This study aims to explore the potential of digital humanities methods in literary history research through a quantitative analysis of the reception of Matsuo Bashō in modern haiku. Utilizing the digital collections of the National Diet Library of Japan, the frequency of citations of Bashō’s haiku in literature from the Meiji to the prewar Shōwa period was statistically analyzed. Additionally, the Jaccard coefficient was employed to conduct a similarity analysis of large-scale haiku collections from the Meiji, Taishō,and prewar Shōwa periods. The research found that Bashō’s influence on haiku gradually declined over time, while the haiku of Masaoka Shiki, known for his criticism of Bashō, exhibited a style closer to Bashō’ s than that of general haiku from the Meiji period. This demonstrates that computer-based quantitative analysis can capture subtle expressive differences that are difficult for humans to detect,extracting the “unconscious rhetoric” of individuals and eras. Digital humanities methods can reveal deep-seated patterns that traditional research struggles to access,providing new pathways for the construction of “digital literary history”.

digital humanities , reception studies , Matsuo Bashō , Modern Haiku , Masaoka Shiki