Japan's traditional poetry came into contact with world poetry through translations of hymns and biblical poetry. Works of translations, such as "Shintaishisho" (1883) by Toyama Shoichi and others, and "Omokage" by Mori Ogai helped to establish the kind of poetry popular in the West.Although Shiki himself promoted the reform of haiku and tanka, he also expressed an interest in Shintaishi (new style poetry) and held Shintaishi study groups. He was especially interested in the distinctiveness of rhyme in Western poetry and compiled a 'rhyme dictionary' in order to introduce rhymes into Japanese poetry. From the beginning Shiki had his eyes fixed on the rest of the world and taught the contemporary Japanese the importance of rhyming in poetry.
Just as Japanese Shi-ika (poetry) was influenced greatly by Western poetry, haiku has had great influence on the world of poetry in the West. Haiku was originally introduced to the West at the turn of the century by Basil Hall Chamberlain and Paul Louis Couched. When poets such as Ezra Pound and Paul Eluard exhibited a deep interest, haiku quickly gained attention. For example, Paul Claudel, one-time French ambassador to Japan, Yves Bonnefoy, Philippe Jaccottet, America's Richard Wright and Allen Ginsberg, Germany's Rainer Maria Rilke, Italy's Guiseppe Ungaretti , and Octavio Paz, Nobel Prize winner from Mexico, and other such great poets all incorporated the spirit of haiku in their poetry.
For example, in "Natural History," Renard used adept similes in his simple verse about "Butterflies." He wrote, "This two folded love letter is looking for the flower's address." He described a "snake" in one line thereby giving it a haiku flavor. Octavio Paz wrote a three-line haiku-like poem: "Every time the child throws it, the top just falls, on the center of the earth." Rilke's poem beginning with "Rose, oh pure contradiction," which he willed as his epitaph, was also a kind of haiku. There was a high level of interest in haiku in French literary circles as well.
The New France Review, edited by Jean Poland, influenced a generation of French writers. In 1920, shortly after its founding, the journal featured a special issue on haiku which caused quite a stir in the French poetry world.
