year unknown
.さすが花ちるにみれんはなかりけり
sasuga hana chiru ni miren wa nakari keri
when cherry blossoms
scatter...
no regrets
Issa begins the haiku with the word sasuga: "truly" or "as one might have expected." Here, the first meaning seems to fit. He proposes that, "truly," the cherry blossoms fall to death without regret.
This undated haiku resembles one that Issa wrote in 1821:
miren naku chiru mo sakura wa sakura kana
without regret
they fall and scatter...
cherry blossoms
In a related haiku (1809), he urges the blossoms to trust in Amida Buddha's saving grace:
tada tanome hana wa hara-hara ano tôri
simply trust!
cherry blossoms flitting
down
"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.