Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) is known for introducing the sketch method from European paintings in order to make haiku a modern Japanese literary genre. However, ambiguity between westernized modernity and premodern tradition can be observed in his works. This paper critically examines this ambiguity, focusing on Shiki’s use of animal imagery, more specifically, of stuffed animals.

Although regarded as the representative of the modern haiku, most of Masaoka Shiki’s haiku are difficult to be classified as modern sketch haiku. As Yasushi Inoue (2011) has pointed out, Shiki is not able to create haiku without his erudition of premodern Japanese literature. He integrated images of western natural history into a traditional Japanese literary aesthetic but did not follow the scientific objectivity required of naturalist western thought.

Surely Shiki had knowledge of western zoology, as the Tokyo Imperial University where he attended established a zoology course, and he even received a stuffed cuckoo from his friend. Yet his use of “stuffed” animal imagery derives as much from premodern haiku as from modern zoology. This ambiguity goes against the scientific tendency espoused by naturalism. Though Masaoka Shiki praised the sketch method and has the knowledge of western zoology, he still described “stuffed” animals in a generally traditional way: it is uncertain whether the cuckoo is alive or a taxidermy sample. Analyzing cuckoo images in his poetry, the paper reexamines Shiki’s theory of Shasei [sketch of life].