In Ueno Park in Tokyo, among the museums and other attractions, there is a baseball ground. It is not large, and its name is not translated on the map available to visitors, but it is notable in one way. Called the Masaoka Shiki-kinen-kyujo in Japanese, it commemorates a haiku poet who died more than a hundred years ago.
Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) achieved a great deal in his short life, especially in the field of literature. He is known as the man who, almost single-handedly, reformed the centuries-old poetic forms of haiku and tanka. Indeed he gave the "haiku" its modern name, and was also the first person to translate the haiku master Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) into English, an innovational step in the internationalization of this short poem. But how does that connect with baseball?
As a Meiji modernizing force, Shiki (as we call him) had a great enthusiasm for all things new, including baseball. Though he lived quite near to Ueno (close enough to hear the animals in the zoo), he came from Matsuyama in Shikoku, and he is credited with introducing the game to the island and his hometown.