In
his youth Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) contracted tuburculosis and became an invalid
. He devoted his life to literature , writing haiku and tanka ( traditional
thirty-one syllable poems ) and numerous essays. Shiki developed a major new
form of haiku by advocating the writing of shasei (sketches from life ). In
1897 he started the haiku magazine Hototogisu.
