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.涼しさや扇でまねく千両雨
suzushisa ya ôgi de maneku senryô ame

coolness--
with a fan beckoning
the precious rain

This haiku does not appear in the authoritative collection of Issa, Issa zenshû. I found it in Issa to kuhi (Tokyo: Kankohkai 2003) 53. It appears engraved in a haiku stone.

Senryô represents a highly valued thing, literally, something that costs one thousand ryô, a coin of Old Japan. I was tempted to translate, senryô ame, "million-dollar rain," but decided that this sounds a bit too modern. I went with "precious," but Issa's original is more hyperbolical, more specific.

All translations © 1991-2010 by David G. Lanoue, rights reserved.