Masaoka Shiki was born on September 17, 1867 in present-day Hanazono-cho, Matsuyama City. He was the second son of Tsunenao Masaoka, a retainer of the Matsuyama clan. He attended Matsuyama Junior High School and then Tokyo First High School. He became infected with pulmonary tuberculosis, and coughed up blood for the first time when he was about 22. From that time on, he began using the pen name “Shiki”, which means a little cuckoo in Japanese, and began his serious pursuit of a career in literature. From the age of about 29 and until the end of his life, he battled a serious illness called spinal caries. In spite of this handicap, he continued to write and to innovate in various Japanese literary genres, including haiku, tanka, and prose. He had a significant impact on the history of modern Japanese literature. Masaoka Shiki died at the age of 34, on September 19, 1902. His literary theories were adopted by many people, including Natsume Soseki, Yanagihara Kyokudodo, Kawahigashi Hekigoto, and Takahama Kyoshi, and they form the basis of modern haiku, tanka, and prose.