子規記念博物館

Shiki Memorial Museum is a museum where visitors can learn about Masaoka Shiki—an influential haiku poet from Matsuyama—and modern haiku more broadly. It is about a 5-minute walk from the Iyotetsu city tram “”Dogo Onsen Station.”” Shiki is known for works such as the famous haiku “”Kaki kueba kane ga naru nari Horyuji”” and the essay collection “”Byosho Rokushaku.”” He is also known as a baseball enthusiast; it is said that the Japanese term for baseball (yakyu) began when Shiki played on his childhood name “”Noboru,”” calling it “”no-boru”” (a pun on “”ball””). Inside what is described as the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single individual, there is a reconstruction of “”Gudabutsu-an,”” the lodging where Shiki once lived together with author Natsume Soseki; visitors can remove their shoes and step inside. Photography is prohibited in the exhibition area, but photos are allowed in the “”Gudabutsu-an”” section. Among the roughly 70,000 items are displays such as a relief commemorating Shiki’s induction into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. An audio guide system (100 yen) is available in five languages—Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese—recommended for those who want to learn in depth.