Masaoka Shiki's words

As to a war correspondent, he had hoped to get over to the Continent and cover the latest developments of the Sino-Japanese War in the front as a Newspaper Nihon reporter. So, he had applied to the Imperial Military Headquarters for it, and had been allowed to do so. Specifically, he left Hiroshima on April 10,1895, and landed on the Continent on April 15. Meanwhile, cease-fire talks having been proceeding between the two countries since before his departure, the peace treaty was concluded on April 17 soon after his arrival at the Continent. Further, it was ratified on May 10.

従軍記者というのは日本新聞の記者として日清戦争の展開されていた大陸に渡って前線で取材しようとの主旨から軍に願い出て許可されたものだった。
具体的には、４月１０日に広島を出航して４月１５日に大陸に上陸しているのだが、出航前からすでに休戦交渉が進んでいて、子規が到着してすぐの４月１７日に日清講話条約が締結され、５月１０日に批准されている。

Masaoka Shiki's words

The reason he was staying in Hiroshima was that he was making preparations there for going to the Continent as a war correspondent for the Sino-Japanese War. The Imperial Military Headquarters was located in Hiroshima. He had been there for almost a month since March 6, staying at the Kawatomo Ryokan inn located in Kamiya-cho. From there he had sent letters to many people.
In the letter, sent from his house in Kami-negishi, Shitaya-ku,Tokyo on January9,1895 to his uncle Ohara Tsunenori in Matsuyama, Shiki asked his uncle to give him some financial support, saying that he would be able to go to the Continent as a war correspondent. In the letter’s beginning, the following words were written:
“As I also have had a good time without illness since last year,…”
With a fixed determination in his mind Shiki might have somewhat dared to write such high-spirited words. Yet his recognition on his health itself was fairly optimistic and he seemed to think it would be all right. However, there was a record reporting that when Shiki came to Matsuyama from Hiroshima in March,1895, Yanagihara Kyokudo visited him at Ohara Tsunenori’s house,where Shiki was staying, and persuaded him not go to the Continent. Therefore, objective conditions might be that there was something which made people around him feel concerned much about his health, different from his own recognition.

このとき子規が広島にいたのは、日清戦争の従軍記者として大陸へ行くため大本営部隊のあった広島で準備の手続き等をしていたからで、すでに３月６日から約１ヶ月紙屋町の川友旅館に滞在しており、そこから各所へ盛んに手紙を出したりなどしている。
その年の１月９日に東京下谷区上(かみ)根岸(ねぎし)８２番地の自宅から愛媛県松山市湊町(みなとまち)４丁目に住む叔父の大原恒(つね)徳(のり)あてに出した手紙では、日清戦争の従軍新聞記者として近々大陸へ行くことになると思うと報告しつつ、そのため多少の資金援助を願いたいとの趣旨のことを書いているが、その手紙の書き出しに
「私も昨年来病気知らずにあい過ごし候(そうろう)あいだ」
という言葉を入れている。心に期するものがあっていくらか無理をしていたかもしれないが、やはり子規自身の自覚としては体調に関しては大丈夫だと思っていたようである。しかし、３月に一旦松山へ子規が帰省した時、泊まっていた大原恒徳の家まで柳原(やなぎはら)極堂(きょくどう)が訪ねてきて従軍中止を勧めたと記録にある。従って、周りの目から見た客観的状況は、本人の自覚とは違い、無理を感じさせるものがあったみたいである。

from yesterday's Nikkei

海外支店も厳格に課税　企業は負担増警戒　本社利益の移転監視　日米欧、来年にも新ルール

According to sources, the governments ofthe U.S., Europe and Japan are likely to strengthen the taxation for overseas branches of the firms,with a new regulation established next year.Specifically,the transfer pricing taxation syatem would be applied to overseas branches of the firms as well as overseas local subsidiaries.Under the new scheme,tax authorities could check if the profits which should be lodged in the accounts of head offices are not illegally transferred to their overseas branches.So,many Japanese companies are concerned over the increase of their payment of the tax.

from today's Nikkei

部品・素材　ソニー、調達先を半減　２５００社を１２００社に　５０００億円圧縮

Sony Corporation announced on Wednesday its plan to halve the number of companies from which it purchases its products' components and materials from the present 2500 to 1200 by the end of 2010. At present,the function of its purchasing materials and others is decentralized as divided by group of business activity.But,it will integrate the procedure and process related to purchasing components and materials from the outside. By this effort, the company said it will squeeze the cost by 500 billion yen.

Masaoka Shiki's words

I would not compose haiku myself and am also not able to do it. From the beginning I gave up the idea of composing them, thinking that being competent in that so short-form poems must be very exhausting. But, looking at the haiku from the viewpoint of appreciation, I have to recognize it, a very short-form poem with only 17 syllables, is a valuable means to re-create the landscape of a place by visualizing it. This finding was a fresh wonder to me. It also made me consider Shiki to be a very close and familiar existence to me. At the same time, Shiki’s literary works started to rise from the past to the present in my mind.

Now, I’d like to refer to some of Shiki’s histories. It was on September17,1867 when he was born. In October that year, the 15th Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate Tokugawa Yoshinobu returned his supreme administrative power to the then emperor, and in September of the following year, the fourth year of Keio, the name of an era was changed to Meiji. Then when Shiki is one year old, the Meiji era also is in its first year. Therefore, we can get a convenient way of calculation: Shiki grew old with the same pace with Meiji. Then, when it was in the 16th year of Meiji, Shiki also is in the age of the same number of 16. In 1883, when Shiki was 16 years old, he went up to Tokyo. Since then he came back to his hometown Matsuyama nine times in total. The first one was in 1885, and the final one was in 1895 (the 28th year of Meiji).
The “Sansaku-shu” I have mentioned is a collection of haiku composed by Shiki on the landscapes in Matsuyama when he was staying in the city in the 1895 autumn season. It is a very valuable material in literature and shows the things around him in those days.

In 1895 , he came back to Matsuyama twice. The first coming back was on March14 that year. He left Ujina, Hiroshima on board a ship and arrived at Mitsu-hama, Matsuyama the night on the same day. On that occasion he paid his respect to his father’s grave and he went back again to Hiroshima on May17.

私自身は、俳句を作らないし、作れないのである。あの短い形式の中で勝負するのはどうしようもなく疲れるにちがいとはじめからあきらめている。けれども鑑賞する立場から言えば、ある場所の風景を思い浮かべる手段としてこの５―７―５の短詩がかなりのものだということは認めざるを得ない。この発見は私にとって新鮮な驚きだった。そして、子規が近しく懐かしい人に思えるようになったのだった。同時に、子規の書いた文章が、過去のものから現在のものへと、私の中でよみがえってくるのだった。

さて、その子規の生まれたのは慶応３年９月１７日（旧暦）である。その年の１０月、第１５代徳川将軍徳川(とくがわ)慶喜(よしのぶ)が大政奉還し、翌慶応４年９月に明治と改元された。子規が満１歳の時明治も又その１年目の年にあった。ここから私達はある便利な計算方法を導くことができる。すなわち子規は明治という時代の年数と共にその歳を重ねていった。明治１６年の年は子規も又１６歳の年だった。その明治１６年、子規１６歳の年に子規は上京している。それ以降合計９度、子規は故郷松山へ帰省している。最初のそれが明治１８年で、最後のそれが明治２８年だった。
前述(ぜんじゅつ)の「散策集(さんさくしゅう)」はその最後の帰省の折りに子規が松山の風景を題材に詠(よ)んだ紀行句集であり、子規の松山滞在最後の日々の様子を示すものである。

その明治２８年だが、この年子規は２度ほど松山へ帰省している。１度目は、３月１４日のことで、広島の宇品(うじな)港を出発してその夜に三津浜に着いている。この時は父親の墓参りをして、１７日に再び広島に戻っている。