, but is incapable of taking a hint. . . .
Janine Beichman
source : books.google.co.jp


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Now back to Matsuyama!


"Spring season
reminds me of the capital town of 150,000 goku."

Matsuyama implied in the Shiki's haiku remains as a capital of haiku.

When you walk around in the Matsuyama town, you will find, in many places, haiku monuments and haiku posts at which you can mail a brandnew haiku you have just created. Do you know why? Haiku artists noted in connection with this haiku town are Shiki Masaoka, Kyoshi Takahama, Kusatao Nakamura, Hagyo Ishida, etc. who are very famous.

Soseki Natsume who participated in the haiku parties convened by Shiki, etc. left several haikus such as
"A long day, we pass yawns and depart."

Santoka Taneda, a wandering haiku artist who demonstrated free-style haikus, became a resident of Matsuyama when he got old. In the Isoan house where he lived, you will see a haiku monument showing
"Dirty water becomes clear while flowing."

How about taking a walk in the Matsuyama town along with these haikus. The sky in Matsuyama seen by Shiki and other artists will open before you.




Matsuyama ya aki yori takaki tenshukaku

"Oh Matsuyama,
the castle tower looks higher than the autumn sky."
http://www.infocreate.co.jp/hometown/matsuyam/haiku-e.html

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Touring Haiku Monuments in Matsuyama
松山の句碑

Matsuyama is blessed with mild natural feature and climate, in addition to that, is well known for the oldest hot spring Dogo-spa.
So many of the gratest names in literature and culture visited Matsuyama from old time and a good many Tanka were composed in Manyohshu and other collection of Tanka from ancient time.

Recently, Matsuyama has produced many Haiku Originator, Kyokudoh Yanagihara ,Kyoshi Takahama,Hekigoto Kawahigashi,Kusatao Nakamura,Hakyoh Ishida and so on, under the leadership of Shiki Masaoka, Matsuyama is named "Town of Haiku".

Consequently, we can catch sight of a number of literature monuments and remains that amount to well over 480 in the city. Ehime University Library plans to make the Touring Haiku monuments to refer to "Haiku Country - Matsuyama ".

Tour of Haiku Monuments (Haiku Country - Matsuyama)


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Dogo Onsen,
in the outskirts of Matsuyama, is one of Japan's oldest spa baths, and is characterized by a heavy wooden, late 19th c. public bath house, which is almost like a castle. Inside, the baths come in several classes, the highest consisting of private rooms. The baths themselves, filled with colorless and odourless water, are rather small - even the economy class bath -, so it can get crowded.
Natsume Soseki, in his novel Botchan, has the hero swim around in it, but that seems quite a feat. Anyway, as the bath is invariably overrun by noisy tourists, it is better to head out for the
Masaoka Shiki Memorial Museum in Dogo Park for a cultural experience...


松山市立子規記念博物館


寒けれど酒もあり温泉もある処
samukeredo sake mo ari yu mo aru tokoro

It is cold, but
we have sake
and the hot spring

source :　Shiki - Winter


ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo


Shiki Masaoka, Masaoka Shiki　正岡子規
the haiku poet, was born in Matsuyama in 1867. He died on September 19,1902.
Shiki is well known in Japan for introducing a new style of haiku, a short poetic form, and for enhancing the arts.

The word Shiki can also mean "The four seasons　四季"　in Japanese.
The seasons are very important in Japanese haiku, so Shiki is an appropriate name for the haiku server.

Shiki's career
Shiki's paintings
Shiki's haiku (in Kim's haiku world)
After Basho,Buson & Issa
Gudabutsuan

©　source : haiku.cc.ehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki . . .



Shiki Memorial Museum - search for his haiku :
source : sikihaku.lesp.co.jp/community/search

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In his youth, he was called NOBO, or NOBO SAN by his friends
升（のぼ）さん（正岡子規の幼名） / のぼさん
This was short for his real name, Noboru 升（のぼる）.

Sometimes mis-spelled Nobu-San.

Masaoka Noboru

Masaoka Tsunenori (正岡 常規)
Tokoronosuke (処之助) and later Noboru (升).

. Nobo san のぼさん
and Masaoka Shiki Memorial Days



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Memorial Hall of Masaoka Shiki,
Shiki-Do 子規堂



In the compounds of the temple Shoju-Ji
(Shoojuu ji 正宗寺(しょうじゅうじ).


haruka ni mo kishi Shikidoo no yoka no ame

I came from so far away
to the Shiki Hall -
rain on the late cherry blossoms
Tr. Gabi Greve

NHK, Haiku Okoku Member, May 2008



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ふるさとや親すこやかに鮓の味
furusato ya oya sukoyaka ni sushi no aji

my dear hometown -
my mother is well and
the taste of sushi

. Matsuyama sushi 松山鮓 and Masaoka Shiki 　


MORE
. Shiki and his furusato hometown haiku .


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quote
Masaoka Shiki: the Misunderstood Reformer, Critic and Poet
Carmen Sterba, 2011
A "Sketch from Life" was One of Shiki's Many Techniques

According to Japanese poetry expert, Ueda Makoto, "Shiki mentored numerous amateur poets; therefore, he devised the sketch-of-life technique to avoid "decorative words, ornamental language, and self-conscious imaginings." In Modern Japanese Poets, Ueda shares that Shiki believed it was vital to write from experience and saw "at least two fatal flaws" to avoid: The falsification of fact and the tendency to be overly intellectual." Some other suggestions Shiki gave were
(1) to "pay more attention to lesser-known locales" rather than famous places,
(2) to walk and observe nature, but afterwards write at home,
(3) to focus on "material and theme in a way that will reveal [your] individuality,"
(4)to read other's haiku to be informed, and
(5) to know something of the history of tanka (originally called waka).
Ueda also suggests that Basho wrote about the "beauty of external nature" and Shiki wrote haiku based on "internal, psychological reality of what is truthful (makoto)."

Shiki Admired Basho Even While He Criticized Him
Shiki's Last Years and the Importance of His Friends

source : carmen-sterba.suite101.com


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quote
Centenary of the Death of Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)
Masaoka Shiki’s literary carrier burst into literature when the majority of authors were copying limitlessly the European and American literature of the Meiji restoration period. His poetical style was the shasei, meaning “drawing from life”. Using this informal, spoken language, he dared to enounce the importance of going back to the traditional roots of Japanese poetry, calling it a source in the process of defining modern Japanese modes of expression.
source : World Haiku Review . Susumu Takiguchi


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External LINKS about Matsuyama and Haiku

The Matsuyama Declaration, 1999

Let's Give Poetry Back to the People...
A World Poetry Revolution in the 21st Century

It has been about 100 years since the death of Shiki, who ignited the haiku reform movement. Precedents for the declaration which we propose here are Shimazaki Toson's preface to his poetry collection of about 100 years ago in which Toson stated that "The age of new poetry has finally come" and the Surrealism Manifesto of Andre Breton that appeared about 75 years ago. But it has been a long time since we have witnessed the birth of this kind of new poetic manifesto. In the world of Japanese haiku also, there has recently been a demand for reform and for an end to a prolonged state of stagnancy.

In this declaration, we have concentrated on the essential universality of haiku that has been present since the days of Shiki's reform. By taking into account the circumstances in which haiku spread to the world in the past, we have made projections about its future possibilities globally. In the context of universalization of haiku we think it should be presented to the poets all over the world to work with the application of fixed-form and season words. We wish to openly welcome those poems from all over the world that possess the haiku spirit. By making use of a traditional fixed form of poetry, the Japanese have succeeded in applying a grammar unique to the Japanese language, such as kireji, and condensing the poem to 17 syllables.

We feel that in all languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Arabic and Spanish, we can find ways to condense diction for the purpose of poetic expression. We also believe that an understanding of the value of silence will greatly contribute to the broadening of poetic space in each language. We hope that the poets of the world will share the achievements of the Japanese haiku masters with us and that they will take part in this poetic movement to resolutely pursue ways to condense their own language.

The Matsuyama Declaration of 12 September, 1999 is a statement made by the following people:
Arima Akito, Minister of Education of Japan Haga Toru, President of Kyoto University of Art and Design, Ueda Makato, Professor Emeritus of Stanford University Soh Sakon, Poet Kaneko Tohta, President of the Modern Haiku Society Jean Jacques Origas, French Oriental Language Research Institute

Read more here:
http://www.ecf.or.jp/shiki/1999/dec7.html

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The Matsuyama Message 2000
(Supplement to the Matsuyama Declaration)
- Reference

Kiyose - Collection of season words in Japan
--- https://sites.google.com/site/ ...


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四国の作家　正岡子規　俳句
Haiku and kigo used by Shiki
http://www.webmtabi.jp/200803/haiku/matsuyama_masaokashiki_index.html




Selected Poems of Masaoka Shiki
Translated by Janine Beichman
- page with many samples
source : etext.lib.virginia.edu


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way



Matsuyama Haiku Ninja 俳句ニンジャ
source : matsuyamahaikublog

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Matsuyama and Daruma Dolls
By Gabi Greve
. Matsuyama Daruma Princess Dolls

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A good friend of Shiki

. Natsume Soseki (Sooseki 夏目漱石) .


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HAIKU



春や昔千五百石の城下哉
haru ya mukashi sen gohyaku man goku no jooka kana

"Spring season reminds me of the capital town of 150,000 goku."

Masaoka Shiki
http://www.infocreate.co.jp/hometown/matsuyam/haiku-e.html

Aaa. I do not know who did this translation, but it does not reflect the kire after spring, and it uses the word GOKU as if a non-Japanese reader would know what this means ...

it's spring - in olden times
the castle town of
great riches

(my first tentative rendering into English)
...

the richness of a domain in the Edo period was calculated in barrels or bags of tax rice (koku, goku) and 150.000 barrels was not that much, but Shiki was proud of his hometown.

jooka , below the castle, is short for .. jooka machi 城下町 .. , the town at the feet of a domain's caslte. Nowadays the word is often used with a lot of nostalgia for the good old times in the Edo period.
The castle of Matsuyama is right up on a large hill, overlooking the city and can bee seen from many small streets in the town.
Gabi Greve : Translating Haiku Forum


Comment by Larry Bole:

This is a haiku which is not found in the major English translations of Shiki's haiku, probably for the reason that Ad G. Blankestijn gives:
"[it] is unfortunately not very beautiful in translation..."
According to Blankestijn, there is a haiku stone with this haiku on it just outside the JR Matsuyama station.


it's spring!
when this was a castle town
it was a prosperous one!
Tr. Larry Bole


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Inspired by the Matsuyama haiku of Shiki:

One should know that legend has it that the island of Manhattan was said to have been "purchased" from the Native Americans living there (or simply passing through) for approximately $24 worth of trinkets and beads.
(New York)

dreary autumn day...
I'd give the whole city back
for trinkets and beads

Larry Bole


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子規 逝くや十七日の月明に
Shiki iku ya jushichi-nichi no getsumei ni

Shiki passed away
on the moonlit night
of September

Takahama Kyoshi　高浜虚子
Kyoshi was with Shiki beside his deathbed.

Masaoka Shiki, a haiku poet, went to his eternal rest on Sept. 19th, 1902. Released from many years' struggle with his deadly disease, he completed his life of 35 years in peace. September 19th is the 110th anniversary of Shiki's death.

Shiki is probably the greatest personality Matsuyama has ever produced. He is great not because he left behind so many haiku poems but because he endured an extraordinarily harsh and intensive life without ever losing mental energy to the last and because he lived as a sincere and real human being. He was great because he had exceptionally strong will power. He was great because he remained optimistic and retained a sense of humor despite the fact that he could see only a hopeless future with severe pains just partially relieved with morphine.

Shiki left Matsuyama for Tokyo at the age of 16 with the ambition of becoming a prime minister, but contracted a tuberculosis at age 20, which was regarded as an incurable disease in those days.

Shiki is great for his writing, his unique personality and his nonpareil way of life in total. No one underestimates his achievements in haiku renovation, but in regards to sketch theory as a technique of writing haiku, there will always be some contemporary haiku poets who are negative about Shiki's accomplishments.

Matsuyama Outloud, September 2012
source : home.e-catv.ne.jp


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"teizen　庭前"　Front　Garden

鶏頭の十四五本もありぬべし
keitoo no juushigohon mo arinubeshi

Cockscombs;
There should be
Fourteen or fifteen.
tr. Blyth


My comment
In a recent documentary about the life of Shiki, I saw the cockscombs in his garden, a flower he liked very much. When he could not move around any more, his sitster, who cared for him lovingly, planted the flowers a bit closer to the veranda. Later, when he had to be in bed all the time, she re-planted them again so that he could still see them when he uplifted his upper body, holding on to a crutch under his arm. Counting the blossoms was one of his daily joys in his sickbed.

When he became completely bedridden, she replanted many flowers, including the hechima gourds, directly on the veranda in pots, so he could see them while lying on his back in bed.

Gabi Greve, January 2010


Read more about the translations of this haiku
. Cockscomb and Shiki


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松杉や枯野の中の不動堂
matsu sugi ya kareno no naka no Fudōdō

pine and cypress:
in a withered field,
a shrine to Fudō


御屍
mihotoke ni shirimuke oreba tsuki suzushi

I turn my back
on Buddha and face
the cool moon


すゝしさや神と佛の隣同士
suzushisa ya kami to hotoke no tonaridoshi

in the coolness
gods and Buddhas
dwell as neighbors

Read many more here:
Poetry of Shiki, translated by Janine Beichman


Shiki about Basho, Issa and Chiyo-Ni


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春風や城あらはるゝ松の上
harukaze ya shiro arawaruru matsu no ue

spring breeze -
the castle shows
above the pines

Here he talks about his beloved Matsuyama castle.



春の霜糸遊となって燃えにけり
haru no shimo itoyuu to natte moenikeri

spring frost
becomes a heat shimmer and
burns to its end
Tr. Gabi Greve

haru no shimo ?shiyuu to natte moenikeri

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- amadera 尼寺 haiku about nunneries


akaki ringo aoki ringo ya taku no ue
haiku about apples


ankoo ni ichizen meshi no andon kana
haiku about the anglerfish


akikaze ya kakoi mo nashi ni Koofukuji
Temple Kofuji-ji in Nara


fune to kishi to hanashite iru hinaga kana
discussion of anthropomorphism and haiku


edamame ya san sun tonde kuchi ni iru
Edamame - green soybeans


o-shiro kara miru ya tanemaku sanjuu ri
kigo about sowing seeds in spring


ine no hana Dookanyama no biyori kana
Haiku about Ota Dokan and Mount Dokan in Edo


ji ni ochishi aoi fumiyuku matsuri kana
at the Aoi festival in Kyoto


kuri akete kemuri no komoru wakaba kana
庫裏 temple kitchen and monks' lodging


. ooyudachi kuru rashi Yufu no kakikumori 　
Mount Yufudake in Oita, Kyushu


rengyoo ni ikkanbari no tsukue kana
Ikkanbari laquer ware, Matsuyama


Shimabara ya fue mo ookawa mo fuyu no oto
fuyu no oto 冬の音 sound of winter


tooyama ni hi no ataritaru kareno kana
kareno - withered fields and shasei


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Shiki has written many haiku including the name of a temple or shrine during his travels in Japan.

. WKD - Masaoka Shiki visiting Shrines and Temples .



Shiki traveling in Tohoku - Hateshirazu no ki はて知らずの記
source : ms-hatesirazu

Shiki Haiku Collection of the Four Seasons - 俳句案内
source : haiku/siki

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WASHOKU
Food, Haiku and Masaoka Shiki


Shinshuu no samusa o omou sobayu kana
Soba Buckwheat noodles and Haiku


omoshiro ya mate no iru ana iranu ana
Seafood and Haiku


haru oshimu yado ya Nihon no toofujiru
Tofu and Haiku


omoshiro ya tsuki ni sanshoo no kawa hageba　
Sanshoo mountain pepper and Haiku


hio yasete tsuki no shizuku to tokenu beshi
Hio, saffron cod


yama wa kaze no hiyatsuku himuro kana
Ice cellars in Japan


yomei ikubaku ka aru yo mijikashi
Short nights in summer


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fuku Daruma kowaki ni burari Shiki no machi

. a lucky Daruma
under my arm - walking leisurely
in the town of Shiki

source : mineotose


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Saka no ue no kumo 坂の上の雲

"Saka no ue no kumo" centers around Yoshifuru Akiyama (Hiroshi Abe), his older brother Saneyuki Akiyama (Masahiro Motoki), and poet Masaoka Shiki (Teruyuki Kagawa) during the Russo-Japanese War.
The drama depicts Japan's modernization in the Meiji era through the help of the Akiyama brothers.
It is based on a novel by Ryotaro Shiba.

- Reference -


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Related words

***** WKD : Santoka and Sake 山頭火と酒

***** More Haiku by Masaoka Shiki
Discussed in the Translating Haiku Forum


Introducing Japanese Haiku Poets　

Fudo Myo-O, a Japanese DeityFudōdō


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Matsuyama, die Haiku-Stadt


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