TOKYO —

An autographed collection of poems by haiku great Shiki Masaoka, including unpublished verse, was found recently and will be auctioned soon during a secondhand book fair, literary sources have revealed.
   
The collection includes a number of 17-syllable haiku poems composed by Shiki (1867-1902) and his friend Soseki Natsume (1867-1916), a prominent Japanese novelist who wrote in the late 19th and early 20th century and studied haiku under Shiki. The collection was recently brought to a secondhand bookshop in Tokyo, the sources said. Haiku experts believe the 670-page book was compiled around 1894, citing the author’s calligraphic style and the haiku poems included in the collection. The collection also reveals that Shiki graded Soseki’s poems with circles and double circle marks, so readers will be able to learn about his standards for selecting good poems and his view of haiku, the sources said.

Kyodo

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