Masaoka Shiki (正岡 子規?, October 14, 1867 – September 19, 1902), pen-name of Masaoka Noboru (正岡 升),[4] was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku poetry.[5] He also wrote on reform of tanka poetry.[6]
Some consider Shiki to be one of the four great haiku masters, the others being Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.[7]

Shiki, or rather Tsunenori (常規) as he was originally named,[8] was born in Matsuyama city in Iyo province (present day Ehime prefecture) to a samurai class family of modest means.[1] As a child, he was called Tokoronosuke (処之助); in adolescence, his name was changed to Noboru (升). His father, Tsunenao (正岡常尚),[9][10] was an alcoholic who died when Shiki was five years of age,[1] but his mother, Yae,[11] was a daughter of Ōhara Kanzan, a Confucian scholar.[1] Kanzan was the first of Shiki's extra-school tutors, and at the age of 7 the young boy began reading Mencius under his tutelage.[12] Shiki later confessed to being a less-than-diligent student.[12]
At age 15 Shiki became something of a political radical, attaching himself to the then-waning Freedom and People's Rights Movement and getting himself banned from public speaking by the principal of Matsuyama Middle School, which he was attending.[13] Around this time he developed an interest in moving to Tokyo and did so in 1883.[14]