Introduction
ideas and experiences, tended toward the self-indulgence of personal feeling and the display of wit. To an experienced critic, this romantic verse suffered from glaringly improper diction, artificial metaphors, and manufactured emotions. On the other hand, there was a small group headed by Shiki Masaoka (1867–1902) who advocated simplicity and sincerity. He cried over and over again: “Do not force yourself either in thoughts or expression. Be natural.” This is, of course, the creative artist’s hardest task. It means that good poetry consists not in the intensity or newness of emotion or thought, but rather in the intensity of the creative impulse disciplined by thought and experience. Needless to add, the two schools had little in common. Shiki thought it necessary to state his creed once and for all and from February 12 to March 4, 1898, he published a series of ten articles entitled “Letters to Poets,” in the metropolitan newspaper Nihon.
The enthusiasm and penetrating critical sense with which Sachio read these articles is shown in his letters to Shiki, quoted in the Nihon of April 27 and May 3, together with Shiki’s criticism. Sachio was already known in the Literary Section of the Nihon, for previously, on February
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