pHere are graceful and timeless poems by one of Japan's greatest modern writers, rendered by a master translator. 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. He freed them from outdated conventions, made them viable for artistic expression in modern Japan, and paved the way for the haiku to become one of his nation's most influential cultural exports. pBurton Watson's excellent introduction explores the course of Shiki's life his poverty-stricken childhood, his early love for literature, his education, and his work as a haiku editor for the newspaper iNippon, i and as a correspondent during the Sino-Japanese war. Watson details Shiki's long struggle with tuberculosis and its poignant expression in his poetry. Confined to bed for months before his dea