Introduction
three years Sachio’s junior, was nevertheless great enough to see beneath the surface and appreciate this strange genius. It is interesting to note that seven poems of Sachio’s with Shiki’s corrections have come down to us in manuscript, and except in one or two instances we cannot consider the corrections to be any improvement. Sachio’s reads:
When I sip the tea of Uji,
Tenderly I recall the melodies
Sung by the maidens of Uji
Who were picking tea-leaves.
Shiki’s corrected version reads:
When I sip the tea of Uji
In the land of Yamashiro,
I recall songs of the maidens
Who were picking tea-leaves in Uji.
Sachio’s admiration of Shiki knew no bounds, and with almost pathetic intensity he strove toward the high goal set by his teacher. When “Waterfall” was set as the subject of the monthly gathering, he made a trip to Nikko to see the famous falls, and for “Pines” he visited Okitsu, where old, knotty pine trees line the beautiful sandy shore. His “New Theory of Poetry” in the
11 
