Haiku of Kobayashi Issa

13060 haiku out of 13060

year unknown

.元日にかわいや遍路門に立
ganjitsu ni kawai ya henro kado ni tatsu

on New Year's Day
a cute little pilgrim
at the gate

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.元日や日本ばかりの花の娑婆
ganjitsu ya nihon bakari no hana no shaba

New Year's Day
this world of Japan's
blossoms

This is a revision of a haiku of 1821:
ganjitsu ya dochira muite mo hana no shaba

on New Year's Day
everywhere, a corrupt world's
blossoms

The word shaba refers to the Buddhist notion of a fallen age, the "Latter Days of Dharma."

year unknown

.元日の日向ぼこする屑家かな
ganjitsu no hinata bokosuru kuzuya kana

basking
in the New Year's sun...
my trashy hut

On the most auspicious day of the year Issa liked to present himself (and his house) as same-old, same old.

year unknown

.元日や上々吉の浅黄空
ganjitsu ya jôjôkichi no asagi-zora

on New Year's Day
lucky! lucky!
a pale blue sky

New Year's Day was the first day of spring in the old Japanese calendar.

year unknown

.昼頃に元日になる庵かな
hiru-goro ni ganjitsu ni naru iori kana

around noon
New Year's Day begins...
little hut

Issa flaunts his laziness, even on the most auspicious day of the year.

year unknown

.人並の正月もせぬしだら哉
hito nami no shôgatsu mo senu shidara kana

no run-of-the-mill
First Month...
for the slob

Issa refuses to observe all the niceties of New Year's conventions, such as sweeping the house or putting a pine-and-bamboo decoration on his gate.

year unknown

.正月が二日有ても皺手哉
shôgatsu ga futsuka arite mo shiwade kana

First Month, second day--
my wrinkled
hands

The word "my" doesn't appear in the original.

year unknown

.正月や現金酒の通ひ帳
shôgatsu ya genkin sake no kayoichô

First Month--
recording the cash spent
on sake

In Issa's time debts were settled at the end of the year. Perhaps he is a bit late in payng his sake bill. And/or, this haiku might allude to his recent New Year's libations ... and their cost. Shinji Ogawa adds that Kayoichô was a handbook used by a delivery boy. The master account book was kept in the store.

year unknown

.猫塚に正月させるごまめ哉
neko tsuka ni shôgatsu saseru gomame kana

on the cat's grave
in First Month...
dried sardines

A New Year's offering to the departed pet, left by a child (or, perhaps, Issa?).

year unknown

.行灯のかたぴらよりけさの春
andon no katappira yori kesa no haru

to one side
of my paper lantern...
spring's first dawn

Or: "the paper lantern."

I assume that katappira is a combination of kata ("one") and hira, which in Issa's time could refer to anything thin and flat, like paper or leaves. Here, it seems to refer to one face of the paper lantern. Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1416. This undated haiku is almost identical to one written in 1825, which ends with the phrase, ake no haru ("first of spring").

year unknown

.草の戸やいづち支舞の今朝の春
kusa no to ya izuchi shimai no kesa no haru

at my hut
what will come of it?
spring's first dawn

Shinji Ogawa has pointed out that kusa no to is not to be read literally as "grass door," but figuratively as "my hut." Izuchi is an old word that can mean dochira ("whichever") or doko ("wherever"); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 137.

year unknown

.けさ春と掃まねしたりひとり坊
kesa haru to haku mane shitari hitori-bô

spring's first dawn--
the priest pretends
to sweep

Spring's first dawn is New Year's morning. The priest could be Issa (self-described as "a priest of Haikai Temple"), only going through the motions of spring cleaning.

year unknown

.ふしぎ也生れた家でけさの春
fushigi nari umareta ie de kesa no haru

amazing--
in the house I was born
spring's first morning

Since the haiku is undated, we have no way of knowing exactly how long Issa had been absent from his home in Kashiwabara village when he wrote this. Shinji Ogawa notes that he had been away for so long, he must have had many things on his mind, myriad thoughts and memories whirling within--summed up cryptically by the single word, "amazing" (fushigi). In 1816 he writes a similar haiku:
fushigi nari umareta ie de kyô no tsuki

amazing--
in the house I was born
seeing this moon

year unknown

.ふしぎ也生れた家でけふの春
fushigi nari umareta ie de kyô no haru

amazing--
in the house I was born
spring begins today

The haiku has the headnote, "After fifty years' absence, returning to my native village."

year unknown

.塵の身も拾ふ神あり花の春
chiri no mi mo hirou kami ari hana no haru

even for this body of dust
a god to uplift me!
blossoming spring

The phrase hirou kami ("god who uplifts") ends a longer Japanese proverb that begins: suteru kami areba ("if a god abandons you, another god uplifts"). Issa's uplifting "god" is the gloriously blooming spring. This undated haiku is a variant of one written in 1816.

year unknown

.とてもならみろくの御代を松の春
totemo nara miroku no miyo wo matsu no haru

maybe you'll see
the Future Buddha's reign...
spring pines

According to the Shingon sect, Miroku Bodhisattva will become a Buddha far in the future, to save all beings who cannot achieve enlightenment. Pine trees are known for their longevity, though in this case Issa seems to be exaggerating.

year unknown

.庵の春寝そべる程は霞なり
io no haru nesoberu hodo wa kasumu nari

spring at my hut--
tall as a sleeping man
the mist

Shinji Ogawa explains that the phrase, nesoberu hodo wa, means "as much as a lying down person." He paraphrases the haiku: "New spring at my hut...here the mist trails just as low as a lying down person."

year unknown

.初春や千代のためしに立給ふ
hatsu haru ya chiyo no tameshi ni tatsu tamau

spring begins
as it has deigned to do
for a thousand ages

This haiku has the headnote, "In a picture of Mount Fuji." Like Mount Fuji, nature's cycle that includes spring seems eternal to human eyes.

year unknown

.我国はけぶりも千代のためし哉
waga kuni wa keburi mo chiyo no tameshi kana

my province--
even the smoke
an ancient thing

Shinji Ogawa explains that chiyo no tameshi can be translated as "old precedent." He believes that this haiku alludes to an incident described in the Kojiki, a Japanese history compiled in 712: "One day the Emperor Nintoku of the fifth century looked down upon the country from a high mountain. As he did not see much smoke, he released the people from the tax for three years. As a result, the court decayed but the country was filled with smoke. Of course, the smoke was cooking smoke."

year unknown

.はる立や門の雀もまめなかほ
haru tatsu ya kado no suzume mo mamena kao

spring begins--
sparrows at my gate
with healthy faces

We can imagine that Issa studied and noted the unique expression on every tiny, bright-eyed face.

year unknown

.神とおもふかたより三輪の日の出哉
kami to omou kata yori miwa no hi no de kana

from where the gods live
Miwa's
sunrise

Miwa ("great wheel") can refer to Miwa Shrine or Mount Miwa. Issa is referring to the first sunrise of the new year.

year unknown

.よその蔵からすじかひに初日哉
yoso no kura kara sujikai ni hatsu hi kana

from a neighbor's storehouse
shining slantwise...
year's first sun

This haiku has the headnote, "First Day." It is similar to one written in 1819:
dozô kara sujikai ni sasu hatsu hi kana

from the storehouse
shining slantwise...
year's first sun

year unknown

.初空のもやうに立や茶の煙
hatsu-zora no moyô ni tatsu ya cha no keburi

rising into
the year's first sky...
tea smoke

year unknown

.雨のない日が初空ぞ翌も旅
ame no nai hi ga hatsu-zora zo asu mo tabi

if it's not raining
it's the year's first sky!
tomorrow too, travel

This haiku has the headnote, "On a journey."

year unknown

.はつ空を拵へる也茶のけぶり
hatsuzora wo koshiraeru nari cha no keburi

forming the year's
first sky...
tea smoke

Issa says that the smoke forms or creates the sky, an extremely creative statement. Perhaps he feels that the sky isn't complete without smoke rising languidly into it.

year unknown

.御降りをたんといただく屑屋哉
o-sagari wo tan to itadaku kuzuya kana

welcoming in loads
of New Year's rain...
trashy house

A comic haiku about a leaking roof--with a deeper spiritual message? Tan to is an old expression that means takusan ("a lot"); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1036.

year unknown

.大原や恵方に出し杖の穴
ôhara ya ehô ni ideshi tsue no ana

big field--
my New Year's walk
follows holes made by canes

This haiku refers to the New Year's custom of visiting a shrine or temple located in a lucky direction. Issa wrote two other versions of this haiku, both dated 1818. In one, he begins with oku saga ya ("deep in Saga"); in the other, he begins with hata heri ya ("edge of a field").

year unknown

.とし神やことしも御世話下さるる
toshi-gami ya kotoshi mo o-sewa kudasaruru

O New Year's god
this year too
send help!

year unknown

.梅の花まけにこぼすや畚下し
ume no hana mage ni kobosu ya fugo oroshi

plum blossoms fall
in the hairdo...
lowering the basket

This haiku refers to a custom at a certain Buddhist temple in Kyoto. On the first Day of the Tiger of each year, pilgrims could purchase the temple's famous flint stones by lowering a basket with their money into a hole. Unseen monks below would then exchange the stones for the money.

Shinji Ogawa notes that the hiragana symbols make should be pronounced mage: an old-fashioned Japanese hairstyle. The blossoms are falling onto someone's hair.

year unknown

.三日月や畚引上る木末から
mikazuki ya fugo hiki-ageru kozue kara

sickle moon--
hauling up the basket
through branches

This haiku refers to a custom at a certain Buddhist temple in Kyoto. On the first Day of the Tiger of each year, pilgrims could purchase the temple's famous flint stones by lowering a basket with their money into a hole. Unseen monks below would then exchange the stones for the money.

The moon is a "three-day moon"...just a sliver.

year unknown

.斎日やぞめき出されて上野迄
sainichi ya zomeki dasarete ueno made

day of fasting--
high revelry from here
to Ueno

Though it is a Buddhist day of fasting in the New Year's season, there are noisy, boisterous drinking parties.

year unknown

.やぶ入やきのふ過たる山祭り
yabuiri ya kinou sugitaru yama matsuri

servant on holiday--
the mountain festival
ended yesterday

After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. The dances in question are sacred Shinto dances (kagura). The servant in this haiku arrives home a day late. An earlier version of this haiku, dated 1804, ends with the phrase, yama kagura ("Shinto dances on the mountain").

year unknown

.やぶ入の顔にもつけよ桃の花
yabuiri no kao ni mo tsuke yo momo no hana

on the homecoming servant's
face too...
peach blossoms

In an earlier version of this haiku, dated 1808, Issa ends with ume no hana ("plum blossoms"). After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families.

year unknown

.薮入りや二人並んで思案橋
yabuiri ya futari narande shian-bashi

Servants' Holiday--
two in a row
on Meditation Bridge

After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. Shian-bashi, literally translated, is "Meditation Bridge"--located in the old Nihonbashi district of Edo (today's Tokyo).

year unknown

.小松引人とて人をながむかな
ko matsu hiku hito tote hito wo nagamu kana

yanking up a little pine
he watches
the watchers

Pulling up a young pine tree is a New Year's season custom. Its purpose is to ensure longevity. This is similar to a haiku of 1821 that ends with the phrase, ogamu nari ("he says a prayer"). Shinji notes that the humor of this haiku lies in the fact that people want to watch the ceremonial pine pulling, but at the same time the pine puller wants to watch the people ... watching him.

year unknown

.袴着て芝にころりと子の日哉
hakama kite shiba ni gorori to ne no hi kana

in formal trousers
curled asleep on the lawn...
first day of Rat

Pulling up a young pine tree is a New Year's season custom. Its purpose is to ensure longevity. Here, someone sleeps through the celebration. Gabi Greve notes that "Hakama is an outer garment worn over the kimono that is either split between the legs like pants or non-split like a skirt. Hakama pants originated as an outer garment to protect samurai warriors' legs from brush when riding a horse. Today, the hakama is worn as formal attire for ceremonies, traditional Japanese dance, artists and martial arts."

year unknown

.かま獅子があごではらひぬ門の松
kamashishi ga ago de harainu kado no matsu

pruned by the antelope's
jaws...
New Year's pine

This haiku refers to the New Year's pine-and-bamboo decoration. The animal in question is a Japanese serow, a goatlike antelope that lives deep in the mountains.

The verb harau is being used in its sense of "to prune" as in eda wo harau ("prune a branch"). The -inu ending forms the perfect tense ("has pruned").

year unknown

.皺顔のかくれやはせん七五三飾
shiwa kao no kakure yawasen shichigosan kazari

for a wrinkled face--
children's New Year's
decorations

Issa refers to a New Year's ornament for a shrine or gate for children aged (the lucky numbers) three, five, and seven. Someone is old but fortunate in their grandchildren.

year unknown

.ひょいひょいと藪にかけるや余り注連
hiyoi hiyoi to yabu ni kakeru ya amari shime

here and there
hanging in the thicket...
New Year's ropes

This haiku is similar to one written in 1819 that begins, "two or three/ hang in the thicket... (futatsu mitsu yabu ni kakeru ya). Shime refers to ceremonial ropes with tufts of straw.

year unknown

.外ならば梅がとび込福茶哉
soto naraba ume ga tobikomu fukucha kana

going outside
plum blossoms dive in...
my lucky tea

Issa is drinking fukucha: "lucky tea" of the new year.

year unknown

.影法師もまめ息災で御慶かな
kageboshi mo mame sokusai de gyokei kana

my shadow too
in good health...
"Happy New Year!"

This haiku has the headnote, "Traveling alone." Shinji Ogawa notes that mame signifies "healthy" when used as an adjective. For this reason, I translate mame sokusai as "in good health." In an earlier version, I had it "fit and trim," but Issa doesn't appear "trim" in his portraits. Sokusai is a word with special resonance for Buddhists, signifying a sense of tranquility in the knowledge that the merits of Buddhism can overcome the misfortunes of this world; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 937. Issa ends an 1817 version of this haiku with the phrase, "dawn of spring" (kesa no haru).

year unknown

.しんぼしてわらは笑はぬ御慶哉
shinbo shite wara wa warawanu gyokei kana

the patient child
doesn't laugh...
New Year's greeting

Is the child (wara < warabe) waiting to receive his/her New Year's present or treat with a serious expression? Note the fun alliteration of wara wa warawa. Issa was a musical poet.

year unknown

.つぶれ家の其身其まま御慶哉
tsubure ya no sono mi sono mama gyokei kana

my ramshackle hut
just as it is...
"Happy New Year!"

The "my" doesn't appear in the original, but the dilapidated structure is certainly Issa's--based on countless similar allusions to the poet's home. The "just-as-it-is" state of the house reflects the poet's Jôdoshinshû Buddhism. The sect founder of Jôdoshinshû, Shinran, advocated a similar attitude concerning one's salvation and future rebirth in the Pure Land.

year unknown

.いく廻り目だぞとし玉扇又もどる
iku meguri me da zo toshidama ôgi mata modoru

how many times
a New Year's gift?
the fan returns

This undated haiku is similar to one written in 1824:
meguri-meguri to toru toshidama ôgi kana

making the rounds
as a New Year's gift...
paper fan

year unknown

.草の戸やけさのとし玉とりに来る
kusa no to ya kesa no toshidama tori ni kuru

my humble hut--
all morning they come
for New Year's gifts

This undated haiku is a revision of one written in 1814:
waga io ya kesa no toshidama tori ni kuru

my hut--
all morning they come by
for New Year's gifts

Shinji Ogawa has pointed out that kusa no to is not to be read literally as "grass door," but figuratively as "my hut."

year unknown

.こりよそけへいつけて置けよお年玉
kori yosoke heitsukete oke yo o-toshidama

put this one
over there!
New Year's gifts

The opening phrase, kori yosoke means kore wo soko e (put this over there), according to the editors of Issa zenshû (1976-79) 1.41.

year unknown

.とし玉茶どこを廻って又もどる
toshidama cha doko wo megutte mata modoru

New Year's gift of tea--
where did you go
on your journey back to me?

Normally, I avoid rhyme in haiku, but the rhyme in this translation "just happened," so I've left it in. A haiku about regifting.

year unknown

.わんぱくや先試みに筆はじめ
wanpaku ya mazu kokoromi ni fude hajime

the naughty child
attempts first...
year's first writing

Shinji Ogawa notes, "It is a Japanese custom to write with a writing brush on the second day of the year."

year unknown

.子宝や棒をひくのも吉書始
ko-dakara ya bô wo hiku no mo kissho hajime

treasured child--
his cane dragging
the year's first writing

This haiku refers to the year's first calligraphy. But instead of using a brush, the child draws a character on a larger scale--most likely in snow. Shinji Ogawa, who helped with this translation, notes, "It is a Japanese custom to write with a writing brush on the second day of the year."

year unknown

.古壁や釘で書たるはつ暦
furu kabe ya kugi de kaitaru hatsu-goyomi

old wall--
written with a nail
the new almanac

The new almanac (hatsu-goyomi) is a New Year's season word. Someone has scratched at least part of it on an old wall. This undated haiku is similar to two others that Issa wrote in 1824, in which the almanac is scratched on a dry wall (suna kabe) and on a paper wall (hari kabe).

year unknown

.人の世は此山陰も若湯哉
hito no yo wa kono yama kage mo waka yu kana

world of man--
even in mountain shade
New Year's water

This haiku refers to the first water boiled on New Year's Day (waka yu). Issa honors this ritual even on his secluded mountain.

year unknown

.浴みして旅のしらみを罪始め
yuami shite tabi no shirami wo tsumi hajime

hot bath--
against my journey's lice
first sin

Shinji Ogawa notes that Issa is punning in this haiku. The phrase tsumi hajime denotes both "first sin" and "first pinch" (Issa is pinching, i.e. killing, his body lice--disobeying Buddha's precept against taking life.

year unknown

.若水やそうとつき込む梅の花
wakamizu ya souto tsukikomu ume no hana

into the year's first
water softly...
plum blossoms

year unknown

.鳴く猫に赤ン目をして手まり哉
naku neko ni akambe wo shite temari kana

making a face
at the whining cat...
bouncing her ball

Or: "bouncing his ball."

Playing with a ball (temari) is an activity associated with the New Year's season. Akambe (or akanbe or akanbee), which literally means to turn one's eyelids inside out. It denotes making a face at someone: sticking out one's tongue.

year unknown

.猫の子にかして遊ばす手まり哉
neko no ko ni kashite asobasu temari kana

lending it
for the kitten's playtime...
New Year's handball

Issa is referring to a traditional New Year's game, involving the tossing back and forth of a colorful cloth ball while singing songs.

year unknown

.大凧やりんとうごかぬ角田川
ôtako ya rin to ugokanu sumida-gawa

the big kite
perfectly motionless...
Sumida River

In my imagination the kite has landed smack on the surface of the water.

year unknown

.切凧のくるくる舞やお茶の水
kire tako no kuru-kuru mau ya ocha no mizu

a broken kite dancing
round and round...
Ocha-no-Mizu

Ocha-no-mizu, a section of Edo (today's Tokyo) literally means, "tea water." Shinji Ogawa alerted me to the fact that the kite is dancing over this place, not "into the tea water"!

year unknown

.芝浦や上げ捨てある凧
shiba ura ya age-sutete aru ikanobori

grassy shoreline--
a rising then crashing
kite

This haiku recalls an earlier one of 1813, in which a big kite rose and crashed at Mount Matchi.

year unknown

.凧抱て直ぐにすやすや寝る子哉
tako daite sugu ni suya-suya neru ko kana

hugging his kite
soon he's sound asleep...
the child

Flying kites is a New Year's activity for boys; this particular one has spent all of his energy in the excitement of the day, and now sleeps, hugging his beloved kite. The haiku paints a picture of pure, trusting love--the love of a child for a toy. The image has much to teach adult readers, if they open themselves to it.

year unknown

.門獅子やししが口から梅の花
kado shishi ya shishi ga kuchi kara ume no hana

lion puppet at the gate--
from his mouth
plum blossoms

A lion puppet dance (shishimai) is a popular New Year's entertainment.

year unknown

.春駒を人のしてさへいさみけり
haru koma wo hito no shite sae isami keri

stick horse--
even though human-made
so frisky!

Issa wrote two haiku (in 1820 and 1822) about a child stomping about on his horse made of bamboo ("spring pony"). This is another return to the subject.

year unknown

.かたむべき歯は一本もなかりけり
katamubeki ha wa ippon mo nakari keri

teeth to harden
this New Year's meal...
not even one

year unknown

.歯固は猫に勝れて笑ひけり
hagatame wa neko ni katarete warai keri

New Year's tooth-hardening
meal...the cat wins
and laughs

This haiku refers to a special tooth-hardening meal eaten in the New Year's season. The cat, with better and harder teeth, seems to be laughing at poor Issa.

year unknown

.福俵よい事にして猫ざらる
fuku-dawara yoi koto ni shite neko zareru

lucky straw bag--
a good thing
for a cat's playtime

A fuku-dawara is a straw bag given during the New Year’s season that is meant to bring prosperity and luck. Issa wrote two versions of this haiku with its elements rearranged.

year unknown

.よい事に猫がざれけり福俵
yoi koto ni neko ga zare keri fuku-dawara

it's good
for the cat's playtime...
lucky straw bag

A fuku-dawara is a straw bag given during the New Year’s season that is meant to bring prosperity and luck. Issa wrote two versions of this undated haiku with its elements rearranged.

year unknown

.わかなつむ小じりの先の朝日哉
wakana tsumu kojiri no saki no asahi kana

herb picking--
at the rafter's metal tip
the rising sun

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance. A kojiri is the ornamental metal fixture at the end of a rafter or of a sword’s scabbard. The former meaning seems to fit here.

year unknown

.長閑さや垣間を覗く山の僧
nodokasa ya kakima wo nozoku yama no sô

spring peace--
a mountain monk peeks
through a fence

Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge." Shinji Ogawa feels that this is a humorous reference to a scene from The Tale of Genji (Chapter 5), wherein Prince Genji peers through a wattle fence and catches sight of ten-year old Murasaki. Shinji notes, "In spring, even a mountain monk becomes a Peeping Tom." Issa plays with this same image in another comic haiku, but in this case a cat takes the place of the famous prince; search the archive for "Genji."

year unknown

.草麦のひよろひよろのびる日ざし哉
kusa mugi hyoro-hyoro nobiru hizashi kana

the grass and wheat
trembling...
sunlight stretches on

It's a long day of springtime. Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley.

year unknown

.舞々や翌なき春を笑ひ顔
mai-mai ya asu naki haru wo warai kao

water spider
on spring's last day...
laughing face

Shinji Ogawa helped with this translation. The mai-mai is also called a "water spinner."

year unknown

.霜の花それさへ春のなごり哉
shimo no hana sore sae haru no nagori kana

frost-white flowers--
and thus
spring ends

This undated haiku is a rewrite of an early work (1793) that begins with the same opening phrase.

year unknown

.行春や馬引き入るるいさら川
yuku haru ya umahiki iruru isaragawa

spring departs--
the work horse is led
into a brook

The farm horse is being led by a farmer or farmer's child into the "babbling brook" (isaragawa).

year unknown

.行春や我を見たをす古着買
yuku haru ya ware wo mitaosu furugigai

spring departs--
the old clothes buyer
ignores me

Jean Cholley identifies this as a haiku written in the period 1798-1800; En village de miséreux (1996) 41. In Issa zenshû it is simply listed as an undated poem (1976-79) 1.64. In this self-ironic portrait Issa suggests that he is so ragtag and beggarly-looking, the used clothes merchant looks past him, confident that he has nothing worth buying.

year unknown

.木兎のつくづく春を惜しむやう
mimizuku no tsuku-zuku haru wo oshimu yô

the horned owl
regrets it deeply...
spring departs

This undated haiku echoes an image that Issa recording in poems of 1810.

year unknown

.淡雪や犬の土ほる通のはた
awayuki ya inu no tsuchi horu michi no hata

light snow--
a dog digs a hole
by the road

Pretty pink blossoms have blown off a tree and filled a dog's bowl. Will the dog partake? (They are edible.)

year unknown

.小烏や巧者にすべる春の雨
ko-garasu ya kôsha ni suberu haru no ame

the little crow
slips so cleverly...
spring rain

This is a rewrite of an 1812 haiku; in the original the crow was a "field crow" (no-garasu).

year unknown

.春雨や夜さりも上る亦打山
harusame ya yosari mo noboru matchi yama

spring rain--
an evening climb
up Mount Matchi

This undated haiku is an alternate version of a haiku of 1814 about an evening pilgrimage (yosari mo mairu) on Mount Matchi.

year unknown

.餅の出る槌のほしさよ春の雨
mochi no deru tsuchi no hoshisa yo haru no ame

wishing I had
a rice cake mallet...
spring rain

Perhaps the boredom of being indoors on a rainy day has Issa thinking of pounding rice into cakes.

year unknown

.安堵して鼠も寝るよ春の雨
ando shite nezumi mo neru yo haru no ame

taking it easy
the mouse sleeps too...
spring rain

For Issa the mouse is a roommate, not a pest.

year unknown

.貝殻に明るき道や春の雨
kaigara ni akaruki michi ya haru no ame

the path of seashells
is dazzling...
spring rain

Rain has cleaned the shell-covered road, making it white, bright, and inviting.

year unknown

.貝殻の不二がちよぼよぼ春の雨
kaigara no fuji gachi yobo-yobo haru no ame

the Mount Fuji
of seashells is tottering...
spring rain

This haiku has the headnote, "Fukagawa." Fukagawa is a neighborhood in Edo (today's Tokyo) on Sumida River's east bank. The great haiku poet Bashô lived there (as did Issa, for a time).

year unknown

.じゃじゃ馬もはたご泊りや春の雨
jaja uma mo hatago tomari ya haru no ame

a skittish horse
also at this inn...
spring rain

In a famous haiku by Bashô, the great master poet depicts himself staying at a flea-and-lice-infested inn where a horse urinated near his pillow. Issa's skittish horse presents a similar (though less noxious) impediment to sleep.

year unknown

.たびら雪半分交ぜや春の雨
tabira yuki hambun maze ya haru no ame

half of it
is flitting snowflakes...
spring rain

Tabira yuki is an old expression that connotes a light, flitting snow; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1019. Winter was long in Issa's snowy, mountainous province.

year unknown

.茶屋小屋を降つぶしけり春の雨
chaya koya wo furi-tsubushi keri haru no ame

hammering
the tiny teahouse...
spring rain

Hyperbole: the weight of falling water threatens to crush the little teahouse.

year unknown

.入道が綻ぬふや春の雨
nyûdô ga hokorobi nuu ya haru no ame

the priest is mending
a rip...
spring rain

A slice-of-life haiku. This quiet image of a Buddhist monk sewing might be a self-portrait, since Issa described himself as a "Priest of Haikai Temple."

year unknown

.春雨や相に相生の松の声
harusame ya ai ni aioi no matsu no koe

spring rain--
growing side by side
whispering pines

This haiku has the headnote, "Congratulations on a new marriage." The "pines' voices" (matsu no koe) refer to the sighing of wind through their branches. The word aioi ("growing together") is often used in Japanese wedding speeches.

year unknown

.春雨やあさぢが原の団子客
harusame ya asaji ga hara no dango kyaku

spring rain--
in a field of tufted grasses
dumpling customers

Issa leaves to his reader's imagination the dumpling vendor. "Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass.

year unknown

.春雨や夜も愛するまつち山
harusame ya yoru mo ai suru matchi yama

spring rain--
at night, too, making love
on Mount Matchi

Shinji Ogawa notes that there is a mountain called Matchi, but "Mount Matchi" (matchi yama) is also a pillow word (conventional poetic expression) for "waiting." He believes that there are many love poems associated with Mount Matchi.

year unknown

.夜談義やばくちくづれや春の雨
yo dangi ya bakuchi kuzure ya haru no ame

night sermon
backsliding gamblers...
spring rain

This is a rewrite of an earlier haiku of 1818: "spring rain--/ backsliding gamblers/ and a night sermon." Here, Issa reverses the order of images.

year unknown

.ぼた餅や辻の仏も春の風
botamochi ya tsuji no hotoke mo haru no kaze

sticky rice cake
for the crossroads Buddha...
spring breeze

In its original form (1814), this haiku focuses on Jizô, the guardian deity of children. In another version (1819) it focuses on a "Buddha of the thicket" (yabu no hotoke).

year unknown

.春風や供の女の小脇差
harukaze ya tomo no onna no ko wakizashi

spring breeze--
the female servant's
little sword

In his original version of this haiku (1816), Issa describes her as a "servant girl" (tomo no musume).

year unknown

.鬼の面狐の面や春の風
oni no men kitsune no men ya haru no kaze

faces of devils
faces of foxes...
spring breeze

Or: "a devil's face/ a fox's face..."

Shinji Ogawa explains that men in this context means a mask used in a spring celebration.

year unknown

.笠うらの大神宮や春の風
kasa ura no daijingû ya haru no kaze

inside my umbrella-hat
a charm from Ise Shrine...
spring breeze

Issa is referring to the great Shinto shrine at Ise.

Shinji Ogawa helped me to understand Issa's meaning. Literally, the poet has Ise Shrine under his umbrella-hat; actually, this is a lucky charm which he purchased at Ise Shrine.

year unknown

.春風に吹れた形や女坂
harukaze ni fukarete nari ya onnazaka

the spring breeze pushes
somebody
down the slope

Onnazaka is a gentle slope.

year unknown

.春風に吹れ序の湯治哉
harukaze ni fukare tsuide no toji kana

blown upon
by a spring breeze...
healing hot bath

A luxurious mingling of cool air and hot spring water.

year unknown

.春風や芦の丸屋の一つ口
harukaze ya ashi no maruya no hitotsu-guchi

spring breeze--
into the round reed hut's
only door

A fishing hut, perhaps?

year unknown

.春風や歩行ながらの御法談
harukaze ya aruki nagara no ôhôdan

spring breeze--
the priest gives his sermon
walking along

The Buddhist priest brings his message of universal enlightenment to green fields under a blue sky: the vast temple of nature.

year unknown

.一つ葉の中より吹や春の風
hitotsuba no naka yori fuku ya haru no kaze

out of the dyer's-weed
it blows...
spring breeze

Shinji Ogawa notes that hitotsuba is the name of a weed: "a dyer's-weed."

year unknown

.東風吹くや入日の迹の水明り
kochi fuku ya irihi no ato no mizu akari

east wind--
after sunset gleaming
dark water

East wind is a spring season word.

year unknown

.おぼろ月松出ぬけても出ぬけても
oboro-zuki matsu denukete mo denukete mo

misty moon in the pine--
passing through
passing through

As it rises in the sky, the moon passes through the branches of the pine. The season word in this haiku, oboro, refers to moonlit spring haze.

year unknown

.菰だれの厠も朧支度かな
komodare no kawaya mo oboro shitaku kana

expressly made
for the shabby outhouse...
moonlit haze

In other words, to modestly hide it. Issa doesn't use the word "moon," but he implies the moon's presence with oboro: "hazy and dim," a word associated with the spring moon.

year unknown

.福狐啼たまふぞよおぼろ月
fuku kitsune naki tamau zo yo oboro-zuki

a lucky fox
barking good luck!
a hazy moon

The season word in this haiku, oboro, refers to moonlit spring haze. In Japanese folklore the fox is a powerful spirit.

year unknown

.霞む日や鹿の寝て行くさらし臼
kasumu hi ya shika no nete yuku sarashi usu

misty day--
a deer wakes up and leaves
the bleaching tub

Issa wrote three versions of this haiku: the deer comes out of the tub (1811); the deer pokes its face out of the tub (18120; and the deer wakes up and leaves the tub (undated).

year unknown

.かすむ日や問屋がうらのばせを塚
kasumu hi ya tonya ga ura no bashô tsuka

misty day--
behind a wholesale store
Basho's grave

In an variant of this haiku written in 1813 Basho's grave is behind a candy shop (ameya). Basho's grave is in Gichûji (a Buddhist temple in Otsu near Kyoto). When I visited it I could hear a kindergarten class singing just beyond the wall behind the great poet's grave.

year unknown

.ほくほくと霞んで来るはどなた哉
hoku-hoku to kasunde kuru wa donata kana

rap-a-tap
who's that coming
in the mist?

Issa hears the clacking of someone's walking stick.

year unknown

.けふもけふもかすんで暮らす小家哉
kyô mo kyô mo kasunde kurasu ko ie kana

today too
living in mist...
little house

A wonderful portrait of the poet's life and, by extention, the life of all human beings.

year unknown

.かすむ日に古くもならぬ卒塔婆哉
kasumu hi ni furuku mo naranu sotoba kana

in the misty day
not growing older...
grave tablets

There are two definitions for sotoba: (1) a Buddhist shrine constructed to contain Buddha's ashes, used in memorial services for the dead; (2) a wooden grave tablet; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 946. Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) and Gabi Greve believe that Issa has the second meaning in mind when he uses this term.

year unknown

.うす霞丸にやの字の壁見ゆる
usu-gasumi maru ni ya no ji no kabe miyuru

thin mist--
the word "ya" appears
on a wall

Through the mist the hiragana symbol ya appears on a wall. It could signify many things; my guess is that it's advertising some kind of "shop."

year unknown

.かすみてもとうに隠れぬ卒塔婆哉
kasumi temo tô ni kakurenu sotoba kana

though it's misty
not quite hidden...
grave tablet

A wooden grave tablet in a Buddhist cemetery.

year unknown

.霞とや朝からさはぐ馬鹿烏
kasumu to ya asa kara sawagu baka karasu

in spring mist
from morning on a ruckus...
foolish crow

Or: "foolish crows."

year unknown

.かすむ日や大旅籠屋のうらの松
kasumu hi ya ôhatagoya no ura no matsu

misty day--
behind the big inn
a pine

year unknown

.今朝程や三文程の遠がすみ
kesa hodo ya san mon hodo no tô-gasumi

this morning
just three pennies worth...
far mist

In an early haiku of 1790 Issa writes about paying three pennies (san mon) to look through a telescope but seeing only mist. This much later haiku of 1822 might be recalling that moment.

year unknown

.さらばさらばの手にかかる霞かな
saraba saraba no te ni kakaru kasumu kana

farewell! farewell!
hands wave
in spring mist

Before they vanish from each other in the mist, friends wave goodbye. Of thousands of haiku by Issa that I've translated, this one moves me the most--but I can't explain why.

year unknown

.直ぐ道のひらひら紙や春がすみ
sugumichi no hira-hira kami ya haru-gasumi

"Shortcut" on paper
flits and flutters...
spring mist

A sign indicating a direct road or shortcut.

year unknown

.たつぷりと霞と隠れぬ卒塔婆哉
tappuri to kasumu to kakurenu sotoba kana

not quite hidden
by the spring mist...
grave tablet

Issa's juxtaposition of springtime with a Buddhist cemetery is powerful and (like thick mist) mysterious.

year unknown

.杖先の一里一里とかすみけり
tsue saki no ichi ri ichi ri to kasumi keri

with the tip of his cane
"Three miles, three miles..."
spring mist

Someone is giving directions to a traveler (Issa?), pointing the way with his cane. One ri is 2.44 miles, almost 4 kilometers.

year unknown

.筑波根と一所にかすむ御船かな
tsukubane to issho ni kasumu o-fune kana

sharing the mist
on Mount Tsukuba...
a boat

Tuskubane is an old name for Mount Tsukuba.

year unknown

.伏見のやぞろりと霞む夕旅籠
fushimi no ya zorori to kasumu yû hatago

Fushimi Field
and evening inn...
lost in mist

Issa might be alluding to the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto.

year unknown

.丸にやの字の壁見へて夕霞
maru ni ya no ji no kabe miete yû-gasumi

the word "ya"
on a wall...
evening mist

In another undated version of this haiku the hiragana symbol ya appears on a wall viewed through thin mist. My theory is that ya refers to some kind of shop.

year unknown

.湖のとろりとかすむ夜也けり
mizuumi no torori to kasumu yo nari keri

the lake is slowly
lost in mist...
evening falls

year unknown

.陽炎や子をかくされし親の顔
kagerô ya ko wo kakusareshi oya no kao

heat shimmers--
missing a child
the parent's face

In an earlier haiku (1803) the subject is a mother bird:
kagerô ya ko wo nakusareshi tori no kao

heat shimmers--
having lost a child
the bird's face

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.陽炎や馬ほしておく草の原
kagerô ya uma hoshite oku kusa no hara

heat shimmers--
longing for a horse
the grassy field

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.陽炎やいとしき人の杖の穴
kagerô ya itoshiki hito no tsue no ana

heat shimmers--
holes made by a dear friend's
walking stick

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.陽炎に一本乗りのいかだ哉
kagerô ni ippon nori no ikada kana

in heat shimmers--
a single-seater
raft glides by

Most likely a distant view. I have added "glides by" for poetic effect. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.陽炎の立つとて伸ばす土足かな
kagerô no tatsu tote nobasu dosoku kana

heat shimmers
stretching longer...
muddy feet

An odd and interesting juxtaposition. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.陽炎も片側のみぞうら借家
kagerô mo kata-gawa no mizo ura shakuya

heat shimmers here too--
a rented house
behind a ditch

This haiku is undated, so we don't know where Issa was living at the time. This poor rented house might be where he once stayed--on the east bank of the Sumida River, across from Edo (today's Tokyo). "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.陽炎や犬に追るるのら鼠
kagerô ya inu ni owaruru nora nezumi

heat shimmers--
a field mouse chased
by the dog

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.陽炎や草の上行くぬれ鼠
kagerô ya kusa no ue yuku nure nezumi

heat shimmers--
to the top of the weed
a wet mouse

Or: "to the top of the blade of grass." Kusa can signify "grass" or "weed." In this case, it must be a stout plant (stout enough for a mouse to climb it), certainly not the type of grass that grows in most suburban lawns.

year unknown

.陽炎や鍋ずみ流す村の川
kagerô ya nabe-zumi nagasu mura no kawa

heat shimmers--
sooty kettles in the river
by the village

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

year unknown

.我雪も連て流れよ千曲川
waga yuki mo tsurete nagare yo chikuma kawa

float away
my snow too...
Chikuma River

Chikuma River crosses Issa's home province of Shinano.

year unknown

.居るだけ雪をとかして奉加鉦
suwaru dake yuki wo tokashite hôga kane

please make the sitting
snow melt!
temple's donation bell

Someone (Issa?) drops money into the box and rings the bell, praying for spring to truly arrive. The first kanji (iru; "to be") should be read as suwaru ("to sit").

year unknown

.門前や杖でつくりし雪げ川
monzen ya tsue de tsukurishi yukigegawa

before the gate--
my cane makes a river
of melting snow

year unknown

.汚されぬうちに消えけり門の雪
yogosarenu uchi ni kie keri kado no yuki

melting when it starts
to not look dirty...
snow at my gate

This is an undated revision of a haiku of 1822 that begins "melting when I start to not hate it" (kirawarenu uchi ni kie).

year unknown

.大雪を杓子でとかす子ども哉
ôyuki wo shakushi de tokasu kodomo kana

melting the big snow
with a ladle...
a child

A shakushi is a bamboo ladle.

year unknown

.親犬が瀬踏してけり雪げ川
oya inu ga sebumi shite keri yukigegawa

mother dog
testing the depth...
snow-melt river

Love isn't just a human thing. In this wonderful haiku a brood of puppies follows behind while their mother tests the depth of the cold, rushing water.

year unknown

.門畑や米の字なりの雪解水
kado hata ya kome no ji nari no yukige mizu

garden at the gate--
melting snow forming
the word "rice"

Issa discerns the promise of the coming agricultural year, from snow melting to springtime rice seedlings, to transplanted rice in flooded fields, to rice growing tall and green under a hot summer sun, then ripening all golden for autumn's harvest--all in a single moment.

year unknown

.門畠や棒でほじくる雪解川
kado hata ya bô de hojikuru yukigegawa

garden at the gate--
with my cane digging
a snow-melt river

year unknown

.雪解や門は雀の十五日
yuki-doke ya kado wa suzume no jû go nichi

snow melting--
for sparrows at my gate
a great holiday!

Literally, the coming of spring has the sparrows experiencing the "15th day of the month"--alluding to the auspicous 15th Day of Eighth Month, the celebration of the harvest moon.

year unknown

.福の来る門や野山の朝笑う
fuku no kuru kado ya noyama no asa warau

good luck comes
to the morning gate...
laughing hills and fields

The expression "laughing" hills and fields refers to the fact that they now are turning green with in springtime. The headnote for this haiku offers someone "Congratulations upon opening a shop."

year unknown

.振袖にすれすれ山の青む也
furisode ni sure-sure yama no aomu nari

my kimono's long sleeves
brush against it...
greening mountain

Or: "his" or "her." Though today long-sleeved kimonos are strictly feminine attire, in Issa's day both men and women wore them.

year unknown

.我門のかざりに青む苗代田
waga kado no kazari ni aomu nawashiroda

my gate's adornment--
the rice seedlings
turning green

year unknown

.此通りゆめでくらせと涅槃かな
kono tôri yume de kurase to nehan kana

this life you live
just a dream...
Buddha's Death-Day

This haiku refers to the Second Month, 15th Day festival of Buddha's Death-Day, commemorating Gautama Buddha's entrance into nirvana (and physical death).

year unknown

.ついて来た犬も乗る哉ひがん舟
tsui kita inu mo noru kana higan fune

tagging along
a dog rides too...
spring equinox boat

The boat in the scene is probably physical, but Issa playfully alludes to Amida Buddha's "boat of prayer" that carries sentient beings across the ocean of suffering to the Pure Land--especially during spring equinox week, a time of devout Buddhist observances.

year unknown

.御彼岸のぎりに青みしかきね哉
o-higan no giri ni aomishi kakine kana

in honor of the equinox
the hedge
turns green

Spring equinox. The hedge is mysteriously and wonderfully locked in step with the vast motion of the planet whirling through space. Haiku is an art of discovering (and deeply feeling) conections.

year unknown

.袖あたり遊ぶ虱の彼岸哉
sode atari asobu shirami no higan kana

heading for my sleeve
to play...
spring equinox louse

year unknown

.出代や六十顔をさげながら
degawari ya roku jû-zura wo sage nagara

a migrating servant
laid off...
his sixty year-old face

In springtime, old servants were replaced by young ones. The old ones would leave their employers to return to their home villages; the young ones traveled in the opposite direction. In earlier times this took place during the Second Month; later, the Third Month. The old servant, with his sixty-year old face, finally returns to his home village after many, many years.

year unknown

.紙雛やがらくた店の日向ぼこ
kami hina ya garakuta mise no hinata-boko

the paper doll
in the junk store...
sunning herself

Or: "the paper dolls...sunning themselves." This undated haiku, an alternate version of one of 1824 in which the dolls are "old," refers to the Doll Fesrtival held on the third day of Third Month. The shop sells odds and ends with little value.

year unknown

.雛達木がくれてのみおはす也
hiinatachi kogakurete no mi owasu nari

half-hidden dolls
in the deep shade
of trees

This haiku refers to the Doll Festival held on the third day of Third Month.

year unknown

.胡左を吹く口へ投げ込め蓬餅
kosa wo fuku kuchi e nagekome yomogi mochi

toss it into
the Ainu's mouth...
mugwort cake

The expression kosa wo fuku kuchi roughly translates to "the blowing mouths of the indigeous people of Ezo (Hokkaido and other northern islands)." People of this area (treated as outcastes in Japan) supposedly produced fog when they exhaled. The Ainu mouth in this haiku opens for green dumplings made of rice flour and aromatic plants (especially mugwort)--a sweet treat at spring festivals. In another undated version Issa substitutes "mud dumpling" for mugwort cake.

year unknown

.胡左を吹く口へ投げ込め土団子
kosa wo fuku kuchi e nagekome tsuchi dango

toss it into
the Ainu's mouth...
mud dumpling

Racist cruelty? Issa is usally quite sympathetic in haiku about Ainu people; is this poem meant to be read as a satirical critique of how they were treated? The expression kosa wo fuku kuchi roughly translates to "the blowing mouths of the indigeous people of Ezo (Hokkaido and other northern islands)." People of this area (treated as outcastes in Japan) supposedly produced fog when they exhaled. In another undated version Issa substitutes "mugwort cake" (yomogi mochi) for mud dumpling.

year unknown

.青の葉は汐干なぐれの烏哉
ao no ha wa shiohi nagure no karasu kana

some stay behind
in the green leaves...
low tide crows

Nagure is the same as nagori ("vestiges," "remains"); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1213. The crows at low tide are doing the same thing as their human counterparts: looking for shellfish. A few linger behind in trees and field.

year unknown

.飛犬の案内がましき汐干哉
tobu inu no annai gamashiki shiohi kana

a frisky dog
serves as my guide...
low tide

In another version of this haiku (1820) the dog is "lazy" (dora inu).

year unknown

.後々は婆婆が扱て茶の木哉
nochi-nochi wa babaa ga koite cha no ki kana

someday an old woman
will pluck your leaves...
tea plant

In a dated variant of this haiku (1816), Issa predicts that an old man will pluck the tea plant's leaves in the distant future.

year unknown

.二番芽も淋しからざる茶の木哉
ni ban me mo sabishi karazaru cha no ki kana

its second budding
so lonely unplucked...
tea plant

Issa jokes that the tea plant must miss the pickers who gathered its first batch of leaves.

year unknown

.鶴亀の遊ぶ程ずつやくの哉
tsuru kame no asobu hodo-zutsu yaku no kana

the crane and the tortoise's
playground...
burnt field

In an earlier version of this haiku, the burnt field was the playground of "children" (kodomora). The crane and tortoise, emblems of longevity, contrast pointedly with the transience of the field's grass that has gone up in smoke.

year unknown

.風雲ややけ野の火より日の暮るる
kazagumo ya yakeno no hi yori hi no kururu

windblown clouds--
the fires of burning fields
bring sunset

year unknown

.松苗の花咲くころは誰かある
matsunae no hana saku koro wa dare ka aru

when this pine sapling
grows to flower...
who'll be here?

While Issa plants the pine, he wonders who will stand under its shade, one day, when it reaches maturity.

year unknown

.恋猫のぬからぬ顔でもどりけり
koi neko no nukaranu kao de modori keri

the lover cat
his face so innocent
comes home

This haiku was written in 1824-25. It is a rewrite of a haiku of 1822, in which the cat returns from his amorous adventures with an "I'm not talking face" (nakanu kao shite).

year unknown

.恋猫や口なめづりをしてもどる
koi neko ya kuchi namezuri wo shite modoru

the lover cat
licking his chops
comes home

In a similar haiku of 1824 the cat licks his chops while "escaping" (nigeru). In that poem, it would seem that the food that makes him lick his lips has been stolen. Or has the cat in this haiku found another person willing to feed him?

year unknown

.髭前に飯そよぐ也猫の恋
hige saki ni meshi soyogu nari neko no koi

on his whisker tips
rice grains tremble...
the lover cat

year unknown

.ちる桜鹿はぽつきり角もげる
chiru sakura shika wa pokkiri tsuno mogeru

cherry blossoms scatter--
snap! the buck's antlers
come off

Robin D. Gill points out that pokkiri in the Edo era connoted "the sound made when a hard thing breaks."

year unknown

.雀子や人が立ても口を明く
suzumego ya hito ga tatte mo kuchi wo aku

baby sparrow--
even when people come
opening his mouth

This undated haiku is a revision of one written in 1807. The original version starts with the phrase, "nestling" (su no tori ya).

year unknown

.鳥の巣も鬼門に立つや日枝の山
tori no su mo kimon ni tatsu ya hie no yama

the bird's nest, too
in the unlucky direction...
Mount Hie

In an earlier version of this haiku (1821), Issa begins with "the black kite" (tobi). The "unlucky direction" (kimon) is the northeast.

year unknown

.雀子が中で鳴く也米瓢
suzumego ga naka de naku nari kome fukube

a baby sparrow
chirps inside it...
rice gourd

A rice gourd, according to Shinji Ogawa, can be the size of a basketball. In a haiku written in 1816 Issa has a bat chirping in the gourd. Note the musical middle phrase: naka de naku nari.

year unknown

.鶯の苦にもせぬ也茶のけぶり
uguisu no ku ni mo senu nari cha no keburi

the bush warbler
not at all concerned...
tea smoke

year unknown

.鶯の苦にもせぬ也辻ばくち
uguisu no ku ni mo senu nari tsuji bakuchi

the bush warbler
not at all concerned...
gambling at the crossroads

This haiku is a rewrite of one that Issa composed in 1813. He ends the original version with "little gambling shack" (bakuchi koya).

year unknown

.鶯のぬからぬ顔や東山
uguisu no nukaranu kao ya higashi yama

the bush warbler's
"I'm perfect" face...
eastern mountains

The verb nukaru in Issa's time meant to commit a careless blunder; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1270. Issa uses its negative form (nukuranu) to modify the bird's face: the bush warbler has an expression that is "not blundering." Higashiyama ("Eastern Mountains") is the collective name for a number of mountains located between Kyoto and Lake Biwa: a total of 36 peaks, one of which is the temple mountain, Hieizan.

year unknown

.鶯や尿しながらもほつけ経
uguisu ya shito shi nagara mo hokkekyô

bush warbler--
even while pooping, sings
Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra is one of Mahayana Buddhism's most popular texts. Issa imagines that the bird is chirping passages of it, intimating that birdsong, to Issa, is natural prayer.

This is an undated revision of a haiku written in 1816. In the original poem, the bird poops.

year unknown

.鶯も上鶯の垣根かな
uguisu mo jô uguisu no kakine kana

even among bush warblers
royalty
on the fence

In an earlier version of this haiku, written in 1819, Issa ends with inaka kana: "the countryside." In other words, some bush warblers are bumpkins.

year unknown

.鶯のまてにまはるや組屋敷
uguisu no mate ni mawaru ya kumiyashiki

circling bush warblers
closing in...
samurai guard post

Usually pronounced made, mate signifies "both hands"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1527. In Issa's time kumiyashiki was the residence of low class samurai serving as local police. The birds are ironically acting like police: "closing in" on their headquarters as if trapping a criminal. Silly wordplay or deep social criticism of violent authority?

year unknown

.鶯の幾世顔也おく信濃
uguisu no ikuyo kao nari oku shinano

many generations
had your face, bush warbler...
deep Shinano

Shinano, present-day Nagano Prefecture, was Issa's home province. Birds live in the moment, but Issa, being human, imagines the past, sharing with the bush warbler the astounding ancientness of its family line.

year unknown

.鶯のはねかへさるるつるべ哉
uguisu no hanekaesaruru tsurube kana

the bush warbler
is bouncing about...
well bucket

I picture a bush warbler landing on a hanging bucket that starts rocking wildly up and down: an ephemeral moment captured in haiku.

year unknown

.鶯も水を浴せてみそぎ哉
uguisu mo mizu wo abisete misogi kana

the bush warbler
splashes too...
purification font

The bird bathes in the font that holds water for hand-washing purification at a shrine

year unknown

.鶯や隅からすみへ目を配り
uguisu ya sumi kara sumi e me wo kubari

bush warbler--
from one corner to another
his searching eyes

year unknown

.夕雲雀どの松島が寝よいぞよ
yû hibari dono matsushima ga ne yoi zo yo

evening lark--
which pine island's
good for sleeping?

This is a revision of an 1803 haiku in which Issa asks the lark, "which pine island's/ your sleeping place?" (dono matsushima ga nedokoro). Issa is referring to Matsushima, the famous sightseeing resort consisting of many tiny pine islands..

year unknown

.野大根も花となりにけり鳴雲雀
no daiko mo hana to nari keri naku hibari

even the field's
radishes blooming...
the lark singing!

Though many readers these days know what a daikon is, I continue to translate it with the more familiar (though technically inaccurate) term, "radish."

year unknown

.漣や雲雀に交る釣小舟
sazanami ya hibari ni majiru tsuri kobune

ripples on water--
mingling with the larks
a fishing boat

In this gorgeously evocative haiku Issa suggests a distant perspective: a tiny boat almost lost amid sparkling ripples and wheeling birds.

year unknown

.湖におちぬ自慢やなくひばり
mizuumi ni ochinu jiman ya naku hibari

"I won't fall
in the lake!"
the lark sings

This haiku is a rewrite. In the original poem (1822), Issa ends with "evening lark" (yû hibari).

year unknown

.臼からも松の木からも雲雀哉
usu kara mo matsu no ki kara mo hibari kana

from the rice cake tub
from the pine...
skylarks

An usu is a large wooden tub used for rice or herb cake making. The cakemaker pounds the ingredients with a wooden mallet.

year unknown

.墓からも花桶からも雲雀哉
haka kara mo hana oke kara mo hibari kana

from the grave
and from the flowerpot...
skylarks!

year unknown

.おれを見るや雉伸上り伸上り
ore wo miru ya kiji nobi-agari nobi-agari

looking at me
the pheasant on tiptoe
on tiptoe

Though nobi-agari literally means "on tiptoe," a secondary meaning is "arrogantly." The pheasant seems to be looking at the poet with haughty disdain.

year unknown

.雉鳴くやころり焼野の千代の松
kiji naku ya korori yakeno no chiyo no matsu

a pheasant cries
in the burned field, look!
an ancient pine

Chiyo no matsu signifies "a thousand year-pine." Shinji Ogawa notes that korori can be translated as "suddenly" or "abruptly." I believe that Issa is modifying the pheasant's surprise as it suddenly seems to notice the old, lonely pine.

year unknown

.草原を覗れてなく雉子哉
kusabara wo nozokarete naku kigisu kana

peeking into
the grassy meadow...
a pheasant cries

Shinji Ogawa sees the pheasant's cry as its protest. Issa is saying, "How do you feel when strangers peep into your house?"

year unknown

.雨だれは月よなりけりかへる雁
amadare wa tsuki yo nari keri kaeru kari

the bright moon in raindrops
from the eaves...
the geese depart

An amadare is an eavesdrop, where water falls from a roof's overhang. This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

year unknown

.連もたぬ雁もさつさと帰りけり
tsure motanu kari mo sassa to kaeri keri

a goose without companions
flying fast as he can
returns

In an earlier version of this haiku, composed in 1816, the lone goose is "plodding along" (tobo-tobo).

year unknown

.けふ迄のしんぼ強さよ帰る雁
kyô made no shimbo tsuyosa yo kaeru kari

up to today
such perserverance and strength!
returning geese

This haiku is a revision of one written in 1817, in which the geese (or goose) shows "great perserverance" (yô shinbo shita) and appears at Issa's gate. The poet admires the disciplined, hard-traveling geese.

year unknown

.けふ迄はよく辛抱した雁よ雁よ
kyô made wa yoku shimbo shita kari yo kari yo

up to today
such great perserverance...
wild geese! wild geese!

This haiku is a revision of one written in 1817, in which the geese (or goose) appears at Issa's gate. The poet admires the disciplined, hard-traveling geese.

year unknown

.雁鳴や今日本を放るると
kari naku ya ima nippon wo hanaruru to

geese honking--
now they leave behind
Japan

This haiku has the headnote, "Off to foreign shores."

year unknown

.みちのくの田植見てから帰る雁
michi no ku no taue mite kara kaeru kari

after seeing rice planted
in Mutsu province...
the geese depart

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

year unknown

.行たいか雁伸上り伸上り
yukitai ka kari nobi-agari nobi-agari

thinking of taking off?
goose on tiptoe
on tiptoe

year unknown

.古池や先御先へととぶ蛙
furu ike ya mazu o-saki e to tobu kawazu

old pond--
"please, you go first!"
jumping frog

This haiku with the headnote, "At the ruins of Bashô's hut," is a playful allusion to Bashô's famous "old pond" haiku. Issa shows deference to a supposed descendant of Bashô's frog.

year unknown

.今の間に一喧嘩して啼かはづ
ima no ma ni hito-genka shite naku kawazu

now they're quarreling
the croaking
frogs

year unknown

.薄緑やどさり居て鳴く蛙
usumidori ya dosari suwatte naku kawazu

pale green
sitting down with a thump...
croaking frog

year unknown

.大榎小楯に取って啼かはづ
ôenoki kotate ni totte naku kawazu

the big hackberry tree
as his shield...
croaking frog

A kotate (also pronounced kodate) is a type of shield; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 622. Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation.

year unknown

.御地蔵の膝にすわってなく蛙
o-jizô no hiza ni suwatte naku kawazu

in holy Jizo's lap
squatting, croaking
frog

In Japan Jizô is the beloved guardian deity of children (technically a bodhisattva).

year unknown

.御社へじくなんで入るかはづ哉
o-yashiro e jikunande iru kawazu kana

taming the flesh
he enters a shrine...
frog

The frog appears (comically) as a flesh-taming arhat. Shinji Ogawa glosses jikunande as an expression meaning "for self-discipline": ji = "self"; kunan = "hardship"; de = "ly" (in English to make the word adverbial). In an 1826 haiku Issa uses jikunande to describe a frog moving through a thorn bush.

year unknown

.けふ明し窓の月よやなく蛙
kyô akeshi mado no tsuki yo ya naku kawazu

in the open window
a bright moon
croaking frogs

year unknown

.供部屋にさはぎ勝なり蛙酒
tomobeya ni sawagi katsu nari kawazu sake

the uproar in the servants' room
beats the frogs...
drinking party

This undated haiku resembles one that Issa wrote in 1825:
tomobeya ga sawagi katsu nari nenshi sake

the uproar in the servants' room
wins out...
New Year's toasts

year unknown

.寝た牛の頭にすはるかはづかな
neta ushi no atama ni suwaru kawazu kana

sitting on the head
of a sleeping cow...
a frog

year unknown

.花桶に蝶も聞かよ一大事
hana oke ni chô mo kiku ka yo ichi daiji

on the flower pot
does the butterfly, too
hear Buddha's promise?

According to its headnote in the two diaries in which it appears, this haiku was inspired by a memorial service that Issa attended, suggesting a temple scene wherein the congregation is chanting the nembutsu--("namu amida butsu")--the Pure Land Buddhist prayer that celebrates Amida Buddha's vow to help sentient beings be reborn in the Western Paradise; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.467; 9.222.

year unknown

.一人茶や蝶は毎日来てくれる
hitori cha ya chô wa mainichi kite kureru

drinking tea alone--
every day the butterfly
stops by

This undated haiku is a rewrite of one that Issa composed in 1813. The original version begins with "weak tea" (cha no awa).

year unknown

.蝶とぶやしんらん松も知つた顔
chô tobu ya shinran matsu mo shitta kao

a butterfly flits--
even Shinran's pine
remembers it

Literally, the tree has a "knowing face" (shitta kao). Has it recently befriended the butterfly, or does the pine know it from a previous life? This undated haiku is a slight rewrite of one that Issa composed in 1818, which begins, "a butterfly departs" (chô yuku ya). The pine at Zenkôji descended from a sprig donated ovder 500 years earlier by Shinran, founder of Jôdoshinshû Buddhism.

year unknown

.木の陰やてふと宿るも他生の縁
ki no kage ya chô to yadoru mo tashô no en

sharing tree shade
with a butterfly...
friends in a previous life

This haiku has the headnote, "A little girl was serving as my guide on a mountain road, when a capricious rain suddenly fell." Issa presents a variant of this haiku in another text with a more explanatory headnote: "Being guided on a mountain road by a young girl named Butterfly, when a sudden rain came pattering down." In the moment of composition the "butterfly" was a little girl, not an insect. However, the haiku is just as tender if we imagine a real butterfly.

year unknown

.つぐら子の口ばたなめる小てふ哉
tsugura ko no kuchi-bata nameru ko chô kana

baby in a basket--
a little butterfly
licking her lips

Or: "his lips." A tsugura is a container of woven straw used to keep things warm. Here, it serves as a cradle. There's a scientific explanation for the interspecies "kiss" in this haiku: butterflies crave salt.

year unknown

.田の人の内股くぐるこてふかな
ta no hito no uchimata kuguru ko chô kana

creeping through
the rice farmer's legs...
little butterfly

In a related haiku written in 1814, Issa sees "creeping through" the crotch of a plowman.

year unknown

.庭のてふ子が這へばとびはへばとぶ
niwa no chô ko ga haeba tobi haeba tobu

garden butterfly--
the child crawls, it flies
crawls, it flies...

Leslie Anderson writes, "The child symbolizes the human position, and the butterfly symbolizes transformation or improvement. Issa ingeniously relays that it is a natural instinct for human beings to desire or seek greater dreams. Perhaps, in the eyes of Issa, such dreams may have included rebirth. Although the butterfly (dreams) may seem beyond reach, the child (humans) does not crawl forever. Eventually, he/she begins to walk, then grow and, ultimately, he/she is able to touch the butterfly (his/her dreams)."

Keishondra Sampson adds, "Pure Land Buddhism teaches of reincarnation as everyone is moving toward becoming a Buddha and reaching Enlightenment. The child crawling and chasing the butterfly represents everyone chasing the hope of reaching Enlightenment."

year unknown

.門の蝶子が這へばとびはへばとぶ
kado no chô ko ga haeba tobi haeba tobu

butterfly at the gate--
the child crawls, it flies
crawls, it flies...

Issa presents a little motion picture: a baby crawls through a meadow toward a butterfly; the butterfly flits away and alights a little farther off. Undaunted, the baby crawls again toward its new, colorful friend, who, once again, flits away. Baby and butterfly play a back-and-forth game of Catch Me If You Can.

year unknown

.はつ蝶や会釈もなしに床の間へ
hatsu chô ya eshaku mo nashi ni toko-no-ma e

first butterfly--
without formal greeting
entering the alcove

It is customary when entering the alcove of a Japanese house to give a formal salutation to the people within. The butterfly, of course, ignores human etiquette.

year unknown

.夕暮にがつくりしたと草のてふ
yûgure ni gakkuri shita yo kusa no chô

as evening falls
so deeply disappointed...
meadow butterfly

The butterfly seems dejected to Issa because its day of cavorting is over.

year unknown

.世の中は蝶も朝からかせぐ也
yo no naka wa chô mo asa kara kasegu nari

in this world
from dawn to dusk
even a butterfly must toil

In the original, the butterfly toils "from morning" (asa kara). To complete the idiom in English, "to dusk" has been added.

year unknown

.内中にきげんとらるる蚕哉
uchinaka ni kigen toraruru kaiko kana

the whole house
pays them court...
silkworms

Bridget Dole comments, "I am reminded of something I read about the raising of silkworms and how the families with silkworms in their attics were very careful of the silkworms' moods. They were careful not to make loud noises, display discord, etc. because they needed the silkworms to spin uninterrupted (a cocoon is made of one long strand of silk. If a silkworm stops spinning, it may not have enough silk left to make another cocoon). Anyway, I'm just wondering if toraruru could be translated to indicate the catering of the people to the silkworms."

Indeed, Shinji Ogawa offers this translation:

They are soothed
by the whole family
silkworms...

year unknown

.惣々にきげんとらるる蚕哉
sô-sô ni kigen toraruru kaiko kana

quickly people
pay them court...
silkworms

Bridget Dole comments, "I am reminded of something I read about the raising of silkworms and how the families with silkworms in their attics were very careful of the silkworms' moods. They were careful not to make loud noises, display discord, etc. because they needed the silkworms to spin uninterrupted (a cocoon is made of one long strand of silk. If a silkworm stops spinning, it may not have enough silk left to make another cocoon). Anyway, I'm just wondering if toraruru could be translated to indicate the catering of the people to the silkworms." Shinji Ogawa offers this translation:

In a hasty manner
they are soothed
silkworms...

He comments, "It is Issa's humor to show the odd combination of the hasty manner and the soothing. Nevertheless, Issa's sketch is accurate and skillful. It is a hasty manner because the farmers are so busy; the soothing is half-hearted only because it is the custom."

year unknown

.それ虻に世話をやかすな明り窓
sore abu ni sewa wo yakasu-na akarimado

don't be mean
to that horsefly
skylight!

Classic Issa. Sympathy for fellow creatures, large and small, pervades his haiku.

year unknown

.夕月や鍋の中にて鳴田にし
yûzuki ya nabe no naka nite naku tanishi

evening moon--
pond snails singing
in the kettle

This haiku has the headnote, "Hell." Pure Land Buddhists maintain that there are "Six Ways" of possible future life reincarnation: (1) as a sufferer in hell, (2) as a hungry ghost, (3) as an animal, (4) as an angry demon, (5) as a human being, or (6) as a heavenly being. This haiku is poem 1 of a six-poem series on the Six Ways. Two versions of this series exist; one appears in the 1812 book, Kabuban, while the other was published posthumously by Issa's students in Issa hokku shû in 1829. The present haiku appears only in the later, 1829 version. Shinji Ogawa believes that the "singing" is the sound of the snails spitting water.

year unknown

.蛤や在鎌倉の雁鴎
hamaguri ya zai-kamakura no kari kamome

O clams
meet the geese and gulls
of Greater Kamakura!

The scene is one of several beaches (for exasmple, Shichirigahama) on the outskirts of Kamakura. Ravenous wild geese and seagulls feast on the unfortunate clams.

year unknown

.萩の芽や人がしらねば鹿が喰
hagi no me ya hito ga shiraneba shika ga kuu

bush clover sprouting--
when people aren't looking
the deer eats

Or: "the deer eat." Issa doesn't specify singular or plural.

year unknown

.人つきや野原の草も若盛り
hito tsuki ya nohara no kusa mo waka-zakari

pricking people--
new grasses of the plain
are precocious!

year unknown

.若草で足拭ふなり這入口
wakakusa de ashi nuguu nari hairiguchi

wiping their feet
on the baby grass...
doorway

year unknown

.若草や今の小町が尻の跡
wakakusa ya ima no komachi ga shiri no ato

baby grass--
the stylish woman leaves
her butt print

Komachi is a beauty or a belle. In a haiku of 1813, the print is left in fallen blossoms:
chiru hana ya ima no komachi ga shiri no ato

fallen blossoms--
the stylish woman leaves
her butt print

year unknown

.我国は草さへさきぬさくら花
waga kuni wa kusa sae sakinu sakura kana

in my province
grass blooms too...
cherry blossoms

Bunmi Abraham writes, "Literally, he is comparing grass to blossoms, but symbolically the grass represents the ordinary people, and the cherry blossoms represent the rich nobles. Even though the nobility are important and rich, ordinary people are just as important."

This undated haiku is an alternate version of one that Issa wrote in 1820:
waga kuni wa kusa mo sakura wo saki ni keri

my province--
even the grass blooms
cherry blossoms

R. H. Blyth identifies the blooming grass in this haiku as "primroses," which he calls the people's flower, contrasting with the noble cherry blossoms; A History of Haiku (1964) 1.350, overleaf.

year unknown

.なの花にだらだら下りの日暮哉
na no hana ni dara-dara ori no higure kana

in flowering mustard
step by step sinking...
sun

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Mustard (also called rape and canola) is a bright yellow flowering oil seed plant.

year unknown

.菜畠の花見の客や下屋敷
na-batake no hana mi no kyaku ya shimoyashiki

a visitor views
a field of blooming mustard...
warlord's residence

Or: "visitors view." Mustard (also called rape and canola) is a bright yellow flowering oil seed plant. Shimoyashiki denotes a daimyo's residence on the outskirts of Edo (today's Tokyo).

year unknown

.菜の花や西へむかへば善光寺
na no hana ya nishi e mukaeba zenkôji

flowering mustard--
and looking west
Zenkô Temple

More than a beautiful postcard of color and perspective, this haiku has religious resonance. Zenkô Temple (Zenkôji) is a major temple in Issa's home province. Since the Buddha's Pure Land was thought to lie somewhere in the mythic west, the direction alluded to in this haiku is significant. Shinji Ogawa adds, "A rape plant blooms bright yellow flowers in spring in Japan. The seeds are used to make cooking oil. It is rather a common sight in spring that the bright yellow flowers cover the farmland as far as the eye can reach. Obviously, Issa was well aware of Buson's famous haiku, na no hana ya tsuki wa higashi hi wa nishi ni, that is, 'Flowering rape.../the moon in the east/ the sun in the west.'"

year unknown

.野大根酒呑どのに引れけり
no daikon sake nomi dono ni hikare keri

drunk on sake
he yanks
the radish

My translation changes the focus of this haiku. Shinji Ogawa explains: "The leading actor is the radish, not the drunkard." He proposes:

the radish
is yanked out
by Mr. Drunkard

This correctly presents the haiku's "leading actor," but passive voice is less forceful than active voice in English, especially in English poetry. Complicating matters further, Issa ends with the verb, not with the drunkard. Perhaps:

the radish
by Mr. Drunkard
is yanked out

This translation is the most faithful to Issa's grammatical emphasis and poetic structure, but not very natural-sounding.

year unknown

.かい曲り猫が面かく木の芽哉
kaimagari neko ga tsura kaku ki no me kana

twisting, turning
the cat scratches his face...
budding tree

Or: "her face." This undated haiku is an alternate version of one that Issa wrote in 1818, which begins ori-ori ni ("now and then...").

year unknown

.木々もめを開らくやみだの本願寺
kigi mo me wo hiraku ya mida no honganji

the tree buds, too
open up...
Amida's Hongan Temple

Hongan Temple is named after the "Original Vow" (hongan) of Amida Buddha, who promised to rescue all who relied on him. What else is opening in this haiku, suggested by the word "too" (mo)? The doors of the temple? Issa's heart?

year unknown

.北浜の砂よけ椿咲にけり
kita hama no suna yoke tsubaki saki ni keri

North Beach's
sand-barrier camellias
in bloom

year unknown

.春の日の入所なり藤の花
haru no hi no iri-tokoro nari fuji no hana

the setting place
for the spring sun...
wisteria blossoms

Shinji Ogawa explains that haru no hi in this context means "the spring sun," not "the spring day." I have revised my translation accordingly.

year unknown

.梅さくや子供の声の穴かしこ
ume saku ya kodomo no koe no ana kashiko

blooming plum--
the voices of children
sound reverent

A revision of an 1813 haiku that begins, "plum blossom scent" (ume ga ka ya). One of the old meanings of anakashiko is to express fear or fright, and so I originally thought that the children were pretending to be scared. However, as Shinji Ogawa points out, this word can also refer to feeling great reverence or awe for a person; hence, in old-style letters, it is used as an expression equivalent to "yours truly." Shinji suggests, as a translation solution, that the children's voices "sound noble." I think "reverent" might work even better. The normally boisterous children lower their voices reverently in the divine presence of the blossoms. See Kogo dai jiten (1983) 48.

year unknown

.梅さくや犬にまたがる金太郎
ume saku ya inu ni matagaru kintarô

plum blossoms--
riding a dog
the Golden Boy

A creative kid! A doll of the boy-hero Kintarô (Golden Boy) riding a bear is a popular gift for the Boy's Festival of 5th day, Fifth Month. In Japanese folklore Kintarô is an exaggerated version of the Heian Era samurai, Sakata no Kintoki. Issa wrote a similar haiku in 1813 in which the Peach Boy (another folk hero) is the dog rider.

year unknown

.紅梅や縁にほしたる洗ひ猫
kôbai ya heri ni hoshitaru aria neko

red plum blossoms--
on the porch
the bathed cat dries

year unknown

.家内安全と咲けり門の梅
kanai anzen to saki keri kado no ume

the family's good fortune
in bloom...
plum tree at the gate

The original version of this haiku (1816) has a different ordering of images:
kado no ume kanai anzen to saki ni keri

gate's plum tree--
the family's good fortune
in bloom

year unknown

.黒塗の馬もぴかぴか梅の花
kuro nuri no uma mo pika-pika ume no hana

the black painted
horse is glittering too!
plum blossoms

This undated haiku is a revision of one that Issa composed in 1821. In the original poem, the horse "is happy!" (isamu ya). Maybe a child's toy?

year unknown

.ちりめんの猿がいさむや梅の花
chirimen no saru ga isamu ya ume no hana

the cloth monkey
in high spirits...
plum blossoms

This haiku was written some time between 1806 and 1811. Specifically, the doll is made of crepe (chirimen). Gabi Greve suggests that Issa may be referring to the migawari-zaru of Naramachi: a monkey charm used to take on one's bad luck. In the old section of Nara, she notes, there's a special custom of hanging out a small red monkey to ward off evil.

year unknown

.梅がかや狐の穴に赤の飯
ume ga ka ya kitsune no ana ni aka no meshi

plum blossom scent--
at the fox's hole
red beans and rice

The food is an offering left for the fox--a powerful spirit that, if not placated, could possess people.

year unknown

.梅の木や庵の鬼門に咲給ふ
ume no ki ya io no kimon ni saki tamau

plum tree--
on my hut's unlucky side
blooming!

The tree is located in the unlucky quarter (the northeast), yet it blooms.

year unknown

.梅満り酒なき家はなき世也
ume miteri sake naki ie wa naki yo nari

plum in full bloom--
a house without sake
can't be found

Shinji Ogawa helped me to understand the syntax of this haiku. He offers his own translation:

Plum in full bloom...
No house in the world
without sake

year unknown

.片隅の天神さまもうめの花
kata sumi no tenjinsama mo ume no hana

even the heavenly gods
crowd 'round...
plum blossoms

year unknown

.門口やつつぱり廻る梅一枝
kado-guchi ya tsuppari mawaru ume hito e

in my gate
thrust out, swaying
plum branch

Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation. He observes, "The haiku depicts a humorous scene of a branch of beautiful plum in bloom and the inconvenience. I think the gate must be Issa's, otherwise the value of the haiku may be greatly reduced."

year unknown

.下谷一番の顔して梅の花
shitaya ichiban no kao shite ume no hana

the first and best
of Shitaya Ward...
plum blossoms

In another haiku with the same opening lines, Issa provides the headnote, "A song for playing ball." Evidently, the haiku borrows its first two lines from a children's song.

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) notes that the famous amusement center of Shitaya ward is located north of Asakusa, between Asakusa and Edo castle. He believes that it was a residential block in Edo (today's Tokyo). Issa's best friend in Edo, Ittupyô, was a priest at the Buddhist temple, Hongyô-ji in Nippori, very near to this ward.

year unknown

.捨扇梅盗人にもどしけり
sute ôgi ume nusubito ni modoshi keri

abandoned fan--
I return it
to the plum blossom thief

Whoever snipped and stole blossoms from Issa's tree must be a neighbor or friend, identifiable by the fan left at the crime scene.

year unknown

.ちる梅を屁とも思はぬ御顔哉
chiru ume wo he to mo omowanu o-kao kana

not giving a damn
that plum blossoms fall...
his stern face

This haiku has the headnote, "Picture of Great Master Dharma." Dharma (Bodhidharma) was the Buddhist patriarch who brought Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism from India to China. Shinji Ogawa explains that the expression, he to mo omowanu (consider it less than a fart) is a Japanese colloquial expression for "don't care a bit about it."

Originally, I translated o-kao as "his saintly face," but Gabi Greve and Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) feel that "stern" is more befitting.

year unknown

.鳥の音に咲うともせず梅の花
tori no ne ni sakô to mo sezu ume no hana

the bird is singing
but it ain't blooming...
plum tree

The bird in this haiku must be a bush warbler (uguisu)--a bird conventionally linked to plum blossoms.

year unknown

.薮梅の散もべんべんだらり哉
yabu ume no chiru mo ben-ben darari kana

in the thicket
the plum blossoms scatter
languidly

year unknown

.比もよし五十三次華見笠
koro mo yoshi go jû san tsugi hanami-gasa

good timing!
at all 53 post towns
umbrella-hatted blossom viewers

An early haiku written in the 1790s.There were fifty-three post towns on the Tôkaidô highway from Edo (today's Tokyo) to Kyoto.

year unknown

.似た声の径は聞也華雲り
nita koe no michi wa kiku nari hana kumori

two voices that sound alike
make their way...
clouds of blossoms

An early haiku written in the 1790s."Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

year unknown

.正直はおれも花より団子哉
shôjiki wa ore mo hana yori dango kana

honestly--
even more than blossoms
I love dumplings!

This is a revision of an 1814 haiku. The original starts with the phrase, ariyô wa ("if truth be told").

Makoto Ueda notes that Issa is alluding to a Japanese proverb, "Dumplings rather than blossoms"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 94.

year unknown

.花さくやとある木陰も開帳仏
hana saku ya to aru kokage mo kaichôbutsu

cherry blossoms--
under every tree
a Buddha on display

In springtime some Buddhist temples allow pilgrims to see statues usually hidden from public view.

year unknown

.花の世は石の仏も親子哉
hana no yo wa ishi no hotoke mo oyako kana

world of blossoms--
even the stone Buddhas
parents and children

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku. Just as families stroll and picnic among the blooming cherry trees, Issa imagines that the big and small statues of Buddha are families too. Alastair Watson writes, "Yet again, Issa delivers a loaded verse: a juxtaposition of ephemeral blossoms and (relatively) longer-lasting stone Buddhas, with young and old humans ... transiency all around!"

This is a revision of a haiku of 1818, in which the middle phrase reads: "even among the Buddhas" (hotoke ni mo sae).

year unknown

.花の世は地蔵ぼさつも親子哉
hana no yo wa jizô bosatsu mo oyako kana

world of blossoms--
even the holy Jizos
parents and children

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku. Just as families stroll and picnic among the blooming cherry trees, Issa imagines that the big and small statues of Jizô are families too.

This is a revision of a haiku of 1818, in which the middle phrase reads: "even among the Buddhas" (hotoke ni mo sae).

In Japan Jizô is the beloved guardian deity of children (technically a bodhisattva).

year unknown

.花さくや爺が腰の迷子札
hana saku ya jiji ga koshi no maigo fuda

cherry blossoms--
around grandpa's waist
a name tag

Shinji Ogawa notes that maigo fuda has two meanings: one is a sign or illustration of lost child, and the other is an address tag on a person to prevent from going astray. In the case of this haiku, he suspects that the latter is the case. The old man may be suffering from Alzheimer's.

This undated haiku is very similar to one written in 1821:
toshiyori no koshi ya hanami no maigo fuda

around the old man's waist
blossom viewing...
a name tag

In the shorthand of haiku, "blossoms" (hana) can mean "cherry blossoms."

year unknown

.空色の傘のつづくや花盛り
sora iro no kasa no tsuzuku ya hana sakari

sky-blue parasols
one by one...
blossoms at their peak

This is an undated version of a haiku that Issa composed in 1823:
sora iro no kasa tsuzuku nari hana no kumo

sky-blue parasols
one by one...
blossom clouds

In the shorthand of haiku, "blossoms" (hana) can mean "cherry blossoms."

year unknown

.御印文の頭に花のちりにけり
go-inmon no atama ni hana no chiri ni keri

onto the paper amulet
cherry blossoms
scatter

An inmon is a paper charm or amulet sold at Buddhist temples; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 181.

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

year unknown

.声々に花の木蔭のばくち哉
koe-goe ni hana no kokage no bakuchi kana

fussing, fussing
in the blossom shade...
gamblers

Pure Land Buddhists maintain that there are "Six Ways" of possible future life reincarnation: (1) as a sufferer in hell, (2) as a hungry ghost, (3) as an animal, (4) as an angry demon, (5) as a human being, or (6) as a heavenly being. This haiku is poem 4 of a six-poem series on the Six Ways. Issa thus poetically associates gamblers with angry demons.

Two versions of this series exist; one appears in the 1812 book, Kabuban, while the other was published posthumously by Issa's students in Issa hokku shû in 1829. The present haiku appears only in the second, 1829 version.

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

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 liberating power:

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.

year unknown

.寝ころぶや御本丸御用の花の陰
ne-korobu ya o-honmaru goyô no hana no kage

curled to sleep--
the important official
in cherry blossom shade

This haiku has the headnote, "At Mokubo Temple." An official of the "inner citadel" (honmaru) should be about his business (go-yô), but the blooming cherry blossoms have drawn him to their beauty ... and to a nap. A honmaru normally refers to the inner citadel of a castle, where the lord of the castle lives; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1502.

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

year unknown

.花衣よごれ去来と見ゆる也
hana koromo yogore kyorai to miyuru nari

my dirty blossom-viewing
robe...
I look like Kyorai!

Or: "his dirty blossom-viewing/ robe.../ he looks like Kyorai." Shinji Ogawa notes that Kyorai, or Kyorai Mukai, is a name of one of Basho's disciples. Issa's haiku alludes to Kyorai's haiku: "as many days I wait/ for blossom-viewing,/ my clothes gets dirty."

year unknown

.花見笠一日わらぢのぐはひ哉
hanami-gasa ichi nichi waraji no guai kana

my blossom-viewing umbrella-hat...
but all day
straw sandals in such a state!

Shinji Ogawa notes that guai is difficult to translate. It means "a condition." In this case it means, he believes, to be annoyed or to be trouble, because of the condition of his straw sandals.

year unknown

.蕗の葉に煮〆配りて花の陰
fuki no ha ni nishime kubarite hana no kage

a vegetable hodgepodge
on butterbur leaves...
cherry blossom shade

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

This undated haiku seems to be a revision of one that Issa wrote in 1816. In that version he ends with "mountain cherry blossoms" (yama-zakura).

year unknown

.ほくほくと花見に来るはどなた哉
hoku-hoku to hanami ni kuru wa donata kana

rap-a-tap
who's that coming
to view the blossoms?

Issa hears the clacking of someone's walking stick. Compare this haiku to a similar undated one:
hoku-hoku to kasunde kuru wa donata kana

rap-a-tap
who's that coming
in the mist?

year unknown

.親負て子の手を引いてさくら哉
oya oute ko no te wo hiite sakura kana

carrying his mother
and leading his child by the hand...
cherry blossoms!

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Three generations go together to view the blossoms.

Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation.

year unknown

.軍勢甲乙入べからずとさくら哉
gunzei kô-otsu iri-bekarazu to sakura kana

"No soldiers
allowed!"
say the cherry blossoms

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Shinji Ogawa assisted with its translation.

year unknown

.花桜是にさへ人の倦日哉
hana sakura kore ni sae hito no aku hi kana

cherry trees in bloom--
yet some folks
are tired of them

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Even as a young poet Issa's wry humor shines through.

year unknown

.見かぎりし古郷の桜咲にけり
mikagirishi furusato no sakura saki ni keri

the home village
I abandoned...
cherry trees in bloom

This haiku has the headnote, "Third Month, 20th day, entering Kashiwabara." Kashiwabara was Issa's native village. In his translation, Yuzuru Miura renders the first line, "In my deserted home village," implying that the town is devoid of people; Classic Haiku: A Master's Selection (Boston/Tokyo: Tuttle, 1991) 25. Here is an instance where knowledge of Issa's biography helps to uncover his meaning. From his early teens up to his fifties Issa is the one who "deserted" Kashiwabara; it never became, even to this day, a ghost town.

Gregory Wonderwheel translates this poem: "The cherry blossoms/ of the old hometown I abandoned.../ still blooming there." He comments: "Beyond the technical aspects of translating, I listen for Issa's Buddhism in every haiku he writes. Here, I see 'the old hometown' as the Buddha nature that we all abandon in a manner of speaking when we develop dualistic consciousness. When we return to the old hometown, that is when we have some insight into our original nature, we see the cherry blossoms (i.e., the world of appearances) in a new light."

year unknown

.ばばが餅ととが桜も咲にけり
baba ga mochi toto ga sakura mo saki ni keri

grandma's rice cakes
and papa's cherry tree
in bloom!

In an earlier version dated 1817, the middle phrase is "grandpa's cherry tree" (jijii ga sakura).

year unknown

.待々し桜と成れど田舎哉
machi-machishi sakura to naredo inaka kana

cherry blossoms
I waited and waited for...
countryside

This haiku is a rewrite of an 1813 verse, which ends with hitori kana ("alone").

year unknown

.桜花ちれちれ腹にたまる程
sakura hana chire chire hara ni tamaru hodo

O cherry blossoms
fall! fall!
enough to fill my belly

Instead of focusing on their beauty, Issa humorously emphasizes the fact that he will eat the blossoms.

This is an undated revision. The original haiku, written in 1814, starts with the phrase, yama-zakura ("mountain cherry blossoms").

year unknown

.百尋の雨だれかぶる桜哉
momohiro no amadare kaburu sakura kana

a thousand gallons
shower from the eaves...
cherry blossoms

This haiku has the headnote, "Yoshino." Yoshino is a famous place for viewing cherry blossoms. Literally, Issa says that the blossoms are "showered by 100 fathoms of eavesdrops," but since most English speakers think of a fathom as a unit of ocean depth, this term would be confusing. I substituted "a thousand gallons" for "a hundred fathoms" to express the idea of an enormous amount of water spilling from the eaves. To help me visualize this, Shinji Ogawa sent images of a temple's multi-tiered pagoda.

An amadare is an eavesdrop, where water falls from a roof's overhang.

year unknown

.としよりも目の正月ぞさくら花
toshiyori mo me no shôgatsu zo sakura hana

even an old man
has New Year's eyes...
cherry blossoms

The sight of the cherry blossoms puts the old man (Issa?) in a happy, "First Month" mood. This is an undated revision of a haiku written in 1823. The original poem starts with kochitora mo ("we").

year unknown

.門桜ちらちら散るが仕事哉
kado sakura chira-chira chiru ga shigoto kana

gate's cherry tree
all this flit-flit flitting
is work!

The blossoms are scattering. Note Issa's middle phrase, chira-chira chiru ga: a nice example of sound play.

year unknown

.君が代の大飯喰ふてさくら哉
kimi ga yo no ômeshi kuute sakura kana

a hearty meal
in Great Japan...
cherry blossoms

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Most people gaze at the blossoms. In a mischievous twist, Issa (or someone) is eating them.

year unknown

.君なくて誠に多太の桜哉
kimi nakute makoto ni tada no sakura kana

without you--
the cherry blossoms
just blossoms

year unknown

.さくらさく哉と炬燵で花見哉
sakura saku kana to kotatsu de hanami kana

cherry trees in bloom--
warmed by a brazier
blossom-gazing

Though it's springtime, winter cold lingers. A kotatsu is a quilt-covered brazier.

year unknown

.里の子の袂からちる桜かな
sato no ko no tamoto kara chiru sakura kana

trickling from
a village child's sleeve...
cherry blossoms

The cherry trees have begun to scatter their blossoms. Their brief, precious time of blooming is ending, and now delicate, pale pink petals are everywhere, even in the little kimono sleeve of a child. First, the petals fell from trees; now, they fall again, this time from the child's kimono, suggesting a deep connection between the little human being and Great Nature.

year unknown

.先生なくなりてはただの桜哉
sensei nakunarite wa tada no sakura kana

the master being dead
just ordinary...
cherry blossoms

According to the headnote to this haiku, it was inspired by a Buddhist memorial service for Seibi, Issa's haiku master. Shinji Ogawa offers this paraphrase: "Since my haiku master is gone, they become ordinary cherry blossoms."

year unknown

.散る桜心の鬼も出て遊べ
chiru sakura kokoro no oni mo dete asobe

cherry blossoms fall--
come out and play
devil in me!

This is an undated haiku. In a haiku written in 1813, Issa invokes his "inner devil" with similar terms:
hana no yama kokoro no oni mo dete asobe

blossoming mountain--
come out and play
devil in me!

year unknown

.散る桜心の鬼も角を折る
chiru sakura kokoro no oni mo tsuno wo oru

cherry blossoms scatter--
even the devil in me
has lost his horns

The beauty of the falling blossoms has transformed both the outer and inner worlds. As Issa likes to do sometimes, this haiku is the antithesis of another one (also undated):
chiru sakura kokoro no oni mo dete asobe

cherry blossoms fall--
come out and play
devil in me!

In one version, the devil seems ready for carousing, but in the other his horns have broken off (tsuno wo oru)--not a good sign for a devil!

year unknown

.散桜称名うなる寺の犬
chiru sakura shômyô unaru tera no inu

in falling cherry blossoms
growling to Amida Buddha...
temple dog

Shômyô is another name for the nembutsu chant: "Namu Amida Butsu" ("All praise to Amida Buddha!"). As the blossoms fall, reminding us of death and transition, Issa reminds us to trust faithfully in Amida's vow to enable our rebirth in the Pure Land--and ultimate enlightenment. Even the dog seems to understand.

In an almost identical haiku of 1810, the temple dog growls his prayer as "blossoms" fall (hana chiru). Since hana can be read as "cherry blossoms," the two poems are virtually the same.

year unknown

.隣から気の毒がるや遅ざくら
tonari kara ki no dokugaru ya oso-zakura

the neighbor expresses
his condolences...
late-blooming cherry tree

Or: "late-blooming cherry trees."

year unknown

.寝並んで遠見ざくらの評議哉
ne narande tômi-zakura no hyôgi kana

lying down in a row--
discussing the distant
cherry blossoms

A similar, also undated haiku by Issa:
ne narande tô yûdachi no hyôgi kana

lying down in a row--
discussing
the distant storm

year unknown

.畠中にのさばり立る桜哉
hata naka ni nosabari tateru sakura kana

lording over
the vegetable patch...
a cherry tree in bloom

Nosabaru is an old word that means to behave selfishly or in an arrogant manner; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1292.

year unknown

.末世末代でもさくらさくら哉
masse matsudai demo sakura sakura kana

a corrupt world
in its latter days...
but cherry blossoms!

The term masse refers, in Pure Land Buddhism, to these "latter days" of corruption. The beauty of the blossoms (almost?) makes up for the depravity of the world.

Issa adds emphasis by repeating: "cherry blossoms! cherry blossoms!" (sakura sakura). This repetition doesn't work as well in English.

Shinji Ogawa notes that Issa's repetition, sakura sakura kana, connotes the fact that many people are crazy for cherry blossom viewing. The word, demo ("although," "still" or "despite"), suggests that Issa may be saying, "Although it's a corrupt world in its latter days, people still have the heart to appreciate the beauty of cherry blossoms--or they are merry with the blossom viewing."

year unknown

.深山木のしなの五月も桜哉
miyamagi no shinano no gogatsu mo sakura kana

Shinano's deep wooded mountains
even in Fifth Month...
cherry blossoms

Shinano, present-day Nagano Prefecture, was Issa's home province. It is known for its long, cold winters and late springs. Cherry trees are supposed to bloom in the springtime, but in Shinano (in the poem) they bloom in Fifth Month: mid-summer by the old Japanese calendar.

year unknown

.欲面へ浴せかけたる桜哉
yoku tsura e abise-kaketaru sakura kana

pouring onto
the faces of sinners...
cherry blossoms

Issa juxtaposes the heavenly and the mundane: the cherry blossoms and the covetous faces of humans.

year unknown

.桃咲や犬にまたがる悪太郎
momo saku ya inu ni matagaru akutarô

peach blossoms--
riding a dog
the naughty boy

Issa wrote two similar haiku about the Peach Boy (1813) and the Golden Boy (undated) riding a dog.

year unknown

.けろりくわんとして烏と柳哉
kerorikan to shite karasu to yanagi kana

keeping their cool--
the crow
the willow

Undated but from the Bunsei Era. In a Japanese dictionary of obsolete words and expressions, kerorikan is defined as "appearing to show no concern or interest." Issa coined it. See Kogo dai jiten (1983) 574. Nanao Sakaki translates the first line, "As if nothing had happened"; Inch by Inch: 45 Haiku by Issa (1999) 46. In an earlier version, Issa had a wild goose alongside the willow. According to Shinji Ogawa, this later version is more widely known in Japan.

year unknown

.犬の子の踏まへて眠る柳哉
inu no ko no fumaete nemuru yanagi kana

the sleeping puppy
paws
at the willow

There's no deep level of meaning, no hidden symbolism, yet this simple image is powerful--oozing with love.

year unknown

.門柳しだるる世事はなかりけり
kado yanagi shidaruru seji wa nakari keri

the willow at my gate
droops
just because

Shinji Ogawa explains: "The phrase yanagi shidaruru or 'willow droops'... connotes feminine attraction. The haiku is saying, 'Nothing worthy for my gate willow to droop is happening'."

year unknown

.洗たくの婆々へ柳の夕なびき
sentaku no baba e yanagi no yû nabiki

to the old woman
doing laundry, the willow
waves goodnight

The tree bends its long, fluttering branches as if honoring the hard-working woman. Issa bows too.

year unknown

.眠り覚て柳の雫聞夜哉
nemuri samete yagi no shizuku kiku yo kana

waking from sleep--
drip-dripping willow
in the night

In his Japanese, Issa gives emphasis to the word "hear" (kiku): he depicts a night of listening to the sound of the raindrops dripping from the willow. The sound has awakened him and now is keeping him awake.

year unknown

.墓手水御門の柳浴てけり
haka teuzu o-mon no yanagi abite keri

cemetery font--
the willow at the gate
washes its hands

Death and life. One can picture the tips of a willow branch dipping into the purification water. Teuzu is short form of temizu ("hand water").

year unknown

.右は月左は水や夕柳
migi wa tsuki hidari wa mizu ya yû yanagi

moon to the right
water to the left...
the evening willow

year unknown

.水まして蝦這のぼる柳哉
mizu mashite ebi hai-noburu yanagi kana

water rising--
the shrimp crawls up
the willow

Ebi can mean shrimp, prawn or lobster. In my original translation, I went with "lobster," but Bob Bagwill suggests "crayfish" is more realistic, especially if Issa is possibly referring to fresh water rising.

year unknown

.柳からまねまね出たり狐面
yanagi kara mane-mane detari kitsune tsura

peeking out
from the willow tree...
face of a fox

The word mane can mean "imitation"; more specifically it can refer to something that pretends; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1531. Issa describes the fox's action of showing its face as mane-mane, which I picture to describe a process of hesitancy, as if it pretends to show itself then withdraws--again and again. In English, I could come up with no better expression for this than "peeking out."

year unknown

.鶯にすこし夏めく軒の露
uguisu ni sukoshi natsumeku noki no tsuyu

a bush warbler sounding
a bit more summery...
dewy eaves

Though the bush warbler (uguisu) is a spring season word and dewdrops can signify autumn, the season of this haiku is summer, due to the fact that the bird's song is sounding, to Issa's ears, in a summer mode.

year unknown

.夏の寝覚月見に堤へ出たりけり
ge no nezame tsukimi ni dote e detari keri

waking from summer sleep--
going moon-gazing
on the levee

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Dote is an old word for levee, dike or embankment; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1171.

year unknown

.日盛りの上下にかかるひとり哉
hizakari no jôge ni kakaru hitori kana

at high noon
for high and low...
I'm alone

It's high noon (a summer season word) everywhere in Japan. Issa implies that all people (rulers and the ruled) are staying indoors to avoid the brutal heat.

year unknown

.夏の夜や河辺の月も今三日
natsu no yo ya kawabe no tsuki mo ima mikka

summer night--
the moon by the river
just a sliver

An early haiku written in the 1790s.The rhyme in my translation is accidental--so I decided to allow it. The moon is a "three-day moon"...just a sliver.

year unknown

.夏の夜や枕にしたる筑波山
natsu no ya ya makura ni shitaru tsukuba yama

in the summer night
it's a pillow...
Mount Tsukuba

Mount Tsukuba is located near the city of Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture.

year unknown

.短夜をさつさと開く桜かな
mijika yo wo sassa to hiraku sakura kana

popping open
in the short summer night...
cherry blossoms

his haiku has the headnote, "Shinano." Though cherry blossoms are associated with spring, they bloom late in Issa's cold and mountainous province of Shinano. Issa's hometown of Kashiwabara is 2100 feet (700 meters) above sea level. I thank Robin D. Gill for assisting with this translation.

Shinji Ogawa notes that the expression sassa to ("quickly") suggests human action, and so it "personifies the cherry blossoms. Personification is one of the techniques that Issa prefers."

year unknown

.草の葉に願ひ通りの暑哉
kusa no ha ni negai-dôri no atsusa kana

answering prayers
for the grasses...
summer heat

Heat = growth. This is an undated variant of an 1815 haiku that begins, "rice shoots" (ine no ha).

year unknown

.暑き夜や藪にも馴てひぢ枕
atsuki yo ya yabu ni mo narete hiji makura

hot night in the trees--
I'm getting used to it
arm for a pillow

year unknown

.けふもけふも翌もあついか薮の家
kyô mo kyô mo asu mo atsui ka yabu no ie

today too, heat
and tomorrow, more heat?
house in the trees

year unknown

.じつとして白い飯くふ暑かな
jitto shite shiroi meshi kuu atsusa kana

quiet and still
I eat my white rice...
the heat

Or: "he eats" or "she eats." It's too hot for much movement.

year unknown

.稗の葉の門より高き暑哉
hie no ha no kado yori tataki atsusa kana

from the barnyard grass
at the gate, rising...
the heat

year unknown

.萱庇やはり涼しき鳥の声
kaya-bisashi yahari suzushiki tori no koe

under thatched eaves
cool as the cool air...
birdsong

An early haiku written in the 1790s.In a nice example of synesthesia, Issa feels coolness in the voice of a bird.

year unknown

.涼風を真向に居へる湖水哉
suzukaze wo mamuki ni ieru kosui kana

facing the cool breeze
straight on...
a lake

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.涼しさは三月も過る鳥の声
suzushisa wa yayoi mo sugiru tori no koe

cool air--
"Third Month has passed!'
sings the bird

Or: "the birds sing." This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

In the old Japanese calendar, summer began with the first day of Fourth Month. Cool air is a summer season word in haiku, referring to people cooling themselves in the evening, in a shady place, or perhaps with a cool breeze. The bird thus is announcing the beginning of summer.

year unknown

.涼風も隣の竹のあまり哉
suzukaze mo tonari no take no amari kana

the cool breeze
through my neighbor's bamboo
just a remnant

In other words, the tree is blocking the breeze so that only its remnants can reach Issa's house. As Shinji Ogawa notes, amari in this context signifies a remant or leftover.

In the original version, composed in 1815, the breeze-blocker is a pine tree:
suzukaze mo tonari no matsu no amari kana

the cool breeze
through my neighbor's pine
just a remnant

year unknown

.朝涼や汁の実を釣るせどの海
asasuzu ya shiru no mi wo tsuru sedo no umi

morning cool--
fishing for soup stock
in his back door sea

Issa's phrase, sedo no umi ("back door sea"), leads me to picture a fishing hut with a back door that opens to the sea.

This is an undated rewrite of a haiku of 1817. In the original version, Issa starts with the phrase, "evening cool" (yûsuzu ya). The rewrite has the headnote, "Chôshi"--a port town in Chiba Prefecture, which was known as Shimosa Province in Issa's day.

year unknown

.涼しさは蚊を追ふ妹が杓子哉
suzushisa wa ka wo ou imo ga shakushi kana

cool air--
my love chases a mosquito
with a ladle

"Cool air" suggests a pleasant summer evening--ruined by a pesky mosquito. Issa's wife (cooking or in the midst of serving supper?) counterattacks.

year unknown

.人は人我は我が家の涼しさよ
hito wa hito ware wa waga ya no suzushisa yo

people are people
I am me...
in my cool house

This haiku echoes one of 1822 in which Issa cites the proverb, "wood is wood; metal is metal." He feels like he is finally himself again, thanks to the air cooling off his stifling hot home.

year unknown

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

cool air--
he beckons with his fan
a rain of coins

Or: "she beckons with with her fan." I picture a beggar beckoning with his or her fan, hoping for a rain of senryo: coins worth one thousand ryô each. A ryô equals 4,000 mon, the basic currency of the period which took the form of a coin with a hole in its middle so that it could be strung on a string. In Issa's day six mon could pay for a bowl of rice. If a single mon = 25 cents of contemporary U.S. currency, a ryô would be a coin worth 4,000 quarters: $1,000 (U.S.). A senryo would be this amount times 1,000 = one million dollars (U.S.). A "rain" of such coins would indeed represent a fabulous amount. 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.

year unknown

.雨三粒天から土用見舞かな
ame san tsubu ten kara doyô mimai kana

three raindrops
a greeting card from heaven...
midsummer heat

In the hot "dog days" of midsummer, the cooling rain comes as a gift from above. Shinji Ogawa explains that it is a Japanese tradition to send a letter of inquiry in the hot summer season called doyô mimai or shochû mimai.

In a similar haiku of 1823 Issa writes:
kono ame wa ten kara doyô mimai kana

this rain
a greeting card from heaven...
midsummer heat

year unknown

.五月雨夜の山田の人の声
satsuki ame yoru no yamada no hito no koe

June rain--
in a mountain field at night
voices

An early haiku written in the 1790s.The "field" is a rice field. Evidently, farmers are working late, despite the rain. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

year unknown

.五月雨の竹にはさまる在所哉
samidare no take ni hasamaru zaisho kana

in June rain
tucked among bamboo...
farmhouse

We can imagine a thickly thatched roof and a cozy, dry interior as the torrential rain of ealry summer comes pounding down. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

year unknown

.朝顔に翌なる蔓や五月雨
asagao ni asu naru tsuru ya satsuki ame

vines today
morning glories tomorrow...
June rain

Shinji Ogawa paraphrases: "They are mere vines now, but inferring from the buds they carry, they will become morning glories tomorrow."

year unknown

.ちさい子が草背負けり五月雨
chisai ko ga kusa seoi keri satsuki ame

a small child
a bundle of hay on his back...
June rain

A haiku of deep ninjô, "human feeling": compassion.

year unknown

.我門は闇もちさき五月かな
waga kado wa yami morai saki gogatsu kana

at my gate
even darkness is tiny...
Fifth Month

This haiku alludes to gloomy light under heavy rain clouds. Issa, who likes to mention the smallness of his dwelling in haiku, claims that the gloom over it, too, is small. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

year unknown

.八兵衛や泣ざなるまい虎が雨
hachibei ya naki za narumai tora ga ame

if that's not Hachibei's
tears coming down...
Rain of the Tiger

According to tradition, if it rains on the 28th day of Fifth Month, the raindrops are the tears shed by Tora ("Tiger") the wife of one of the Soga brothers. Hachibei is the protagonist of a folktale that also involves a heavy rain.

year unknown

.夕立や乞食どのの鉢の松
yûdachi ya kojiki dono no hachi no matsu

rainstorm--
a beggar with his potted
pine

This is a revision of an earlier haiku, in which a "crossroads beggar" (tsuji no kojiki) appears.

year unknown

.夕立を見せびらかすや山の水
yûdachi wo misebirakasu ya yama no mizu

showing off
with a cloudburst...
mountain's water

The original version of this haiku, written in 1821, ends with the phrase, "god of the mountain" (yama no kami).

year unknown

.夕立の又来るふりで走りけり
yûdachi ya mata kuru furi de hashiri keri

the cloudburst
is pouring down again...
run for it!

Literally, Issa ends the haiku with the phrase hashiri keri ("ran"); I exercise a bit of poetic license to capture the feeling.

year unknown

.青柳や雲のみねより日のとどく
ao yagi ya kumo no mine yori hi no todoku

green willow--
bathed in sunlight
from billowing clouds

The light reflecting off the towering summer clouds is brilliant.

year unknown

.雲のみね翌も降らざる入日哉
kumo no mine asu mo furazaru irihi kana

billowing clouds
tomorrow too won't collapse...
sunset

Issa imagines (pessimistically, from a farmer's perspective) that the clouds remain stay huge and puffy, not yet discharging their blessing of rain.

year unknown

.夕飯過ぎに揃ひけり雲の峰
yûmeshi sugi ni soroi keri kumo no mine

after the evening meal
they gather...
billowing clouds

This haiku has an unusual structure of 7-5-5 sound units.

year unknown

.翌ははや只の河原か夏の月
asu wa haya tada no kawara ka natsu no tsuki

tomorrow morning
a humdrum river beach again?
summer moon

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

Tonight the beach is magical with the full summer moon and (perhaps rowdy) moon-gazers, but tomorrow morning it will be back to normal.

year unknown

.夏の月河原の人も翌引る
natsu no tsuki kawara no hito mo asu hikeru

summer moon--
this river beach crowd
gone tomorrow

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.家陰行人の白さや夏の月
ya-kage yuku hito no shirosa ya natsu no tsuki

the man's whiteness
walking in the house's shadow...
summer moon

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Shinji Ogawa notes that in summer people tend to wear whitish clothes. In this haiku, the summer moon illuminates such clothing.

year unknown

.青あらしかいだるげなる人の顔
aoarashi kaidarugenaru hito no kao

wind on the greenery--
the weary faces
of people

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.
Aoarashi denotes "wind blowing over fresh greenery" and is a summer season word in haiku. In this poem, I picture farm workers who have toiled so hard for the green crops to arise that now their faces seem weary and languid.

Shinji Ogawa notes that, even though Issa wrote the word kaitarugenaru, it would have been pronounced kaidarugenaru; I have adjusted the Japanese text accordingly.

year unknown

.草刈の馬に寝て来ル青あらし
kusa kari no uma ni nete kuru aoarashi

to where the grazing
horse lies...
wind on the greenery

Aoarashi denotes "wind blowing over fresh greenery" and is a summer season word in haiku.

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.夏山ののしかかつたる入江哉
natsu yama no noshi-kakattaru irie kana

the summer mountain
leans
on the cove

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

Shinji Ogawa notes that the subject of noshi-kakattaru ("leans on") is the mountain, not (as I originally translated it) the cove.

year unknown

.姫ゆりの心ありげの清水哉
himeyuri no kokoro arige no shimizu kana

touching the princess lily's
heart...
pure water

The flower is a Japanese red-star lily, literally, a "princess lily."

The phrase, kokoro arige no, means "to have an inclination for." The flower is fond of the pure water. In my translation, I keep the word "heart" (kokoro).

year unknown

.わらぢ売る木陰の爺が清水哉
waraji uru kokage no jiji ga shimizu kana

selling straw sandals
in the shade, an old man...
pure water

year unknown

.青田原箸とりながら見たりけり
aodabara hashi tori nagara mitari keri

green rice field--
grabbing the chopsticks
he watches

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Thinking way ahead to harvest time, the farmer can almost taste the grain to come.

year unknown

.箸持ってぢつと見渡る青田哉
hashi motte jitto miwataru aoda kana

chopsticks in hand
his steady gaze
on the green rice field

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Thinking way ahead to harvest time, the farmer can almost taste the grain to come. The editors of Issa zenshû believe that miwatasu (to overlook, see far) should be read where Issa writes miwataru; (1976-79) 1.277. In an earlier translation, I wrote, "patiently he waits," but Shinji Ogawa believes that jitto is being used in the sense of "attentively." The farmer is surveying the green rice field(s), possibly during a rest break, attentively.

year unknown

.下手植の稲もそろそろ青みけり
heta ue no ine mo soro-soro aomi keri

even poorly planted
rice plants
slowly, slowly...green!

Some rice plants might have been placed crookedly in the flooded field, but even they turn green in time.

Ivan M. Granger comments on this haiku in his book, The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (Poetry Chaikhana 2014): "No matter how imperfect we imagine our circumstances to be--lack of education, finances, travel, guidance, whatever we think is missing and holding us back--still we inexorably grow green. Spirit awakens in us with utter disregard to the limiting details of our lives." (7).

year unknown

.かたつぶりそろそろ登れ富士の山
katatsuburi soro-soro nobore fuji no yama

little snail
inch by inch, climb
Mount Fuji!

In Issa's time, climbing Mount Fuji was thought to be a sacred pilgrimage. However, not everyone could make the climb. Therefore, imitation Mount Fujis (small, sculpted hills) were built at various shrines, so that everyone, including the infirm and elderly, could reap spiritual benefit by climbing them. Issa's snail is on one of these pseudo-mountains. Soro-soro nobore means, "climb slowly, steadily, and gradually." Most translators choose "slowly" to modify Issa's command, which is indeed one of the meanings of soro-soro. I decided to use "inch by inch": to indicate the notion of slow but steady progress.

year unknown

.大川へはらはら蚤を御祓哉
ôgawa e hara-hara nomi wo misogi kana

to the great river
fleas go flitting...
rite of purification

This haiku refers to a Shinto purification ritual that takes place in Sixth Month in the traditional Japanese calendar. One of the observances is to launch special shrine boats in water; see Kiyose (1984) 162. Shinji Ogawa adds that the most popular forms of the ritual involve (1) entering a shrine through the chinowa (a large ring made of woven reeds) or (2) going to a river and releasing a paper boat containing a paper doll (katashiro). As the doll drifts away it is thought to take "all unclean things with it."

year unknown

.御鴉も鶯も潜る茅の輪哉
o-karasu mo uguisu mo kuguru chinowa kana

crow and bush warbler
pass through it too...
purification hoop

This haiku refers to a hoop made out of miscanthus reed, used for a summer purification ritual. If one passes through it, one is protected from infectious diseases. In this haiku, both a crow and a bush warbler pass through, suggesting that the hoop welcomes both commoners (crows) and nobility (bush warblers).

year unknown

.それでこそ古き夕べぞ葺菖蒲
sore de koso furuki yûbe zo fuki ayame

the perfect thing
for an old-time evening...
thatch of irises

The night before the annual Boy's Festival (fifth day, Fifth Month), eaves of houses were thatched with grafts of blooming irises; Kiyose (1984) 122.

year unknown

.鳴さうな虫のあれあれ葺あやめ
naki-sô na mushi no are-are fuki ayame

an insect singing?
look! look!
thatch of irises

The night before the annual Boy's Festival (fifth day, Fifth Month), eaves of houses were thatched with grafts of blooming irises; Kiyose (1984) 122. In this haiku, a hard-to-spot insect sings among the irises.

year unknown

.君が代は乞食の家ものぼり哉
kimi ga yo wa kojiki no ie mo nobori kana

Great Japan!
even a beggar's house
has a summer banner

An early haiku written in the 1790s."Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time.

year unknown

.つかれ鵜の節句やすみもなかりけり
tsukare u no sekku yasumi mo nakari keri

weary cormorant--
no festival holiday
for you

Japanese fishermen use cormorants. Tied to a tether, these sea birds dive for fish that they are forced to disgorge. In this haiku, the hard-working bird is deprived of an annual festival day off (sekku yasumi).

year unknown

.汗拭て墓に物がたる別哉
ase fukite haka ni monogataru wakare kana

mopping sweat--
at his tomb I tell my story
then go

An early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.小娘も菩薩気どりよ更衣
ko musume mo bosatsu kidori yo koromogae

even the little girl
poses like a saint...
new summer robe

Or: "even the little daughter." Specifically, the child is posing like a bodhisattva (bosatsu): a Buddhist saint who has returned to the world on a compassionate mission to awaken others. . In the original version of this haiku (1815) Issa begins with "even the servant" (sansuke mo).

year unknown

.小短き旅して見たや更衣
ko mijikaki tabi shite mita ya koromogae

taking a tiny trip
to see and be seen...
new summer robes

year unknown

.更衣松風聞に出たりけり
koromogae matsukaze kiki ni detari keri

new summer robes--
listening to the pine breeze
they emerge

year unknown

.杉の香に鶯ききぬ衣がへ
sugi no ka ni uguisu kikinu koromogae

amid scented cedars
a bush warbler's song...
new summer robes

A luxurious moment.

year unknown

.朝湯から直に着ならふ袷哉
asa yu kara sugu ni ki narau awase kana

after morning's hot bath
trying it on...
summer kimono

year unknown

.白妙の帷子揃ふ川辺哉
shirotae no katabira sorou kawabe kana

one and all
in white summer kimonos...
riverbank

The light summer garment in question is made of hemp: katabira. In this archive, I translate both katabira and awase as "summer kimono."

year unknown

.寺の児赤かたびらはいつ迄ぞ
tera no chigo aka katabira wa itsu made zo

temple toddler--
how long will you wear
your little red kimono?

The light summer garment in question is made of hemp: katabira. In this archive, I translate both katabira and awase as "summer kimono." In this haiku, a tiney acolyte at a Buddhist temple is wearing a katabira. In my translation, I decided that it would be more effective to describe it as a "little red kimono" as opposed to "red summer kimono." Issa alludes to the idea of growth. The child won't fit the cute little kimono for long.

year unknown

.夕ぐれの古帷子を我世かな
yûgure no furu katabira wo waga yo kana

evening's old
summer kimono...
my world

The light summer garment in question is made of hemp: katabira. In this archive, I translate both katabira and awase as "summer kimono."

year unknown

.我門や蓙一枚のなつ座敷
waga kado ya goza ichi mai no natsu zashiki

at my gate--
one straw mat
my summer room

This haiku is undated. In a poem of 1819 Issa begins with the phrase, "pine tree shade" (matsu kage ya).

year unknown

.かくれ家や死ば簾の青いうち
kakurega ya shinaba sudare no aoi uchi

secluded house--
when I die its bamboo blinds
will still be green

In other words, death is near. A variation of this haiku (1805) begins with the phrase, "my life" (mi hitotsu).

year unknown

.むら雨やほろがやの子に風とどく
murasame ya horogaya no ko ni kaze todoku

a rain shower--
in her little mosquito net
touched by the breeze

Or: "his." The child is inside a little mosquito net (horogaya). This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.翌日も翌同じ夕べや独り蚊屋
asu mo asu onaji yûbe ya hitori kaya

tomorrow night and the next
the same...
in my mosquito net, alone

Though the editors of Issa zenshû don't list it as such, this haiku is a variant of one written in 1809. The only difference is that the original haiku has the particle ka instead of ya, making the opening phrase a question: "tomorrow night and the next the same?" (1976-79) 1.305-6.

year unknown

.鹿の背にくすくす鳥の昼寝哉
shika no se ni kusu-kusu tori no hirune kana

on the deer's back
the songbird takes
a siesta

A lovely and instructive vision of harmony.

year unknown

.人並に猿もごろりと昼寝哉
hito nami ni saru mo gorori to hirune kana

curled to sleep
just like people do...
monkey's siesta

A siesta, literally a "midday nap" (hirune) in Japanese, is a summer season word.

year unknown

.松影や扇でまねく千両雨
matsu kage ya ôgi de maneku senryo ame

pine tree shade--
he beckons with his fan
a rain of golden coins

Or: "she beckons with with her fan." I picture a beggar beckoning with his or her fan, hoping for a rain of senryo: coins worth one thousand ryô each. A ryô equals 4,000 mon, the basic currency of the period which took the form of a coin with a hole in its middle so that it could be strung on a string. In Issa's day six mon could pay for a bowl of rice.

How, then, to translate a "rain of senryo"? Shinji Ogawa suggests the phrase, "million dollar rain," but to my ears the word "dollar" sounds too un-Japanese and incorrectly suggests an image of paper money. If a single mon = 25 cents of contemporary U.S. currency, a ryô would be a coin worth 4,000 quarters: $1,000 (U.S.) or 630｣ (U.K.). A senryo would be this amount times 1,000 = one million dollars (U.S.) or 630,000｣. A "rain" of such coins would indeed represent a fabulous amount of wealth. Issa must be exaggerating. This seems to be a case of wishful thinking, a beggar's fantasy. For this reason, I have made the coins "golden": even though the senryo were not made of gold, this English adjective suggests great value.

year unknown

.団扇張って先そよがする浮草哉
uchiwa hatte mazu soyogasuru ukusa kana

after re-papering
the first thing I fan...
duckweed

In this undated revision of a haiku written in 1805, Issa replaces "choking vines" (mugura) with "duckweed" (ukusa).

year unknown

.結構にかやりの上の朝日哉
kekkô ni kayari no ue no asahi kana

how pretty
over smudge pot smoke...
rising sun

This haiku refers to the custom of smoking out mosquitos using the dense smoke of a smudge pot.

year unknown

.蚊いぶしや赤く咲けるは何の花
ka ibushi ya akaku sakeru wa nan no hana

in smudge pot smoke
blooming red...
what flower is that?

year unknown

.畠々や蚊やりはそよぐ虫の鳴
hata hata ya kayari wa soyogu mushi no naku

garden after garden
smudge pot smoke wafts
insects chirr

Does Issa imagine that the clouds of mosquito-repelling smoke not only benefit people, that other insects sing their relief?

year unknown

.浦風に旅忘レけり夕涼
ura kaze ni tabi wasure keri yûsuzumi

in a beach breeze
my travels forgotten...
evening cool

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.松陰に人入替る涼み哉
matsu kage ni hito irekawaru suzumi kana

in pine tree shade
people take turns...
cool air

There's only so much space under the pine to enjoy its shade. Therefore, people do so in shifts. An early haiku written in the 1790s.It has the headnote, "Spending the night at Karazaki." Hiroshige has a painting titled "Evening Rain at Karazaki." Karazaki is on the shore of Lake Biwa.

year unknown

.草履ぬいで人をゆるして涼み台
zôri nuide hito wo yurushite suzumi dai

everyone kick off
your straw sandals!
evening cool

In a related haiku written around the same time, Issa writes: "everyone keep on your straw sandals!"

year unknown

.皆草履ぬがずに通れ夕涼
mina zôri nugazu ni tôre yûsuzumi

everyone keep on
your straw sandals!
evening cool

In a related haiku written around the same time, Issa writes: "everyone kick off your straw sandals!"

year unknown

.身の上の鐘ともしらで夕涼み
mi no ue no kane to mo shirade yûsuzumi

not knowing the bell's
deep meaning...
evening cool

In a haiku written in 1823 Issa changes perspective: "knowing" that the clanging bell at a Buddhist temple is announcing everyone's mortality.

year unknown

.夜涼や足でかぞへるしなの山
yo suzumi ya ashi de kazoeru shinano yama

cool evening--
with my feet counting
the mountains of Shinano

Shinano was Issa's home province: Nagano Prefecture today.

year unknown

.煤けたる家向きあふて夕涼み
susuketaru ie mukiaute yûsuzumi

turning to face
my soot-blackened house...
evening cool

This haiku was written in the mid-Bunka Era (1804-1818).

year unknown

.夜に入ば下水の側も涼み哉
yo ni ireba gesui no soba mo suzumi kana

as night falls
even next to a sewer...
cool air

This haiku has the headnote, "Edo" (today's Tokyo). It is a revision of a haiku of 1819, in which the people cooled themselves "above" (no ue) the sewer.

year unknown

.雨の日やひとりまじめに田を植る
ame no hi ya hitori majime ni ta wo ueru

rainy day--
alone and diligent
planting rice

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.道とふも遠慮がましき田植哉
michi tou mo enryogamashiki taue kana

even asking directions
I hesitate...
rice planters

An early haiku written in the 1790s.In my first translation, I had the rice planters as the "reserved" ones in the scene, but Shinji Ogawa explains that it is Issa who hestitates when asking the farmers for directions, because they are so busy. This interpretation is in line with the fact that 1790s was a period of incessant travel for Issa. He would have had to ask for directions many, many times.

year unknown

.もたいなや昼寝して聞田うへ唄
motaina ya hirune shite kiku taue uta

a shameful waste--
napping, hearing
the rice-planting song

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.しなのぢや上の上にも田うえ唄
shinano ji ya ue no ue ni mo taue uta

Shinano road--
higher and higher
rice-planting songs

Issa's home province of Shinano is a mountainous area. Even at high elevations, there are terraced rice fields.

year unknown

.鶯も笠きて出よ田植唄
uguisu mo kasa kite ide yo taue uta

you, too, bush warbler
go with an umbrella-hat!
rice-planting song

A happy exaggeration. Issa fancies that the bush warbler (uguisu) should go forth into the field, like the rice-planting farmers, wearing an umbrella-hat.

year unknown

.つつがなふ氷納めて朝寝哉
tsutsuganau kôri osamete asane kana

summer ice delivered
safe and sound...
sleeping late

This is an early haiku from the 1790s. In Issa's time snow and ice from mountains were used to make cool summer drinks. Having ice and sleeping late ... luxury!

year unknown

.心太五尺にたらぬ木陰哉
tokoroten go shaku ni taranu kokage kana

not quite five feet
of sweet jelly strands...
deep tree shade

Tokoroten is still a popular summer dessert in Japan. It is a jelly made from seaweed called Gelidium Amansii. Tokoroten is pushed through a coarse mesh to form long threads like Japanese noodles. Gelidium is a genus of red algae.

year unknown

.君が代の木陰を鹿の親子哉
kimi ga yo no kokage wo shika no oyako kana

Great Japan!
under shady trees deer
parents and children

This is an alternate version of a haiku of 1810; Issa has substituted "shady trees" (kokage) for "evening" (yûbe). Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem.

year unknown

.鹿の子を目ざとくしたる芒かな
shika no ko wo mezatoku shitaru susuki kana

making the fawn
awake and alert...
plume grass

The fawn hides in tall grass that sways and swishes in the wind, keeping it awake and alert.

year unknown

.しかの子にわるぢえ付けななく烏
shika no ko ni warujie tsukena naku karasu

don't teach your tricks
to the fawn!
cawing crows

The fawn is innocent. Issa beseeches the worldly crows not to teach it their cunning ways.

year unknown

.芒萩かのこに智恵を付けにけり
susuki hagi kanoko ni chie wo tsuke ni keri

plume grass, bush clover--
the fawn
acquires wisdom

Hidden safely in tall grass and flowering shrubs, the fawn learns and grows.

year unknown

.萩の葉にかくれくらする鹿の子哉
hagi no ha ni kakure kurasuru kanoko kana

in bush clover
staying well hidden...
a fawn

In this haiku Issa has fun with the "h" and "k" sounds of hagi, ha, kakure, kurasuru, ka, ko, kana.

year unknown

.こんな夜は庵にもあろか時鳥
konna yo wa io ni mo aro ka hototogisu

is the night this nice
back at the hut?
cuckoo

Issa doesn't literally say that the night is "nice," but I feel that this is implied by the phrase, "this kind of evening" (konna yo).

year unknown

.うの花も馳走にさくかほととぎす
u no hana mo chisô ni saku ka hototogisu

are you feasting
on tofu dregs too?
cuckoo

The expression u no hana can mean, literally, "deutzia blossoms." A second meaning is "bean curd refuse." Also called okara, this is the lees by-product of tofu-making. It is called u no hana because the whiteness of the tofu by-product is similar to that of the deutzia flower of early summer.

This haiku is undated, but in two related haiku, written in Fifth Month 1816, Issa scatters tofu refuse for a cuckoo and then warns him not to get indigestion from it.

year unknown

.どこを押せばそんな音が出ル時鳥
doko wo oseba sonna ne ga deru hototogisu

where were you poked
to make that sound...
cuckoo?

This undated haiku is identical to one of 1812, except that the singer is a "mountain deer" (yama no shika).

year unknown

.江戸庭へ片足入れば時鳥
edo niwa e kata ashi ireba hototogisu

stepping one foot
in an Edo garden
"Cuckoo!"

year unknown

.そつと鳴け隣は武士ぞ時鳥
sotto nake tonari wa bushi zo hototogisu

sing softly!
a samurai lives next door
cuckoo

Samurai, the only members of Japanese society allowed to carry weapons, were often drunken and violent--and always feared.

year unknown

.柳から明て鳴きけりほととぎす
yanagi kara akete naki keri hototogisu

after dawn hits
the willow...
a cuckoo sings

year unknown

.それそこの朝顔つむな閑古鳥
sore soko no asagao tsumu na kankodori

don't peck that
morning glory!
mountain cuckoo

year unknown

.百両の鶯老を鳴にけり
hyaku ryô no uguisu oi wo naki ni keri

the priceless bush warbler
warbles
even in summer

The seasonal reference of this haiku is to bush warblers (uguisu) that are still singing in summertime.

This is an undated rewrite of a haiku of 1813. In both versions, a bush warbler that costs one hundred ryô sings of old age. Issa might be referring to a caged bird or, as Shinji Ogawa suggests, a "priceless" bird in the wild. Shinji adds that "old" in this haiku refers not so much to old age as to the season word of "a bush warbler in summer." For this reason, he suggests as a translation for oi wo naki ni keri: "warbles in summer."

year unknown

.鶯も老をうつるな草の家
uguisu mo oi wo utsuru na kusa no ie

bush warbler--
don't catch old age!
thatched hut

The seasonal reference of this haiku is to bush warblers (uguisu) that are still singing in summertime.

Issa suggests that the oldness of his house might be contagious. This is an undated rewrite of a haiku of 1820. The original version ends with the phrase, "my house" (ore ga ie). In another undated rewrite, it ends with "house in the trees" (yabu no ie).

year unknown

.鶯も老をうつるな藪の家
uguisu mo oi wo utsuru na yabu no ie

bush warbler--
don't catch old age!
house in the trees

The seasonal reference of this haiku is to bush warblers (uguisu) that are still singing in summertime.

Issa suggests that the oldness of his house might be contagious. This is an undated rewrite of a haiku of 1820. The original version ends with the phrase, "my house" (ore ga ie). In another undated rewrite, it ends with "thatched hut" (kusa no ie).

year unknown

.よい風を鼻にかけてや行々し
yoi kaze wo hana ni kakete ya gyôgyôshi

taking credit
for the good wind...
reed warbler

The phrase hana ni kakeru is an idiom for being proud of something. Shinji Ogawa suggests the translation, "bragging of." The original form of this haiku, written in 1814, has the reed warbler seeming proud about a "cool breeze" (suzukaze).

year unknown

.神風や蛇が教へる山の道
kamikaze ya hebi ga oshieru yama no michi

divine wind--
a snake shows the Way
on a mountain road

This haiku has the headnote, "offering to the god(s)]." The snake has shed its skin and left it as if to teach human beings piety. While the direct context is Shintoism, an additional Buddhist lesson can be found in the image: let go of self, move on to Oneness!

year unknown

.笠程な花が咲たぞとべ蛍
kasa hodona hana ga saita zo tobe hotaru

a flower big
as an umbrella-hat...
fly there firefly!

Or: "fireflies!" A revision of an 1810 haiku. The original poem doesn't end with a command. Shinji Ogawa explains that kasa hodo no "means a flower as big as an umbrella-hat." He adds, "I think Issa expresses his joy over the blooming of a big flower."

I imagine that it is raining or about to rain.

year unknown

.蚊いぶしにやがて蛍も行にけり
ka ibushi ni yagate hotaru mo yuki ni keri

mosquito smudge smoke--
soon the fireflies
leave too

A poem about collateral damage. This undated haiku doesn't appear in Issa's journals, but exists on a manuscript written in his handwriting.

year unknown

.今売た草にあれあれはつ蛍
ima utta kusa ni are-are hatsu-botaru

in fresh-sold
grass, look!
the first firefly

In 1820 Issa wrote a version of this haiku that begins, "in fresh-grabbed..." (ima tsutta).

year unknown

.芦の家は昼の蛍のさかりけり
ashi no ya wa hiru no hotaru no sakari kana

reed-thatched house--
the midday fireflies
at their peak

I picture a dark, deeply shaded hut in the woods--so dark, the fireflies have come out and are dazzling in the afternoon.

year unknown

.そこふむな夕べ蛍の居たあたり
soko fumuna yûbe hotaru no ita atari

don't step there!
that's where an evening
firefly went

year unknown

.茶の水も筧で来る也蛍来る
cha no mizu mo kakehi de kuru nari hotaru kuru

from the tea water
flume also comes...
a firefly

Reza from Taiwan notes that a firefly's habitat is near water, especially pure, clean water. The water used for Issa's tea of of the highest quality. Kakehi refers to a water pipe or flume.

year unknown

.一握草も売也ほたるかご
hito nigiri kusa mo uru nari hotaru kago

sold with a clump
of grass...
firefly cage

Shinji Ogawa, who assisted with this translation, notes, "To a country boy like Issa it might seem strange to make merchandise out of a handful of grass."

year unknown

.蛍こよ蛍こよとよひとり酒
hotaru ko yo hotaru ko yo to yo hitori-zake

come, firefly!
firefly, come!
drinking alone

Issa's drink, of course, is sake. Shinji Ogawa explains that the repeat symbol in Issa's text applies to the entire phrase, hotaru ko yo, not, as I had first assumed, to ko yo alone.

year unknown

.宵越しの豆腐明りの薮蚊哉
yoigoshi no tôfu akari no yabu ka kana

left out all night
the tofu gleams...
mosquitos

Or: "a mosquito." Shinji Ogawa believes that some sort of mold or bacteria is making the tofu gleam.

"Thicket mosquito" (yabu ka) refers to a species of especially fierce striped mosquito. The scientific name is Stegomyia fasciata.

year unknown

.夕暮や蚊が鳴出してうつくしき
yûgure ya ka ga nakidashite utsukushiki

evening falls--
the whine of mosquitos
so pretty

Most people hear only a blood-sucking pest; Issa hears music, noticing and appreciating the mosquitos' tiny, high-pitched, delicate song.

year unknown

.ねがひから都の蚊にも喰れけり
negai kara miyako no ka ni mo kuware keri

after prayers
bitten also by mosquitos
of Kyoto

This is an undated rewrite of a haiku of 1813 that begins, "age fifty" (go jû ni shite).

year unknown

.昼の蚊を後ろにかくす仏かな
hiru no ka wo ushiro ni kakusu hotoke kana

midday's mosquitos
hidden behind
the Buddha of stone

Shinji Ogawa notes that the doer of the action (of hiding) is the statue of Buddha. He offers a more literal translation:

hides midday's mosquitos
in his back
statue of Buddha

year unknown

.腕の蠅手をする所を打れけり
ude no hae te wo suru toko wo utare keri

where the fly on my arm
rubbed his hands...
swat!

This is an undated variant of a haiku of 1819 that begins with a "verandah fly" (en no hae).

year unknown

.蠅打ば蝶もそこそこ去にけり
hae uteba chô mo soko-soko sari ni keri

swattting at a fly--
a butterfly too
rushes away

This is an undated revision of a haiku of 1819 in which the butterfly "sneaks away" (koso-koso sari ni keri).

year unknown

.豊年の声を上けり門の蝿
hônen no koe wo age keri kado no hae

"It's a good year!"
they buzz...
flies at the gate

Literally, it is a "fruitful year."

year unknown

.田がよいぞ田がよいぞとや蠅さわぐ
ta ga yoi zo ta ga yoi zo to ya hae sawagu

this rice field is
good! good!
buzz the flies

The monosyllabic, stacatto sound of this haiku in Japanese suggests the on-and-off buzzing of flies.

year unknown

.川中へ蚤を飛ばする旦哉
kawa naka e nomi wo tobasuru ashita kana

into the river
fleas are tossed...
sunrise

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s: a bittersweet juxtaposition of a new day and little lives ending.

year unknown

.むさしのへ蚤をとばする夜明哉
musashino e nomi wo tobasuru yoake kana

to Musashi Plain
fleas sent flying...
dawn

An early haiku written in the 1790s.At dawn, Issa gets up, sending his fleas flying. Musashi Plain, from where Mount Fuji can be viewed, is a locale rich with literary and artistic associations. Issa makes it seem as if dispelling the fleas is doing them a favor, sending them to a famous tourist spot.

year unknown

.痩蚤の不便や留主になる庵
yase nomi no fubin ya rusu ni naru iori

my skinny fleas
so pitiful...
left to house-sit

This is an undated alternate version of a haiku of 1827, in which Issa describes the fleas left behind in his house as his "cute darlings" (kawai ya).

year unknown

.うら山を遊び歩行や寺の蚤
ura yama wo asobi aruku ya tera no nomi

on a pleasure walk
up the mountain...
temple flea

Literally, the flea is walking up the "back mountain" (ura yama): the mountain behind the temple.

year unknown

.羽蟻出る迄に目出度庵哉
ha-ari deru made ni medetaki iori kana

until the winged ants
come out
my fortunate hut

Issa is referring to a wood-chewing carpenter ant that swarms when it breeds in the summer. This is a revision of a haiku that Issa wrote in 1819:
ha-ari deru made ni medetaki hashira kana

until the winged ants
come out
a fortunate pillar

year unknown

.ねがはくば念仏を鳴け夏の蝉
negawakuba nembutsu wo nake natsu no semi

if you're praying
pray to Amida Buddha!
summer cicadas

The nembutsu prayer is "Namu Amida Butsu"--"All praise to Amida Buddha!"

For Issa, even non-human "Buddhists" can benefit from Amida's vow to make possible their rebirth in the Pure Land.

year unknown

.我宿のおくれ鰹も月よ哉
waga yado wa okure katsuo mo tsuki yo kana

at my house
late-summer bonito
and bright moon

In haiku, bonito is a summer season word.

This haiku is an undated revision of one that Issa wrote in 1804. The original version begins with the phrase, "in one village" (kata zato wa).

year unknown

.昼顔にふんどし晒す小僧かな
hirugao ni fundoshi sarasu kozô kana

in blooming bindweed
airing out his loincloth...
little boy

Literally, a "little priest" (kozô) is involved. However, in Japanese this expression can mean any little boy.

year unknown

.夕顔や男結びの垣にさく
yûgao ya otoko musubi no kaki ni saku

moonflowers--
from the bamboo
fence blooming

This haiku has the headnote, "About Genji." Yugao ("Moonflower") was one of Prince Genji's lovers in The Tale of Genji; she died young and tragically. The bamboo fence in the haiku is tied together with palm rope, using the simple knot called "man knot" (otoko musubi). Issa might be writing allegorically: the young concubine, fleeing one man only to end up in the arms of another--an action that results in her death--is indeed the victim of male "knots."

year unknown

.けし提て群集の中を通りけり
keshi sagete gunshû no naka wo tôri keri

carrying a poppy
he passes through
the crowd

This undated haiku resembles one of 1825, in which the poppy carrier passes through a quarrel.

year unknown

.善尽し美を尽してもけしの花
zen tsukushi bi wo tsukushite mo keshi no hana

virtue beyond virtue
beauty beyond beauty...
yet just a poppy!

Though Issa couldn't have known this, his praise of the poppy echoes Jesus's remark about lilies in the field besting "even Solomon in all his glory" (Matthew 6:29).

year unknown

.扇にて尺をとらせるぼたん哉
ôgi nite shaku wo toraseru botan kana

it makes me measure it
with a fan...
the peony

In the original form of this haiku, the peony was merely measured by means of a fan. In this revision, Issa changes the verb form so that the peony is the cause of the action, forcing the person to measure it.

year unknown

.掃人の尻で散たる牡丹かな
haku hito no shiri de chiritaru botan kana

petals scattered
by the sweeper's butt...
peony

year unknown

.蓮の香や昼寝の上を吹巡る
hasu no ka ya hirune no ue wo fuki meguru

scent of lotuses--
wafting in the air
above my siesta

A luxuriously sensuous moment. "Midday nap" (hirune) and lotuses are both summer seasonal expressions in haiku.

year unknown

.犬の声ぱつたり止て蓮の花
inu no koe pattari yamite hasu no hana

suddenly
the dog stops barking...
lotus blossoms!

year unknown

.なでしこや地蔵菩薩の跡先に
nadeshiko ya jizô bosatsu no ato saki ni

blooming pinks
behind and in front
of holy Jizo

In Japan Jizô is the beloved guardian deity of children (technically a bodhisattva).

year unknown

.浮草や魚すくふたる小菅笠
ukigusa ya uo sukuutaru ko suge-gasa

duckweed--
with a little sedge hat
rescuing a fish

The fish, stuck in duckweed, is gently scooped up and saved: yet another compassionate encounter with an animal in the haiku of Issa.

year unknown

.朝富士の天窓へ投る早苗哉
asa fuji no atama e hôru sanae kana

to the top
of Mount Fuji in the morning...
tossing rice plants

In summer, farm workers transplant rice shoots from seedling beds into flooded fields. They slog through muck, singing songs. The editors of Issa zenshû read the verb as hôru instead of the more standard nageru (both mean "to throw"; 1.405).

year unknown

.象潟や蛍まぶれの早苗舟
kisagata ya hotaru mabure no sanae fune

Kisa Lagoon--
sparkling with fireflies
the rice planting boat

Kisa Lagoon (Kisagata) was ravaged by an earthquake in 1804. This undated haiku was probably written some time before that event.

year unknown

.麦秋の小隅に咲る椿かな
mugi aki no kosumi ni sakitaru tsubaki kana

blooming in a nook
of ripened wheat...
camellias

Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley. Ripened wheat in summer resembles ready-for-harvest rice in autumn, hence the phrase, "wheat's autumn" (mugi no aki).

year unknown

.ことし竹真直に旭登りけり
kotoshi take masugu ni asahi nobori keri

newborn bamboo--
straight up the rising sun
climbing

Literally, the bamboo is "this year's" (kotoshi).

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.藪竹もわかいうちとてそよぐ也
yabu take mo wakai uchi tote soyogu nari

the thicket's bamboo
like all young folk...
agitated

This is an undated revision of a haiku of 1812. In the original version Issa ends with sawagu nari ("raising a ruckus").

year unknown

.竹の子の影の川こす旭哉
takenoko no kage no kawa kosu asahi kana

bamboo shoot shadows
cross the river...
rising sun

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Shinji Ogawa assisted with its translation.

year unknown

.一番の大竹の子を病かな
ichiban no ôtakenoko wo yamai kana

the tallest
of the bamboo shoots...
sickly

Perhaps the tall bamboo shoot has bent over--as others have done in Issa's poems on this topic.

year unknown

.葉がくれの瓜を枕に子猫哉
ha-gakure no uri wo makura ni ko neko kana

in leafy shade
a melon for a pillow...
a kitten

If Issa were alive today, he'd be a master of cute animal memes: pictures that touch our hearts and coax our minds to rethink our relationship with nonhuman beings.

year unknown

.草の戸や一月ばかり冷し瓜
kusa no to ya hito tsuki bakari hiyashi uri

my hut--
the only cooling melon
is the moon

Shinji Ogawa has pointed out that kusa no to is not to be read literally as "grass door," but figuratively as "my hut." Issa alludes often to his poverty. Here, he comically laments his lack of a melon. The round moon serves as a substitute.

year unknown

.門口にわか葉かぶさる雨日哉
kado-guchi ni wakaba kabusaru ame hi kana

the gateway shelters
fresh green leaves...
a rainy day

This early haiku was composed in the 1790's.

year unknown

.存分に藤ぶら下るわか葉哉
zonbun ni fuji burasagaru wakaba kana

wisteria dangles
to its heart's content...
fresh green leaves

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.芝でした腰掛茶屋や夏木立
shiba de shita koshikake chaya ya natsu kodachi

making the lawn
a sit-down teahouse...
summer trees

Issa is alluding to the shade provided by the trees.

This is an undated haiku. In 1819 Issa writes, in a similar vein:
shiba de shita yasumi-dokoro ya natsu kodachi

making the lawn
a vacation spot...
summer trees

year unknown

.法談のてまねも見へて夏木立
hôdan no temane mo miete natsu kodachi

the preacher's
hand gestures...
the summer trees

In this visual haiku an itinerant preacher tells passers-by about Amida Buddha's vow to allow all who trust in him rebith in the Pure land. Issa watches his earnest hand gestures but also, at the same time, the green summer trees that surround him. The connection between the two images is left to the reader's imagination. When I contemplate this haiku, I suspect that Issa is purposely zoning out the preacher's words, implying that the beauty of Nature itself--embodied in the trees--is Buddha's promise. This is a rewrite of an 1820 haiku, in which the sermon takes place at night. The 1820 haiku, in turn, is a variant of an 1814 poem about a sermon in the withered fields of winter.

year unknown

.大寺は留主の体也夏木立
ôtera wa rusu no tei nari natsu kodachi

the big temple
looks empty...
summer trees

year unknown

.門脇や栗つくだけの木下闇
kado waki ya kuri tsuku dake no ko shita yami

no lazing by the gate
they husk chestnuts...
deep tree shade

Literally, the haiku reads: "at the gate they only husk chestnuts ... deep tree shade." Normally, people laze under tree's shade on a summer's day, but in this case that shade is being used only by workers. Since Issa's Japanese readers would understand the implications of the dake ("only") in the poem, I've added "no lazing" to my translation.

In an almost identical haiku composed in 1815, the people are husking "wheat" (mugi).

year unknown

.柿の花おちてぞ人の目に留る
kaki no hana ochite zo hito no me ni tomaru

persimmon blossoms
falling...
only now noticed

Shinji Ogawa paraphrases: "persimmon blossoms ... only after falling down they are noticed." He adds, "Persimmon blooms in a very modest way; the view of the red-brown flowers is obscured by the summer leaves."

year unknown

.卯の花の垣はわらぢの名代哉
u no hana no kaki wa waraji no nadai kana

deutzia blossom hedge--
famous straw sandals
for sale

The idea that the sandals are for sale isn't stated in Issa's Japanese but is implied. Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge." In this case, the latter fits.

This undated haiku is a revision of one that Issa wrote in 1816. In the original version, Issa depicts a "gate" (kado) instead of a hedge.

year unknown

.花うばら垣ね曲る山家哉
hana ubara kakine magareru yamaga kana

circled by a hedge
of wild roses...
mountain home

Of the seventeen on (sound units) in this musical haiku, twelve have the vowel sound of a.

year unknown

.もまれてや江戸のきのこは赤くなる
momarete ya edo no kinoko wa akaku naru

fondled and squeezed
Edo's mushrooms
blush red

In an earlier version of this haiku written in 1821, Edo's plums are being handled and, Issa thinks, embarrassed.

year unknown

.御地蔵の玉にもち添ふ李哉
o-jizô no tama ni mochi-sou sumomo kana

added to
holy Jizo's jewel...
a plum

In Japan Jizô is the beloved guardian deity of children (technically a bodhisattva).

Most statues of Jizo hold a jewel in the left hand. This one also holds a plum. Alastair Watson notes that the plum is the earliest blossom of spring. As such, it became a symbol for Zen Buddhists (such as for Dogen) for persistent practice bearing fruit.

year unknown

.門の月暑がへれば人もへる
kado no tsuki atsusa ga hereba hito mo heru

moon at the gate--
as the heat dwindles
so do people

This is a rewrite of a haiku of 1821. The original poem ends with the phrase, tomo mo heru ("so do companions"). As summer heat gives way to autumn cold, fewer people are outside, moon-gazing.

year unknown

.くらがりやこそり立っても寒い秋
kuragari ya kosori tatte mo samui aki

just like darkness
it sneaks in...
autumn cold

Literally, Issa is saying, "darkness--/ also arising stealthily/ cold autumn."

year unknown

.次の間の行灯で寝る夜寒哉
tsugi no ma no andon de neru yozamu kana

by the next room's lamplight
I sleep...
a cold night

This undated haiku portrays a scene at an inn. In a similar, dated poem (1815), Issa eats his rice by the light of his neighbor's lamp:
tsugi no ma no hi de meshi wo kuu yozamu kana

by the next room's lamplight
eating my rice...
a cold night

year unknown

.庵の夜の遊かげんの夜寒哉
io no yo no asobi kagen no yozamu kana

night in the hut
is carousing-time...
a cold night

This haiku is undated. It's a rewrite of a haiku of 1815 that begins with the phrase, "vain mankind" (muda hito). The word kagen can mean (in addition to degree and adjustment) a condition. In this case, I believe that sake is involved.

year unknown

.我庵や夜寒昼寒さて是は
waga io ya yozamu hiru samu sate kore wa

at my hut
cold nights, cold days...
ah well

year unknown

.山見ても海見ても秋の夕哉
yama mite mo umi mite mo aki no yûbe kana

looking at the mountain
looking at the sea...
autumn evening

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.御旅宿の秋の夕を忘れたり
o-ryoshuku no aki no yûbe wo wasuretari

at the inn
the autumn evening
is forgotten

I picture Issa and other guests of the inn drinking plenty of sake, "forgetting."

year unknown

.芦の穂を蟹がはさんで秋の夕
ashi no ho wo kani ga hasande aki no yû

a crab hanging on
to a reed...
autumn night

In a haiku of 1812 a crab hangs onto a reed in a downpour of June rain.

year unknown

.島々や一こぶしづつ秋の暮
shima-jima ya hito kobushi-zutsu aki no kure

every little island
fist after fist...
autumn dusk

This is an undated rewrite of a haiku composed in 1811. Issa starts the original poem with "Matsushima." Matsushima is the famous sightseeing resort consisting of many tiny pine islands. Issa imagines that they look like fists jutting up from the water.

The third phrase of this haiku, aki no kure, means both "autumn night" and "autumn's end."

year unknown

.夜は長し徳利はむなし放れ家
yo wa nagashi tokuri wa munashi hanare ie

the night is long
my bottle, empty
my house, set apart

Issa is referring (sadly) to his sake bottle.

year unknown

.夕蝉の翌ない秋をひたと鳴く
yû semi no yoku nai aki wo hita to naku

evening cicada--
a last burst of song
to autumn

It's the last night of autumn; the cicada chirrs a final song. Tomorrow, winter. Tomorrow, death.

year unknown

.霜おくやふとんの上の天の川
shimo oku ya futon no ue no ama-no-gawa

frost has formed
on the futon...
Milky Way above

This haiku has the headnote, "On a boat." Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way.

year unknown

.ゆかしさよ田舎の竹も天の川
yukashisa yo inaka no take mo ama-no-gawa

charming--
in rural bamboo too
the Milky Way

Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way. Issa is happy to find it even in this backward province far from the capital.

year unknown

.出る月のかたは古郷の入江哉
deru tsuki no kata wa furusato no iri-e kana

where the moon is rising
the home village's
cove

An early haiku written in the 1790s.During this period, Issa was traveling far from his native village of Kashiwabara in the mountains of Shinano Province, a place, incidentally, without a "cove" (iri-e), which would suggest that Issa is seeing some other village in the moment: someone else's hometown.

year unknown

.さぞ今よひ古郷の川も月見哉
sazo koyoi kokyô no kawa mo tsukimi kana

on the river back home too
no doubt...
moon-gazing

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Issa traveled far and wide during this period. In this haiku, he thinks wistfully of his native village of Kashiwabara, imagining what might be going on there tonight, under the moon.

year unknown

.月今よひ古郷に似ざる山もなし
tsuki koyoi kokyô ni nizaru yama mo nashi

tonight's moon--
each of these mountains
like ones back home

Homesick? An early haiku written in the 1790s when Issa traveled far and wide. The mountains under the moon are comforting replicas of the ones surrounding his own native village.

year unknown

.月今よひ古郷に似たる山はいくつ
tsuki koyoi kokyô ni nitaru yama wa ikutsu

tonight's moon--
how many mountains resemble
the ones back home?

An early haiku written in the 1790s.It is a revision of the following, changing statement to question:
tsuki koyoi kokyô ni nizaru yama mo nashi

tonight's moon--
mountains just like
the ones back home

year unknown

.月今よひ山は古郷に似たる哉
tsuki koyoi yama wa kokyô ni nitaru kana

tonight's moon--
mountains just like
the ones back home

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Issa traveled far and wide during this period. His native village of Kashiwabara has plenty of mountains surrounding it. In this scene, he appears homesick.

In another haiku of the same period, he captures the same idea but uses a negative construction:
tsuki koyoi kokyô ni nizaru yama mo nashi

Shinji Ogawa translates the second and third phrases: "not a mountain is unlike the mountains back home."

year unknown

.月やこよひ舟連ねしを平家蟹
tsuki ya koyoi fune tsuraneshi wo heike-gani

harvest moon--
side by side with the boat
a Heike crab

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

Crabs with special markings resembling faces of samurai are thought to be reincarnated heroes who died in a famous battle, recounted in the medieval Tale of the Heike.

year unknown

.古郷に似たる山をかぞへて月見哉
kokyô ni nitaru yama wo kazoete tsukimi kana

counting mountains
like the ones back home...
moon-gazing

year unknown

.よ所からはさぞ此島を月見哉
yoso kara wa sazo kono shima wo tsukimi kana

elsewhere, no doubt
someone's viewing this island
this moon

Issa provides an interesting perspective: he stands on an island under the moon, imagining the viewpoint of another person, on another island, looking in his direction. The imagined scene is a worthy subject for a painting: a little pine island, the shining moon, and because of his out-of-body perspective, Issa is there too, immersed in his own picture.

year unknown

.名月や女だてらの頬かぶり
meigetsu ya onna datera no hôkaburi

harvest moon--
unbefitting a woman
in a cheek scarf

This is an undated revision of a haiku of 1811. In the first version the woman is drinking sake. Issa's point in both poems is that a woman has boldly entered the normally male world of moon-gazing and sake drinking. An iconoclast himself, Issa surely admires her.

year unknown

.数珠かけて名月拝む山家哉
juzu kakete meigetsu ogamu yamaga kana

with prayer beads
a harvest moon prayer...
mountain home

This haiku was written in the mid-Bunka Era (1804-1818).

year unknown

.御の字の月夜也けり草の雨
on no ji no tsuki yo nari keri kusa no ame

it's become a top-notch night
of harvest moon!
rain-drenched grass

This undated haiku is a rewrite of a haiku written in 1822. Issa has simply changed tsuki ("moon") to tsuki yo ("moonlit night"). Shinji Ogawa translates the headnote to the 1822 poem: "As the night progressed, the sky cleared."

year unknown

.御の字の月夜なりけり草の花
on no ji no tsuki yo nari keri kusa no hana

it's become a top-notch night
of harvest moon!
wildflowers

Except for its last word, this undated haiku is identical to another undated haiku, which in turn is a rewrite of a haiku written in 1822. In both of the earlier versions, Issa ends with kusa no ame ("rain on the grass" or "rain-drenched grass"). In this version, he ends with kusa no hana ("wildflowers"), completely changing the meaning. Did Issa mean to write the character for ame and accidentally write hana instead? Or did he purposefully change the last word and the punch line of the haiku? You decide.

year unknown

.十五夜もただの山也秋の雨
jûgoya mo tada no yama nari aki no ame

harvest moon night
on the mountain, like any other...
autumn rain

Issa literally refers to the night as "night of the 15th" (jûgoya). In the old calendar, there were two harvest moons: the 15th day of Eighth Month (this is the more important meigetsu) and the 13th day of Ninth Month. As Shinji Ogawa points out, "The 15th night (the harvest moon night) view has become a just ordinary mountain (view) because of the autumn rain ... no moon."

year unknown

.名月や羽織でかくす欲と尿
meigetsu ya haori de kakusu yoku to shito

harvest moon--
hiding with their coats
lust and piss

Or: "hiding with my coat" or "hiding with his coat." I prefer to visualize a group of moon-gazers whose hidden, sinful reality contrasts starkly with the divine moon. This is a funny and raw haiku with Pure Land Buddhist overtones. According to Shinran, the patriarch of the Jôdoshinshû sect to which Issa belonged, we are all, inescapably, sinners.

year unknown

.名月や仏のやうに膝をくみ
meigetsu ya hotoke no yô ni hiza wo kumi

harvest moon--
sitting cross-legged
like Buddha

year unknown

.うち水のかわかぬ内を秋の風
uchimizu no kawakanu uchi wo aki no kaze

while the water
I sprinkled is drying...
autumn wind

The expression "hit water" (uchimizu) refers to sprinkling water onto something. In a related haiku of 1806 (also connected to autumn wind), the water is being sprinkled onto grass. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.住吉の灯また消ル秋の風
sumiyoshi no tomoshi mata kiyuru aki no kaze

Sumiyoshi's lamps
die out again...
autumn wind

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Sumiyoshi is a Shinto shrine in Osaka.

year unknown

.常に見る煙ながらも秋の風
tsune ni miru kemuri nagara mo aki no kaze

looking at smoke
I always look at...
autumn wind

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.野山ぢやけふうけ初る秋の風
noyamaji ya kyôke somuru aki no kaze

mountain path--
Buddhist teaching begins
with autumn wind

If we read kyôke as Buddhist instruction, Issa might be suggesting that autumn (symbolically the season of death) teaches Buddha's key principle that all things must pass. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.日あたりや草の秋風身にあたる
hiatari ya kusa no akikaze mi ni ataru

sunny spot--
autumn wind from the grass
strikes my very self

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Issa plays with the words atari (part of hiatari: sunny place) and ataru (the autumn wind "aims" straight for his physical self).

year unknown

.秋風や藻に鳴虫のいくそばく
akikaze ya mo ni naku mushi no ikusobaku

autumn wind--
singing in the duckweed
how many insects?

The word ikusobaku denotes an unknown number; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 107.

year unknown

.鳥飛や人は藻に鳴秋の風
tori tobu ya hito wa mo ni naku aki no kaze

a bird takes flight--
a shout in the duckweed
autumn wind

Or: "birds take flight." A person (hito) cries out, scaring the bird or birds.

year unknown

.芦の穂の波に屯ス野分哉
ashi no ho no nami ni tamuro su nowaki kana

a barracks amid waves
of reeds gone to seed...
autumn gale

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Tamuro is a camp, barracks, or quarters for soldiers; Kogo dai jiten (1983)1027.

year unknown

.内に居ばおどり盛りの野分哉
uchi ni oreba odori sakari no nowaki kana

when it comes inside
it dances full fury...
autumn gale

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.ざぶざぶと暖き雨ふる野分哉
zabu-zabu to nukuki ame furu nowaki kana

splish-splash
a warm rain falls...
autumn gale

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.ぬくき雨のざぶりざぶりと野分哉
nukuki ame no zaburi-zaburi to nowaki kana

warm rain falling
splish-splash...
autumn gale

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.野分して又したたかのわか葉哉
nowaki shite mata shitataka no wakaba kana

autumn gale--
but the new leaves
hang tough

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Shinji Ogawa notes that shitataka means "strong" and modifies the new leaves, not, as I originally thought, the damage to the leaves done by the gale. I have revised.

year unknown

.山は虹いまだに湖水は野分哉
yama wa niji imada ni mizu wa nowaki kana

rainbow over the mountain
yet on the lake
an autumn gale

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

Originally, I read the kanji for "lake water" as mizuumi mizu, but Shinji Ogawa says that a Japanese person would naturally shorten this to kosui or mizu. The latter fits the normal 5-7-5 pattern of Japanese sound units.

year unknown

.寝むしろや野分に吹かす足のうら
nemushiro ya nowaki ni fukasu ashi no ura

sleeping mat--
the autumn gale blowing
the soles of my feet

year unknown

.いつぞやがいとまごひ哉墓の露
itsuzoya ga itomagoi kana haka no tsuyu

just the other day
we said goodbye...
dewy grave

An early haiku written in the 1790s.According to R. H. Blyth, graves are visited in Seventh Month of the old calendar, between the 13th and 15th; Haiku (1981-1982/reset paperback edition) 1027.

year unknown

.白露に片袖寒き朝日哉
shira tsuyu ni kata sode samuki asahi kana

in the silver dew
one sleeve cold...
rising sun

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Issa feels warm on the sunlit side, cold on the other. Issa wrote this version in 1794:
tsuyu no no ni kata sode samuki asahi kana

in the dewy field
one sleeve cold...
rising sun

year unknown

.灰ふむも恐れおほさよ石の露
hai fumu mo koware ôsa yo ishi no tsuyu

even on ashes
walking is scary...
dewy stones

Someone has spread ashes on the stone (steps? paving stones?), but the dew still makes them dangerously slippery. This is an early haiku from the 1790s.

year unknown

.末の露もとの雫やにぎはしき
sue no tsuyu moto no shizuku ya nigihashiki

in the base
of a droplet of dew...
such riches!

To Issa, the dewdrop is a precious, ephemeral jewel. In a dated version of this haiku (1812), he begins shita no tsuyu moto... ("in the dripping tip...").

year unknown

.人問わば露と答へよ合点か
hito towaba tsuyu to kotae yo gatten ka

if someone asks
answer: it's a dewdrop
OK?

This enigmatic haiku alludes to a line from Ise monogatari.

Zoltan Barczikay notes that the reference is to Episode 6, which he paraphrases: In short, a man falls in love with a woman, and one night they flee from the place they live. When crossing the Akuta river, the woman sees a dewdrop on the grass and asks what is it. Later, they spend the night in an abandoned storehouse, not knowing that an oni (devil) is living there. The man stays outside with his bow and arrows. During the night, the oni devours the lady. Her cries are deafened by the thunder. In the morning, when he discovers what happened, he recites:
shiratama ka / nani zo to hito no / toishi toki tsuyu to kotaete / kienamashi mono o

When she asked: "white gem, what could it be? A jewel?"
--I wish I had replied "it is a dewdrop" and died on the spot...

I wonder if Issa might be using this literary reference to make a point about the world in a Buddhist sense: that it is, in one of his favorite phrases: tsuyu no yo, a "dewdrop world."

year unknown

.身の上の露ともしらでさはぎけり
mi no ue no tsuyu to mo shirade sawagi keri

unaware of life
passing like dewdrops...
they frolic

year unknown

.白露の身にも大玉小玉から
shira tsuyu no mi ni mo ôtama ko tama kara

even among silver
dewdrops...
some big, some little

Is this social satire, a comment on human hierarchy? Shinji Ogawa, who helped with this translation, writes, "It is hard to know what Issa implied in this haiku, but in Japanese tradition dewdrops are often referred as the souls passed away."

year unknown

.稲妻やすすきがくれの五十顔
inazuma ya susuki-gakure no go jû kao

lightning flash--
in plume grass
a fifty-year-old face

The sudden revelation of a person nearby in the tall grasses is shocking and eerie. This haiku was written in the mid-Bunka Era (1804-1818).

year unknown

.稲妻に泣もありけり門すずみ
inazuma ni naku mo ari keri kado suzumi

the lightning flash
makes someone cry...
cooling at the gate

Most people, farmers especially, rejoice to see the lightning--a harbinger of a good rice harvest. Still, it makes person at the gate, most likely a child, cry.

year unknown

.朝霧にあはただし木の雫哉
asa-giri ni awatadashi ki no shizuku kana

in morning fog
a frenzy of drops
from the tree

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.秋霧や河原なでしこぱつと咲く
aki-giri ya kawara nadeshiko patto saku

autumn fog--
the river beach's pinks
have bloomed in a flash

This is haiku is undated. Shinji Ogawa notes that the reason for the "sudden" bloom of the pinks is the sudden lift of the autumn mist. It is related to a poem of 1804:
aki-giri ya kawara nadeshiko miyuru made

autumn mist--
the river beach's pinks
barely visible

year unknown

.かたみ子や母が来るとて手をたたく
katamigo ya haha ga kuru tote te wo tataku

the orphan child
summons his mother
clapping

In one text this haiku has the headnote, "Dead wife's first Bon Festival"; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 9.229.

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

Issa's child claps at his mother's grave: an act that precedes prayer at Shinto shrines. The little boy died later that year.

year unknown

.末の子や御墓参りの箒持
sue no ko ya o-haka mairi no hôki mochi

the youngest child
on the grave visit
brings the broom

According to R. H. Blyth, graves are visited in Seventh Month of the old calendar, between the 13th and 15th; Haiku (1981-1982/reset paperback edition) 1027.

year unknown

.かき立って履見せる灯籠哉
kaki tatte hakimono miseru tôro kana

stoking it
to find my shoes...
lantern for the dead

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. In this comic haiku, Issa finds a less than pious use for the lantern's light.

This undated rewrite has an earlier version (1822) that begins with the phrase, "at times [I use it" (aru toki wa).

year unknown

.寝所からならして出たり踊り下駄
nedoko kara narashite detari odori geta

clacking outside
straight from bed...
Bon dance clogs

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration.

year unknown

.さむしろや女は二布して星迎
samushiro ya onna wa futano shite hoshi mukae

on a little mat
a woman in an underskirt
watches stars meet

Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. Two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night) they cross the starry river to be together. Sitting outside her home (perhaps), a woman wearing only the underskirt of a kimono watches.

year unknown

.御揃ひや孫星彦星やしやご星
o-soroi ya mago-boshi hiko-boshi yashago-boshi

a gathering of stars--
children, grandchildren
great-great-grandchildren

This undated haiku relates to two written in 1823 and 1825, where Issa sees stars as children, grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together. In this haiku, Issa pushes the myth even further, imagining that the lover stars, over time, have produced many shining offspring.

year unknown

.川上にしばし里ある花火哉
kawakami ni shibashi sato aru hanabi kana

upstream a village
for just a little while...
fireworks

Hiroshi Kobori believes that the village is familiar to Issa; that perhaps he visited it in his boyhood. An early haiku written in the 1790s.The village is visible just for "a while" (shibashi) because the fireworks flare up, then darkness returns.

year unknown

.しずかさや外山の花火水をとぶ
shizukasa ya toyama no hanabi mizu wo tobu

silence--
the mountain's fireworks
fly into water

Toyama (often translated as "foothills") refers to any mountain located near a village; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1185.

year unknown

.しばらくは湖も一つぱいの玉火哉
shibaraku wa umi mo ippai no tamabi kana

in a flash the lake
is filled...
with fireworks!

year unknown

.しばらくは闇のともしを花火哉
shibaraku wa yami no tomoshi wo hanabi kana

for a moment
our darkness is lit...
fireworks

While we may associate fireworks with New Year's and summer festivities, for Issa it was an autumn season word.

year unknown

.縁はなや二文花火も夜の体
en hana ya ni mon hanabi mo yoru no tei

at verandah's edge
two-penny fireworks
in the night

The mon was the basic currency of Issa's time. It took the form of a coin with a hole in its middle so that it could be strung on a string. In Issa's day six mon could pay for a bowl of rice. In this haiku, the fireworks cost two mon, which would have a modern equivalent of approximately fifty cents (U.S.) I prefer the translation "two-penny" to "half dollar."

year unknown

.負角力親も定めて見ていべき
make-zumô oya mo sadamete mite ibeki

defeated sumo wrestler--
his father
must be watching

Or: "his parents/ must be watching." This undated haiku is a rewrite of a poem of 1792. In the original version, Issa poses the question: "Is his father watching too?" (sono ko no oya mo mite iru ka).

year unknown

.楠に汝も仕へしかがし哉
kusunoki ni nare mo tsukaeshi kagashi kana

protecting the camphor tree
too...
scarecrow

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Shinji Ogawa points out that there was a military general of the fourteenth century named Kusunoki ("camphor tree"). Is Issa suggesting that the scarecrow is a loyal retainer who "serves" (tsukaeshi) the lordly tree?

year unknown

.人はいさ直な案山子もなかりけり
hito wa isa suguna kagashi mo nakari keri

like people
an upright scarecrow
can't be found

Shinji Ogawa explains that the third word in this haiku, isa, is traditionally followed by shirazu ("not knowing"). He adds that the most famous example of the usage of isa is the tanka (#42) in Kokinwakashu compiled in the early tenth century:

hito wa isa
kokoro mo shirazu
furusato wa
hana zo mukashi no
kani nioi keru

I don't know about people's minds, but the flowers in my home village smell as they used to.

Shinji continues: "In Issa's haiku shirazu ("not knowing") is curtailed, but a negative phrase nakari keri makes the haiku grammatically sound. The haiku says, 'I don't know about the people, but an upright scarecrow can't be found.' Of course, the expression 'I don't know about the people' or 'not mentioning the people' is a euphemistic way to say 'like people'."

year unknown

.老の身やかがしの前も恥しき
oi no mi ya kagashi no mae mo hazukashiki

my old age--
even facing a scarecrow
ashamed

year unknown

.姨捨しあたりをとへばきぬた哉
obasuteshi atari wo toeba kinuta kana

when I ask the way
to Obasute...
pounding cloth

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

Obasute (sometimes Ubasute) is a mountain in Issa's home province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture) where old people were, according to legend, "thrown away": left to die. It was also known as Sarashinayama. Today it is called Kamurikiyama.

year unknown

.飯けむり賑ひにけり夕ぎぬた
meshi kemuri nigiwai ni keri yûginuta

an abundance
of cooking smoke...
evening cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

year unknown

.近砧遠砧さて雨夜かな
chika kinuta tô-ginuta sate ame yo kana

cloth-pounding near
cloth-pounding far...
a rainy night

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

year unknown

.神前の草にこぼして新酒哉
shinzen no kusa ni koboshite shinshu kana

into the grass
at the shrine, pouring...
new sake

The brewing of new sake (rice wine) is an autumn event. Here, someone (Issa?) pours a libation to the god of the shrine in thanksgiving for the good harvest. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.うかれ舟や山には鹿の妻をよぶ
ukare fune ya yama ni wa shika no tsuma wo yobu

pleasure boat--
on the mountain a deer
calls his wife

This early haiku was composed in the 1790's.

year unknown

.おれがふく笛と合すや鹿の声
ore ga fuku fue to awasu ya shika no koe

making a duet
with my flute...
cry of a deer

year unknown

.淋しさに鵙がそら鳴したりけり
sabishisa ni mozu ga sora naki shitari keri

solitude--
that song the shrike
is singing!

A mozu is a bull-headed shrike, a carnivorous bird.

year unknown

.鵙なくやむら雨かはくうしろ道
mozu naku ya murasame kawaku ushiro michi

a shrike sings--
rain puddles dry
on the back road

A mozu is a bull-headed shrike, a carnivorous bird.

year unknown

.藪先の鵙がわるさの蛙かな
yabu saki no mozu ga warusa no kawazu kana

edge of the thicket--
the shrike's
naughty frog

A mozu is a bull-headed shrike, a carnivorous bird. To stock up on food, they impale their prey on sharp twigs or thorns. Because Issa describes it as "the shrike's naughty frog," I assume that he has found the frog dead and stuck on a branch.

year unknown

.つくづくと鴫我を見る夕べ哉
tsuku-zuku to shigi ware wo miru yûbe kana

the snipe's eyes
locked on me...
evening

Or: "the snipes' eyes." Snipe (shigi) is an autumn bird. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.おちつきにちっと寝て見る小鴫哉
ochitsuki ni chitto nete miru ko shigi kana

calmly opening
sleeping eyes a bit...
little snipe

Shinji Ogawa explains that nete miru means "to lie down and see," i.e., "see something from a lying-down position." Snipe (shigi) is an autumn bird.

year unknown

.松の風鴫と我との中を吹く
matsu no kaze shigi to ware to no naka wo fuku

pine tree wind--
between me and a snipe
it blows

Snipe (shigi) is an autumn bird.

year unknown

.雁おりて畠も名所のひとつ哉
kari orite hata mo meisho no hitotsu kana

geese landing--
the farmer's field too
a famous site

An early haiku written in the 1790s.The common field, for the geese, is a "famous site" (meisho).

year unknown

.次雁は最う秋のやうす夜明哉
tsugi kari wa mô aki no yôsu yoake kana

with each goose
it's more like autumn...
dawn

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Wild geese are migrating in autumn, returning to Japan from northern lands.

year unknown

.天津雁おれが松にはおりぬ也
amatsu kari ore ga matsu ni wa orinu nari

celestial geese--
none of them come down
to my pine

Shinji Ogawa notes that the nu in orinu, in this case, signifies a negation: the geese don't land.

year unknown

.門の雁袖引雨がけふも降
kado no kari sode hiku ame ga kyô mo furu

geese at my gate--
another seductive rain
falls today

The expression, sode hiku, literally denotes dragging one by the sleeve; metaphorically, it refers to seduction. The migrating geese enjoy the rain enough to linger another day.

year unknown

.雁おりよ昔の芦の名所也
kari ori yo mukashi no ashi no meisho nari

geese descend--
the ancient reeds
a famous site

Issa imagines that the migrating geese are sightseers

year unknown

.雁鳴やあはれ今年も片月見
kari naku ya aware kotoshi mo kata tsuki mi

geese honking--
in this year of suffering
just one harvest moon

Ideally, harvest moon-gazing should be done twice: on the 15th day of Eighth Month and the 13th day of Ninth Month. Bad weather prevented one such night in this unlucky year.

year unknown

.山雀も左右へ別るる八島哉
yamagara mo sau e wakaruru yashima kana

the titmice split
to the left and right...
Yashima Island

The place could be translated "Ya Island"; shima (island) is part of its name. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.満汐や月頭には虫の声
michi shio ya tsuki atama ni wa mushi no koe

high tide--
atop the moon's head
insects singing

A funny exaggeration. The tide is in, leaving no dry place for the singing insects. Issa fancies that they have all taken refuge on the head of Goddess Moon. Despite its humor, the haiku achieves gravity by presenting a sublime moment of moon, glimmering sea, and the ecstatic chanting of insects.

year unknown

.虫の声しばし障子を離れざる
mushi no koe shibashi shôji wo hanarezaru

the insect's song
on the paper door
lingers

At first I visualized an insect's shadow on a sliding paper door (shôji), but Shinji Ogawa suggests that we should not read mushi no koe figuratively to mean "a singing insect" but literally as "an insect's voice." The voice or song of the insect stays on the paper door "for a while" (shibashi). This phrasing intensifies the poetic focus on sound.

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.鳴ながら虫の流るる浮木かな
naki nagara mushi no nagaruru ukigi kana

still singing
the insect drifts away...
floating branch

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) views this as a haiku of pity, not only for the insect, but for human beings, who cannot escape time going by and the inevitable end. I agree with Sakuo, but I also think that the poem is a meditation on transience from a Buddhist perspective; the impermanence of the insect being swept to oblivion intensifies the beauty and meaning of its song. Issa, writing his haiku, is the insect. We, reading the haiku, are also that insect, whether we realize it or not.

year unknown

.蓑虫や鳴ながら枝にぶら下る
minomushi ya naki nagara ni burasagaru

the bagworm
sings a song dangling
from a branch

The bagworm is a moth larva inside a dry, fibrous case. Literally, it is called the "straw raincoat bug" (minomushi). Its "singing," according to Shinji Ogawa, was a popular but erroneous belief in Issa's time. Like earthworms, whose singing is also noted in the haiku of Issa and others, bagworms have no organ to produce sounds.

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.蓑虫が餅恋しいと鳴くにけり
minomushi ga mochi koishii to naki ni keri

the bagworm
sings a song...
"I love rice cake!"

The bagworm is a moth larva inside a dry, fibrous case. Literally, it is called the "straw raincoat bug" (minomushi). Its "singing," according to Shinji Ogawa, was a popular but erroneous belief in Issa's time. Like earthworms, whose singing is also noted in the haiku of Issa and others, bagworms have no organ to produce sounds.

Shinji adds that the bagworm's song--though it was actually another insect making it--was thought to be a chi-chi sound which, in Japanese, was interpreted as "papa," "father" or "longing for father." Issa humorously twists chi-chi ("father") into mo-chi ("rice cake").

year unknown

.日ぐらしや我影法師のあみだ笠
higurashi ya waga kageboshi no amida-gasa

a cicada chirrs--
my shadow's umbrella-hat
makes a halo!

The higurashi is a type of cicada. The name, as Shinji Ogawa points out, means "evening cicada." One dictionary calls it, a "clear toned cicada." Shinji explains, "An evening cicada sings in rich modulation in a sing-song way." While ordinary cicadas are associated with summer, higurashi is an autumn season word in haiku, "based on the elegant tones."

Literally, Issa sees in his own shadow an "Amida umbrella-hat" (amida-gasa), an old expression that denotes a halo; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 70. Amida is the Buddha to which Pure Land devotees such as Issa faithfully depend for rebirth in the Western Paradise. The poet is delighted to see in his shadow the blessing of an unexpected halo. The image is both funny and profound: funny because Issa devotes much ink in his journals to describing his own sinfulness; and yet profound, too, in that it reminds us that even sinners, thanks to Amida Buddha's grace, can become saints.

year unknown

.夕日影町いつぱいのとんぼ哉
yû hikage machi ippai no tombo kana

sunset--
the town is buzzing
with dragonflies

year unknown

.蜻蛉の百度参りやあたご山
tombô no hyakudo mairi ya atago yama

the dragonfly's
100 prayer pilgrimage...
Mount Atago

Hyakudo mairi is a practice of praying while moving back and forth one hundred times between a shrine or temple and some fixed point in that shrine or temple's precincts. It can take two forms: making the cicuit one hundred times without stopping or visiting a shrine or temple on one hundred consecutive days. Atago is a mountain near Kyoto with a major shrine at its summit. On the 24th day of Sixth Month in Issa's time pilgrims who climbed to it just once would reap the benefits of one thousand climbs: the so-called sennichi mairi. Issa's lucky dragonfly must be visiting the temple on a special day that multiplies the spiritual benefit of the journey by one hundred. .

year unknown

.ぬぎ捨し笠に一ぱいいなご哉
nugi-suteshi kasa ni ippai inago kana

the discarded
umbrella-hat is loaded...
with locusts

This haiku, brimming with life, is an early one, written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.ばらばらと臑に飛つくいなご哉
bara-bara to sune ni tobitsuku inago kana

rustle, rustle
leaping at my shins...
locusts

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.水鉢にちよつと泳ぎしいなご哉
mizu hachi ni chotto oyogishi inago kana

a quick dip
in the water bowl...
locust

year unknown

.きりぎりす野の牛も聞風情哉
kirigirisu no no ushi mo kiku fuzei kana

song of the katydid--
even the field cow
a connoisseur

An early haiku written in the 1790s.A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

year unknown

.小便の身ぶるひ笑へきりぎりす
shôben no miburui warae kirigirisu

laugh at my piss
and shudder...
katydid

An early haiku written in the 1790s.A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

Makoto Ueda, in his translation of this haiku, renders kirigirisu "grasshoppers"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 34.

year unknown

.我死なば墓守となれきりぎりす
ware shinaba haka mori to nare kirigirisu

when I die
guard my grave
katydid!

Though this is an early haiku written in the 1790s, it's a possible candidate for Issa's death verse. He asks the little insect to guard his grave and, we presume, to continue his poetic legacy by "singing" over it.

year unknown

.赤い花頬ばって鳴きりぎりす
akai hana hôbatte naku kirigirisu

cheeks stuffed
with a red flower
the katydid sings

A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

year unknown

.きりぎりす声をからすな翌も秋
kirigirisu koe wo karasu na asu mo aki

don't get hoarse
katydid! tomorrow is
autumn too

A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

year unknown

.古犬や蚯蚓の唄にかんじ顔
furu inu ya mimizu no uta ni kanji-gao

the old dog
looks as if he's listening...
earthworms sing

One Japanese saijiki, a book of season words with examples, says the following about the expression "earthworms sing" (mimizu naku): "Earthworms don't sing. On autumn evenings, when one says one is hearing the 'jii-jii' song of earthworms, in fact they are referring to mole-crickets"; Kiyose (1984) 296. Shinji Ogawa notes, in modern usage, the expression can refer to any "unknown bugs" singing in the autumn.

year unknown

.片隅に日向ぼこして隠居菊
kata sumi ni hinata bokoshite inkyo kiku

in a little nook
basking in the sun...
hermit chrysanthemum

This undated haiku has the headnote, "An impromptu verse in front of the hermit Ryohô's garden." It is a slight revision of one written in 1821:
kata kage ni hinata bokori ya inkyo kiku

in a secret place
basking in the sun...
hermit chrysanthemum

year unknown

.酒臭き黄昏ごろや菊の花
sake kusaki tasogare goro ya kiku no hana

the smell of sake
around about dusk...
chrysanthemum

year unknown

.猫の鈴夜永の菊の咲にけり
neko no rin yonaga no kiku no saki ni keri

cat's bell--
in the long night the chrysanthemum
has bloomed

year unknown

.痩菊もよろよろ花となりにけり
yase kiku mo yoro-yoro hana to nari ni keri

the emaciated chrysanthemum
totters
into bloom

This undated haiku is similar to one that Issa wrote in 1813:
yase kusa no yoro-yoro hana to nari ni keri

the emaciated grass
totters
into bloom

year unknown

.大菊の秋もずんずとくれにけり
ôgiku no aki mo zunzu to kure ni keri

for the big
chrysanthemum too
autumn ends quickly

year unknown

.朝顔をふはりと浮す茶碗哉
asagao wo fuwari to ukasu chawan kana

morning glories
softly floating...
in the teacup

year unknown

.鈴がらりがらり朝顔ひとつさく
suzu garari-garari asagao hitotsu saku

the shrine's bell
jingles, a morning glory
blooms

This haiku has the headnote, "At a Shinto shrine" (literally, "Before the god"). For this reason, I have added "shrine" to my translation, even though Issa does not qualify the bell in this way in the body of his haiku. Readers who favor a more faithful translation should ignore the word "shrine's" in the first line.

Shinji Ogawa observes that garari-garari is not an old word meaning "promptly," as I first thought, but an onomatopoeic expression for the jingling sound of a bell. He explains, "There is a rope hanging down in front of a Shinto shrine. A bell or bells are attached to the rope. Just before praying, we shake the rope to jingle the bells, I guess, to draw the god's attention."

year unknown

.夕立をくねり返すや女郎花
yûdachi wo kuneri kaesu ya ominaeshi

shaking her body
in the summer rain...
maiden flower

Shinji Ogawa explains that kuneri kaesu means to "repeatedly wriggle."

year unknown

.関東の嵯峨とも申すつたもみぢ
kantô no saga to mo môsu tsuta momiji

they call this
the "Saga of Kanto"...
red autumn ivy

Saga is a place near Kyoto, about which Issa wrote two haiku admiring the red autumn ivy in 1819. In this undated verse, he praises the lovely autumn ivy of the Tokyo area (Kantô).

year unknown

.一かぶに道をふさげり萩の花
hito kabu ni michi wo fusageri hagi no hana

one shrub
blocks the path...
blooming bush clover

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.鹿垣にむすび込るる萩の花
shika kaki ni musubi-komaruru hagi no hana

woven into
the deer fence...
bush clover blooms

Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge."

year unknown

.乱れ萩鹿のつもりに寝た猫よ
midare hagi shika no tsumori ni neta neko yo

in dishevelled bush clover
thinking he's a deer...
sleeping cat

Deer will often lie hidden in bushes, especially fawns. Here, Issa jokes that a cat has delusions of grandeur.

year unknown

.鼠尾花や手にとるからに秋は立つ
misohagi ya te ni toru kara ni aki wa tatsu

blooming looseleaf--
just to touch it
starts autumn

Looseleaf (here, spelled with the colorful idiom "mouse tail blossom") is Lythrum anceps--when it blooms evidently a clear sign that autumn has begun.

year unknown

.鶏頭に向ひあふたる野守哉
keitô ni mukai autaru nomori kana

face to face
with blooming cock's comb...
field watchman

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Silver cock's comb (Celosia Argentea) is a brightly colored autumn bloom.

year unknown

.山畠やそばの白さもぞつとする
yama hata ya soba no shirosa mo zotto suru

mountain field--
blooming buckwheat's whiteness
makes me shiver

Or: "makes one shiver"; Issa doesn't specify who is shivering. The white blossoms covering the fields remind him of snow. This is a rewrite of an 1817 haiku that starts with the phrase, "Shinano road."

Makoto Ueda translates the last phrase, "makes me shudder." He suggests that anything resembling snow sent "chills down his spine"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 4-5. I don't see this haiku as a negative comment on snow. In my view, Issa is simply being playful, claiming to shiver at the sight of the buckwheat blossoms that look like snow.

year unknown

.日の入りのはやき辺りを蕎麦の花
hi no iri no hayaki atari wo soba no hana

touched by
the early sunset...
buckwheat blossoms

We can imagine the field of white blossoms turning pink in the glow of the setting sun.

year unknown

.蜘の巣の中へ這かかるぬかご哉
kumo no su no naka e haikakaru nukago kana

creeping straight
into the spiderweb...
yam's new sprout

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Nukago or Mukago is a bulbil, a young clone growing from a bud on a parent plant's stem, often that of a yam.

year unknown

.稲こきの戸板四五枚の夕日哉
inekoki no to-ita shi go mai no yûhi kana

the rice thresher shoulders
four or five boards...
sunset

This is an early haiku written in thr 1790s. The thresher, heading home after a day of work, has four or five to-ita: rain shutters that can be used to carry things on.

year unknown

.稲の香のすき腹に入む日影哉
ine no ka no sukihara ni iramu hikage kana

scent of rice plants
hits my empty stomach...
sunshine

Though hikage can mean either shade or sunshine, in this case the lattr makes more sense. The bright sun has created a bountiful harvest; hungry Issa can almost taste the rice.

year unknown

.通るほど橋をのこしてかりほ哉
tôru hodo hashi wo nokoshite kariho kana

dropped on the bridge
by harvesters...
ears of rice

The simple sight of rice spilled on a bridge evokes a joyous feeling of plenty: it's a good year; people won't starve! A haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.寒いぞよ軒の蜩唐がらし
samui zo yo noki no higurashi tôgarashi

it's cold!
a cicada in the eaves
with hot peppers

The peppers are being stored in the thatch of the eaves. Issa plays with the similar sounds of higurashi ("cicada") and tôgarashi ("red cayenne peppers").

This undated haiku was written at some point in the Bunka Era (1804-1818).

The higurashi is a type of cicada. The name, as Shinji Ogawa points out, means "evening cicada." One dictionary calls it, a "clear toned cicada." Shinji explains, "An evening cicada sings in rich modulation in a sing-song way." While ordinary cicadas are associated with summer, higurashi is an autumn season word in haiku, "based on the elegant tones."

year unknown

.穂すすきや細き心のさわがしき
ho susuki ya hosoki kokoro no sawagashiki

plumes of plume grass--
the thin hearts
swishing

I follow Blyth in translating ho as "plumes." The plume grass has produced seed-bearing "heads" or "ears"--but neither of these words sounds quite right. "Plume," however, nicely suggests the feathery structure in question. See A History of Haiku (1964) 1.396.

year unknown

.秋風や草も角力取る男山
akikaze ya kusa mo sumotoru otoko yama

autumn wind--
on this rugged mountain
sumo grass

This undated haiku has two other slightly different versions (1825 & 1827). A "male mountain" (otoko yama) is a rugged mountain, usually paired with a gentler-looking "woman mountain" (onna yama). Sumôtorigusa ("sumo wrestler grass") blooms in autumn.

year unknown

.夕紅葉谷残虹の消へかかる
yûmomiji tani zankô no kie kakaru

evening's fall colors--
the rainbow in the valley
fades away

Perhaps the "rainbow" is figurative: as evening darkens the valley, the bright tints of autumn foliage fade like a rainbow. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.宮の鳩見て居る紅葉拾ひけり
miya no hato no mite iru momiji hiroi keri

the shrine's snipe
spots a red leaf...
snatches it

In a dated version of this haiku (1809) the bird is a snipe. Issa implies that the glorious autumn colors that humans cherish are mere nest material for birds.

year unknown

.小一寸紅葉明たり水車
ko issun momiji aketari mizukuruma

clearing an inch
of red leaves...
waterwheel

The little stream in a Japanese garden is covered with colorful leaves.

year unknown

.もどる時人の少き紅葉哉
modoru toki hito no sukunaki momiji kana

when I return
people are few...
red leaves

Perhaps Issa came to this pace earlier only to find it crowded with autumn leaf-gazers. Returning later, he almost has it to himself.

year unknown

.涼しさのたらぬ所へ一葉哉
suzushisa no taranu tokoro e hito ha kana

to a place
the cool air missed...
a leaf falls

year unknown

.幸にやきもちくるむ一葉かな
saiwai ni yakimochi kurumu hito ha kana

the roasted rice cake
wrapped for luck...
paulownia leaf

Literally, Issa writes, "one leaf" (hito ha), but this is haiku shorthand for a paulownia leaf. According to its headnote, this haiku was written at a place called Shirousagi-tei: "White Rabbit Mansion."

year unknown

.あつぱれに咲揃ふ昼の槿哉
appare ni saki-sorou hiru no mukuge kana

splendidly blooming
en masse, midday's
roses of Sharon

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.あつぱれの山家と見ゆる木槿哉
appare no yamaga to miyuru mukuge kana

a splendid mountain home
and roses
of Sharon

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.朝ばかり日のとどく渓のむくげ哉
asa bakari hi no todoku tani no mukuge kana

the early sun
reaches the valley...
roses of Sharon

This visually gorgeous poem is one of Issa's earliest, written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.てふてふのいまだにあかぬ木槿哉
chôchô no imada ni akanu mukuge kana

butterflies never
tire of them...
roses of Sharon

And, we can assume, Issa feels the same way. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.花木槿家不相応の垣ね哉
hana mukuge ie fusôô no kakine kana

roses of Sharon--
the hedge too good
for the house

Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge." Since Issa is referring to blooming shrubs, the latter translation fits here. The house must be drab or delapidated; the lovely roses of Sharon aren't "suitable" for it (fusôô).

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Issa wrote two haiku on this topic during this period.

year unknown

.花木槿里留守がちに見ゆる哉
hana mukuge sato rusugachi ni miyuru kana

roses of Sharon--
in a village
mostly empty

Issa wonders where everyone has gone. Viewing the empty town's colorful blooming shrubs is a lonely pleasure--and a bit uncanny. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.木槿しばし家不相応のさかり哉
mukuge shibashi ie fusôsô no sakari keri

roses of Sharon--
too good for the house
they bloom

Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge." Since Issa is referring to blooming shrubs, the latter translation fits here. The house must be drab or delapidated; the lovely roses of Sharon aren't "suitable" for it (fusôô).

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Issa wrote two haiku on this topic in the same journal.

year unknown

.影法師の畳にうごくふくべ哉
kageboshi no tatami ni ugoku fukube kana

its shadow moves
across the tatami mat...
the gourd

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.朔日のあとになりゆく瓢かな
tsuitachi no ato ni noriyuku fukube kana

the result
of autumn's first day...
gourds

Issa writes only "first day" (tsuitachi), but in context he means the first day of autumn.

year unknown

.へちまづる切って支舞ば他人哉
hechima-zuru kitte shimaeba tanin kana

after cutting
the sponge gourd vine...
strangers

This biographical haiku has the headnote, "Divorce." In Eighth Month of 1824 Issa divorced his second wife, Yuki. Lewis Mackenzie prints a different ending to this haiku not found in Issa zenshû: ("moto no mizu" ("Throw it back in the water!"). See The Autumn Wind (1957; rpt. 1984) 45.

year unknown

.栃の実やいく日転げて麓迄
tochi no mi ya iku hi korogete fumoto made

horse chestnut--
how many days till you roll
down the mountain?

This is a slight revision of a haiku written in 1814. The original begins with tochi no ko, which carries the same meaning as tochi no mi ("horse chestnut").

year unknown

.団栗と転げくらする小猫哉
donguri to koroge kurasuru ko neko kana

having a tumble
with the acorn...
kitten

A revision of an earlier haiku, in which the kitten "prances" (hanetsukurasuru) with the acorn.

year unknown

.流るるに苦はなかりけり実なし栗
nagaruru ni ku wa nakari keri mi nashi kuri

tumbling along
without troubles...
nutless chestnut

This is a revision of a haiku of 1819. The original version ends, "to be a chestnut!" (kuri naraba). Why does Issa change the ending? If the chestnut lacks a nut inside, is it even more carefree and less in danger of being cracked open? This reminds me of Chuang Tzu's (Zhuangzi's) Daoist image of a "worthless" gnarled tree that lives long because the woodcutter can't use it.

year unknown

.焼栗やへらへら神の向方に
yakiguri ya hera-hera kami no muku hô ni

roasted chestnuts
indiscreetly aimed...
at the god

This is a revision of a haiku of 1815. In the original version, the tempting aroma of the chestnuts is supposedly "tantalizing" (hero-hero) the god of the shrine.

year unknown

.いが栗も花の都へ出たりけり
igaguri mo hana no miyako e detari keri

burry chestnuts
get sent too...
blossoming Kyoto

Issa often tests opposite meanings in his haiku rewrites. In this revision of a haiku of 1820, he changes the ending (in which the chestnuts are not sent to Kyoto) and so subtly shifts the message. In the original haiku, below-standard chestnuts are rejected; in the revision, all chestnuts are appreciated.

year unknown

.雨上り柱見事にきのこ哉
ameagari hashira migoto ni kinoko kana

rain is over--
on the post a splendid
mushroom

Lovely but probably not edible! This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.扇にてしばし教るきのこ哉
ôgi nite shibashi oshieru kinoko kana

pointing them out
with a folding fan...
mushrooms

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.御御足の下にいつも茸哉
omiashi no shita ni itsumo kinoko kana

always found
right underfoot...
mushrooms

An early haiku written in the 1790s.Perhpas Issa is suggesting (humorously) that good mushrooms are discovered only after being stepped on and crushed.

year unknown

.こぼれ種草ににょきにょき茸哉
kobore tane kusa ni nyoki-nyo0ki kinoko kana

spore-splashed grass--
popping up one by one
mushrooms

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.松原に作ったやうにきの子哉
matsubara ni tsukatta yô ni kinoko kana

looking like
it's Matsubara-grown...
this mushroom

Matsubara is a town in Osaka Prefecture. Mushrooms grown there are presumably quite good. This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.初茸を手に植て見る小僧哉
hatsu take wo te ni uete miru kozô kana

watching the first mushroom
grow in his hand...
little boy

The expression kozô ("little priest") can be taken to mean not only a Buddhist acolyte but any small boy with his head shaved. Is the child's imagination making the mushroom that he has picked seem to grow bigger? And/or does Issa imply a more physical meaning? If the latter, the haiku is not salacious; it captures a feeling of innocent astonishment at the wonders of one's own body.

year unknown

.節穴や月もさし入る寒も入る
fushiana ya tsuki mo sashi iru kan mo iru

peephole--
in comes moonlight
in comes the cold

It's so cold outside, Issa must gaze at the moon (an important activity for haiku poets) through a peephole--into which (sadly) frigid air streams. This haiku has the headnote, "Cold-water ablution" (kori), a humorous allusion to the ascetic practice of shugendô in physically harsh conditions.

year unknown

.我好て我する旅の寒さ哉
ware sukite ware suru tabi no samusa kana

though I'm loving
these travels of mine...
it's cold!

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.一人と帳面につく寒さかな
ichi nin to chômen ni tsuku samusa kana

"a man"
signs the guest book...
a cold night

This is an undated revision of a two haiku of 1818. In all three a traveler at an inn signs the book, "a man" (ichi nin).

year unknown

.寒き夜や風呂の明りで何かぬふ
samuki yo ya furo no akari de nanika nuu

cold night--
by a hot tub's gleam
he stitches

The person in the tub keeps warm as he works. This undated haiku recalls a verse of 1821 in which a bather stitches a hem.

year unknown

.次の間の灯で膳につく寒さ哉
tsugi no ma no hi de zen ni tsuku samusa kana

my dinner tray lit
by the next room's lamplight...
winter cold

A lonely scene at an inn. A zen (dining tray) is about one foot by one foot with five-inch legs.

year unknown

.月花のぬくなき門の寒さかな
tsuki hana no nukunaki kado no samusa kana

the gate unused
to see blossoms or moon...
winter cold

It's so cold, Issa's gate is out of service--literally "not passed through" (nukunaki)--and so he has not ventured out to gaze at blossoms or the moon. In other words, he can't perform his job as a haiku poet (though, ironically, he writes this haiku about not being able to write more conventional ones). Interestingly, the verse has three season words: blossoms (spring), moon (autumn), and cold (winter).

year unknown

.のらくらの遊びかげんの寒さ哉
norakura no asobi kagen no samusa kana

it's time for
lazy carousing...
winter cold

Forced to stay indoors without much to do, Issa opts for idleness and "carousing" (asobi)--almost certainly a reference to drinking sake.

year unknown

.門垣にほしておく也丸氷
kado kaki ni hoshite oku nari maru kôri

withering
on the fence by the gate...
ice ball

Or: "ice circle." Ice balls and ice circles can be formed in lakes and rivers in wintertime. In this and a related haiku of 1817, Issa seems to see one forming on a fence.

year unknown

.さわぐ雁そこらもとしが暮るかよ
sawagu kari sokora mo toshi ga kururu ka yo

clamoring geese--
over there is the year
ending too?

In the original version of this haiku, dated 1813, the middle phrase is different: toshi wa soko kara, but the meaning is the same.

year unknown

.手枕や年が暮よとくれまいと
temakura ya toshi ga kure yo to kure mai to

an arm for a pillow--
the year ends
or doesn't end

This is a rewrite of a haiku of 1825 that begins, "makes no difference to me" (aa mama yo).

Issa prefaces this version with the note, "After drinking sake."

year unknown

.初時雨夕飯買に出たりけり
hatsu shigure yûmeshi kau ni detari keri

first winter rain--
going out to buy
dinner

year unknown

.洛陽やちとも曲らぬ初時雨
rakuyô ya chito mo magaranu hatsu shigure

Kyoto--
falling straight down
the first winter rain

Rakuyô is an old name for Kyoto; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1728.

year unknown

.山鳩が泣事をいふしぐれ哉
yama-bato ga nakigoto wo iu shigure kana

the mountain pigeon
grumbles...
winter rain

Issa has been accused of being anthropomorphic in his attribution of human moods and emotions to animals. Indeed, in this example the reader might infer that Issa is projecting his own displeasure at the winter rain in his depiction of the pigeon. Even so, the haiku suggests that a bird, too, has consciousness, feeling, and a legitimate point of view. Who are we to say that it isn't grumbling?

year unknown

.しぐれ捨てしぐれ捨てけり野の仏
shigure sute shigure sute keri no no hotoke

the winter rain
dumps and dumps...
Buddha in the field

In a haiku of 1821, Issa ends with "a crossroads Buddha."

year unknown

.山寺の豆入日也初時雨
yamadera no mame iri hi nari hatsu shigure

mountain temple--
on bean-parching day
the first winter rain

In an earlier version of this haiku, dated 1823, Issa ends with mura shigure: "non-stop winter rain."

year unknown

.かけがねの真赤に錆びて時雨哉
kake-gane no makka ni sabite shigure kana

the door latch
rusting deep red...
winter rain

year unknown

.鶏頭の立往生や村時雨
keitô no tachiôjô ya mura shigure

the blooming cockscomb
dies standing up...
steady winter rain

The cockscomb is a blooming plant, an autumn season word in haiku.

The expression, mura shigure, signifies winter rain that passes through strongly and incessantly; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 110; 1603.

year unknown

.しぐるるや逃る足さへちんば鶏
shigururu ya nigeru ashi sae chinba-dori

winter rain--
the lame chicken
limps away

year unknown

.山人の火を焚立る時雨哉
yamaudo no hi wo takitateru shigure kana

the mountain hermit's
fire is rising...
winter rain

Issa juxtaposes the cozy interior of the hermit's hut with the harsh world outside. He may be referring to himself.

year unknown

.こがらしや壁のうしろはえちご山
kogarashi ya kabe no ushiro wa echigo yama

winter wind--
behind the wall
Echigo mountains

Or: "Echigo mountain." Echigo is one of the old provinces of Japan, today's Niigata Prefecture. A northern land, it is famous for its coldness. In Issa's time "the mountains of Echigo" would have been synonymous with a cold place in the north.
Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

year unknown

.木枯や諸勧化入れぬ小制札
kogarashi ya shokange irenu ko seisatsu

winter wind--
"No Soliciting" on roadside
edict boards

More exactly, the edict boards are prohibiting the solicitation of money by Buddhist priests. The coldness of the weather matches the coldness of hearts.

year unknown

.木がらしや天井張らぬ大御堂
kogarashi ya tenjô haranu ômidô

winter wind--
the great temple hall
is ceiling-less

In this particular Buddhist temple hall, there's nothing keeping out the cold wind. Issa writes a similar haiku in 1815 about a "snowy day" (yuki no hi).
Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn--deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

year unknown

.木がらしや塒に迷ふ夕烏
kogarashi ya negura ni mayou yû-garasu

winter wind--
he can't find his roost
the evening crow

Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

year unknown

.じつとして雪をふらすや牧の駒
jitto shite yuki wo furasu ya maki no koma

stone still
he lets the snow fall
colt in the pasture

Issa at his best: he puts us there, to see and feel for ourselves.

year unknown

.雪散るやきのふは見へぬ借家札
yuki chiru ya kinou wa mienu shakuya fuda

falling snow--
yesterday it wasn't there
"House for Rent" sign

The original version of this haiku, composed in 1813, has an "Empty House" (akiya) sign.

year unknown

.うまさふな雪やふふはりふふはりと
uma sôna yuki ya fûwari fûwari to

looking delicious
the snow falling softly
softly

As written, this haiku does not appear in Issa zenshû (1976-79). It exists on a haiku stone in Issa's native village; Issa to kuhi (Tokyo: Kankohkai 2003) 28.
Issa's poem, a variant of a haiku written in 1813, begins with muma: mumasôna yuki ya fûwari fûwari to.
Muma is a colloquial substitute for uma ("delicious"), just as muma, in earlier times, substituted for uma ("horse"); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1601.

In Matthew Gollub's whimsical translation of this haiku for his children's book, the snowflakes are "mouth-watering" and "heaven's snack"; Cool Melons--Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa. New York: Lee and Low Books, 1998. Illustrations by Kazuko G. Stone.

year unknown

.ぬくぬくと雪にくるまる小家哉
nuku-nuku to yuki ni kurumaru ko ie kana

warm and snug
blanketed with snow...
little house

This undated haiku resembles (in mood and structure) one written in 1812 in which snow falls softly on Issa's home (jûsho).

year unknown

.放ち雪走り入りたる木影ぞや
hanachi yuki hashiri iritaru kokage zoya

burst of snowfall--
a mad dash
to tree shade

Though Issa ends this haiku with the kanji, kana, the editors of Issa zenshû recommend reading it as ya to preserve the 5-7-5 structure of sound units (1.646).

year unknown

.深雪へ犬よけけり通り道
fukayuki e inu yoke keri tôri michi

into deep snow
the dog dives...
letting me pass

This undated haiku is similar to one written in 1822, in which "the dog/ makes way for me" (inu domo ga yokete).

year unknown

.むつかしやてっきり雪と見ゆる空
mutsukashi ya tekkiri yuki to miyuru sora

such gloom--
the sky looks certain
to snow

Mutsukashi ("difficult") can also convey the connotations of "troublesome" or "gloomy."

year unknown

.むらの雪くち淋しきやけぶり立つ
mura no yuki kuchisabishiki ya keburi tatsu

they crave food
in the snowy village...
smoke rising

I picture cooking smoke rising from each snow-blanketed house. If you're stuck indoors, you might as well eat!

year unknown

.雪ちるや脇から見たら栄耀駕
yuki chiru ya waki kara mitara eyô kago

watching snow fall
from a side window...
splendid palanquin

A rich person (of course) is enjoying the view from inside the "luxurious" (eyô, short for eiyô) palanquin.

year unknown

.雪の夜にむかふの臼の谺哉
yuki no yo ni mukau no usu no kodama kana

on a snowy night
a neighbor's mill-pounding
echoes

More literally, the sound is coming from the "facing" house (mukau). An usu is a large mill with a pestle used to pound rice or other grain.

year unknown

.宵々の雪に明るき栖哉
yoi yoi no yuki ni akaruki sumika kana

every snowy evening
the lights come on...
houses

Though Issa couldn't have known this, he is predicting a scene in Christmas cards.

year unknown

.念仏に拍子付たる霰哉
nembutsu ni hyôshi tsuketaru arare kana

keeping the beat
of the prayer to Buddha...
hailstones

The prayer being chanted is the nembutsu: "Namu Amida Butsu" ("All praise to Amida Buddha!").

year unknown

.箕の中の箸御祓や散霰
mi no naka no hashi o-harai ya chiru arare

winnowing basket--
chopsticks, a charm
and hailstones

A winnow or winnowing basket is a farm implement used to separate chaff from grain.

year unknown

.逃水のにげかくれてもかれの哉
nigemizu no nige-kakurete mo kareno kana

a mirage running
and hiding...
withered fields

This early haiku was composed in the 1790's. Issa plays with the word nige (flee) in nigemizu (mirage: literally, fleeing water) and nige-kakurete (running and hiding).

year unknown

.ばせを忌に丸い天窓の披露哉
bashôki ni marui atama no hirô kana

Basho's Death-Day--
a round freshly
shaved head

Or: "round freshly/ shaved heads." The great haiku poet Basho's death anniversary is celebrated in Tenth Month on the 12th day. In a haiku of 1821 Issa describes it simply as a monk's head without mentioning its shape.

year unknown

.芭蕉忌や客が振る舞ふ夜蕎麦切り
bashôki ya kyaku ga furumau yo sobakiri

Basho's Death-Day--
the visitor offers a supper
of buckwheat noodles

Someone is visiting Basho's grave, leaving the great poet a tasty offering. Tenth Month, 12th day.

year unknown

.ばせを忌やことしもまめで旅虱
bashôki ya kotoshi mo mame de tabi-jirami

Basho's Death-Day--
another year of good health
for my journey's lice

The haiku poet, Bashô, was famous for his travels. Issa, on the occasion of his great predecessor's death anniversary (Tenth Month, 12th day), seems proud of his vagrant life--and the attendant lice!

year unknown

.寒垢離や首のあたりの水の月
kangori ya kubi no atari no mizu no tsuki

midwinter bathing--
his head in the water
the moon

During the midwinter purification ceremony, a bather's bald head and the moon's reflection align.

year unknown

.煤掃て松も洗て三ケの月
susu haite matsu mo araute mika no tsuki

sweeping the soot
washing the pine...
sickle moon

This haiku is a rewrite of one composed in 1817. The earlier poem has the middle phrase, "washing the fence." The moon is a "three-day moon"...just a sliver.

year unknown

.おく小野や藪もせき候節季候
oku ono ya yabu mo sekizoro sekkizoro

remote field--
even in a thicket
Twelfth Month singers!

Sekizoro refers to a Twelfth Month custom in which strolling female singers wandered from town to town, singing festive songs.

year unknown

.傾城がかはいがりけり小せき候
keisei ga kawaigari keri ko sekizoro

the beautiful courtesan
pets the child...
Twelfth Month singer

The lady is a courtesan (keisei) dressed in a fine kimono. She is caresssing a child singer.
Sekizoro refers to a Twelfth Month custom in which strolling female singers wandered from town to town, singing festive songs.

year unknown

.跡臼は烏のもちか西方寺
ato usu wa karasu no mochi ka saihôji

is the next batch of rice cakes
for the crow?
Saiho Temple

Shinji Ogawa notes that ato usu means "the next batch of rice cakes" (not, as I originally thought, the "tub in back"). Saihôji is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. In an dated version of this haiku (1813), Issa makes a statement instead of a question: "The next batch of rice cakes is for the crow" (ato usu wa karasu no mochi ya).

An usu is a large wooden tub used for rice or herb cake making. The cakemaker pounds the ingredients with a wooden mallet.

year unknown

.餅つきや大黒さまもてつくつく
mochi tsuki ya daikoku sama mo te tsuku-tsuku

pounding rice cakes--
even the god of wealth
watches eagerly

Daikoku is a god of wealth. In a related haiku of 1819, Issa writes:
mochi tsuki ya tana no daikoku niko-niko to

pounding rice cakes--
the altar's god of wealth
beams a smile

In the above haiku, Daikoku on the home altar seems to be smiling with anticipation for the rice cake offerings.

year unknown

.江戸の子の在所の親へ衣くばり
edo no ko no zaisho no oya e kinu kubari

from their son in Edo
a gift for country parents...
new clothes

Or: "from their daughter." This haiku alludes to the Twelfth Month custom of providing gifts of new clothes, usually for one's relatives.

year unknown

.両国や舟も一組とし忘
ryôgoku ya fune mo hito-gumi toshiwasure

Ryogoku Bridge--
even on a boat, people
drinking away the year

This haiku refers to an end-of-year drinking party.

Ryôgoku Bridge is the oldest of the major bridges crossing the Sumida River in Edo (today's Tokyo). It links the provinces of Shimosa and Musashi, hence its name, which means, "Both Provinces."

According to Maruyama Kazuhiko, Ryôgoku was a famous east-west bridge where people would gather to enjoy the cool of evening. In this case, instead of pleasant cool air, the bitter cold of night stretches to the east and west. See Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 132, note 637.

An earlier version of this haiku, dated 1817, starts with the phrase, "Fukagawa" (fukagawa ya).

year unknown

.小十年跡暦や庵の壁
ko jû nen ato no koyomi ya io no kabe

about ten years old--
the calendar
on my hut's wall

Or: "the almanac."

year unknown

.親と子と別れ別れや追れ鳥
oya to ko to wakare wakare ya oware tori

mother and children
are separated...
hunted birds

Or: "father and children." Shinji Ogawa notes, "The phrase wakare wakare (are separated) is of the descriptive mood, not the imperative (split up!). The phrase oware tori means "chased birds."

The hunters are using falcons to catch their prey.

year unknown

.逃鳥や子をふり返りふり返り
nige tori ya ko wo furikaeri furikaeri

the fleeing bird
turns back to her children
turns back...

A hunting scene. The mother or father bird, pursued by a falcon or hawk, keeps turning back toward the nest.

year unknown

.皹をかくして母の夜伽かな
akagire wo kakushite haha no yotogi kana

mother hides her
winter-chapped skin...
night nursing

The cold weather has cracked and fissured her skin.

year unknown

.芭蕉塚先拝む也はつ紙子
bashô-zuka mazu ogamu nari hatsu kamiko

at Basho's grave
beginning with a prayer...
first paper robe

Paper robe (kamiko) is a winter season word: a thin, wind-resistant outer kimono. "First paper robe" (hatsu kamiko) refers to the first one worn in the season.

The great haiku poet Matsuo Bashô was associated with winter rain, and he wrote well-known poems about paper robes. His death anniversary, which falls on the 12th day of Tenth Month, is also called "Winter Rain Anniversary" (shigure ki). Bashô's grave is at Gichû Temple in Ôtsu, near Kyoto.

year unknown

.ぶつぶつと衾のうちの小言哉
butsu-butsu to fusuma no uchi no kogoto kana

grumble, grumble
in the winter quilt..
nagging

year unknown

.鼠らよ小便無用古衾
nezumira yo shôben muyô furu fusuma

hey mice
no pissing on my old
winter quilt!

year unknown

.舟が着いて候とはぐふとん哉
fune ga tsuite sôrô to hagu futon kana

the boat arrives--
peeling off
the quilts

According to Lewis Mackenzie, this haiku was written at Osaka. See The Autumn Wind (1957; rpt. 1984), 63.

year unknown

.橇を子等に習ってはきにけり
kanjiki wo kora ni naratte haki ni keri

snowshoes--
children show me how
to put them on

Shinji Ogawa has two theories as to the meaning of this undated haiku in its original form. Issa was born and raised in snowy mountains, so he certainly knew how to put on snowshoes. Nevertheless, there are many local variations of such shoes, so if he happened to be in another province, he might need someone (in this case, children) to show him how to wear them. Shinji's other theory is that the children aren't showing him how to put on the snowshoes, but rather are indicating that the snow in a certain area requires them. For my translation, I follow Shinji's first theory. In either case, the haiku presents a delightful role-reversal: a child (or children) teaching an adult. This is one of Issa's favorite themes: we have much to learn from children.

year unknown

.そり引や犬が上荷乗て行
sori hiku ya inu ga uwani nosete yuku

a man pulls a snow sled
a dog atop
the cargo

Or: "a woman pulls."

year unknown

.大犬が尻でこぢるや雪筵
ôinu ga shiri de kojiru ya yuki mushiro

the big dog
wriggles in butt-first...
snow shed

year unknown

.市人を深山木に見て冬籠
ichibito wo miyamagi ni mite fuyugomori

the market vendor
among deep mountain trees...
winter seclusion

A radical shift in lifetstyle. Normally he lives in the bustling heart of a city or town; now he spends the coldest part of year alone in a hut among the quiet, snowy trees. This haiku has a puzzling headnote: "An old Buddhist priest's four-seasons abode."

year unknown

.満月をそっくり置いて冬籠
mangetsu wo sokkuri oite fuyugomori

completely leaving behind
the full moon...
winter seclusion

In other words, Issa is taking a break from haiku journeys that were centered upon natural wonders such as spring flowers or autumn moon. He hunkers inside his warm house, waiting for spring.

year unknown

.留守札もそれなりにして冬籠
rusu fuda mo sorenari ni shite fuyugomori

the "I'm out" sign
in itself...
winter seclusion

Issa implies humorously that just by hanging his "I'm out" sign, people will leave him alone. This haiku has the headnote, "Returning to my hut."

year unknown

.子ども衆炬燵弁慶とは我事也
kodomo shû kotatsu benkei to wa waga koto nari

hey you kids
my Benkei brazier
is my affair

We know from an earlier haiku (1822) that Issa decided to name his beloved brazier "Benkei," after the gigantic, twelfth-century warrior-monk. Perhaps the children are laughing at his humanizing of the brazier. In an alternate version (1824) Issa begins with, "my burry headed" (iga atama).

year unknown

.金のなる木を植たして炬燵哉
kane no naru ki wo ueta shite kotatsu kana

warming a tree
that will turn to gold...
winter brazier

The "tree that becomes gold" or "money tree" (Crassula ovata) is a potted jade plant (used in bonsai) often given as a gift in Japan, symbolizing prosperity and long life.

year unknown

.小坊主を人形につかふ炬燵哉
ko bôzu wo ningyô ni tsukau kotatsu kana

for the little boy
it's a doll...
winter brazier

Just as the expression kôzô ("little priest") can be taken literally or mean any little boy, the "little priest" (ko bôzu) in this haiku might signify not only a Buddhist acolyte but any small, smooth-headed boy.

year unknown

.赤い実もはかり込だる粉炭哉
akai mi mo hakari kondaru kozumi kana

red berries too
on the scale...
little charcoals

Issa wrote two haiku (on the 26th and 27th days of Tenth Month, 1803) about red berries mixed with small charcoals. This version is undated.

year unknown

.炭焼る空にすみかへうき世哉
sumi yakiru sora ni sumi kae ukiyo kana

making charcoal--
isn't that slice of sky
a floating world?

Issa uses "floating world" (ukiyo) in the old Buddhist sense: this world is temporary and imperfect. This haiku is undated, but in 1810 and 1820 Issa wrote similar haiku, noting how the smoke makes even the eternal sky appear (as all things are, according to Buddhism) temporary.

year unknown

.おとろへやほた折かねる膝頭
otoroe ya hota orikaneru hizagashira

weak with age--
can't even break kindling
with my knee

Hizagashira literally means "kneecap" or "bend of the knee."

year unknown

.大名もほた火によるや大井川
daimyô mo hotabi ni yoru ya ôi-gawa

a war lord too
draws near our fire...
Oi River

The fire is a wood fire. The Ôi river flows through Shizuoka Prefecture. Dammed and tamed today, in Issa's time it was an impediment to travelers, with no bridges or ferries allowed by the Shogunate. People had to cross on the shoulders of bearers.

In this haiku, the winter cold honors no social distinctions among human beings.

year unknown

.旅人にほた火をゆづる夜明哉
tabibito ni hotabi wo yuzuru yoake kana

giving a traveler
my place by the fire...
dawn

The fire is a wood fire in wintertime.

year unknown

.わらづとの納豆煙るほた火哉
warazuto no nattô keburu hotabi kana

straw-wrapped natto
smolders...
little wood fire

Nattô is fermented or "spoiled" soybeans--popular among the Japanese but, for many foreigners, a gastronomic challenge. In Issa's time it was especially eaten in the winter for health reasons, and therefore is a winter season word. In this haiku, Issa includes two winter season words: nattô and hotabi ("wood fire").

year unknown

.ひとり身や両国へ出て薬喰
hitori mi ya ryôgoku e dete kusuri-gui

my life alone--
all the way to Ryogoku Bridge
for medicinal meat

"Medicinal meat" (kusuri-gui), a winter season word, refers to the meat of deer or wild boars--normally taboo for Japanese Buddhists but sometimes eaten for health.

year unknown

.鰒くふてしばらく扇づかひ哉
fugu kuute shibaraku ôgi zukai kana

slurping pufferfish soup--
soon fans
are flitting

Pufferfish soup (fukuto-jiru) is a winter season word, but paper fans imply summer. In this case the scene takes place in wintertime, but the heat or spiciness of the soup prompts the reappearance of summer fans.

year unknown

.鰒喰ぬ顔で子どもの指南哉
fugu kuwanu kao de kodomo no shinan kana

making a face
he turns down the pufferfish soup...
children's teacher

Perhaps the teacher is a strict (hence vegetarian) Buddhist. In a haiku of 1824 he turns down boar stew. Pufferfish soup (fukuto-jiru) is a winter season word.

year unknown

.みそさざい九月三十日も合点か
misosazai kugatsu misoka mo gatten ka

hey wren!
do you realize it's Ninth Month
30th day?

This undated haiku seems to be a revision of this one that Issa wrote in 1813:
misosazai kono tsugomori wo gatten ka

hey wren!
do you realize
it's the 30th?

In the old Japanese calendar, the 30th day of Ninth Month was the last day of autumn. Since the wren is a winter bird, Issa is either saying: "You're a day early!" or: "Get ready; your season starts tomorrow!"

John, a subscriber to Daily Issa, writes, "What Issa is--somewhat satirically--implying here is that wrens do not need calander prompts."

year unknown

.村千鳥そっと申せばかっと立つ
mura chidori sotto môseba katto tatsu

speak softly--
the flock of plovers
bursts into flight

This undated haiku is an alternate version of one that Issa wrote in 1819, which ends with hatto tatsu ("takes flight").

year unknown

.此月に何をいぢむじ鳴く千鳥
kono tsuki ni naniwo ijimuji naku chidori

why all the fuss
over the moon tonight?
shrieking plovers

The word ijimuji can refer to quarrels, entanglements, and complications--similar to izakoza.

year unknown

.この月も二十九日や啼く千鳥
kono tsuki mo ni jû kyu nichi ya naku chidori

though it's a moon
of the twenty-ninth...
plovers shrieking

In the old Japanese calendar full moons occurred in the middle of each (normally) thirty-day month, so a moon of the twenty-ninth night would have waned to its last quarter. Nevertheless, the plovers seem excited by it, Issa thinks, judging by the noise they are making.

year unknown

.浪花づや俵の山に鳴く千鳥
naniwazu ya tawara no yama ni naku chidori

Naniwa Bay--
from Mount Tawara
shrieking plovers

Naniwa is an old name for Osaka and its vicinity; Kogo daijiten (1983) 1227. Mount Tawara is over 600 kilometers to the south--on Kyûshû Island. Issa claims that from Naniwa Bay, he can hear the plovers singing on Mount Tawara: a hyperbole attesting to their piercing sound.

year unknown

.ばか鳥にけとばさるるなむら千鳥
baka tori ni ketobasaruruna mura chidori

don't be kicked
foolish bird!
flock of plovers

I assume that the foolish bird is a non-plover. Issa is giving it friendly advice to avoid the aggressive flock.

year unknown

.我門の餅恋鴨の鳴きにけり
waga kado no mochi koi kamo no naki ni keri

at my gate rice cakes--
lover ducks
quacking

Issa has evidently left food for the ducks. After eating, they turn to lovemaking.

year unknown

.屈たくの見えぬ門なり冬の蠅
kuttaku no mienu kado nari fuyu no hae

no worries
in sight at my gate...
winter fly

Is Issa suggesting that he won't swat the fly, or is he admiring how the fly is facing its imminent death so calmly?

year unknown

.べんべんと何をしなのの冬の蠅
ben-ben to naniwo shinano no fuyu no hae

so languid-
Shinano Province's
winter flies

Issa's home province of Shinano (present-day Nagano Prefecture) had hard, cold winters. No wonder the fly moves slowly.

year unknown

.寒けしや枯ても針のある草は
samukeshi ya karete mo hari no aru kusa wa

cold--
the withered grasses
with prickles

This is an undated revision of a haiku that Issa wrote in 1816. The original version begins with the phrase, toga-togashi ("putting up a fight").

year unknown

.我門や只四五本の大根倉
waga kado ya tada shi go hon no daikon-gura

my gate--
just four or five radishes
in store

This is a revision of an 1820 haiku in which six radishes remain.

Shinji Ogawa explains, "The radishes are not stored in a storage house but are buried in the ground in the late autumn for the winter. In the snow-country, usually a stick is standing to locate the spot covered with snow."

year unknown

.古柳蛇ともならで枯にけり
furu yanagi hebi to mo narade kare ni keri

the old willow
isn't a snake...
winter withering

This is an undated revision of a haiku of 1815. Presumably, the willow is not like a snake because the snake's skin-shedding is obvious. The willow's winter withering is subtle.

year unknown

.今見れば皆欲目也枯木立
ima mireba mina yokume nari kare kodachi

still I see them
how they were...
bare winter trees

This haiku has the headnote: kurama hotoke. Though he spells it unconventionally, using the hiragana symbols kura followed by the kanji for maru ("circle"), I believe that Issa is referring to a Buddha at the Kurama Temple in Kyoto. If so, what is the connection between the headnote and the haiku? Shinji Ogawa notes that the haiku embraces two times: now and the past. The poet gazes now at the bare winter trees with fondness and partiality (yokume), recalling the time earlier in the year when they were lush with life and leaves. This earlier view, Shinji writes, "was an illusion." Is Issa attempting to see the trees (and life) the way the Buddha sees them: as illusions, impermanent, unreal? Shinji paraphrases: "looking now at the bare winter trees, those were all illusions (the summer trees)."

year unknown

.そばこねしうら戸も見へて枯木立
soba koneshi urado mo miet kare kodachi

kneading soba
gazing out the back door...
winter trees

year unknown

.楢の葉の朝からちるや豆腐桶
nara no ha no asa kara chiru ya tôfu oke

an oak leaf this morning
fallen
in the tofu tub

This is an undated revision of a haiku that Issa wrote in 1804. The original version ends with "tofu tank" (tôfu-bune).

year unknown

.空桶を鼠のはしるおち葉哉
karaoke wo nezumi no hashiru ochiba kana

a mouse runs
to the empty bucket...
falling leaves

year unknown

.高砂は今の我らぞおちばかく
takasago wa ima no warera zo ochiba kaku

look! we're the old couple
of Takasago...
raking leaves

Issa alludes playfully to the Noh play, Takasago, by Zeami. An elderly couple sweep the area under pine trees, only to reveal themselves (later) to be the ghosts of two wedded pines. Though this haiku is undated, I would guess that it was written during his marriage to his first wife, Kiku (1814-23).

year unknown

.冬がれて碓がたりがたりかな
fuyugarete karausu gatari-gatari kana

winter withering--
pestles and mortars
pound and grind

With colder weather people grind grain, herbs and seeds to make winter condiments like miso paste).

year unknown

.冬がれやねござまくれば裸虫
fuyugare ya negoza makureba hadakamushi

winter withering--
rolling up the sleeping mat
there's a caterpillar

Specifically, it's a non-hairy caterpillar, literally "a naked bug" (hadakamushi).

year unknown

.名ある木は下へさがって帰り花
na aru ki wa shita e sagatte kaeri-bana

the famous tree
leans toward the ground...
out-of-season blooms

The tree, which as the headnote indicates is located at the great shrine of Kamisaki, "has a name" (na aru ki). It is old, nearing collapse, but still blossoming (an inspiration to aging Issa?). "Out-of-season blossom" (kaeri-bana) is a winter expression.

year unknown

.へしおりていよいよ寒し返り花
heshiorite iyo-iyo samushi kaeri-bana

one by one breaking
in the cold...
out-of-season blooms

An allegory of human life? "Out-of-season blossom" (kaeri-bana) is a winter expression.

year unknown

.水仙の笠かりて寝る雀哉
suisen no kasa karite neru suzume kana

borrowing the umbrella-hat
daffodil...
sleeping sparrow

This is an undated revision of a haiku of 1813. In the original poem, Issa ends with neru ko suzume ("sleeping little sparrow"). He seems to have made the revision to avoid the irregular 6-syllable third phrase.

year unknown

.水仙や女きれなき御庵
suisen ya onna kirenaki on iori

such daffodils--
that hermitage
can't be a woman's

This is a gender-switching rewrite of a haiku of 1813, in which Issa says that the hermitage "can't be a man's" (otko kirenaki).

year unknown

.水仙や垣にゆひ込むつくば山
suisen ya kaki ni yuikomu tsukuba yama

daffodils wreathing
into the fence...
Mount Tsukuba

Mount Tsukuba is located near the city of Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture. Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge."

year unknown

.きき給へ竹の雀もちよちよと
kiki tamae take no suzume mo chiyo-chiyo to

listen! the sparrow
in bamboo is chirping
"Long live Japan!"

Issa hears the bird chirping a New Year's wish for the emperor: "May your reign last a thousand generations (chiyo)--taken from an old waka poem that would later provide the lyrics for Japan's national anthem.

year unknown

.鶴の子の千代も一日なくなりぬ
tsuru no ko no chiyo mo ichi nichi nakunarinu

baby crane--
you'll die in a thousand years
or one day

Cranes are symbols of longevity, but to achieve it they must survive their vulnerable first days.

year unknown

.あけぼののけぶりも比良の風情哉
akebono no keburi mo hira no fuzei kana

even dawn's smoke
is elegant...
Hira mountains

An early haiku written in the 1790s. The Hira mountains line the west coast of Lake Biwa.

year unknown

.こっそりと隣を借りて小酒盛り
kossori to tonari wo karite ko sakamori

with sake secretly
borrowed from a neighbor...
a little party

A party of one, or is Issa treating friends with his neighbor's booze? This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.魂から返事をせっく駕迎え
tama kara henji wo sekku kago mukae

a soulful reply--
greeting the festival
palanquin

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.ちちちちと鬼の子もなく雨夜哉
chichi chichi to oni no ko mo naku amayo kana

"Daddy! Daddy!" cries
my straw raincoat bug...
a rainy night

Literally, the bug is a "devil's child" (oni no ko), a kind of bug that infests straw raincoats and makes a "chi-chi" call that sounds, in Japanese, like "father" (chichi). This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.茶けぶりやめずらしきひらの夕べ哉
cha keburi ya mezurashiki hira no yûbe kana

tea smoke--
an ordinary evening
turns marvellous

Issa loved his tea--as suggested by his chosen pen name (issa = "one tea"). This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

year unknown

.又けふもわすれてもどる日影哉
mata kyô mo wasurete modoru hikage kana

today once again
forgetting to go home...
deep shade

This haiku oficially has no season, but Issa might imply that he is (once again) taking a summer nap under a tree.

1788

.永き日や水に画を書鰻掻き
nagaki hi ya mizu ni e wo kaku unagikaki

long spring day--
the eel catcher draws pictures
on water

Unagikaki is a hooked tool for catching eels. On a long spring day, a bored fisherman uses it to draw on the surface of the water.

1788

.出代りや蛙も雁も鳴別れ
degawari ya kawazu mo kari mo naki wakare

migrating servants--
even frogs and geese
cry when they part!

In springtime, old servants were replaced by young ones. The old ones would leave their employers to return to their home villages; the young ones traveled in the opposite direction. In earlier times this took place during the Second Month; later, the Third Month.

1788

.舞蝶にしばしは旅も忘けり
mau chô ni shibashi wa tabi mo wasure keri

dancing butterflies--
my journey forgotten
for a while

Or: "butterfly." One of Issa's earliest travel poems, this haiku is found in a collection called Fifty-three Post Towns; there were 53 post towns on the Tôkaidô highway from Edo (today's Tokyo) to Kyoto.

1788

.淋しさはどちら向ても菫かな
sabishisa wa dochira muite mo sumire kana

solitude--
whichever way I turn...
violets!

This haiku has the headnote, "Goyu." Goyu was one of the fifty-three post towns on the Tôkaidô highway from Edo (today's Tokyo) to Kyoto. This haiku appears in the anthology, Fifty-three Post Towns; Makoto Ueda, Dew on the Grass (2004) 14.

1788

.色鳥や木々にも花の放生会
iro tori ya kigi ni mo hana no hôjôe

colorful birds
set free in the trees...
blossoms

This refers to the custom of setting a bird free at a funeral or memorial service. To Issa, it seems as though the spring blossoms on the branches are a colorful flock released in such a ceremony: "an outgrowth of the Mahayana [Buddhist respect for all forms of life." See Daigan and Alicia Matsunaga, Foundation of Japanese Buddhism, Vol. 1 (Los Angeles/Tokyo: Buddhist Books International, 1974) 19.

1788

.苔の花小疵に咲や石地蔵
koke no hana ko kizu ni saku ya ishi jizô

moss blossoms bloom
in a little crack...
stone Jizo

Or: "in little cracks." In Japan Jizô is the beloved guardian deity of children (technically a bodhisattva). This haiku has the headnote, "Ôiso." Ôiso was one of the fifty-three post towns on the Tôkaidô highway from Edo (today's Tokyo) to Kyoto. This haiku appears in the anthology, Fifty-three Post Towns; Makoto Ueda, Dew on the Grass (2004) 14.

1788

.名月を重ねっこけつ波の間
meigetsu wo kasanekkoketsu nami no ai

harvest moon
again and again...
between waves

One of Issa's earliest haiku. Moon reflections shine between waves like a string of bright pearls.

1788

.焼米の俵や袖に旅の杖
yakigome no tawara ya sode ni tbi no tsue

in the sleeve
of the parched rice bag...
traveling stick

An extremely early haiku by Issa at age 26. It appears in a collection, 53 Post Stations, with the headnote "Shono," a post station on the Tôkaidô Highway near Fukushima. Issa most likely wrote it in Edo, where he was a student in Chikua's Nirokuan haiku school at the time.

1789

.木々おのおの名乗り出たる木の芽哉
kigi ono-ono nanori idetaru ko no me kana

every tree
with its calling card...
spring buds

Literally, Issa is saying that every tree is giving a self-introduction with its emerging buds.

1789

.象潟もけふは恨まず花の春
kisagata mo kyô wa uramazu hana no haru

even Kisa Lagoon
isn't hateful today...
blossoming spring

Before the earthquake of 1804, Kisa Lagoon (Kisagata) was, in Shinji Ogawa's words, "beautiful ... like a miniature archipelago." Shinji sees in this haiku an allusion to a sentence in Bashô's Oku no hosomichi ("Narrow Road to the Far Provinces"): "Matsushima is smiling, Kisagata grieving." Though Bashô uses the word, uramu, it does not mean "hateful" but rather "melancholy" (the literary meaning of uramu). Shinji paraphrases, "Though Bashô called it 'melancholy,' Kisagata is not melancholy today because of the blossoming spring."

Makoto Ueda notes that this haiku shows the playful humor typical of the Katsushika school that influenced Issa in his early years; Dew on the Grass (2004) 14.

1789

.騒がしき世をし祓って遅桜
sawagashiki yo wo oshi haratte oso-zakura

the cure for
this raucous world...
late cherry blossoms

Literally, the blossoms "exorcize" or "drive away the evil" from the loud, raucous world. Makoto Ueda notes that this haiku shows the playful humor of the Katsushika school, which influenced Issa in his early years. Ueda notes that the poem "humorously makes the tree into a god that has pacified all the clamor." Dew on the Grass (2004) 14-15.

1789

.酔ってから咄も八重の桜哉
yotte kara hanashi mo yae no sakura kana

after getting drunk
even our talk...
double cherry blossoms

Yae no sakura refers to eightfold or double cherry blossoms. Shinji Ogawa paraphrases the second and third phrases: "the way we talk/ is like the eightfold cherry blossoms." This begs the question: What is the way that eightfold cherry blossoms talk? I think this haiku is meant to evoke the crazy logic and language slurring of drunk people.

1789

.象潟や朝日ながらの秋のくれ
kisagata ya asahi nagara no aki no kure

Kisa Lagoon--
the sun rising
autumn dusk

Issa strangely juxtaposes "rising sun" (asahi) with "autumn dusk" (aki no kure). Perhaps his point is that even though the sun is rising, autumn has reached its dusk, i.e., its end?

Kisa Lagoon (Kisagata) would later be ravaged by an earthquake (1804).

1789

.象潟や島がくれ行刈穂舟
kisagata ya shima-gakure yuku kariho-bune

Kisa Lagoon--
from an island's shadow
a rice barge

The boat is carrying harvested rice.

In a prose preface to this haiku, Issa tells that he rowed a boat to the middle of the lagoon, where he watched villagers on shore heading home at dusk. Makoto Ueda notes that the haiku alludes to an anonymous waka about a boat in morning fog disappearing behind an isle at Akashi Bay; Dew on the Grass (2004) 15.

Fifteen years after the year of this haiku's composition (1789), Kisa Lagoon (Kisagata) was ravaged by an earthquake: Sixth Month, 1804. The effect, according to Shinji Ogawa, was that the seabed was raised and the "beautiful scenery like a miniature archipelago suddenly became dry land."

1790

.三文が霞見にけり遠眼鏡
san mon ga kasumi mi ni keri tômegane

for three pennies
nothing but mist...
telescope

According to Makoto Ueda, this haiku refers to a scenic lookout on Yushima Hill in Edo (today's Tokyo); Dew on the Grass (2004) 16. The mon was the basic currency of Issa's time. It took the form of a coin with a hole in its middle so that it could be strung on a string. In Issa's day six mon could pay for a bowl of rice. The three mon telescope view would cost approximately 75 cents today.

1790

.最う一里翌を歩行ん夏の月
mô ichi ri asu wo arikan natsu no tsuki

another two miles
for tomorrow's walk...
summer moon

One ri is 2.44 miles, almost 4 kilometers. The editors of Issa zenshû suggest that the "walk" and "go" kanji combination should be read, "arikan"; (1.272).

1790

.かんこ鳥昼丑満の山路かな
kankodori hiru ushi mitsu no yamaji kana

mountain cuckoo--
early afternoon
on a mountain road

1790

.今迄は踏れて居たに花野かな
ima made wa fumarete ita ni hanano kana

up to now
people tramped there...
field of flowers

Or: "I tramped there." Makoto Ueda, in his translation, uses the first-person "I": in his vision, Issa is the one who has trampled the weeds that have suddenly "burst into flowers"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 17.

Now that the autumn field has bloomed, do people respect its beauty and no longer take a shortcut through it?

1790

.山寺や雪の底なる鐘の声
yamadera ya yuki no soko naru kane no koe

mountain temple--
deep under snow
a bell

The image is simple, but it shows that even in his earliest period as a poet Issa is receptive to ordinary moments of life and to the surprises such moments bring to the attentive mind. A Buddhist temple on a mountainside, along with its great iron bell, lies buried in snow. Suddenly, Issa hears the "voice" of the bell, calling out from deep in the snow. The sound is dull and muted. On one level, the haiku is an example of one of Issa's favorite techniques--that of comic exaggeration. There's so much snow, the bell clangs under instead of over it. But, as with his best comic haiku, he embues the scene with spiritual feeling. In a cold, snow-smothered universe, the heartbeat of the temple, its bell, clangs on. By implication, the beautiful faith that the bell proclaims will survive the winter, no matter how high or deep the snow.

1790

.汐浜を反故にして飛ぶ千鳥かな
shiohama wo hogo ni shite tobu chidori kana

messing up
smooth-raked salt...
the plovers

Makoto Ueda believes that shiohama refers to a "neatly raked salt farm"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 17. The rambunctious birds are ruining (or are they improving on?) human perfection.

1791

.破鐘もけふばかりとてかすむ哉
waregane mo kyô bakari tote kasumu kana

today only
a cracked bell tolls...
spring mist

Thunder is a spring season word.

1791

.陽炎やむつましげなるつかと塚
kagerô ya mutsumashigenaru tsuka to tsuka

heat shimmers--
looking like dear friends
two graves

The ending, gena (genaru here), is the equivalent of rashii or yôda in modern Japanese; it denotes a presumption or estimation. This haiku appears in Issa's earliest travel diary, Kansei san nen kikô, following a prose passage that reveals who the owners of the two grave mounds are: Kumagai no Jirô Naozane and Taira no Atsumori. In 1184 Naozane killed fifteen-year old Atsumori in a battle between the Genji and Heike clans. Naozane later became a Buddhist, taking the Buddhist name of Renjô and founding a temple. According to his wishes, he was buried next to the grave of Atsumori, his old enemy. See Issa zenshû (1976-79) 5.18; and Jean Cholley, En village de miséreux (1996) 233, note 2.

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1791

.雉鳴て梅に乞食の世也けり
kiji naite ume ni kojiki no yo nari keri

pheasant crying--
it's a plum blossom-filled
beggar's world now!

In Third Month of 1791, at age 29, Issa left Edo on his first walking tour. "Beggar's world" (kojiki no yo) refers to the fact that Issa intended to beg for his meals and lodging along the way. See Issa zenshû (1976-79) 5.24, note 19. Shinji Ogawa notes that the headnote for this haiku paraphrases a passage from Bashô's Oku no hosomichi("Narrow Road to the Far Provinces"). Issa, who lost his haiku master [Chikua the previous year, was determined to set off on a walking tour to claim his destiny as a haiku master. Shinji writes, "the last line, 'it's a world of the beggar with the plum blossoms' may mean, 'It's my world now!'"

1791

.青梅に手をかけて寝る蛙哉
aoume ni te wo kakete neru kawazu kana

resting his hands
on the green plum, asleep...
a frog

This is one of Issa's first frog poems, recorded in his first travel journal, Kansei san nen kikô ("Third Year of Kansei Era Diary")--1791.

1791

.浦々の波よけ椿咲にけり
ura-ura no nami yoke tsubaki saki ni keri

the coastal wall--
camellias
in bloom

1791

.華の友に又逢ふ迄は幾春や
hana no tomo ni mata au made wa ikuharu ya

my blossom comrades
when next we meet...
how many springs from now?

Or: "my blossom comrade." Since the kind of "blossom" (hana) is not specified, Issa means cherry blossoms. Shinji Ogawa explains that the phrase, hana no tomo ("blossoms' friends"), signifies a friend, or friends, from whom Issa is departing during the blooming spring. Jean Cholley agrees with this interpretation in his French translation: ("mes amis sous les fleurs" ("my friends under the blossoms"); En village de miséreux (1996) 31.

1791

.華のもと是非来て除掃勤ばや
hana no moto zehi kite josô tsutomebaya

I will return
to sweep the blossoms
under this tree

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

An occasional poem. Issa included it in a note of thanks to his haiku master Somaru, who had granted him a month's leave to visit his home village. See Makoto Ueda, Dew on the Grass (2004) 19.

1791

.山下て桜見る気に成にけり
yama orite sakura miru ki ni nari ni keri

descending the mountain
a cherry blossom-viewing mood
sets in

Perhaps Issa's implication is that he is seeing more and more blooming trees, as he moves down the mountain slope from a colder elevation, his springtime mood increasing with every step.

Alastair Watson writes, "Perhaps Issa is simultaneously alluding to the Buddhist notion of 'descending from the mountaintop' (i.e., after achieving awakening) and moving back down into the marketplace and the fleeting world of humans, signified by the ephemeral blossoms."

1791

.神祭卯月の花に逢ふ日哉
kami matsuri uzuki no hana ni au hi kana

shrine festival--
today I meet
Fourth Month flowers

In this early haiku of 1791 (age 29), Issa presents a theme that he would pursue for the rest of his life: treating plants and animals as sentient fellow travelers.

1791

.五月雨や雪はいづこのしなの山
samidare ya yuki wa izuko no shinano yama

June rain--
where's your snow now
Shinano mountains?

Issa refers to his mountainous home province of Shinano, present-day Nagano Prefecture. Cold and high, its mountains have held the snow until, finally, the rains of Fifth Month have washed winter away. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1791

.五月雨や夜もかくれぬ山の穴
samidare ya yoru mo kakurenu yama no ana

June rain--
evening doesn't hide
the mountain's holes

A headnote to this haiku identifies the location as Mount Myôgi. Two large "holes" that resemble the mouths of caves are visible on it. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1791

.逃込んで白雨ほめるおのこ哉
nigekonde yûdachi homeru onoko kana

running for cover
praising the cloudburst...
a farmer

Issa's "man" (archaic word: onoko) by inmplication is a farmer who, even as he flees from the summer downpour, praises it for the sake of his crops.

1791

.飛ぶことなかれ汲むことなかれ山清水
tobu koto nakare kumu koto nakare yama shimizu

you can't fly
you can't ladle it...
mountain's pure water

According to Issa's travel journal, at the time he was touring Shimôsa Province. He wrote this haiku to console a friend whom he describes as an "old man of Minamidô" (today's Narita City). It seems that the pure spring water on the mountain is hard for him to reach.

1791

.門の木も先つつがなし夕涼
kado no ki mo mazu tsutsuganashi yûsuzumi

even the tree by the gate
safe and sound...
evening cool

According to the headnote, this haiku was composed when Issa returned home after an absence of fourteen years.

In L. Mabesoone's French translation the tree appears "Toujours fidèle à lui-même" ("Always faithful to himself") Issa to kuhi (Tokyo: Kankohkai 2003) 23.

Another French translator, Jean Cholley, translates more literally: the trees at the gate ("semblent bien aussi" ("also look well"); En village de miséreux (1996) 33.

Tutsuganashi denotes "in good health," "without harm," or "in safety"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1094.

1791

.時鳥我身ばかりに降雨か
hototogisu waga mi bakari ni furu ame ka

cuckoo--
is this rain falling
only on me?

As Hiroshi Kobori points out, on one level the person complaining about the rain is the cuckoo; on another level, it is Issa. And Mr. Kobori observes another double meaning in this haiku: this "poor me!" gripe is done with a smile.

1791

.閑古鳥必ず我にあやかるな
kankodori kanarazu ware ni ayakaru na

O mountain cuckoo
don't try being
like me!

In 1791 Issa (age 29) embarked on his first haiku journey, visiting fellow poets in Shimôsa Province. The bird would be better off not emulating the hard, often hungry lifestyle of a wandering poet. Issa bemoans his new situation but, deep down, we sense his pride as he sets out on an artistic mission that will last the rest of his life.

1791

.蓮の花虱を捨るばかり也
hasu no hana shirami wo suteru bakari nari

lotus blossoms--
just the place for discarded
lice

This haiku has a long, self-ironic headnote in which Issa describes himself as a "sinner" who complains about the cuckoo's song and sleeps through nights of moon and days of blossoms. Makoto Ueda believes that Issa is hinting here that his poetics will be different from cuckoo, moon, and blossom-loving Basho; Dew on the Grass (2004) 23.

There might be a Buddhist meaning in this haiku, since the lotus symbolizes rebirth.

1791

.茨の花ここをまたげと咲にけり
bara no hana koko wo matage to saki ni keri

thorny wild roses
"Step over us here!"
as they bloom

Jean Cholley points out that this haiku carries both literal and symbolic meanings. It appears in Issa's travel diary, Kansei san nen kikô, along with an anecdote. While Issa made his trip home to his native village, he witnessed the guards of the Nakagawa Barrier Gate prevent two women from passing by boat. Literally, the thorny bushes in the haiku impede travelers; symbolically, they are the border guards, agents of the Edo government, who impede the travel of women across provinces. Cholley believes that Issa is speaking ironically when he praises "our magnificent regime" for its laws; En village de miséreux (1996) 233, note 4.

Issa's original text can be found in Issa zenshû (1976-79) 5.16-17.

1791

.きさがたや浪の上ゆく虫の声
kisagata ya nami no ue yuku mushi no koe

Kisa Lagoon--
riding on the waves
insects singing

Kisa Lagoon (Kisagata) would later be ravaged by an earthquake (1804).

1791

.吹降や家陰たよりて虫の声
fukiburi ya ya kage tayorite mushi no koe

driving rain--
shaded by the house
insects singing

1792

.松竹の行合の間より初日哉
matsu take no yukiai no ma yori hatsu hi kana

from meeting rooms
of pine and bamboo...
year's first dawn

Issa is referring to traditional New Year's pine-and-bamboo decorations.

1792

.行春の町やかさ売すだれ売
yuku haru no machi ya kasa uri sudare uri

spring ends in the town--
umbrella-hat, bamboo blind
vendors

Shinji Ogawa notes that this haiku parodies an earlier one by Ôemaru: yûdachi ya edo wa kasa uri ashida uri, which might be translated, "Cloudburst/ in Edo umbrella-hat vendors/ wooden sandal vendors." See Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.50, note 6; and Maruyama Kazuhiko, Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 15, note 17. Shinji believes that Issa's haiku, being a parody, is not art. I think that the fact that Issa playfully alludes to a previous poem in a present moment does not, in itself, disqualify the haiku as a work of art.

1792

.春かぜや礎しめる朝な朝な
harukaze ya ishizue shimeru asana-asana

the spring breeze
lays the cornerstone...
morning after morning

If a day is metaphorically a house, the morning spring breeze is its foundation.

1792

.春風や尾上の松に音はあれど
harukaze ya onoe no matsu ni ne wa aredo

soft spring breeze--
but the pine of Onoe
whispers it

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) points out that the Onoe pine was made famous by an old Noh song.

1792

.いつ逢ん身はしらぬひの遠がすみ
itsu awan mi wa shiranuhi no tô-gasumi

when will we meet again?
I'm off to the phosphorescent fires
in the far mist

This haiku has the headnote, "Rain. Before setting off on my journey, saying farewell to the people staying behind." According to Lewis Mackenzie, Issa was on his way to Shimabara Bay, a place known for ignis fatuus: phosphorescent lights (will-o'the-wisps); The Autumn Wind (1957; rpt. 1984), 27.

Shinji Ogawa notes that shiranuhi literally means "unknown fire" (shiranu = unknown; hi = fire). Since hi (fire) and hi (day) are homonyms, shiranuhi carries a double meaning of "unknown day." Shinji notes that this "punning phrase is very proper for the departure. In most cases, a pun exchanges the haiku's quality for a giggle. But in this case, the pun is nicely done. The word shiranuhi (same as shiranui) is a makura-kotoba (a pillow word or a conventional epithet mostly used in waka poems) for Tsukushi, an old name for Kyûshû, the south island of Japan." Shimbara Bay, Issa's destination, is located on this island.

Makoto Ueda translates shiranuhi as "sea fires," which, he explains "are believed to be caused by the refractions of fires used by fishermen far out at sea." See Dew on the Grass (2004) 26.

1792

.白雲のかすみ吹抜く外山哉
shiro-gumo no kasumi fukinuku toyama kana

white clouds of mist
blow away...
the village's mountain

Toyama (often translated as "foothills") refers to any mountain located near a village; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1185.

1792

.しら浪に夜はもどるか遠がすみ
shiranami ni yoru wa modoru ka tô-gasumi

turning into white waves
at night?
the far mist

Shinji Ogawa explains that yoru wa modoru ka ("the evening returns") can be a shortened form of yoru ni wa modoru ka ("returning in the evening"). On this basis, he paraphrases, "into white billows/ do you return at night/ far mist?"

1792

.山本やかすみにとどく朝煙り
yamamoto ya kasumi ni todaku asa kemuri

mountain's foot--
morning smoke touches
the mist

Cooking fire smoke rises to "touch" the spring mist.

1792

.畠打が焼石積る夕べかな
hata uchi ga yakeishi tsumeru yûbe kana

the plowman stacks
volcanic rocks...
evening

Shinji Ogawa pictures the scene: "The field may be located close to a volcanic mountain. The farmer piles up the volcanic rocks, which he found during plowing, on the side of the field."

1792

.うたかたや淡の波間の平家蟹
utakata ya awa no namima no heike-gani

sea foam--
in the fleeting wave
a Heike crab

Crabs with special markings resembling faces of samurai are thought to be reincarnated heroes who died in a famous battle, recounted in the medieval Tale of the Heike.

1792

.剃捨て花見の真似やひのき笠
sori-sutete hanami no mane ya hinoki-gasa

cutting off my hair
like a blossom-viewing party!
wicker umbrella-hat

This early haiku has the headnote, "At the time of my departure, cutting off my hair." Before he took to the road, Issa shaved his head like a monk. A hinoki-gasa is a wickerwork umbrella-hat in which thin sheets of cypress wood are woven; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1406.

1792

.父ありて母ありて花に出ぬ日哉
chichi arite haha arite hana ni denu hi kana

having father and mother
he stays home...
cherry blossom day

Or: "she." The child has chores or perhaps needs to take care or one or both parents. For Issa, an orphan, the child is lucky.

1792

.もし降らば天津乙女ぞ花曇
moshi furaba amatsuotome zo hana kumori

have celestial maidens
descended to earth?
blossom clouds

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1792

.白雲の桜をくぐる外山哉
shira-gumo no sakura wo kuguru toyama kana

creeping through white
cherry blossom clouds...
the mountain

Although Lewis Mackenzie and Kai Falkman contend that toyama is the name of a particular mountain, the word denotes any mountain located near a village; see Mackenzie, The Autumn Wind (1957) 25; Falkman, Understanding Haiku: A Pyramid of Meaning (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2002) 50. Robin D. Gill believes that Issa is painting a picture of "white clouds wafting through cherry blossoms on mountains seen from below. Shinji Ogawa offers three ways to read this haiku: (1) "the white clouds creep through the cherry blossoms" [Robin's theory; (2) "we creep through the cherry blossoms in a white cloud"; or (3) "Toyama hill creeps through the cherry blossoms in a white cloud."

1792

.日盛りや芦雀に川の音もなき
hizakari ya yoshikiri ni kawa no oto mo naki

high noon--
the reed warbler sings
to a silent river

Or: "the reed warbleres sing."

Makoto Ueda, who translates yoshikiri as "reed sparrows," admires the artless spontaneity of this early haiku; Dew on the Grass (2004) 29-30.

1792

.夏の夜に風呂敷かぶる旅寝哉
natsu no yo ni furushiki kaburu tabine kana

in the summer night
I'm covered with a bath towel...
the inn

A cloth, furushiki, is used in bathhouses to cover the clothing of bathers; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1461. In this haiku, as Shinji Ogawa notes, kaburu refers to the action of Issa covering himself with the furoshiki, possibly to protect himself from mosquitos.

1792

.砂原やあつさにぬかる九十九里
sunawara ya atsusa ni nukaru kujûkuri

sandy field--
all muddy in the heat
Kujûkuri's coast

Although Sunawara is a place in Japan, it's located 787 kilometers from Kukûkuri Beach, so Issa must mean "sandy field" (sunawara) literally in this haiku.

1792

.涼しさや只一夢に十三里
suzushisa ya tada hito yume ni jû san ri

cool air--
in just one dream
seventy miles!

One ri is 2.44 miles, almost 4 kilometers. In this dream of travel, Issa covers a distance of thirty ri: over 73 miles.

Shinji Ogawa notes that the final kanji in this haiku should be read as ri (the unit of distance) and not as sato ("village").

1792

.涼しさや見るほどの物清見がた
suzushisa ya miru hodo no mono kiyomigata

coolness!
everything in sight
at Kiyomigata

Kiyomigata Bay is a famous place from which to view Mount Fuji.

Shinji Ogawa notes that miru hodo no mono means "everything you can see." In this context, everything that Issa lays his eyes upon in this place famous for its scenic beauty looks cool.

1792

.石と成る雲のなりてや虎が雨
ishi to naru kumo no narite ya tora ga ame

the clouds changing
into stone...
Rain of the Tiger

According to tradition, if it rains on the 28th day of Fifth Month, the raindrops are the tears shed by Tora ("Tiger") the wife of one of the Soga brothers. Why did the clouds turn to stone in this haiku? Does this mean no rain (no tears) this year?

1792

.しづかさや湖水の底の雲のみね
shizukasa ya kosui no soko no kumo no mine

stillness--
in the depths of the lake
billowing clouds

Even though Issa is known for his comic haiku that have surprising, spiritual resonance; he is just as capable of revealing the sublime. French translator Jean Cholley translates the first word, shizukasa, as "sérénité" ("serenity"); En village de miséreux (1996) 33. Indeed, shizukasa denotes tranquility, quiet, calm. Of English possibilities, I've decided to use "stillness"--but the reader should be aware that Issa establishes a sense of deep peace before showing billowing mountains of clouds reflected "in the depths of the lake." The haiku serves as a substitute for experience--or, perhaps, a clear window into experience--allowing the reader, in contemplation, to see that same lake, those same clouds, and to feel the serenity and stillness of the moment.

1792

.雲の峰の中にかみなり起る哉
kumo no mine no naka ni kaminari okoru kana

from deep in the cloud's
billows
thunder comes

1792

.寝せ付て外へは出たり夏の月
nese-tsukete soto e wa detari natsu no tsuki

tucking them in
out I go...
summer moon

Or: "tucking her" or "him" in. When he wrote this haiku (age 30), Issa had no children. He was traveling in Shikoku Island. The person or person he "tucks in" would be a friend or friends.

1792

.打ち解る稀の一夜や不二の雪
uchi-tokuru mare no hito yo ya fuji no yuki

melting in one
amazing night...
Mount Fuji's snow

The night is mare: "rare" or "phenomenal." I translate it here as "amazing."

Shinji Ogawa notes that Issa's language ("melting in one") could imply a sensual night of lovemaking, adding an erotic connotation to the melting snow on Fuji.

1792

.牛車の跡ゆく関の清水哉
ushi-guruma no ato yuku seki no shimizu kana

in the ox cart's tracks
the barrier outpost's
pure water

1792

.櫛水に髪撫上る清水哉
kushimizu ni kami nade agaru shimizu kana

soaking the comb
before combing the hair...
pure water

Issa's unusual word kushimizu appears to be a reversal of mizugushi: a rough comb that must be soaked in water before use.

1792

.賤やしづしづはた焼が汲め清水
shizu ya shizu shizuhata yaki ga kume shimizu

Shizu, O Shizu!
with Shizuhata porcelain
scoop pure water

The first part of this haiku is a quote from an old waka on the theme of love. The lover repeats the name of his lady (Shizu) then, in a display of clever wordplay, mentions Mount Shizuhata, a place famous for the manufacture of porcelain. Issa adds the part about ladling the pure spring water. Note: I am following the text in Issa zenshû 2.52; a slightly different text appears in 1.274 (ni instead of ga).

1792

.みやこ哉東西南北辻が花
miyako kana tôzainamboku tsuji ga hana

in Kyoto
east, west, south, north...
summer kimonos

This haiku has the headnote, "Imperial Capital," i.e., Kyoto. In Issa's day, this is where the emperor lived (as he still does). Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

The phrase, "crossroads blossoms" (tsuji ga hana), is a euphemism for a light summer garment made of hemp: katabira. In this archive, I translate both katabira and awase as "summer kimono." Hiroshi Kobori explains that tsujiga-hana designs were in fashion from the mid-Muromachi era until the early Edo era; they were mostly dyed purple, red, and deep indigo..."bold and marvelous."

Makoto Ueda writes that the "blossoms" (hana) refer to the colorful kimonos worn by the people of Kyoto; Dew on the Grass (2004) 28. Since kimono is a more widely known term than katabira, I use it in my translation, following professor Ueda's example.

1792

.川中に床机三ッ四ッ夕すずみ
kawa naka ni shôgi mitsu yotsu yûsuzumi

mid-river
on three or four stools...
evening cool

In his headnote to this haiku, Issa reveals that he is talking about a dry riverbed. Water flows on both sides of their little island, while three or four people on stools enjoy evening's cool air, literally in the middle of the river.

1792

.狐火の行方見送るすずみ哉
kitsunebi no yukigata miokoru suzumi kana

escorted by
phosphorescent fires...
the cool air

Kitsunebi is a phosphorescent fire (or ignis fatuus) believed to be vomited from the mouth of a fox; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 452.

1792

.月影や赤坂かけて夕すずみ
tsukikage ya akasaka kakete yûsuzumi

moonlight--
evening's cool reaches
Akasaka

Akasaka is one of the fifty-three post towns on the Tôkaidô highway from Edo (today's Tokyo) to Kyoto.

1792

.能い女郎衆岡崎女郎衆夕涼み
yoi joro shu okazaki joro shu yûsuzumi

skillful courtesans!
Okazaki courtesans!
enjoying evening's cool

Jorô can be translated as "geisha" or "courtesan (prostitute)." Okazaki is one of the fifty-three post towns on the Tôkaidô highway from Edo (today's Tokyo) to Kyoto. It had a licensed pleasure district. Issa seems happy to visit there, either in person or in his imagination.

Shinji Ogawa writes, "Judging form the tone of the haiku, my hunch is that it may be related to a popular song of Issa's time."

1792

.馬の屁に目覚て見れば飛ほたる
uma no he ni mezamete mireba tobu hotaru

the horse's fart
wakes me to see...
fireflies flitting

My translation of this haiku was guided by Jean Cholley's French version in En village de miséreux (1996) 33.

1792

.盃に散れや糺すのとぶほたる
sakazuki ni chire ya tadasu no tobu hotaru

into my sake cup
to investigate?
flitting firefly

Or: "the sake cup." The verb tadasu signifies to question or verify.

1792

.通し給へ蚊蠅の如き僧一人
tôshi tamae ka hae no gotoki sô hitori

let him pass
like a mosquito, a fly...
solitary priest

Jean Cholley notes that Issa is referring to himself in this haiku, since by this time he was already wearing the robe of a Buddhist priest. Cholley adds that he is addressing the guardians of Japan's barrier gates in a sly and, for Issa, typical jab at authority; En village de miséreux (1996) 234, note 7.

Makoto Ueda agrees that Issa is depicting himself, adopting a "pose of self-promotion vieled by self-irony"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 31.

1792

.浜松や蝉によるべの浪の声
hamamatsu ya semi ni yorube no nami no koe

Hamamatsu beach--
helping out the cicadas
singing waves

I assume that the steady "voice of the waves" (nami no koe) is helping the cicadas musically, providing rhythmic percussion for their chant in the trees.

1792

.昼顔やしほるる草を乗越々々
hirugao ya shioruru kusa wo noko-noko

blooming bindweed--
over the withered grass
it creeps

Bindweed (hirugao) is a vine that in summer produces (usually) pink flowers.

1792

.散ぼたん昨日の雨をこぼす哉
chiru botan kinou no ame wo kobosu kana

the peony falls
spilling out yesterday's
rain

According to Makoto Ueda, this early haiku represents an attempt at Tenmei style, a school of haiku that valued aestheticism and fictional elegance; Dew on the Grass (2004) 30.

1792

.梅の木の心しづかに青葉かな
ume no ki no kokoro shizuka ni aoba kana

the plum tree
with heart at peace...
leafing green

Kai Falkman believes that "peaceful" (shizuka ni) modifies the leaves, not the tree's heart; see Understanding Haiku: A Pyramid of Meaning (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2002) 102. Shinji Ogawa is even more specific. He writes, "The phrase kokoro shizuka ni (heart peaceful + ni) is an adverb phrase (not 'tree's heart'). The ni functions like '-ly' in English to change an adjective to an adverb. Therefore, the phrase can be translated as 'heart-peacefully'." Shinji concludes: "The haiku can be translated as 'the plum tree is heart-peacefully green-leafing'. Once we reach this translation, it is rather easy to translate it into more 'natural' English. Therefore, the haiku may be translated more or less as 'The plum tree is peacefully leafing'." Plum trees, when they bloom, are one of spring痴 glories. Here, Issa pays attention to a plum tree in its "off-season," in summer--noticing its green leaves. Thousands of poets have written tens of thousands of haiku about plum trees blooming in spring, but Issa writes about the plum tree in summer, no longer surrounded by excited, drunk blossom-viewers, unfurling its green leaves in peace.

1792

.塔ばかり見へて東寺は夏木立
tô bakari miete tôji wa natsu kodachi

Toh Temple--
just its pagoda shows
over the summer trees

The haiku refers to Tôji, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Shinji Ogawa comments, "[Issa skillfully depicts the vigorous green foliage in summer without mentioning anything about the foliage itself."

1792

.船頭よ小便無用浪の月
sendô yo shôben muyô nami no tsuki

hey boatman
no pissing on the moon
in the waves!

In my novel, Haiku Guy (Winchester, VA.: Red Moon Press, 2000, 47), I translate this haiku much more liberally:

the boatman pisses
but misses
the real moon

1792

.松島や三ツ四ツほめて月を又
matsushima ya mitsu yotsu homete tsuki wo mata

Matsushima--
clapping three or four times
then again, the moon

Matsushima is a famously lovely bay of Japan known for its picturesque pine islands, a place that Issa's role model, the poet Bashô, visited but found too beautiful to write a suitable haiku about. Shinji Ogawa translates the last phrase (tsuki wo mata), "then look up at the moon again." Issa applauds the lovely, moon-glazed scene. He looks up, looks down (and claps), then looks up again, capturing in this simple action the rapture that Bashô could not.

1792

.東西南北吹交ぜ交ぜ野分哉
tôzainamboku fuki maze-maze nowaki kana

blowing from the east
west south north...
autumn gale

1792

.雨を分て夕霧のぼる外山哉
ame wo wakete yûgiri noboru toyama kana

parting the rain
the evening fog ascends...
mountain

Toyama (often translated as "foothills") refers to any mountain located near a village; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1185.

1792

.おり姫に推参したり夜這星
orihime ni suisan shitari yobaiboshi

dropping in on
the Weaver...
a shooting star

Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together. The female star (Vega) is pictured as a weaver; the male, a herder. Since yobaiboshi can mean both "night-sneaking star" and "shooting star," Altair becomes (on this magical night) a shooting star, crossing the River.

1792

.負角力其子の親も見て居るか
make-zumô sono ko no oya mo mite iru ka

defeated sumo wrestler--
is his father
watching too?

Or: "are his parents/ watching too?" In an undated revision, Issa is more assertive: "his father must be watching" (oya mo sadamete mite ibeki).

1792

.鎌倉や今はかがしの屋敷守
kamakura ya ima wa kagashi no yashiki mori

Kamakura--
these days scarecrows
are the gatekeepers

This is Issa's earliest haiku that we have on the subject of scarecrows. The "gatekeepers" (yashiki mori) might also be translated, "keepers of the mansions." Kamakura is one of Japan's ancient capitals, on Sagami Bay southwest of Tokyo.

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) notes that Issa left for his journey to Shikoku Island on the 25th day of Third Month, 1792. In a few days, he had reached Kamakura, where he saw the old mansion of Minamoto no Yotitomo, the first shogun. His haiku about scarcrow gatekeepers reflects on the long-past glory of the place.

1792

.人去って万灯きへて鹿の声
hito satte mandô kiete shika no koe

people depart
ten thousand lanterns dying...
cry of a deer

This haiku refers to a Buddhist lantern festival.

1792

.岩間やあらしの下の虫の声
iwaai ya arashi no shita no mushi no koe

among the crags
under the storm...
insects singing

1792

.山紅葉入日を空へ返す哉
yama momiji irihi wo sora e kaesu kana

mountain's red leaves
the setting sun returns
to the sky

Literally, Issa says that the autumn foliage "returns the setting sun to the sky" (irihi wo sora e kaesu). Is he saying that the leaves on the mountain are so bright and red, the setting sun has returned to the sky?

Shinji Ogawa has also mulled over this haiku. He suggests that perhaps "the red leaves reflect the rays of the evening sun to the sky; that is why the sky glows so red." Based on this theory, he translates:

the mountain's red leaves
return the sunbeam
to the sky

In his more literal French version, Jean Cholley has the mountain maples make the setting sun ("remonter" ("go up again"); En village de miséreux (1996) 35.

Colleen Rain Austin pictures the following: "The red leaves on the mountaintop retain the intensity of sunset and make it look as if the sun is setting, once more."

Susan Delphine Delaney writes, "Most blazing red leaves, like maples, are very translucent. I read this poem as the sun has set below the treetops, and the translucent red maple leaves are set 'aflame' by the sun transillumenating them as it moves from treetops to true setting behind the line of the earth. The ephemerality of this phenomenon (it would only take about a minute for the sun to pass below the treetops to below the earth) is very haiku-y."

1792

.寒き夜や我身をわれが不寝番
samuki yo ya waga mi wo ware ga nezunoban

cold night--
for me, myself and I
a sleepless vigil

Issa humorously emphasizes his aloneness.

1792

.関処より吹戻さるる寒さ哉
sekisho yori fukimodosaruru samusa kana

blown back
from the barrier gate...
the cold

Like an unwelcome traveler without a passport, winter's frigid wind cannot pass the human-made barrier gate--a nice fantasy!

1792

.浮草と見し間に池の氷かな
ukigusa to mishi ma ni ike no kôri kana

while I looked at the duckweed
the pond
froze

1792

.夕風や社の氷柱灯のうつる
yûkaze ya yashiro no tsurara hi no utsuru

night wind--
the shrine's icicles
reflect the lights

A Shinto shrine. The icicles reflect the flickering flames of votive lights.

1792

.外堀の割るる音あり冬の月
sotobori no waruru oto ari fuyu no tsuki

the ice of the moat
cracking...
winter moon

A sotobori is the outer moat of a castle, such as can be found in Tokyo, the city Issa knew as Edo. Toru Kiuchi explains that Issa wrote this haiku in front of the west gate of Himeji Castle, looking down at its frozen surface.

1792

.木がらしやされど入江は鳥睦る
kogarashi ya saredo irie wa tori mutsuru

winter wind--
yet the inlet's birds
get along well

1792

.山寺や木がらしの上に寝るがごと
yamadera ya kogarashi no ue ni neru ga goto

mountain temple--
like trying to sleep
on winter wind

Shinji Ogawa explains that the phrase neru ga goto is "a short form for neru ga gotoku" and means "as if sleeping."
Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1792

.外は雪内は煤ふる栖かな
soto wa yuki uchi wa susufuru sumika kana

outside, snow
inside, soot-caked...
my home

Cozy and warm.

1792

.雪の山何を烏の親にあたふ
yuki no yama naniwo karasu no oya ni atau

snow mountain--
what crow
has had children?

My guess is that Issa is looking at bird footprints in the snow--big and small.

1792

.遠乗や霰たばしるかさの上
tônori ya arare ta-bashiru kasa no ue

a long ride--
hailstones drumming
umbrella-hats

Or: "my umbrella-hat." There might be one or several people on horseback in the scene--and, if only one, the rider might be Issa. The reader must decide.
Ta-bashiru refers to something flying with violent force; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1016.

1792

.初霜や乞食の竈も一ながめ
hatsu shimo ya kojiki no kudo mo hito nagame

first frost--
the beggar's stove
a welcome sight

Kudo is an old word for the chimney hole located at the rear of a stove; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 510. In this context, according to Shinji Ogawa, it means, simply, "stove."

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) pictures the following. Early one winter morning, Issa stands in a field outside a village. All around, the ground is covered with the year's first frost. It is cold. He happens to see a narrow strand of smoke rising from the beggar's stove, and he feels its warmth. Sakuo adds, "How scenic!"

1792

.初霜や蕎麦悔る人めづる人
hatsu shimo ya soba kuyuru hito mesuru hito

first frost--
one hates buckwheat noodles
one loves 'em

Buckwheat noodles (soba) is a winter dish. The first frost signals the beginning of the season for this food--whether people like it or not.

1792

.年木樵る女親あり子なき哉
toshigikoru onna oya ari ko naki kana

firewood for the new year--
a mother
no child

Issa is referring to the end-of-year custom of cutting and bundling firewood for the new year. Sadly, a mother has lost the child who might have helped her gather the wood.

1792

.翁さびうしろをあぶるほた火哉
okinasabi ushiro wo aburu hotabi kana

an old man's ways--
my backside warmed
by the wood fire

Or: "warming his backside..."
Okinasabi denotes behavior typical of an old man; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 264. When he wrote this haiku in 1792, Issa was just starting his career as a professional poet, age thirty. If this is a self-portrait, he is making fun of the fact that already at thirty he is practicing "an old man's ways."

Shinji Ogawa explains that, literally, Issa has tucked his kimono up, exposing his back to the wood fire.

1792

.ほたの火や糸取窓の影ぼうし
hota no hi ya ito toru mado no kagebôshi

a wood fire--
her shadow in the window
pulling thread

The figure in the window is pulling thread from cotton--"woman's work," according to Maruyama Kazuhiko. See Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 19, note 40.

1792

.わらつとの焼飯あたたむるほた火哉
warazuto no yakimeshi atatamuru hotabi kana

warming up
straw-wrapped fried rice...
my wood fire

1792

.冬枯に風除作る山家哉
fuyugare ni kazayoke tsukuru yamaga kana

a windbreak
in the winter withering...
mountain home

1793

.花じやぞよ我もけさから三十九
hana ja zo yo ware mo kesa kara san jû ku

blossoms--
from this morning on
39 springs to go

Issa had turned 31. He reckoned that he had 39 more springs before reaching 70. Impermanence--of blossoms, of self--creates beauty. (He made it to 65.)

1793

.ちぎりきな藪入茶屋を知せ文
chigirikina yabuiri chaya wo shirase-bumi

a Servants' Holiday
teashop sign
The Flail Weapon

After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. A chigiriki (more commonly pronounced chigirigi) is a weapon that has a weight hanging from a chain attached to a pole. A cruel sign for a teashop!

1793

.君が世や旅にしあれど笥の雑煮
kimi ga yo ya tabi ni shi aredo ke no zôni

Great Japan!
even mid-journey a bowl
of rice cake soup

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time. Zôni, glutinous rice cakes with vegetables, is enjoyed in the New Year's season.

1793

.しろしめせや民の辛苦も若菜摘み
shiroshimese ya tami no shinku mo wakana tsumi

govern the people--
even picking New Year's herbs
they suffer

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance. In this early haiku, Issa (at age 31) makes a bold statement about oppression of the poor by the governing authorities. Later in life, he learned to disguise dangerous criticism of the shogunate with figurative language ("Sir Horse" versus lowly "sparrows," for example).

1793

.長閑しや隣にはとき洗ひ衣
nodokeshi ya tonari ni wa tokiarai-ginu

spring peace--
the neighbor's kimono
unsewn and washed

The traditional way to clean a kimono invovles removing its stitches and gently washing each panel, after which, it's sewn back together.

1793

.嬌女を日々にかぞへる春日哉
taoyame wo hi-bi ni kazoeru haru hi kana

more charming ladies
day by day...
spring days!

Issa often praises spring blossoms. Here, he celebrates a different kind of blooming: women in their dazzling kimonos after a drab, gray winter.

1793

.永き日や余処も無人の返し文
nagaki hi ya yoso mo munin no kaeshibumi

long spring day--
even in this no man's land
a reply letter

Issa was traveling at the time. Somehow, a reply letter reached him even in a low-populated area on the outskirts of a city or town.

1793

.霜の花そふだに春のなごり哉
shimo no hana sô da ni haru no nagori kana

frost-white flowers--
spring ends
with you

Issa might be referring to white-flowered wisteria.

1793

.雨後の石井陽炎とのみ消えにけり
ugo no ishi i kagerô to nomi kie ni keri

after rain
heat shimmers at the stone well
fade away

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1793

.陽炎に敷居を越る朝日哉
kagerô ni shiki-i wo koeru asahi kana

heat shimmers--
the rising sun
crosses the threshold

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) pictures the scene: the rising sun warms the ground, causing heat shimmers to rise. The higher the sun rises, the farther its light travels, crossing the threshold and entering the room where Issa sits. Sakuo adds, "The movement of the sun shows the dynamic transformation of time and space ... a great, dramatic haiku, isn't it?"

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1793

.凍どけや茨ちらす置く麦畠
ite-doke ya bara chirashi oku mugi hatake

ice melting--
rose petals scatter
in the wheat field

A lavish visual celebration of springtime. Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley.

1793

.里の子が枝川作る雪解哉
sato no ko ga edagawa tsukuru yukige kana

a village child
makes a river branch...
melting snow

For anyone who grew up in a place where it snows in winter, this haiku of playing with "rivers" of snowmelt is sure to stir up memories.

1793

.春の海木に害を成す風はあれど
haru no umi ki ni gai wo nasu kaze wa aredo

spring sea
you're harming the trees...
such wind!

In this early haiku of age 31, Issa empathizes with wind-and-surf whipped coastal trees.

1793

.草摘むや妹を待せて継ぎきせる
kusa tsumu ya imo wo matesete tsugikiseru

my dear one picking herbs--
I wait
smoking a pipe

Imo ("sister") is a literary word for "dear one"--an intimate term that a man uses to refer to his beloved; Kogo dai jiten (1988) 454. A tusgikiseru is a jointed pipe for smoking tobacco.

1793

.命也焼く野の虫を拾ふ鳥
inochi nari yaku no no mushi wo hirou tori

such is life--
the burning field's bugs
a feast for birds

Shinji Ogawa explains that nari in the first phrase is a kireji (cutting word) "which has many functions. In this case, the wording inochi nari (life...) implies a phrase like 'It is a way of life that...' The scene is of the burning field, the running bugs and the feasting birds all in one."

1793

.畠打が近道教ゆ夕べ哉
hata uchi ga chikamichi oshiyu yûbe kana

the plowman
shows me a shortcut...
evening

A generous gesture. The farmer, often portrayed in Japanese literature as selfish and suspicious, lets Issa cut through his precious field.

1793

.鳥も巣を作るに橋の乞食哉
tori mo su wo tsukuru ni hashi no kojiki kana

even birds
make nests...
beggars under the bridge

Shinji Ogawa helped with this translation. Originally, I felt that hashi no kojiki denoted "bridge's beggars," so I rendered this, "bridge of beggars." Shinji, however, points out that the phrase depicts beggars "around (or on or at...etc.) the bridge." He imagines that the beggars are nesting under it.

1793

.夕されば凧も雲雀もをりの哉
yû sareba tako mo hibari mo ori no kana

evening falls--
the kite and the lark
come down

The "kite" (tako) in this haiku is the paper kind, not a bird.

1793

.雲に鳥人間海にあそぶ日ぞ
kumo ni tori ningen umi ni asobu hi zo

birds in the clouds
people in the sea...
a holiday

Birds soar in the clouds; people play (or hunt for shellfish) in the sea. Issa's one-breath poem unfolds a breathtaking panorama of life. French translator Jean Cholley sees this as a scene of people gathering shellfish at low tide. At the end of Third Month seabirds have migrated north ("in the clouds"), leaving good pickings for the humans; En village de miséreux (1996) 234, note 9. Issa later (1795) revises this haiku to begin with "larks in the sky" (ten ni hibari).

1793

.岩が根に蛙の眠る真昼哉
iwa ga ne ni kawazu no nemuru mahiru kana

at the rock's base
the frog's siesta...
high noon

1793

.寝転んで若草摘る日南哉
ne-koronde waka-gusa tsumeru hinata kana

lying down to sleep
plucking the new grass...
sunbather

1793

.花椿落来る竹のしげみ哉
hana tsubaki ochi kuru take no shigemi kana

camellia blossoms
come falling in...
bamboo grove

1793

.寝心に花を算へる雨夜哉
ne-gokoro ni hana wo kazoeru amayo kana

my sleepy mind
counting cherry blossoms...
a rainy night

Shinji Ogawa notes that this haiku alludes a famous Chinese poem, "A Spring Morning," by Meng Haoran (691-740). Shinji translates:

I awake in the late morning of spring
The bird songs are all around me
I might hear the storm in the night
I wonder how many blossoms have fallen

1793

.吹降や花に浴びせるかねの声
fukiburi ya hana ni abiseru kane no koe

driving rain--
pouring over the blossoms
a temple bell

The bell of the Buddhist temple suggests transience. After this rain and wind, the blossoms will have all fallen to the ground.

Shinji Ogawa notes that, grammatically, the sound of the temple bell is pouring on the blossoms--a strong and creative image.

1793

.蛇出て兵者を撰る花見哉
hebi idete tsuwamono wo eru hanami kana

when the snake comes out
there's a brave soldier...
blossom viewers

In my first translation, I read tsuwamono as a literal warrior or samurai. Shinji Ogawa notes that Issa is using the word metaphorically: one of the blossom viewers shows his bravery facing the snake. Others are running away, one presumes, yelling and screaming.

Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1793

.涼しさや欠釜一つひとりずみ
suzushisa ya kakegama hitotsu hitori-zumi

cool air--
with one cracked pot
my life alone

1793

.閉会に卯の花降し流れけり
heiai ni u no hana kudashi nagare keri

meeting at the fence--
an early summer rain
streams down

The phrase u no hana ("rabbit blossom") denotes Fourth Month in the old calendar, the beginning of summer.

1793

.白雨や三日正月触れる声
yûdachi ya mistuka shôgatsu fureru koe

"A cloudburst!"
his voice like it's New Year's
Day Three

I picture a farmer, thrilled that the summer rain will benefit his crops. Issa implies that the farmer, visited a shrine on the third day of the year to pray to the gods for prosperity. Issa sees a causal connection between that New Year's prayer and this summer shout of joy. The editors of Issa Zenshû note that the characters "white + rain" should be read as yûdachi, not haku-u; 1.263.

1793

.夏の月明地にさわぐ人の声
natsu no tsuki akichi ni sawagu hito no koe

summer moon--
in the vacant lot a ruckus
of voices

1793

.山颪家々の幟に起る也
yama oroshi ya-ya no nobori ni okiru nari

mountain wind--
house after house
with summer banners

Shinji Ogawa provides this paraphrase: "The mountain wind shows itself at the summer banner of each house." To preserve a seven syllable count in the middle phrase, ie-ie ("house after house") might be read, ya-ya.

1793

.更衣しばししらみを忘れたり
koromogae shibashi shirami wo wasuretari

a new summer robe--
for a little while
no lice

Literally, lice are "forgotten" (wasuretari) for a while. Issa has changed into clean, new summer clothes, ridding himself only temporarily of body lice.

1793

.青すだれ白衣の美人通ふ見ゆ
ao sudare byakue no bijin kayou miyu

through green bamboo blinds
a pretty woman
in white

We could add that the woman in white "attends" (kayou) to someone, as Shinji Ogawa points out.

According to Makoto Ueda, this early haiku represents an attempt at Tenmei style, a school of haiku that valued aestheticism and fictional elegance; Dew on the Grass (2004) 30. "Green bamboo blinds" (ao sudare) is a summer season word. The blinds are fresh-made. A year later, they will be yellow.

1793

.夜仕事や子を思ふ身は蚊屋の外
yo shigoto ya ko wo omou mi wa kaya no soto

night work--
outside the mosquito net
she thinks of her child

Or: "he thinks of his child." Issa doesn't specify if the "parent" (oya) is a mother or a father. Either way, it's a haiku about love. The parent toils for food and shelter; the child sleeps, safe and sound inside the net.

1793

.子に肩を間摩す人あり門涼み
ko ni kata wo momasu hito ari kado suzumi

his child massages
his shoulders...
cool air at the gate

A tranquil domestic scene. Originally, I misread this haiku to signify a parent massaging a child's shoulders. Shinji Ogawa corrected me.

1793

.蚊を焼くや紙燭にうつる妹が顔
ka wo yaku ya shisoku ni utsuru imo ga kao

burning mosquitos--
in the paper lamp
my dear one's face

R. H. Blyth explains that the woman's face is being reflected in the oil in which a paper wick is burning; A History of Haiku (1964) 1.354.
Imo ("sister") is a literary word for "dear one"--an intimate term that a man uses to refer to his beloved; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 454. Had Issa been married at this point, I would have translated this, "my wife's face."

1793

.只一つ耳際に蚊の羽かぜ哉
tada hitotsu mimi-giwa ni ka no hakaze kana

only one
fans my ear...
mosquito

In Issa: Cup-of-Tea Poems, I translated this haiku, "one more wing-buzzing mosquito in my ear"; (Berkeley: Asian Humanities, 1991) 43. However, Shinji Ogawa points out that tada hitotsu ("only one") modifies the hakaze (wing-created breeze), not the number of mosquitos. He offers this translation:

close to my ear
a single breeze
from a mosquito

1793

.戸惑や蚊の声さぐる木賃宿
tomadoi ya ka no koe sagurtu kichin yado

getting lost--
I follow the mosquito's whine
to the cheap inn

Issa has lost his bearings at night; the fact that a mosquito's "voice" shows the location of the cheap lodging house doesn't bode well for him getting a good night's sleep.

1793

.人ありて更けて蚊たたく庭の月
hito arite fukete ka tataku niwa no tsuki

staying up late
swatting at mosquitos...
moon over the garden

A splendid moon-gazing party is plagued by uninvited guests.

1793

.出る枝は伐らるる垣のわか葉哉
deru eda wa kiraruru kaki no wakaba kana

proud branches
are trimmed...
fresh leaves of the hedge

Shinji Ogawa explains, "There is a proverb in Japan saying, deru kugi wa utaeru (the nail that sticks out may be hit), i.e., don't be too presumptuous. Issa paraphrases the proverb." Guided by Shinji's insight, I have decided to translate deru eda ("sprouting branches") as "proud branches." This, I think, captures a semantic shade that lies deeper than the literal.
Kaki can mean a fence or a hedge (that may serve as a fence). In this context, "hedge" is clearly the more appropriate term.

1793

.君が世や茂りの下の那蘇仏
kimi ga yo ya shigeri no shita no yaso-botoke

Great Japan--
buried in lush leaves
a Jesus-Buddha

This is Issa's one haiku about Jesus, written at Nagasaki. The foreign sect had been repressed, but stone figures remained. "Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time. Issa wrote this haiku while on a journey to Nagasaki, the site of an old Christian mission. Though this foreign sect was repressed by the local authorities, stone figures of the "Jesus-Buddha" were left behind. Jean Cholley believes that Issa is referring to images of Jesus and Mary disguised as Buddhas, used by clandestine Japanese Christians. Cholley notes, however, that at least one Japanese scholar, Katô Shûson, believes that Issa might have written the haiku about a cross on a tomb; En village de miséreux (1996) 234, note 10.

1793

.菊月や山里里も供日酒
kiku-zuki ya yama-zato sato mo tomo hi-zake

chrysanthemum month--
for every mountain village
days of sake

The Ninth Month (old lunar calendar) is "chrysanthemum month." Plenty of parties for mum-viewing and mum contests are in store.

1793

.酒呑まぬ吾身一つの夜寒哉
sake nomanu waga mi hitotsu no yozamu kana

out of sake
such is my life alone...
a cold night

Difficult to translate, mi hitotsu means "all I have is my physical living body without possessions: alone in the universe." Issa would love to drink sake on this cold, lonely night.

1793

.歯噛みする人に目覚て夜寒哉
hagami suru hito ni mezamete yozamu kana

his grinding teeth
wake me...
a cold night

At first I translated hagami suru as "chattering teeth," but Shinji Ogawa points out that "gnashing" is more accurate.

I picture a scene at an inn.

1793

.秋の夜や旅の男の針仕事
aki no yo ya tabi no otoko no harishigoto

autumn evening--
a traveling man busy
stitching

Robin D. Gill notes that the traveler "must be poor or deliberately solitary for the meshimori woman would sew for him at any inn."

1793

.さらぬだに月に立待惣稼哉
saranu dani tsuki ni tachimatsu sôka kana

not only waiting
for the harvest moon to rise...
streetwalker

The streetwalker (sôka) was the lowest grade of prostitute in Issa's Japan. The expression, sara nu dani has the modern equivalents, sô de nakute sae and tadadesae ("not only"); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 932, 724. The prostitute isn't only waiting for the moon; she's waiting for her customers. The moon is that of the 17th day of Eighth Month--two days past the full harvest moon. Because Western readers usually aren't aware of the fine distinction between a full moon and a two days past full moon, in my translation I render it, simply, "harvest moon." In his book, Issa to onnatachi ("Issa and Women"), Kobayashi Masafumi cites this poem as an example of a haiku that "strikes the heart" (2004) 41. I agree.

1793

.秋風や水かさ定まる大井川
akikaze ya mikasa sadamaru ôi-gawa

autumn wind--
Oi River has reached
full volume

With the coming of autumn the river has finally reached its full "water volume" (mikasa, short for mizukasa).

1793

.花の原誰かさ敷る跡に哉
hana nohara taga kasa shikeru ato ni kana

field of flowers--
whose umbrella-hat
marked you?

Shinji Ogawa notes that ato in this haiku refers to a "mark." Someone has laid his or her umbrella-hat on the flowers, leaving a hat-shaped impression.

1793

.手叩て親の教ゆるをどり哉
te tataite oya no oshiyuru odori kana

hands clapping
mother teaches her child
the dance

The "parent" (oya) could also be a father. The "dance" referred to pertains to the autumn Bon Festival. The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

1793

.湖や鴛の側ゆく夜這星
mizuumi ya oshi no soba yuku yobaiboshi

in the lake
by a mandarin duck...
shooting star

The shooting star's reflection appears next to the mandarin duck (oshi). Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together. The female star (Vega) is pictured as a weaver; the male, a herder. Since yobaiboshi can mean both "night-creeping star" and "shooting star," the Herder is imagined to become a shooting star on this one magical night of the year, crossing the River to be with his love.

1793

.落し水魚も古郷へもどる哉
otoshi mizu uo mo kokyô e modoru kana

draining the rice field--
a fish also
heads home

In autumn when the rice is ready for harvest, farmers break the dikes that have kept the fields flooded. In this charming haiku Issa muses that the fish, too, is returning to its "native village" (kokyô)--an excellent example of his portrayal of animal behavior in human terms.

1793

.神がきや濁酒にさわぐ人の声
kamigaki ya dakushu ni sawagu hito no koe

shrine fence--
raw sake raises
a ruckus of voices

The kamigaki is a decorative fence around a Shinto shrine. The rice in unrefined or raw sake is not as finely milled as refined sake, but it's still drinakable and potent.

1793

.鞍壷に三ッ四ッ六ッいなご哉
kuratsubo ni mittsu yotsu mutsu inago kana

on the saddle
three, four, six...
locusts

Kuratsubo is an old word that denotes the part of the saddle that is indented for the rider's bottom; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 525.

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) notes that inago ("locust") can be spelled with the Japanese numbers, 1 (i), 7 (na) and 5 (go). This creates a numerical game in the haiku, where every number from 1 to 7 is mentioned. In addition, Sakuo recognizes that this haiku is a parody of Bashô's poem:
kuratsubo ni ko-bôzu noru ya daiko hiki

in the saddle
a little boy rides...
radish picking

1793

.きりぎりすしばし布団のうへに哉
kirigirisu shibashi futon no ue ni kana

katydid--
for a little while
on my futon

This haiku has the headnote, "A leisurely night." A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

1793

.吹降やされど師走の人通り
fukiburi ya saredo shiwasu no hito tôri

driving rain--
in Twelfth Month a man
passes by

1793

.黒雲や雪降る山を分登る
kurokumo ya yuki furu yama wo wakenoboru

dark clouds--
climbing a mountain
of fallen snow

Issa is more accurately "plowing through while climbing" (wake noboru) the new snow mountain. Dark clouds add an exclamation point to this dreary winter scene.

1793

.なりはいや雪に按摩の笛の声
nariwai ya yuki ni anma no fue no koe

his livelihood--
blind masseur playing flute
in the snow

As in other cultures, blind men traditionally worked as masseurs in Japan.

1793

.雪の朝や先隠居家へ作り道
yuki no asa ya mazu inkyo ya e tsukuri michi

snowy morning--
first I dig a path
to my hermitage

Or: "he digs...his hermitage." Issa doesn't use the first-person pronoun, but this is implied.

1793

.追れ行人のうしろや雪明かり
oware kôjin no ushiro ya yuki akari

walking behind
a traveler...
path through snow

Saving energy, Issa lets the man ahead of him form a path in the new-fallen snow.

1793

.遠方や枯野の小家の灯の見ゆる
enpô ya kareno no koya no hi no miyuru

distant sight--
in withered fields
a little house's lamp

This early haiku is filled with sabi, that sense of existential aloneness that was so essential in the work of Matsuo Bashô. Without doubt, Bashô served as Issa's model, especially at this early stage.

1793

.君が世や寺へも配る伊勢暦
kimi ga yo ya tera e mo kubaru ise-goyomi

Great Japan!
even for a Buddhist temple
Ise Shrine's calendar

Or: "Ise Shrine's almanac." Issa is referring to the great Shinto shrine at Ise. "Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time. Yo is normally written with the kanji for "age" or "era," but here Issa uses the one for "world." His meaning is the same. In the haiku he celebrates the peculiarly Japanese syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto.

1793

.君が世やから人も来て年ごもり
kimi ga yo ya karabito mo kite toshi-gomori

Great Japan--
a foreigner also attends
the year's end service!

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time. In 1793, Issa visited the port city of Nagasaki, where he encountered, possibly for the first time, a European--most likely a Dutchman.

1793

.冬篭り鳥料理にも念仏哉
fuyugomori tori ryôri ni mo nebutsu kana

winter seclusion--
cooking a chicken
praising Buddha

This haiku refers to the nembutsu ("Namu Amida Butsu"--"All praise to Amida Buddha"), a prayer of thanksgiving for, and praise of, Amida Buddha's liberating power. Eons ago, Amida promised that all who rely on him will be reborn in the Pure Land (the Western Paradise). This means that even the sinner who kills the chicken, trusting in Amida, can reach the Pure Land--both a mythic place and a metaphor for enlightenment. The patriarch of Jôdoshinshû, Shinran, insisted that sinners could be rescued by Amida's "Other Power."

1793

.思ふ人の側へ割込む炬燵哉
omou hito no soba e warikomu kotatsu kana

squeezing in next
to my lover...
quilt-covered brazier

Or: "his lover." Issa doesn't specifically say that he is the one squeezing in, but this might be inferred. This haiku has the headnote, "Lovers." A kotatsu is a quilt-covered brazier. Gabi Greve brought this to my attention and helped with its translation. She writes, "To sit near a person you love in a kotatsu is quite a different thing than sitting beside a fireplace. Nobody can see your legs in the dark, and we often call it 'playing footsies.' It is difficult to translate this word without giving a long explanation or show a picture to explain what it is."

1793

.楼や不二見る方へ置炬燵
takadono ya fuji miru kata e okigotatsu

watchtower--
on the Fuji-facing side
a brazier

Whether one is guarding a province or sight-seeing, the preferred direction to watch is of course is toward Mount Fuji, hence the brazier is on that side, keeping viewers warm.

1793

.すぎはひやほた一つ掘に小一日
sugiwai ya hota hitotsu horu ni ko ichi nichi

an all-day job--
digging one small chunk
of firewood

Is the firewood in question perhaps a tree stump?

1793

.起なんとして埋火を見る夜明哉
oki nantoshite uzumibi wo miru yoake kana

waking up at dawn
top priority...
check banked fire

A "banked fire" is a fire covered with ashes to ensure low burning. This early haiku by Issa has an unusual 7-7-5 structure of sound units.

1793

.糞土より梅へ飛んだりみそさざい
fundo yori ume e tondari misosazai

from crappy ground
to the plum tree
the wren

1793

.俤や身投げし迹に鴛あそぶ
omokage ya minageshi ato ni oshi asobu

after the suicide
drowning...
mandarin ducks play

Issa begins this shocking early haiku with the word, omokage ("remnant" or "vestige"). A tragic event has occurred, but in the ripples it caused life goes on.

1793

.君が世や舟にも馴れてうき寝鳥
kimi ga yo ya fune ni mo narete ukinedori

Great Japan!
accustomed to the boat
a waterfowl sleeps

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reighn and begins the Japanese national anthem.

1793

.冬枯て窓はあかるき雨夜哉
fuyugarete mado wa akaruki ame yo kana

winter withering
leaves light in the window...
rainy evening

Less foliage from nearby trees is allowing more light into the window, even during an evening rain.

1793

.冬枯やあらしの中の御神灯
fuyugare ya arashi no naka no go-shintô

winter withering--
amid the storm
a sacred lantern

The lantern might also be translated, "festival lantern." Literally, it is a "lantern of the gods."

1793

.冬枯や男花のうへの一つ道
fuyugare ya obana no ue no hitotsu michi

winter withering--
over flattened plume grass
a path

Since the normally impassable plume grass is dry and lifeless, someone has forged a path over it. I've added the word "flattened" (a word that Issa doesn't use) to clarify what I believe to be his meaning.

1793

.冬枯や桜もわらの掛どころ
fuyugare ya sakura mo wara no kake-dokoro

winter withering--
even the cherry tree
a place for straw

1793

.冬枯や飛び飛びに菜のこぼれ種
fuyugare ya tobi-tobi ni na no kobore tane

winter withering--
tumbling now and then
vegetable seeds

1793

.冬枯や松火とがむる人の声
fuyugare ya matsubi togamuru hito no koe

winter withering--
people's voices criticize
the pine fire

Some people are never satisfied!

1793

.山茶花や花の間に間に蝦かづら
sazanka ya hana no ma ni ma ni ebikazura

sasanqua tree--
blooming where permitted
by the grapevine

The sazanka (camellia sasanqua) is a small evergreen tree with white or pale red blossoms in winter. The grapevie is, specifically, the woody crimson glory vine (Vitis Coignetiae).

1794

.雑煮いはふ吾も物かは旅の春
zôni iwau ware mo monoka wa tabi no haru

I too celebrate
with zoni...
spring journey

Zôni, glutinous rice cakes with vegetables, is enjoyed in the New Year's season. Monoka, usually written with a different kanji than the one that Issa uses here, can mean nante a negative expression; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1634. I believe that Issa's meaning is: "Why don't I also celebrate with zôni as I set off on my spring journey?" If I'm understanding him, the negative is conveying a positive.

1794

.初夢に古郷を見て涙哉
hatsu yume ni furusato wo mite namida kana

in the year's first dream
my home village...
tears

Excluding a brief visit three years earlier, at the time of the haiku's composition in 1794 he had been away from home for 17 long years. According to Makoto Ueda, Issa wrote this homesick haiku while staying at Nagasaki, where he celebrated the new year; Dew on the Grass (2004) 28.

1794

.岩がねや塵をし分て福寿草
iwa ga ne ya chiri oshiwakete fukuju kusa

pushing up through
the dust...
a New Year's flower

Fukuju kusa is, literally, "prosperity grass" or "longevity grass"--a New Year's season word. Shinji Ogawa explains that this is the plant, pheasant's eye, which blooms in early spring. Since pheasant's eye blooms around New Year's Day in the old Japanese calendar, its other name is New Year's Grass. In my translation I render it "New Year's flower," so that the English-speaking reader might picture a blooming plant in the New Year's season.

1794

.きぬぎぬやかすむ迄見る妹が家
kinu-ginu ya kasumu made miru imo ga ie

lovers parting--
looking back at her house
until only mist

This unusually romantic haiku has the headnote, "Parting lovers." On the morning after a night of passion, lovers depart. The last line, imo ga ie, refers to the "dear one's house," (imo) being an intimate term that a man uses to refer to his beloved.

According to Makoto Ueda, this early haiku represents an attempt at Tenmei style, a school of haiku that valued aestheticism and fictional elegance; Dew on the Grass (2004) 31.

Shinji Ogawa notes, "it is the man (Issa) who turns to look at her house again and again until it fades into mist."

For definitions of kinu-ginu and imo see Kogo dai jiten (1983) 167; 454.

1794

.行く人や我休む間に遠がすみ
yuku hito ya waga yasumu ma ni tô-gasumi

traveling man--
formed during my rest stop
far mist

Issa is the traveling man in the scene.

1794

.窓明て蝶を見送る野原哉
mado akete chô wo mi-okuru no hara kana

opening the window
I see the butterfly off...
into the field

Issa ends the haiku with, simply, "the field" (no hara), suggesting that the butterfly (after being trapped indoors) now joyfully flits into a flowery, grassy meadow.

1794

.高山や花見序の寺参り
takayama ya hanami tsuide no tera mairi

Mount Taka--
while viewing blossoms
a temple pilgrimage

An example of multi-tasking: while on a pilgrimage to a Buddhist temple, Issa enjoys the spring blossoms. "Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1794

.奈良坂や花の咲く夜も鹿の声
narazaka ya hana no saku yo mo shika no koe

Narazaka--
even as night's blossoms bloom
the cry of a deer

Narazaka is a section of the ancient capital of Japan, Nara. It is the location of the Nara Zuhiko Shrine. "Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku. I wonder is Issa is implying that the deer should be happy to see the blossoms; yet, even on this night, he hears its plaintive call.

1794

.桃咲やおくれ年始のとまり客
momo saku ya okure nenshi no tomari kyaku

peach blossoms--
a belated "Happy New Year!"
for the inn's guests

1794

.茶の煙柳と共にそよぐ也
cha no kemuri yanagi to tomo ni soyogu nari

the tea smoke
and the willow
together trembling

Literally, they tremble together. In my earlier, freer translation, I ended with "dance partners."

1794

.夏の暁や牛に寝てゆく秣刈
ge no ake ya ushi ni nete yuku magusa kari

summer dawn--
riding an ox, asleep
the hay cutter

In this very early haiku, Issa gives us a snapshot of rural life.

1794

.山うらを夕日に巡るあつさ哉
yama ura wo yûhi ni meguru atsusa kana

evening sun cradles
the mountain's back...
the heat

1794

.涼しさや半月うごく溜まり水
suzushisa ya hangetsu ugoku tamarimizu

cool air--
the half moon moves
across a puddle

Or: "across puddles." Literally, tamarimizu denotes "standing water" or "stagnant water." In William J. Higginson's translation (assisted by Emiko Sakurai), the half-moon "shifts puddles"; The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku (Tokyo: Kodansha International,1985) 19.

1794

.竹原や余処の白雨に風騒ぐ
takahara ya yoso no yudachi ni kaze sawagu

bamboo grove--
noisy wind
from a cloudburst elsewhere

The editors of Issa Zenshû say that the characters "white + rain" should be read here as yudachi not haku-u; 1.263.

1794

.棒突がごもくを流す白雨哉
bô tsuki ga gomoku wo nagasu yudachi kana

my walking stick
sends the trash floating...
cloudburst

Gomoku is an old word for gomi: trash or rubbish; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 654.

The Japanese word for a summer "cloudburst" is normally pronounced with four on (sound units): yûdachi, but here it is shortened to three to fit the 5-7-5 pattern of a haiku: yudachi.

1794

.雲の峰外山は雨に黒む哉
kumo no mine toyama wa ame ni kuromu kana

billowing clouds--
the mountains in the rain
all black

Or: "the mountain..." Toyama (often translated as "foothills") refers to any mountain located near a village; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1185. Issa paints a striking vista: billowing white clouds, so dense that the mountains below are black.

1794

.雲のみね見越見越て阿蘇煙
kumo no mine mikoshi mikoshite aso kemuri

billowing clouds
and right below...
Mount Aso smokes

Clouds above, a cloud below. Mount Aso is a volcano in Kyûshû. In Japanese, Issa plays with the words "mountain" and "peak." Above the mountain floats another mountain: the "peaks" of summer clouds.

1794

.憎るる稗は穂に出て青田原
nikumaruru hie wa ho ni dete aodabara

the hated barnyard grass
rears its head...
green rice field

The unwanted "barnyard grass" (hie) forms heads of seed in a rice field. In an 1804 rewrite Issa changes this to simply "grass" (kusa).

1794

.ふるや雨なくやはやしの蛙哉
furu ya ame naku ya hayashi no kawazu kana

"Rain's falling!"
in trees they cheer...
frogs

The frogs (kawazu) in this scene are tree frogs because they appear in woods or a grove (hayashi). This is what the editors in Issa zenshû note in one volume (2.65)--though in a different volume they read the hiragana differently to mean "musical accompaniment" or "cheering" (1.355). I suspect that Issa, punning, intends all these meanings.

1794

.雨垂の内外にむるる藪蚊哉
amadare no uchito ni mururu yabu ka kana

in and out of raindrops
they swarm...
mosquitos

The word amadare can mean "raindrops" or "eavesdrops." In this context, "raindrops" make for a more dynamic image.

1794

.芥子の花々と見る間にあらし哉
keshi no hana hana to miru ma ni arashi kana

while looking
at poppies, poppies...
a storm

Issa is so absorbed in the beauty of the flowers, he doesn't notice the storm brewing. A moment of peace, then nature's violence.

1794

.垣津旗よりあの虹は起りけん
kakitsubata yori ano niji wa okoriken

irises--
where that rainbow
starts from

Issa imagines that the rainbow has arisen from blooming irises--the intense, showy colors of the flowers continuing in bold streaks upward, into the sky, forming the rainbow. It's interesting that "iris" derives from the Greek word for "rainbow." Issa could not have known this, but he intuits the same connection that exists in many Western languages. The rainbow is a flower in the sky; irises are rainbows on earth.

1794

.やや寝よき夜となれば夜の寒哉
yaya neyoki yo to nareba yo no samusa kana

soon I'll sleep--
when night falls
night cold

Perhaps Issa is going to bed early, preferring the warmth of his futon to the night coldness.

1794

.露の野にかた袖寒き朝日哉
tsuyu no no ni kata sode samuki asahi kana

in the dewy field
one sleeve cold...
rising sun

Issa feels warm on the sunlit side, cold on the other.

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) pictures the following: as the sun begins to rise, one sleeve receives the sunlight; the other remains in shadow. One sleeve is warm; the other cold. This juxtaposition of cold autumn field and bright rising sun, he adds, "makes the haiku's impression strong."

1794

.あぢきなや魂迎へ火を火とり虫
ajikina ya tama mukae hi wo hitorimushi

bad luck!
into the bonfire for the dead
a tiger moth

The insect's name, hitorimushi, literally means, "fire-taken bug." Tiger moths are drawn to fire, often to their deaths. Issa is referring to tamamukae: a Bon Festival ritual for welcoming the spirits of the dead.

1794

.それでこそ奉公忘れめ盆おどり
sore de koso hôkô wasureme bon odori

perfect for forgetting
one's apprenticeship...
Bon Festival dance

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration.

1794

.すくも火やかがしの果も夕煙り
sukumo-bi ya kagashi no hate mo yû keburi

bonfire--
a scarecrow also ends up
in evening's smoke

Literally a "peat fire" (sukumo-bi). This early haiku by Issa, written at age 32, shows the compassion, offbeat humor, and Buddhist theme of transience that fill his later work.

1794

.神世より色替ぬ哉松と波
kamiyo yori irokaenu kana matsu to nami

straight from the gods
unchanging colors...
pine and waves

The image of a pine tree that doesn't change its colors is an autumn seasonal expression in haiku. The green of pines stands out especially well when surrounding trees turn brown. In this early haiku, Issa celebrates the unchanging green of the trees. Perhaps this color can be seen as well reflected in the nearby sea, or perhaps he is praising the unchanging green of the pines and blue of the ocean.

1794

.せせなぎや氷を走る炊ぎ水
sesenagi ya kôri wo hashiru kashigimizu

a gutter--
racing over ice
the cooking water

Issa ends the haiku with kashigimizu, "cooking water." French translator Jean Cholley is probably correct to assume that this is ("l'eau de caisson du riz": "rice-cooking water"; En village de miséreux (1996) 37. Sesenagi is an old word for a ditch or gutter; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 912.

1794

.冬の月いよいよいよの高根哉
fuyu no tsuki iyo-iyo-iyo no takane kana

winter moon--
more and more and more
tall peaks

This haiku has the headnote, "A distant view."

1794

.初雪に昨夜の松明のほこり哉
hatsu yuki ni kizo no taimatsu no hokori kana

in first snow
last night's pine torch
remnant

Issa uses the word hokori ("dust") in its older sense as "remnant": in the new-fallen snow he sees the charred remains of last night's torch. A nice example of both juxtaposition and seasonal mood in haiku. See Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1483.

1794

.家陰や吹雪吹雪の吹き溜り
ie kage ya fubuki fubuki no fuki damari

shady side of the house--
the blizzard blows
a pile

1794

.灯ちらちら疱瘡小家の吹雪哉
hi chira-chira mogasa ko ie no fubuki kana

lamplight flickers
in the smallpox shack...
a blizzard

Issa is referring to an infirmary for isolation cases on the outskirts of Nagasaki. Illness and winter: a terrible mix.

1794

.畠打がうてば唸る霰かな
hata uchi ga uteba unaru arare kana

plowing the field--
the clatter
of hailstones

1794

.朝霜に潮を散す宮居哉
asa-jimo ni ushio wo chirasu miyai kana

morning frost melts
in the floodtide...
Shinto shrine

The haiku's last image, miyai, can mean imperial palace or shrine compound. Since the action takes place on the seashore, I assume that he means a Shinto shrine compound, the imperial palace in Kyoto being far from the sea.

Shinji Ogawa believes that, Issa may be referring to the Miyajima Shrine (also called as Itsukushima Shrine), built in the sea and located in Hiroshima Prefecture. Indeed, the year of the haiku's composition, 1794, coincides with Issa's journey throughout Kyûshû Island, a short boat ride across the Inland Sea to Hiroshima Prefecture.

1794

.朝霜に野鍛冶が散火走る哉
asa-jimo ni no kaji ga chiribi hashiru kana

on the morning frost
the blacksmith's sparks
spurting

As a haiku poet, Issa attends to the wonders of the ordinary. The blacksmith pounds on heated metal, sparks spurting onto the morning frost. Issa doesn't say what this juxtaposition of fire and ice means; he doesn't editorialize or suggest what we should think ... or feel. He simply presents the scene and lets the reader's heart and mind do the rest.

I've revised my translation of this haiku, guided by that of French translator L. Mabesoone in Issa to kuhi (Tokyo: Kankohkai 2003) 39. Not included in either of our translations, however, is Issa's word "field" (no), indicating that the man is a "field blacksmith," i.e. working outdoors.

1794

.暁の霜に風呂屋が門をたたく哉
ake no shimo ni furoya ga kado wo tataku kana

dawn frost--
at the bathhouse gate
knocking

An early customer (Issa)?

1794

.葉うらうら灯影とどかぬ里神楽
ha ura-ura hokage todokanu sato kagura

touched gently
by lamp-lit leaf shadows...
Shinto dancers

Villagers are taking part in a sacred dance in winter.

1794

.朝な朝な焼大根哉冬ごもり
asana-asana yaki daiko kana fuyugomori

morning after morning
damn roasted radishes!
winter seclusion

I have added "damn" to the translation to convey the feeling that I sense in the original poem: Issa is sick and tired of the limited food supply during his long winter seclusion.

1794

.うら町や炭団手伝ふ美少年
uramachi ya tadon tetsudau bishônen

backstreet--
helping with briquettes
a beautiful boy

A "beautiful boy" (bishônen) is helping someone (a parent? a boss? Issa?) with charcoal briquettes--perhaps adding them to a fire, perhaps helping to carry them.

1794

.小夜更けてもへみももへずみ榾火哉
sayo fukete moe-mi moezu-mi hotabi kana

evening deepens--
burning, not burning
wood fire

I sense a parable buried in this image.

1794

.猪追ふやすすきを走る夜の声
shishi ou ya susuki wo hashiru yoru no koe

boar hunt--
swiftly through the plume grass
evening shouts

Hunting wild boar is a winter activity.

1794

.落葉焚く妹が黒髪つつむ哉
ochiba taku imo ga kuro-gami tsutsumu kana

burning leaves--
sweet potatoes wrapped
in black paper

Shinji Ogawa notes, "It is a popular practice to cook sweet potatoes by inserting them in the pile of leaves, especially popular among children and girls." Since kuro gami or kuro kami are also homonyms (for "black hair" and "black paper"), Shinji believes that Issa is punning.

The scene is winter, since "burning leaves" and "fallen leaves" are winter season words in Japanese haiku. One pictures the happy children gathered around the burning pile of leaves on a cold day, waiting with excitement for their paper-wrapped treats while dark smoke rises into the sky. Issa presents a wonderful slice-of-life image.

1795

.元日やさらに旅宿とおもほへず
ganjitsu ya sara ni ryoshuku to omohoezu

New Year's Day--
that I'm still on this journey
unbelievable

This haiku is the lead poem in Issa's 1795 travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travelogue"); Issa zenshû (1976-79) 5.35.

Shinji Ogawa explains that ryoshuku ("inn"), in this context, signifies "journey." Shinji notes that Issa started off on the 25th day of Third Month, 1792, and when this haiku was composed on New Year's Day of 1795, he was still on the same journey. Sara ni signifies "once more," or "over again." In this situation, it means, "still." Issa is still on his great journey--a fact that seems, suddenly, incredible to him.

1795

.乞食も護摩酢酌むらん今日の春
konjiki mo gomazu kumuran kyô no haru

even beggars toast
with sesame sake...
first of spring

The ending -ran changes the verb into a conjecture ("they may or may not be drinking"). In my translation, I use the verb "toast" in its simple, present tense, but Issa more exactly is saying, "perhaps even beggars may toast..." In English, the "perhaps" and "may" weaken the poem, so I've left them out.

The word kotsujiki is the old pronunciation of the word "beggar" in this haiku. However, Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) writes that "Issa usually didn't like to use such a snobby word. He liked to use local accent to form his characteristic haiku style." Sakuo grew up in the same language area as Issa and feels confident that Issa would have pronounced the word, konjiki.

1795

.出て見れば我のみならず初旅寝
dete mireba ware no mi narazu hatsu tabine

off on a journey
I'm not alone...
first inn of the year

Shinji Ogawa translates ware no mi narazu as "I'm not alone." Issa discovers that he is not the only one setting out on a journey on New Year's Day. Dete mireba, literally "when going outside," in this situation means, "while on a journey."

1795

.くつさめは我がうはさか旅の春
kussame wa ware ga uwasa ka tabi no haru

"Ah-choo!"
is someone gossiping about me?
spring journey

Shinji Ogawa explains that there is a belief in Japan that when a person sneezes, this indicates that someone is talking about him or her.

1795

.なべ一つ柳一本も是も春
nabe hitotsu yanagi ippon mo kore mo haru

one kettle
one willow tree...
this too is spring

This haiku celebrates the first day of spring, which was the first day of the year in the old Japanese calendar.

1795

.召仕新しき哉小正月
meshi tsukai atarashiki kana ko shôgatsu

the servants
all are new...
Little New Year's

Little New Year's is celebrated on the 15th and 16th days of First Month. Meshi tsukau is an old expression for a nobleman sending for a person to come and render a service; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1612. Shinji Ogawa notes that in Issa's time, this phrase could signify any one of a wide range of employees, from samurai to maids.

1795

.吾恵方参は正月ざくら哉
waga ehô mairi wa shôgatsu-zakura kana

my New Year's
lucky direction walk...
to cherry blossoms

This haiku refers to the New Year's custom of visiting a shrine or temple located in a lucky direction. It appears in Issa's 1795 travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travelogue").

Robin D. Gill (author of Cherry Blossom Epiphany) writes, "Plum blossoms rather than cherry blossoms are normal for the New Year season. Issa was delighted to find he could head in the lucky direction for that year and visit a temple with a specific cherry tree famous for blooming every year on the sixteenth day of the month."

1795

.家飛々凧も三ッ四ッふたつ哉
ie tobi-tobi tako mo mitsu yotsu futatsu kana

houses here and there
fly kites, three...four...
two

This early haiku appears in Issa's 1795 travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travelogue"). Shinji Ogawa explains that tobi-tobi ("jump-jump" or "skip-skip") means "here and there" or "sporadic." It modifies the houses. He adds, "By counting the New Year's kites, Issa elevates the still picture to a movie."

1795

.凧青葉を出つ入つ哉
ikanobori aoba wo idetsu iritsu kana

New Year's kite--
out of green leaves
then back in

This early haiku appears in Issa's 1795 travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travelogue").

1795

.遠かたや凧の上ゆくほかけ舟
ochikata ya tako no ue yuku hokake-bune

far away--
gliding above the kite
a sailboat

This haiku has the headnote, Rambling to a coastal inlet. Is the boat sailing over a kite that has fallen into the water, or is it sailing over a reflection? The reader must decide.

1795

.日でり雨凧にかかると思ふ哉
hideri ame tako ni kakaru to omou kana

sunny day rain
has splashed the kite...
it seems

This early haiku appears in Issa's 1795 travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travelogue"). Shinji Ogawa explains that hideri ame ("clear sky rain") means "the rain while the sun is shining."

1795

.雨の日や猿起きさるる猿まはし
ame no hi ya saru okisaruru saru mawashi

rainy day--
a monkey dancing
wakes up another

Dancing monkeys perform their tricks in the New Year's season.

1795

.七草の音に負じと烏かな
nanakusa no oto ni makeji to karasu kana

pounding the seven herbs
doesn't drown him out...
crow

The seven herbs of health (nanakusa) were eaten at New Year's. In this haiku, a crow's raucous cawing in "not defeated" (makeji) by the sound of the herbs being pounded into a gruel.

1795

.長閑や雨後の縄ばり庭雀
nodokeshi ya ugo no nawabari niwa suzume

spring peace--
after rain, a gang war
garden sparrows

Shinji Ogawa clarifies the meaning of this haiku. He explains, "The word nawabari (to stretch a rope) means the 'turf' for mobsters." He translates the second and third phrases, "a turf war among the garden sparrows."

1795

.長閑しや雨後の畠の朝煙り
nodokeshi ya ugo no hatake no asa kemuri

spring peace--
the rained-on field's
morning smoke

1795

.已に春ちる露見えて松の月
sude ni haru chiru tsuyu miete matsu no tsuki

spring dew
is sparkling already...
moon in the pine

Dewdrops are normally associated with autumn. This is Issa's only haiku about spring dew.

1795

.忌明けの伽に来る日ぞ春の雨
imiake no togi ni kuru hi zo haru no ame

the period of mourning
ends today...
spring rain

1795

.起て見れば春雨はれず日も暮れず
okite mireba harusame harezu hi mo kurezu

waking up--
the spring rain hasn't cleared
the day hasn't ended

This haiku appears in Issa's 1795 travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travelogue").

1795

.春雨や独法談二はいかい
harusame ya hitori hôdan ni haikai

spring rain--
one Buddhist sermon
two haiku

This haiku appears in Issa's 1795 travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travelogue").

1795

.春風や順礼共がねり供養
harukaze ya junrei-domo ga nerikuyô

spring breeze--
pilgrims on their way
to rites for the dead

Life and death powerfully juxtaposed. The nerikuyô is a memorial service at temples to petition Amida Buddha to guide spirits of the dead to the Pure Land.

1795

.朧々ふめば水也まよひ道
oboro-oboro fumeba mizu nari mayoi michi

in hazy moonlight
stepping into water...
losing my way

Issa doesn't use the word "moon," but he implies the moon's presence with oboro: "hazy and dim," a word associated with the spring moon. Hiroshi Kobori notes that the poet's state of mind is like the hazy night. He feels insecure and bewildered, aware of the uncertainty of his own future. This haiku alludes to the death of one of Issa's friends, a Buddhist priest named Sarai. Issa traveled over 300 ri (732 miles) "without a soul to lean on, going over the fields..." but was refused admission to the temple. See Issa zenshû (1976-79) 5.36. Makoto Ueda reports that Issa found a place to stay that night "just one hundred feet away"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 33.

1795

.朝がすみ天守の雨戸聞へけり
asa-gasumi tenshu no amado kikoe keri

morning mist--
the castle's shutters
bang open

Literally, Issa says that the "shutter(s)" or "storm door(s)" can be heard. At first I imagined someone shutting them, but Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) points out that in the morning the shutters would be opening.

In his translation, Makoto Ueda imagines the sound is a "creak"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 34.

1795

.門前や何万石の遠がすみ
monzen ya nan man-goku no tô-gasumi

at the gate
how many thousands of bushels
of far mist?

Issa asks how many "ten-thousands" (man) of koku might there be. 1 koku = 4.96 bushels.

1795

.汲みて知るぬるみに昔なつかしや
kumite shiru nurumi ni mukashi natsukashi ya

drawing water
it's tepid...
nostalgia for olden times

This haiku, written during Issa's journey to Matsuyama on Shikoku Island, was inspired by a stone monument containing a haiku by Bashô that includes the lines, "thrusting in my hands I noticed/ the urn water" (te wo irete shiru/ kame no mizu). Natsukashi, has no exact English equivalent. It usually connotes the feeling of something dear or fondly remembered--a sort of sweet nostalgia.

1795

.魁てうき草浮けり苗代田
sakigakete uki kusa uki keri nawashiroda

duckweed is first
to float...
rice-seedling bed

This haiku refers to the flooded field where rice is planted.

1795

.帳閉る加勢いもせずに旅寝とは
chô tozuru kazei mo sezu ni tabine to wa

not assisting
the rehiding of the Buddha...
sleeping travelers

The editors of Issa zenshû read the verb tojiru ("to close") as tozuru; 1.102. In springtime some Buddhist temples allow pilgrims to see statues usually hidden from public view. Here, the viewing is over and the statue is being rechidden.

1795

.いつの間に乙鳥は皆巣立けり
itsu no ma ni tsubakura wa mina su-dachi keri

when did they go?
all the swallows' nests
empty

1795

.天に雲雀人間海にあそぶ日ぞ
ten ni hibari ningen umi ni asobu hi zo

larks in the sky
people in the sea...
a holiday

This haiku is similar to one written two years earlier, in 1793:
kumo ni tori ningen umi ni asobu hi zo

birds in the clouds
people in the sea...
a holiday

Jean Cholley believes that the people in the above haiku are gathering shellfish. Perhaps this is what is going on in the present haiku as well; see En village de miséreux (1996) 234, note 9.

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) notices the "interesting contrast" between the vertical (birds in the clouds) and the horizontal (the sea). And the poem ends, he adds, with the psychological: it's a holiday, no work!

1795

.蛙鳴き鶏なき東しらみけり
kawazu naki tori naki higashi shirami keri

frogs sing, roosters sing
the east
turns light

According to the headnote, Issa set out before dawn with a Buddhist priest, Hôzen, as his traveling companion. He composed this haiku en route.

1795

.蝶と共に吾も七野を巡る哉
chô to tomo ni ware mo nana no wo meguru kana

a butterfly my companion
through Nana Field
we wander

1795

.寝ころんで蝶泊らせる外湯哉
ne-koronde chô tomaraseru soto yu kana

lying down
with a visiting butterfly...
outer hot spring

This haiku has the headnote, "Close by Dôgo Hot Spring." The hot spring Issa enjoyed that day was an open air pool of overflow water just to the west of Dôgo Spa in Matsuyama. Issa didn't realize that the pool was intended for horses and cows, not people. I thank Takashi Kasegawa, president of the Shiki Museum in Matsuyama, for helping me to grasp this poem. Shinji Ogawa helped translate the headnote.

1795

.白魚のしろきが中に青藻哉
shirauo no shiroki ga naka ni aomo kana

amid the white
of little fishes...
duckweed's green

This early gem of a haiku by Issa at age 33 is starkly visual. Shirauo can refer to icefish or whitebait.

1795

.平家蟹昔はここで月見船
heike-gani mukashi wa koko de tsukimi-bune

Heike crabs--
long ago they moon-gazed here
on boats

Crabs with special markings resembling faces of samurai are thought to be reincarnated heroes who died in a famous battle, recounted in the medieval Tale of the Heike. Issa muses that in olden times (mukashi), these crabs were men, enjoying moon parties on boats.

1795

.海のなき国をおもひきる田にし哉
umi no naki kuni wo omoikiru tanishi kana

resigning himself
to this oceanless province...
pond snail

Or: "resigning themselves ... pond snails." And one more possibility: "resigning herself."

1795

.藤咲くや順礼の声鳥の声
fuji saku ya junrei no koe tori no koe

wisteria in bloom--
voices of pilgrims
voices of birds

The presence of "pilgrims" (junrei) suggests that the setting is a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine.

1795

.梅がかに障子ひらけば月夜哉
ume ga ka ni shôji hirakeba tsuki yo kana

plum blossom scent--
when I open my paper door
a bright moon

1795

.梅の月一枚のこす雨戸哉
ume no tsuki ichi mai no kosu amado kana

for the moon over plum blossoms
I leave one open...
rain shutter

Issa (age 33) wrote this during a journey to Shikoku Island. Honoring the moon, for the young poet, meant honoring and following the great master of haiku, Bashô.

1795

.正風の三尊見たり梅の宿
shôfû no san-zon mitari ume no yado

I view three masters
of the original style...
plum blossom inn

This obscure haiku is clarified by its prose context in Issa's journal. He was visiting Matsuyama on Shikoku Island, where he saw three hanging scrolls containing haiku by Bashô and two other poets of Bashô's school ("original style"): Kikaku and Sodô. I thank Takashi Kasegawa, president of the Shiki Museum in Matsuyama, for providing information on this haiku.

1795

.或時は花の都にも倦にけり
aru toki wa hana no miyako ni mo aki ni keri

there comes a time
even in blossoming Kyoto...
sick of it

In this comic haiku, all the hoopla over the cherry blossoms, after a while, gets tiresome. The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

1795

.拝上頭に花の雫かな
ogami agu kashira ni hana no shizuku kana

to my upturned face
as I pray, blossoms
drip down

Or: "to his upturned face/ as he prays..." This haiku has the headnote, "Second Month, 22nd day [...] after a rain, cherry blossoms dripped down. On a pilgrimage to shrines and temples." It appears in Issa's early travel journal, Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travel Diary"). Though he describes them as cherry blossoms in the headnote, in the haiku he refers to them simply as "blossoms" (hana); this can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1795

.塚の花にぬかづけや古郷なつかしや
tsuka no hana ni nukazuke ya kokyô natsukashi ya

amid his grave's
blossoms I bow...
missing him

This haiku has the headnote, "Praying at my dead master's monument." The editors of Issa zenshû explain that Issa was visiting the tombstone of his haiku teacher Chikua (who died five years earlier, in 1790). The whereabouts of Chikua's grave is unknown; (1976-79) 5.62, note 96.

1795

.遠山や花と見るより道急ぐ
tôyama ya hana to miru yori michi isogu

distant mountain--
looking at the blossoms
then hurrying on my way

Or: "distant mountains" or "on his way." "Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku. Issa (or someone) stops to admire the blooming trees, like a pale pink cloud covering the distant mountain, then hurries down the road. Life with its destinations and deadlines continues.

1795

.冥加あれや日本の花惣鎮守
myôga are ya nippon no hana sôchinju

divine providence--
throughout Japan gods
guarding blossoms

This early haiku in Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travel Diary") has a headnote in which Issa says, "I prayed at a Shinto shrine named Sanjima." He alludes, in the poem, to the Shinto belief that local gods protect the life around them, in this case, the blossoms. "Blossoms" (hana) can signify "cherry blossoms" in the shorthand of haiku.

1795

.桃柳庇々の花見かな
momo yanagi hisashi hisashi no hanami kana

peach blossoms and willow
decorate the eaves...
blossom viewing

This early haiku appears in Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travel Diary"). In the previous poem in this travel journal, Issa mentions "blossoms in the eaves" (noki no hana) and writes, in a headnote, that "all the houses were decorated. A scene of refinement and elegance"; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 5.39.

1795

.軒の雨鉢うつさくら閑しや
noki no ame hachi utsu sakura shizukeshi ya

rain on the eaves--
the potted cherry tree
calm and still

Perhaps the blooming tree is "calm and still" (shizukeshi) because it is shelted from the rain, protected by the house's overhanging eaves.

1795

.落書の一句拙し山ざくら
raku-gaki no hito ku tsutanashi yama-zakura

an off-the-cuff haiku
for a poor crop...
mountain cherry blossoms

1795

.振向ばはや美女過る柳哉
furimukeba haya bijo suguru yanagi kana

turning 'round
just missing a pretty woman...
willow tree

The question that this haiku poses, and that the reader must answer with his or her imagination, is the following: where is the willow (or willows) in relation to the action? I think that Issa has turned around to find that a pretty woman in kimono has passed out of view, a willow tree now blocking his sight of her, spoiling his girl-watching. French translator Jean Cholley has the woman passing ("là-bas sous les saules" ("there, under the willows"); En village de miséreux (1996) 37.

Shinji Ogawa writes, "I agree with your guess that Issa has turned around to find that the woman has passed the willow tree that now blocks his view. The word haya (already, so quickly) implies Issa's turning was too late. The willow tree is the spoiler."

Patrick Van Fessem writes, "What if the 'blocking' is not literal and not directly physical, but that the willow tree still is the reason he missed her? Meaning, he was so captured by this beautiful willow tree that he was too late noticing the woman: willow tree/ marveling at this beauty/ too late to see another pass by."

Syllableº17 notes, "The willow is a symbol of many things of which grace, humility and a certain unfulfilled receptive sadness (as in weeping and rain) are not the least. The willow is certainly feminine in attribute globally. All of these notions would add to the enjoyment of this charming, dare we say archetypal, Issa haiku. Its overall effect psychologically is representative of the presence that remains after the woman in question has disappeared from Issa's sight; around the corner of his eye."

Kikuko J. Hilbun believes that the willow, symbolizing a woman's movements, is a welcome and pleasing substitute in the haiku.

1795

.五月雨や借傘五千五百ばん
samidare ya kashigasa go sen go hyaku ban

June rain--
the five thousand five hundredth
rented umbrella

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1795

.磯清水旅だんすほしき木陰哉
iso shimizu tabi dansu hoshiki kokage kana

seaside pure water--
wish I had my tea setup
for this shady tree

Literally, Issa wishes that he had a portable "travel chest of drawers" (tabi dansu) so that he might brew some tea, on the spot, using the pure spring water that, he notes in his journal, is oddly located on Takashi Beach (in today's Osaka Prefecture).

1795

.遠かたや青田のうへの三の山
ochikata ya aoda no ue no mitsu no yama

far distance--
above green rice fields
three mountains

1795

.つくづくと鵜ににらまるる鵜飼哉
tsuku-zuku to u ni niramaruru ukai kana

the cormorants stare
at them hard...
cormorant fishermen

Japanese fishermen use cormorants. Tied to a tether, these sea birds dive for fish that they are forced to disgorge.

1795

.衣がえ替ても旅のしらみ哉
koromogae kaete mo tabi no shirami kana

also changing
into a summer robe...
my journey's lice

One of Issa's hallmarks as a poet is the way he pays attention to animals, big and small, treating them as equals and comrades in the pilgrimage of life. In this comic haiku, he changes into a summer robe on the first day of summer--the first day of Fourth Month in the old Japanese calendar. His body lice have changed clothes too.

1795

.更衣ふりかけらるる湯花哉
koromogae furikakeraruru yubana kana

my new summer robe
splashed by hot
purification water

Yubana might be translated, "flowers of sulphur" or "hot spring crystals": incrustations at hot springs. However, in Saigoku kikô ("Western Provinces Travel Diary") this haiku has the headnote, "At the Buddhist Saint Kûkai's praying-for-rain well, inside the shrine." The editors of Issa zenshû suggest that in this context yubana means yutama: bubbles of hot spring water; (1976-79) 5. 64, note 142. The shrine maiden blesses Issa by dousing his new summer clothes.

1795

.鉢植の竹と我とが涼み哉
hachiue no take to ware to ga suzumi kana

for the potted bamboo
and me...
cool air

Issa imagines that his companion, the bamboo, enjoys the cool air just as much as he does.

1795

.暁や鶏なき里の時鳥
akatsuki ya tori naki sato no hototogisu

daybreak--
the rooster-less village
has a cuckoo!

In a later haiku of 1823 the village receives its wake-up call from a pheasant.

1795

.つかれ鵜の見送る空やほととぎす
tsukare u no miokuru sora ya hototogisu

the weary cormorant
sees off the cuckoo
in the sky

Japanese fishermen use cormorants. Tied to a tether, these sea birds dive for fish that they are forced to disgorge. The hard-working cormorant looks up at the passing cuckoo: a striking contrast of drudgery and freedom.

1795

.御旅所を吾もの顔やかたつぶり
o-tabisho wo waga mono-gao ya katatsuburi

temporary shrine--
acting like he owns it
a snail

This haiku has a headnote in which Issa explains: at a place called Mitsu-no-mura a purification ritual takes place each year (Sixth Month) on the grounds of a temple. Tabisho is the temporary resting place for a shrine carried at festivals (mikoshi).

1795

.青梅や餓鬼大将が肌ぬいで
aoume ya gaki-daishô ga hada nuide

green plums--
the baddest of bad boys
bare-chested

Green plums dangle in trees, and the ring leader of naughty boys swaggers by. Issa hints at a deep symbolic connection.

1795

.天広く地ひろく秋もゆく秋ぞ
ten hiroku chi hiroku aki mo yuku aki zo

vast sky
vast earth
autumn passes too

Even awesomely vast things must undergo change. In Issa's Buddhist vision of the universe (which happens to coincide perfectly with that of science), change is constant.

1795

.笠の露眠むらんとすれば犬の声
kasa no tsuyu nemuran to sureba inu no koe

under dewy umbrella-hat
nodding off...
the dog barks!

Or: "dogs bark." French translator Jean Cholley opts for the plural here; En village de miséreux (1996) 39.

1795

.義仲寺へいそぎ候はつしぐれ
gichûji e isogi sôrô hatsu shigure

to Gichu Temple
we run...
first winter rain

This could also read: "I run" or "he/she runs."

Shinji notes that Gichû Temple is located nearby Lake Biwa and famous for Bashô's grave. Issa is hurrying to a memorial service for Bashô held at Gichû Temple on Tenth Month, 12th day. Shinji adds, "Another name for this memorial service is 'Winter Rain Service,' which is why Issa used the word, 'first winter rain.' I believe that Issa expresses his respect for Bashô with the phrase, 'I'm walking fast'."

1796

.旅笠を小さく見せる霞かな
tabi-gasa wo chiisaku miseru kasumi kana

their traveling hats
looking small...
mist

Or: "his traveling hat." The hat in question is a kasa: umbrella-hat. I picture Issa watching travelers departing in the early morning--perhaps from an inn. As their bodies blend in with the spring mist, all he can see now are the outlines of their umbrella-hats growing smaller and smaller. In this early haiku he shows that he has already mastered the art of using simple observation to suggest depths of meaning and feeling. Like Issa, we shall miss those who go before us, fading into nothing.

1796

.鳥と共に人間くぐる桜哉
tori to tomo ni ningen kuguru sakura kana

birds and people
creeping through...
cherry blossoms

1796

.湖に鳥鳴初めて夜寒かな
mizuumi ni tori naki-somete yozamu kana

birds on the lake
all start honking...
a cold night

Are the waterfowl complaining about the cold, in Issa's imagination?

1796

.人並に畳のうえの月見哉
hito nami ni tatami no ue no tsukimi kana

like the others
on tatami mats...
moon-gazing

In a headnote to this haiku, Issa indicates that a crowd gathered at a place called "Snail Hut." The event took place in Matsuyama City in 1796; see Maruyama Kazuhiko, Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 28, note 83.

Shinji Ogawa comments, ("Hito nami ni means 'like anybody else.' For poor Issa it was a blessing to be able to join in a moon-gazing on tatami mats like anybody else."

Makoto Ueda notes the tone of exaggerated modesty in this haiku. Issa implies that he normally would sit on the ground, not on a fine tatami mat "like the others"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 36.

1796

.降雪に草履で旅宿出たりけり
furu yuki ni zôri de tabiyado detari keri

in falling snow
in straw sandals
leaving the inn

An early haiku written during Issa's journey to Shikoku, age 34.

1797

.正月の子供に成て見たき哉
shôgatsu no kodomo ni natte mitaki kana

becoming a child
on New Year's Day...
I wish!

Issa wrote this in First Month of 1797 at Matsuyama City in Shikoku. It appears at the beginning of a renku made by Issa and the most prominent poet of the city, Kurita Chodô. Issa's wish to become a child again isn't completely impossible, for it is his mission as a haiku poet to see the world with open, nonjudgmental, child-like eyes. In Issa's Japan New Year's Day was everyone's birthday: a time for presents, games, and sweet treats (the equivalent of Christmas morning in many Western countries). One such a day to be a kid again would be wonderful indeed.

1797

.しづけしや春を三島のほかけ舟
shizukeshi ya haru wo mishima no hokake-bune

tranquility--
Mishima Island's boats
sail to spring

Mishima Island is in the Sea of Japan, part of the Hagi Archipelago.

1797

.青空や夜さりばかりの秋の風
ao-zora ya yosari bakari no aki no kaze

blue sky--
just when evening comes
autumn wind

The blue of the sky is growing darker, colder.

1797

.塚の土いただひてふるしぐれかな
tsuka no tsuchi itadaite furu shigure kana

the grave's soil
welcomes its falling...
winter rain

1798

.とそ酌もわらじながらの夜明哉
toso kumu mo waraji nagara no yoake kana

my New Year's toast
with straw sandals on...
dawn

Spiced sake (toso) is a New Year's drink.

Makoto ueda observes the poet's "hurried state of mind" in this haiku. Even while toasting the new year, he has his traveling shoes on, eager to begin his journey; Dew on the Grass (2004) 37.

1798

.むく起の鼻の先よりかすみ哉
mukuoki no hana no saki yori kasumi kana

from the nose
of the sudden riser...
mist

This haiku has the headnote, "A head-and-tail song."

Is the sudden riser Issa? Makoto Ueda thinks so; Dew on the Grass (2004) 37.
Mukuoki is an old word meaning to get up (from bed) quickly; see Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1589.

1798

.苗代の雨を見て居る戸口哉
nawashiro no ame wo mite iru toguchi kana

watching rain fall
on the rice seedlings...
from the doorway

This haiku has the headnote, "Third Month, third day." The rain is a blessing for the rice-seedling bed.

1798

.夕立に賑はしき野火山火かな
yûdachi ni nigiwashiki nobi yamabi kana

crackling in the rainstorm--
field fires
mountain fires

The spring fires that have been set to clear away dead grass are nigiwashiki: lively, bustling, noisy, happy, prosperous. Originally, I translated nigiwashiki as "happy," but Shinji Ogawa believes that this word doesn't fit the scene. His hunch is that Issa "means 'noisy' or, in an expanded sense, 'confused'."

1798

.なの花に四ッのなる迄朝茶かな
na no hana ni yotsu no naru made asa cha kana

amid mustard flowers
till the ten o'clock bell...
morning tea

Mustard (also called rape and canola) is a bright yellow flowering oil seed plant.

Shinji Ogawa notes that morning's "fourth bell" (yotsu no naru) corresponds roughly to ten o'clock in the morning. He adds, "The temple bells were utilized to tell the time. In reality, no temple has a clock. The determination of the hour was, I think, at the mercy of the apprentice-monk's judgment."

1798

.梅の月階子を下りて見たりけり
ume no tsuki hashigo wo orite mitari keri

moon over plum blossoms--
descending the ladder
I see it

Robin D. Gill pictures Issa observing the moon after descending a ladder, "perhaps after cutting some new shoots off to present to someone. Up the ladder he was too intent on his work and holding on to notice." I contemplated making the middle phrase of my translation, "after descending the ladder," but I've decided to leave out the "after," and let readers decide: Is Issa glimpsing the moon on his way down, or taking a good look at it once he reaches terra firma?

1798

.我もけさ清僧の部也梅の花
waga mo kesa seiso no bu nari ume no hana

this morning I'm one
of the pure-minded priests...
plum blossoms

This haiku is the opening verse of one of Issa's earliest books, Saraba-gasa ("Umbrella Hats' Farewell"), 1798. It has the headnote, "Here I greet the spring." "Here" refers to a mountain temple where the poet was staying.

1798

.あの鐘の上野に似たり花の雲
ano kane no ueno ni nitari hana no kumo

that temple bell
sounds like Ueno's...
clouds of blossoms

Ueno is a famous place for blossom viewing. Issa is alluding to Basho's famous haiku, hana no kumo kane wa ueno ka asakusa ka 花の雲鐘は上野か浅草か ("clouds of blossoms/ is that the bell of Ueno/ or of Asakusa?" Issa's answer: "The temple bell sounds like Ueno's!"

1798

.花雲三輪は真黒のくもりかな
hana kumori miwa wa makuro no kumori kana

the blossom clouds
over Mount Miwa...
pitch black

The editors of Issa zenshû explain that Miwa in this early haiku is a mountain covered with cedars (sugi). Thus, even though it may be time for "clouds" of cherry blossoms on other mountains, this particular one is "pitch black" (makuro) with its shady cedars; (1976-79) 6.223, note 42.

Shinji Ogawa has a different theory. If the god of Mount Miwa is the rain god, then Issa may be playing with the idea that the blossom clouds over Mount Miwa must be pitch black--like clouds of rain.

1798

.花さくやあれが大和の小口哉
hana saku ya are ga yamato no koguchi kana

cherry blossoms--
over there an edge
of Old Japan

"Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku. Seeing the cherry blossoms, Issa imagines that he is glimpsing a scene of ancient Japan (yamoto). In the same year (1798) he revises this haiku to begin with "clouds of blossoms" (hana no kumo).

1798

.花の雲あれが大和の小口哉
hana no kumo are ga yamato no koguchi kana

cherry blossom clouds--
over there an edge
of Old Japan

This is a rewrite of a haiku composed earlier that year (1798). The original poem starts with "cherry blossoms" (hana saku ya). In the shorthand of haiku, "blossoms" (hana) can mean "cherry blossoms."

1798

.涼しさや雨をよこぎる稲光り
suzushisa ya ame wo yokogiru inabikari

in cool air
slicing the falling rain...
lightning!

1798

.ﾂあらしかいだるき雲のかかる也
aoarashi kaidaruki kumo no kakaru nari

wind on the greenery--
a weary cloud
hangs over

Aoarashi denotes "wind blowing over fresh greenery" and is a summer season word in haiku.

Shinji Ogawa notes that, even though Issa wrote the word kaitaruki, it would have been pronounced kaidaruki; I have adjusted the Japanese text accordingly.

This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.

1798

.青あらし我家見に出る旭哉
aoarashi waga ya mi ni deru asahi kana

popping up to see my house
in windblown greenery...
the sun

A joyous, playful haiku written by Issa on a poetic journey at age 36. Aoarashi ("green storm") denotes wind blowing through leaves, a summer season word.

1798

.新茶の香真昼の眠気転じたり
shincha no ka mahiru no nemuke tenjitaru

new tea aroma--
my midday sleepiness
shattered

Just the smell of the "new tea" (shincha: a summer season word) is enough stimulation to divert Issa's mind from pre-nap sleepiness.

1798

.植込みにきのふのままのほたる哉
uekomi ni kinou no mama no hotaru kana

in the thick weeds
same as yesterday...
fireflies

Or: "firefly." Uekomi can mean shrubbery or a thick growth of plants.

1798

.ほたるよぶよこ顔過るほたる哉
hotaru yobu yokogao yogiru hotaru kana

calling for fireflies
flashing past my face...
a firefly

Or: "his" or "her" face. Issa refers to the game of calling for fireflies on a summer evening. In this case, one seems to answer the call with a surprisingly close flyby.

1798

.横町に蚤のござ打月夜哉
yokochô ni nomi no goza utsu tsuki yo kana

in an alley
beating fleas off a mat...
bright moon

A canny juxtaposition of lowly and high, mundane and sublime. Issa's vision of the universe is clear-eyed, non-censoring.

1798

.名月のこころになれば夜の明る
meigetsu no kokoro ni nareba yo no akeru

harvest moon--
when my heart's had its fill
it's dawn

1799

.今さらに別ともなし春がすみ
imasara ni wakare tomonashi haru-gasumi

we didn't intend
to say goodbye this soon...
spring mist

Makoto Ueda notes that Issa used this haiku in an elegiac haibun on the death of his friend, Ôkawa Ryûsa; Dew on the Grass (2004) 40-41.

1799

.垣のもとに残れる雪や一まろげ
kaki no moto ni nokoreru yuki ya ichi maroge

leftover snow
at the base of the fence...
one big ball

Issa refers here to yuki maroge: a game that involves rolling snow into large balls.

1799

.姨捨のきらき中より清水かな
obasute no kiraki naka yori shimizu kana

though Mount Obasute
is hateful...
such pure water

Obasute (sometimes Ubasute) is a mountain in Issa's home province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture) where old people were, according to legend, "thrown away": left to die. It was also known as Sarashinayama. Today it is called Kamurikiyama. Pure water is a summer season word.

1799

.夕山やいつまで寒い風の吹
yû yama ya itsu made samui kaze no fuku

evening mountain--
how long will the cold wind
blast?

1799

.炉のはたやよべの笑ひがいとまごひ
ro no hata ya yobe no warai ga itomagoi

by the hearth
last night, his smile
was farewell

On the last day of Eleventh Month, 1799, Issa visited his friend Ôkawa Ryûsa, whom he found lying on his deathbed. Issa attended to him as he died; Jean Cholley, En village de miséreux (1996) 234, note 13.
Yobe is an old word for "last night"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1717.

1800

.きのふ迄毎日見しを若菜かな
kinou made mainichi mishi wo wakana kana

up to yesterday
I saw you every day...
New Year's herbs

Merciful Issa's elegy for plants. Wakana (young greens or herbs) are eaten on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance. In this haiku, the plucked herbs are missed like dear friends.

1800

.よい程の道のしめりや朝霞
yoi hodo no michi no shimeri ya asa-gasumi

how good
the road's dampness...
morning mist

A happy feeling of setting off on a journey.

1800

.さく花に拙きわれを呼子鳥
saku hana ni tsutanaki ware wo yobu ko tori

in the blossoms
calling to me clumsily...
a little bird

Or: "little birds."

In an earlier translation, I had "a baby bird," but Shinji Ogawa explains that ko tori means "small birds" such as sparrows and bush warblers, distinguishing them from large birds such as cranes and chickens.

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1800

.夏山に洗ふたやうな日の出哉
natsu yama ni arauta yôna hi no de kana

it seems to wash
the summer mountains...
sunrise

The mountains appear to be scrubbed clean: shiny new in the dawn light.

1800

.かつしかや早乙女がちの渡し舟
katsushika ya saotome-gachi no watashibune

Katsushika--
mostly rice planters
on the ferry

Makoto Ueda notes that this haiku is a sketch "of the countryside east of Edo where there were many streams flowing through rice paddies"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 42. Katsushika is an area of land east of Sumida River--a riverside suburb of Edo (today's Tokyo).

1800

.河べりの冷汁すみて月夜哉
kawaberi no hiyajiru sumite tsuki yo kana

chilled soup by the river
settles to clarity...
moonlight

I picture the moon reflecting perfectly in the soup. The verb in Issa's original text is sute; the editors of Issa zenshû believe that he meant to write, sumite (6.332). If so, the verb might be a form of sumu: to settle or become clear. Chilled soup (miso or clear broth) is served in summertime.

1801

.空錠と人には告よ田打人
karajô to hito ni wa tsuge yo ta uchi hito

his lock is worthless
he's told...
plowing the rice field

A humorous haiku. Some trespasser (Issa?) has entered a field via a gate with a non-functioning lock, boldly reporting the malfunction to the hard-working farmer.

1801

.父ありて明ぼの見たし青田原
chichi arite akebono mitashi aodabara

if my father were here--
dawn colors
over green fields

This haiku appears at the end of Chichi no shûen nikki ("The Journal of My Father's Last Days"), a journal in which Issa narrates the death of his father. Hiroshi Kobori comments: it is before sunrise and the sky is gradually changing to brighter transparence. "Still dark on the surface of the earth, Issa recognizes the rice field to be green. His consciousness focuses on the future of himself faced with his father's death."

1801

.鹿の親笹吹く風にもどりけり
shika no oya sasa fuku kaze ni modori keri

wind shakes the bamboo grass--
mother deer
returns

Or: "father deer." Issa doesn't specify; he writes, literally, "parent deer" (shika no oya). Nobuyuki Yuasa pictures a father deer; The Year of My Life (1960; 2nd ed. 1972) 101. This haiku has the headnote, "On the subject of a fawn." The sound of wind rustling the grasses causes the concerned parent to return and check on his or her hidden fawn.

1801

.時鳥我も気相のよき日也
hototogisu ware mo kiai no yoki hi nari

cuckoo--
today I'm in good spirits
too

This haiku appears in Chichi no shûen nikki ("The Journal of My Father's Last Days"). On this particular day, Issa's father seemed to be improving; he had regained his appetite enough to drink three bowls of broth. Hopeful that he would recover, the poet felt at ease enough, after days of worry and tension, to notice the song of summer's first cuckoo.

1801

.寝すがたの蠅追ふもけふがかぎり哉
nesugata no hae ou mo kyô ga kagiri kana

shooing flies too
today, as he sleeps
for the last time

This emotion-packed haiku appears in Chichi no shûen nikki ("The Journal of My Father's Last Days"). The "too" (mo) suggests that this office is one of several that the son is performing for his father for the last time. Robert N. Huey ends his translation with, "There's nothing more to do"; "Journal of My Father's Last Days: Issa's Chichi no Shûen Nikki," Monumenta Nipponica 39, 1 (1984): 49.

1801

.夜々にかまけられたる蚤蚊哉
yoru-yoru ni kamakeraretaru nomi ka kana

night after night
of pestering...
fleas, mosquitos

On its own, this haiku may seem comic, but in the context of Issa's diary (and life) it is filled with pathos. It appears in Chichi no shûen nikki ("The Journal of My Father's Last Days"), written after the poet woke from a dream about his dead father. In his translation, Robert N. Huey makes it clear that Issa is talking about someone else in the haiku: "How he was plagued"; "Journal of My Father's Last Days: Issa's Chichi no Shûen Nikki," Monumenta Nipponica 39, 1 (1984): 53.

1801

.足元へいつ来りしよかたつぶり
ashi moto e itsu kitarishi yo katatsuburi

at my feet
when did you get here?
snail

Shinji Ogawa comments: "This haiku shows a very common scene of surprise when one finds a slow snail very close to oneself. Adding to that, when we learn that Issa was attending his dying father, our appreciation of this haiku may advance farther. We must learn how many things are left out from the haiku and yet, or therefore, so many things are expressed."

1801

.生残る我にかかるや草の露
ikinokoru ware ni kakaru ya kusa no tsuyu

splashing me
the survivor...
grassy dew

This haiku appears in Chichi no shûen nikki ("The Journal of My Father's Last Days"). It was written on the day that Issa gathered up the ashes of his cremated father. For French translator Jean Cholley it is the dew that "remains in this world" (("Reste en ce monde"); En village de miséreux (1996) 43. For Robert N. Huey, Issa is the one that "remains alive" ;"Journal of My Father's Last Days: Issa's Chichi no Shûen Nikki," Monumenta Nipponica 39, 1 (1984): 53.

1802

.門松やひとりし聞は夜の雨
kadomatsu ya hitorishi kiku wa yoru no ame

New Year's pine--
alone, listening to
the evening rain

Kaneko Tohta attributes the sorrow of this first haiku of the year 1802 to the death of Issa's father the year before. The New Year's pine-and-bamboo decoration on his gate seems a hollow symbol, a reminder of the poet's isolation in the world as he listens to the dreary pitter-patter of the evening rain; Issa kushû (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1983; rpt. 1984) 116-17.

1802

.日の暮の山を見かけて凧
hi no kure no yama wo mikakete ikanobori

eye-catching
over the sunset mountain...
a kite

1802

.雑煮餅深山榊もおり添よ
zôni mochi miyama sakaki mo ori soe yo

rice cake soup--
deep in mountains garnished
with sakaki leaves

Zôni is glutinous rice with vegetables: a New Year’s dish. In this case, it is being garnished with the leaves of sakaki: a broad-leafed evergreen (Cleyera japonica) that, according to a botanical website that I checked, has no known edible use. The people living deep in the mountains of Japan (in this haiku) would not agree.

1802

.けふ植し槙の春雨聞く夜哉
kyô ueshi maki no harusame kiku yo kana

a yew plum pine
planted today...
listening to night's spring rain

1802

.文七が下駄の白さよ春の月
bunshichi ga geta no shirosa yo haru no tsuki

a hair cord maker's
white wooden clogs...
spring moon

A bunshichi is a craftsman who produces hair cords out of shiny white paper.

1802

.茹汁の川にけぶるや春の月
yudejiru no kawa ni keburu ya haru no tsuki

a river of broth
steaming...
spring moon

My renku friend Juten theorizes that someone (Issa?) is throwing a pot of broth onto the ground, making a steaming river--glimmering with moonlight.

1802

.昼風呂の寺に立也春がすみ
hiru furo no tera ni tatsu nari haru-gasumi

from the temple's
noon bath rising...
spring mist

Buddhist temples established the institution of public baths in Japan. Immersive bathing was believed to be physically and spiritually healthy, a type of ablution or purification ritual.

1802

.陽炎や小藪は雪のまじまじと
kagerô ya ko yabu wa yuki no maji-maji to

heat shimmers--
snow in the little thicket's
blank stare

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1802

.凍解や敷居のうちのよひの月
ite-doke ya shiki-i no uchi no yoi no tsuki

ice melting--
in the threshold
early evening's moon

1802

.朝靄のかかれとてしもなはしろ田
asa moya no kakare tote shi mo nawashiro ta

though hidden
in morning haze...
rice-seedling bed

Issa might imply that stooped-over farmworkers are busy planting, even though the field is unseen in the haze.

1802

.初午を後に聞くや上野山
hatsu uma wo ushiro ni kiku ya ueno yama

behind me I hear
the Fox Festival...
Ueno Hill

The opening phrase, hatsu uma ("first horse"), refers to a specific date in spring in the old lunar calendar, at which time celebrations were held in honor of Inari, the fox god.

1802

.初午の聞へぬ山や梅の花
hatsu uma no kikoenu yama ya ume no hana

no Fox Festival ruckus
on this hill...
plum blossoms

The opening phrase, hatsu uma ("first horse"), refers to a specific date in spring in the old lunar calendar, at which time celebrations were held in honor of Inari, the fox god.

1802

.初午や山の小すみはどこの里
hatsu uma ya yama no kosumi wa doko no sato

Fox Festival--
what village is this
in the mountain's nook?

The opening phrase, hatsu uma ("first horse"), refers to a specific date in spring in the old lunar calendar, at which time celebrations were held in honor of Inari, the fox god.

1802

.浅ぢふの名所がましや草の餅
asajiu no meisho gamashi ya kusa no mochi

a field of tufted grasses
a tourist attraction...
herb cakes

Perhaps a vendor has set up a stand in the grassy field, and/or a key ingredient of the herb cake grew there. This haiku refers to green dumplings made of rice flour and aromatic plants (especially mugwort)--a sweet treat at spring festivals.

1802

.うぐひすのあごの下より淡路島
uguisu no ago no shita yori awaji shima

below the bush warbler's
chin...
Awaji Island

1802

.湯の里とよび初る日やむら燕
yu no sato to yobi-somuru hi ya mura tsubame

today they're flying
in the bathhouse town...
swallow swarm

Mura in this haiku is not "village"; it refers to something that is bunched together with other things of the same class, i.e., in this case, a flock; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1602.

1802

.夕暮の松見に来しをかへる雁
yûgure no matsu mi ni koshi wo kaeru kari

stopping to watch
the pines at dusk...
geese flying north

Or: "the pine." Issa fancies that the geese have poetic souls, like him. This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1802

.よひ闇の一本榎なくかはづ
yoiyami no ippon enoki naku kawazu

darkening dusk--
in one hackberry tree
croaking frogs

1802

.草の蝶大雨だれのかかる也
kusa no chô ôamadare no kakaru nari

a meadow butterfly
bombarded by big raindrops
from the eaves

An amadare is an eavesdrop, where water falls from a roof's overhang. Shinji Ogawa assisted with the translation of this haiku.

1802

.辻風の砂にまぶれし小てふ哉
tsujikaze no suna ni mabureshi ko chô kana

flecked with sand
from the whirlwind...
little butterfly

Tsujikaze is another word for tsumuji kaze, "whirlwind"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1090.

1802

.むら雨やきのふ時分の草のてふ
murasame ya kinou jubun no kusa no chô

rain shower--
yesterday at this time
meadow butterflies

Or: "a meadow butterfly."

1802

.一人はつつじにかかるわらび哉
ichi nin wa tsutsuji ni kakaru warabi kana

someone's draped them
over the azaleas...
bracken

Bracken is a fern with tough stems that sprouts in springtime. A popular feature in Japanese gardens, azalea bushes in springtime produce brilliant red, pink, and purple blooms.

In this haiku, it seems that some collector of bracken has left his load on a bush of blooming azaleas: a contrast of toughness and delicateness.

1802

.片枝は都の空よむめの花
kata eda wa miyako no sora yo mume no hana

one branch makes
Kyoto's sky...
plum blossoms

Mume is ume ("plum tree"). Just one blooming branch against the blue is enough to create a sky befitting the capital. The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

1802

.なつかしや梅あちこちにゆふ木魚
natsukashi ya ume achi kochi ni yû mokugyo

like olden times--
plum blossoms here and there
evening's wooden drum

Natsukashi, has no exact English equivalent. It usually connotes the feeling of something dear or fondly remembered--a sort of sweet nostalgia. Mokugyo is a wooden drum used in Buddhist temples.

1802

.ちる花やほつとして居る太郎冠者
chiru hana ya hotto shite iru tarôkaja

cherry blossoms scatter--
the servant Taro
is relieved

"Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

Issa is alluding to Hana-arasoi, a quarrel farce of the Muromachi Period in which "Young Servant Tarô" quarrels with his master over what to call the cherry blossoms. Tarô claims that they should be called sakura, but his master insists that hana is the correct term. Issa masterfully evokes this absurd quarrel in his poem about cherry blossoms scattering. Tarô feels relief at the sight, Issa writes, and then allows his readers to conclude for themselves the reason for the servant's relief: the object of contention, the blossoms, are now falling from their branches, no longer a thing to argue about.

1802

.薄月の礎しめる柳哉
usu-zuki no ishizue shimeru yanagi kana

holding up
the hazy moon...
willow tree

A visual, painterly haiku. Literally, the willow tree serves as the "cornerstone" (ishizue) for the moon shining faintly through thin clouds.

1802

.水切の本道り也土用なり
mizugire no hondôri nari doyô nari

the main road
dry from drought...
midsummer

1802

.雨はらはら荒鵜の親よ枝に鳴
ame hara-hara ara u no oya yo eda ni naku

pitter-patter rain--
a wild cormorant mother
cries on a branch

Japanese fishermen use cormorants. Tied to a tether, these sea birds dive for fish that they are forced to disgorge. The bird in this scene is free from a life of fish-catching servitude, but, as Shinji Ogawa suggests, her children are not. She cries pitifully for her children who cannot come to her.

1802

.枕から外見てをるやころもがへ
makura kara soto mite oru ya koromogae

from my bed
I peek outside...
new summer robes

More literally, Issa watches from his "pillow" (makura). He prefaces this haiku with the note, "Morning, still dark."

1802

.片照りの軒にたよたよほたる哉
kata teri no noki ni tayo-tayo hotaru kana

one feeble light
shining in the eaves...
firefly

1802

.放し亀蚤も序でにとばす也
hanashi-game nomi mo tsuide ni tobasu nari

setting a turtle free
and with it...
a flea

This haiku alludes to a ritual of compassion in which a captive animal is released--a custom that originated in China. In addition to the turtle, Issa "releases" one of his fleas as well.

1802

.ひとりなは我星ならん天の川
hitori na wa waga hoshi naran ama-no-gawa

that one by itself
will be my star...
Milky Way

This haiku refers to a popular belief that each person upon birth is assigned a corresponding star in the heavens. Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way.

1802

.洪水の尺とる門よ秋の風
kôzui no shaku toru kado yo aki no kaze

a foot-deep flood
at the gate...
autumn wind

1802

.助舟に親子おちあふて星むかひ
sukebune ni oyako ochiaute hoshi mukai

in a lifeboat
parents and children...
welcome Tanabata

The expression hoshi mukae (spelled hoshi mukai here) signifies the welcoming of the lover-stars on Tanabata night. The fact that the family is watching from a lifeboat suggests a quite dramatic context.

1802

.むら竹に夜の更過し砧哉
mura take ni yo no fuke-sugoshi kinuta kana

in the bamboo grove
too late at night!
pounding cloth

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. In this haiku, the cloth-pounder is keeping Issa awake.

1802

.里あれば人間ありて鴫の立つ
sato areba ningen arite shigi no tatsu

where there's a village
there's people...
the snipe flies off

Issa encourages the bird to find a less populated area. Snipe (shigi) is an autumn bird.

1802

.鴫どもも立尽したり木なし山
shigi-domo mo tachi tsukushitari kinashi yama

the snipes too
tired of standing...
treeless hill

The ending -domo indicates that there is a large number of the same thing in the scene, in this case, snipes; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1183.

Makoto Ueda believes that Issa is comparing himself to birds that "have no tree to rest on"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 46.

1802

.立鴫の今にはじめぬゆふべ哉
tatsu shigi no ima ni hajimenu yûbe kana

a snipe rises--
now let the evening
begin!

Snipe (shigi) is an autumn bird.

1802

.段々に雁なくなるや小田の月
dan-dan ni kari nakunaru ya oda no tsuki

gradually the geese
pass on...
rice field moon

Issa suggests that the migrating geese, like haiku poets, appreciate and revel in the moonlight.

1802

.浦の雨ほたをふまへて見たりけり
ura no ame hota wo fumaete mitari keri

rain on the beach
stamping out
the wood fire

1803

.頭巾とる門はどれどれ花の春
zukin toru kado wa dore-dore hana no haru

removing my skullcap--
at everywhich gate
spring blossoms

Or: "removing his skullcap"--a gesture of respect and deep appreciation for the blossoms.

1803

.身じろぎのならぬ家さへ花の春
mijirogi no naranu ie sae hana no haru

even at my penned-in
house...
spring blossoms

Or: "a penned-in house." Issa doesn't state that it is his, though this can be inferred. Shinji Ogawa translates mijirogi mo naranu as "cannot-move-around" or "narrow spot." When he wrote this haiku, he lived in Edo, today's Tokyo. His tenement house was "penned in" by other buildings.

1803

.春立といふばかりでも草木哉
haru tatsu to iu bakari demo kusaki kana

"Spring begins"
just saying it...
green everywhere

Literally, the haiku ends, "trees and grass!" (kusaki kana).

1803

.首上て亀も待たる初日哉
kubi agete kame mo machitaru hatsu hi kana

stretching his neck
the turtle waits too...
the year's first day

1803

.我々が顔も初日や御代の松
ware-ware ga kao mo hatsu hi ya miyo no matsu

even in our faces
the year's first dawn...
the emperor's pine

This haiku has the headnote, "Idea borrowed from a Chinese poem." Literally, it ends with the phrase, "reign's pine" (miyo no matsu). Issa is referring to a pine decoration in honor of the new imperial year. His face and those of his companions reflect the dawn colors.

1803

.薮入のわざと暮れしや草の月
yabuiri no waza to kureshi ya kusa no tsuki

ending the Servants' Holiday
on purpose...
the moon

After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. The moon is full on the 15th day of First Month; by the time it wanes, the holiday is over.

1803

.一ぱいにはれきる山の弓始
ippai ni harekiru yama no yumi hajime

under a clear sky
on a mountain...
year's first archery

Shinji Ogawa translates the phrase, ippai ni harekiru as "fully cleared" in the sense of ideal weather, or a clear sky.

1803

.明ぼのの春早々に借着哉
akebono no haru haya-baya ni karigi kana

at dawn
I start my spring...
borrowed clothes

This haiku has the headnote, "Without clothes." The first day of spring was New Year's Day in the old Japanese calendar--when people traditionally wore new clothes. Issa reveals his poverty and (proudly?) nonconformist spirit.

1803

.万歳よも一つはやせ春の雪
manzai yo mo hitotsu hayase haru no yuki

begging actors
play one more song!
spring snow

This haiku refers to begging actors who make their rounds during the New Year's season performing a traditional style of stand-up comedy. Shinji Ogawa translates hitotsu hayase: "play one more round of music!"

1803

.釜粥を洗ふて待や野はわか菜
kama-gayu wo araute matsu ya no wa wakana

the gruel cauldron
all clean and ready...
herbs in the field

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1803

.切株は御顔の際やわかな摘
kirikabu wa o-kao no kiwa ya wakana tsumi

a tree stump at the edge
of his holy face...
picking herbs

Issa uses the honorofic o-kao ("honorable face") when referring to Buddha or to bodhisattvas (Buddhist saints). Is a holy man picking herbs, his face bending low to the ground? Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1803

.竹かごにすこしあるこそわかな哉
take kago ni sukoshi aru koso wakana kana

in the bamboo basket
only a bit, of course...
New Year's herbs

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1803

.三足程旅めきにけり野はわか菜
miashi hodo tabi meki ni keri no wa wakana

right underfoot
for travelers...
field of New Year's herbs

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1803

.わかなつみわかなつみつみ誰やおもふ
wakana tsumi wakana tsumi tsumi tare ya omou

picking, picking
picking New Year's herbs...
who is it?

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1803

.わか菜摘袂の下や角田川
wakana tsumu tamoto no shita ya sumida-gawa

into my sleeve
fresh-picked New Year's herbs...
Sumida River

Or: "his sleeve/ as he picks..." or "her sleeve/ as she picks..." Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

Literally, Issa writes, "under my sleeve" (tamoto no shita), but this seems to have the same meaning as "in my sleeve"--based on the way that he uses this expression in other haiku. He seems to be stowing the herbs in his sleeve.

1803

.雨だれの名ごりおしさよ花わかな
amedare no nagori oshisa yo hana wakana

in the eaves
the remnants still cling...
blooming New Year's herbs

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1803

.君が代を鶏も諷ふや餅の臼
kimi ga yo wo tori mo utau ya mochi no usu

the rooster also sings
to Great Japan...
on the rice cake mill

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time. This is a haiku of the New Year's season, the seasonal reference being "the year's first rooster's song" (hatsu tori).

1803

.君が世の鶏となりけり餅の臼
kimi ga yo no tori to nari keri mochi no usu

serving as rooster
for Great Japan...
rice cake pounding

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time.

People are pounding New Year's rice cakes; this sound in the early morning is a rooster substitute.

1803

.初鶏に神代の臼と申べし
hatsu tori ni kamiyo no usu to môsubeshi

let rice cake pounding
be your rooster...
Great Japan

The word kamiyo (“age of the gods”) can also signify the ancient and sacred heritage of Japan. People are pounding New Year’s rice cakes; their sound in the morning is a rooster substitute.

1803

.春めくや京も雀の鳴く辺り
harumaku ya kyô mo suzume no naku atari

sign of spring--
even Kyoto's sparrows
start chirping

Issa may be joking that the sparrows of the imperial capital are normally quiet and refined--like its people.

1803

.雪車立って少し春めく垣ね哉
sori tatte sukoshi harumeku kakine kana

small sign of spring--
snow sled leaning
against the fence

Or: "against the hedge."

1803

.万よき日牛の山やまだ寒き
yorozu yoki hi ushi no yama ya made atsuki

on the blessed
Day of the Ox
the mountain, still cold

The Day of the Ox (hi ushi) is a festival day that immediately precedes the start of spring and the agricultural year. Issa complains that there's no sign of spring yet on his cold mountain. The headnote to this haiku, "Wild Geese," refers to a poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing.

1803

.掘かけし井戸の春辺の一つ哉
horikakeshi ido no harube no hitotsu kana

digging out the well--
one more
sign of spring

This haiku has the headnote, "Water, Wind, Well": hexigram 48 of the I-Jing.

1803

.やえやえの妹もとつぐ春辺哉
yae-yae no imoto mo totsugu harube kana

everyone's little sister
getting married...
sign of spring

The expression yae-yae can signify overlapping: one upon another.

1803

.紫の袖にちりけり春の雪
murasaki no sode ni chiri keri haru no yuki

scattering onto
my purple sleeves...
spring snow

Or: "his" or "her purple sleeves."

1803

.北さがや春の雨夜のむかし杵
kita saga ya haru no amayo no mukashi-gine

Kitasaga--
in evening rain
a pestle from olden times

Issa hears the nostalgic sound of a wooden pestle pounding, its music adding to the pattering of the rain. Kitasaga, "North Saga," is an area in the western part of Kyoto, facing Mount Arashi.

1803

.膳先に雀なく也春の雨
zen saki ni suzume naku nari haru no ame

at my dinner tray
a sparrow chirps...
spring rain

Or: "sparrows." A zen (dining tray) is about one foot by one foot with five-inch legs.

1803

.春雨や何に餅つく丘の家
harusame ya nan ni mochi tsuku oka no ie

spring rain--
pounding those rice cakes
house on a hill

1803

.春の雨よ所の社もめづらしき
haru no ame yoso no yashiro mo mezurashiki

spring rain--
elsewhere the shrines
are wonderful

Evidently written during a visit to a Shinto shrine.

1803

.焼餅に烏の羽や春の雨
yakimochi ni karasu no hane ya haru no ame

a crow's feather
on a toasted rice cake...
spring rain

Did a crow nibbling on the cake get chased away by the rain? Or is Issa simply recording a mysterious juxtaposiiton?

1803

.春の風草深くても古郷也
haru no kaze kusa fukakute mo kokyô nari

spring breeze--
though deep in the grasses
my home village

Shinji Ogawa explains, "The phrase, kusa fukakute mo kokyô nari means 'even though it's in thick grass, it is my native village'." Issa's sentiment, he adds, is similar to that of the English verse, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

1803

.初雷やえぞの果迄御代の鐘
hatsu rai ya ezo no hate made miyo no kane

spring's first thunder--
all the way to Hokkaido
New Year bells

The bells patriotically celebrate a new imperial year. Ezo refers to Ezo islands: the island of Hokkaido and other islands to the north.

1803

.京見えてすねをもむ也春がすみ
kyô miete sune wo momu nari haru-gasumi

seeing Kyoto
I massage my shins...
spring mist

The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

1803

.馬上から黙礼するや薄霞
bajô kara mokurei suru ya usu-gasumi

on horseback
making a silent bow...
thin mist

This haiku has the headnote, "Return." The rider (Issa?) has returned from a journey. Perhaps he is thanking the god or gods that have protected him along the way.

Shinji Ogawa points out that bajô kara means "from the horse's back," not, as I first assumed, "dismounting."

1803

.陽炎や子をなくされし鳥の顔
kagerô ya ko wo nakusareshi tori no kao

heat shimmers--
having lost a child
the bird's face

Issa later revises this image in human terms:
kagerô ya ko wo kakusareshi oya no kao

heat shimmers--
missing a child
the parent's face

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1803

.雪解けて嬉しさう也星の顔
yuki tokete ureshisô nari hoshi no kao

snow melting--
the faces of the stars
look happy

One of Issa's most charming poetic images.

1803

.雪どけや麓の里の山祭
yuki-doke ya fumoto no sato no yama matsuri

melting snow--
at the foot of the mountain
a festival!

1803

.菱餅や雛なき宿もなつかしき
hishimochi ya hina naki yado mo natsukashiki

diamond cakes
in a house with no dolls...
sweet nostalgia

This haiku refers to the sweet, diamond-shaped rice cakes associated with the Doll Festival held on the third day of Third Month. The people have no doll display in their home, suggesting that either their children have grown up or they are childless, remembering their own childhoods. Either way, they enjoy the memory-provoking festival cakes.

1803

.草の餅暮れ待つ人の又ふゆる
kusa no mochi kurematsu hito no mata fuyuru

herb cakes--
the crowd awaiting sunset
swells again

They are lining up to buy green dumplings made of rice flour and aromatic plants (especially mugwort)--a sweet treat at spring festivals.

1803

.焚残る巣をくわへ行烏哉
taki nokoru su wo kuwae yuku karasu kana

saved from the fire
a nest in its beak...
the crow moves on

This haiku has the headnote, "Dead grass burning on a journey." Issa is referring to the burning of dead grass--a spring event. Shinji Ogawa notes that takinokoru means "smoldering." The crow is hurrying along with a smoldering nest in its beak.

1803

.鶯や松にとまれば松の声
uguisu ya matsu ni tomareba matsu no koe

when the bush warbler
moves into the pine...
voice of the pine

1803

.鶯や南は鴻の嘴たたく
uguisu ya minami wa kô no hashi tataku

bush warbler singing--
to the south a goose
clacking

A kô is a large wild goose. Literally, it is clacking its beak, an interesting sound contrast to the mellifluous song of the Japanese bush warbler (uguisu).

1803

.松島はどれが寝よいぞ夕雲雀
matsushima wa dore ga ne yoi zo yû hibari

pine islands--
which one's good for sleeping
evening lark?

Issa is referring to Matsushima, the famous sightseeing resort consisting of many tiny pine islands..

1803

.夕雲雀どの松島が寝所ぞ
yû hibari dono matsushima ga nedokoro zo

evening lark--
which pine island's
your sleeping place?

Issa is referring to Matsushima, the famous sightseeing resort consisting of many tiny pine islands..

1803

.雨だれの有明月やかへる雁
amadare no ariake tsuki ya kaeru kari

the dawn moon in raindrops
from the eaves...
the geese depart

An amadare is an eavesdrop, where water falls from a roof's overhang. Shinji Ogawa notes that kaeru in this context can be translated as "return" or "leave." Since this is a spring haiku, the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1803

.行灯で飯くふ人やかへる雁
andon de meshi kuu hito ya kaeru kari

eating my rice
by lamplight...
the geese depart

Or: "eating his rice."

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1803

.一度見度さらしな山や帰る雁
ichi do mitaki sarashina yama ya kaeru kari

all eager to see
Mount Sarashina...
departing geese

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands). Mount Sarashina is another name for Ubasute or Obasute: a mountain in Issa's home province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture) where old people were, according to legend, "thrown away": left to die. Today it is called Kamurikiyama.

1803

.小田の雁一つとなりて春いく日
oda no kari hitotsu to narite haru iku hi

the rice field geese
all head north...
a lucky spring day

Iku hi is an old expression for a lucky day upon which Shinto festivals were held; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 107. As Shinji Ogawa notes, Issa is punning with it, since it also means "a going day" or "day of departure," which is connected to the geese. He paraphrases, "the geese in the rice field/ are going to the northern country as a flock/ a lucky spring day!"

1803

.かへる雁駅の行灯かすむ也
kaeru kari umaya no ando kasumu nari

geese flying north--
the stage barn's lamplight
in mist

Umaya refers to a barn or stable for horses at a stage station. The geese will not stop at the station for a rest.

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

According to the editors of Issa's collected works, the word, andon ("lamp"), should be read, ando, thus preserving a middle phrase of seven on ("sound units"): u-ma-ya-no-a-n-do; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 1.150.

1803

.帰る雁何を咄して行やらん
kaeru kari nani wo hanashite yukuyaran

departing geese
what are you
gabbing about?

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands). For Issa animal language was not poetic fancy.

1803

.帰る雁北陸道へかへる也
kaeru kari hokurokudô e kaeru nari

departing geese
over Hokuroku Road
departing

Hokurokudô was one of the seven great roads of Old Japan, running north from the capital, Kyoto. Here, the geese seem to be following it like everyone else. See Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1483.

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1803

.帰る日も一番先や寡雁
kaeru hi mo ichiban saki ya yamome kari

on the day of departure, too
she leads...
the widow goose

This touching haiku has the headnote, kôgan: a species of large wild geese (also called ôtori).

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1803

.門口の行灯かすみてかへる雁
kado-guchi no andon kasumite kaeru kari

the gateway's lamp
in mist...
the geese depart

I assume that kasumite is the gerund form of kasumu (to mist); in modern Japanese it would be kasunde. Issa uses both forms in his poetry.

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1803

.草の雨松の月よやかへる雁
kusa no ame matsu no tsuki yo ya kaeru kari

rain-drenched grass
moon in the pine...
the geese depart

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1803

.かりそめの娶入月よやなく蛙
karisome no yomeri tsuki yo ya naku kawazu

a fleeting moonlit
wedding night...
frogs singing

This haiku has a headnote referring to a love poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing. The poem, "Inside the Gate," begins, “He was waiting for me inside the gate.” Tran. Ha Poong Kim, Joy and Sorrow: Songs of Ancient China (2016) 126.

1803

.つるべにも一夜過ぎけりなく蛙
tsurube ni mo hito yo sugi keri naku kawazu

even in the well bucket
croaking all night...
a frog

This haiku has the headnote, "Heaven, Wind, Coupling": a reference to Chinese divination, specifically to Hexagram 44 of the I Ching. When Heaven (Qian) is the upper trigram and Wind (Xun) is the lower, the resulting hexagram is Gou (Japanese = Kô), the sign for copulation or "coming to meet." Issa's geomantic joke is on the frog, singing his mating song all night, eager to copulate, yet without much chance of success inside the well bucket.

1803

.鳴ながら蛙とぶ也草の雨
naki nagara kawazu tobu nari kusa no ame

jumping while croaking--
the frog in
rain-drenched grass

An example of Issa's emerging mature style: writing from life and from the heart. This haiku is an exuberant description of the here-and-now, compelling in its simplicity

1803

.桑つむや負れし柿も手を出して
kuwa tsumu ya owareshi kaki mo te wo dashite

picking mulberry leaves--
the baby on her back
stretches a hand

The mulberry leaves are being picked to feed silkworms.

This haiku, written on the 21st day of Ninth Month, 1803, has the headnote, "Seventh Month," which is odd, since picking mulberry leaves to feed the silkworms is a spring activity.

There is still more mystery in this haiku. Shinji Ogawa notes that its literal meaning, "picking mulberry leaves.../ a carried persimmon too/ stretches its hand," makes no sense. He theorizes that the "persimmon" (kaki) might be a misspelling for "baby" (akago). I have followed Shinji's hunch in my translation. See Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.133.

1803

.細腕に桑の葉しごく雨夜哉
hoso ude ni kuwa no ha shigoku amayo kana

with thin arms
stripping mulberry leaves...
night rain

The leaves are being stripped off branches to feed silkworms.

1803

.夕暮を待つ人いくら藤の花
yûgure wo matsu hito ikura fuji no hana

how many people
waiting for evening?
wisteria in bloom

1803

.あながちに留主とも見へず梅の花
anagachi ni rusu to mo miezu ume no tuski

it seems likely
someone's at home...
plum blossoms

Shinji Ogawa notes that anagach ni means "likely" but is always followed by a negative word, in this case the suffix zu or "not." The expression, rusu to mo miezu, thus means, "it doesn't look like he (or she) is absent."

I wonder if Issa is contemplating stealing some plum blossoms but hesitates because the owner seems to be at home.

1803

.梅さけど鶯なけどひとり哉
ume sakedo uguisu nakedo hitori kana

plum trees bloom
bush warblers sing...
all alone

Alluding to the death of his father two years earlier, Issa includes a headnote, "Arrowroot Vines Grow": a poem of mourning from the ancient Chinese Book of Songs. See Lewis Mackenzie, The Autumn Wind (1957; rpt. 1984), 33 and Makoto Ueda, Dew on the Grass (2004) 47.

1803

.梅の月花の表は下水也
ume no tsuki hana no omote wa gesui nari

moon over plum blossoms--
facing them
is a sewer

A stark juxtaposition of the divine (moon) and the worldly; of natural beauty and human ugliness.

1803

.梅一枝とる人を待ゆふべ哉
ume hito e toru hito wo matsu yûbe kana

a branch of blooming plum
awaits the thief...
evening

Shinji Ogawa translates: "a branch of blossoming plum/ waiting in the dusk/ for a stealer." He asks, "Is the branch Juliet waiting for Romeo?"

Perhaps the blossom thief will be Issa.

1803

.梅守に舌切らるるなむら雀
ume mori ni shita kiraruruna mura suzume

don't let the plum
blossom guard cut your
tongues, sparrows!

In a Japanese fairy tale an old woman cuts a sparrow's tongue with scissors for pecking at her starch. The guard is a similar mean old grouch.

1803

.片枝の待遠しさよ梅の花
kata eda no machi-dôshisa yo ume no hana

waited so long
for just one branch...
plum blossoms

After a hard, cold winter, a beautiful harbinger of warmer days.

1803

.かつしかに知人いくら梅の花
katsushika ni shiru hito ikura ume no hana

in Katsushika
how many connoisseurs!
plum blossoms

Now a ward in Tokyo, Katsushika in Issa's day was an area in Musashi Province.

1803

.草分の貧乏家や梅の花
kusawake no bimbô ie ya ume no hana

at his house
though he's dirt-poor...
plum blossoms

Or: "at my house/ though I'm..." Kusawake can mean "going through deep grass" or "village founder." In my first translation, I thought that the second meaning applied. Shinji Ogawa agrees that kusawake no literally denotes, in this context, "the founder's," but he feels that Issa means by this "genuine" or "authentic." I decided to use the expression "dirt-poor" to express the idea of someone who is "genuinely poor." Though poor, he (perhaps Issa?) is rich with blossoms.

1803

.手をかけて人の顔見て梅の花
te wo kakete hito no kao mite ume no hana

laying my hands on them
suddenly, a face...
plum blossoms

Shinji Ogawa explains that this is a comical scene. Issa is caught red-handed, attempting to steal a branch of plum blossoms. As soon as he puts his hand on the branch, he sees a person's face--perhaps the owner of the tree, perhaps just a witness to his "crime."

1803

.火種なき家を守るや梅の花
hidane naki ie wo mamoru ya ume no hana

guarding a house
with no live coals...
plum blossoms

The house without "live coals" (hidane) is vacant, but the blooming plum tree guards it.

1803

.梟がさきがけしたり梅の花
fukurô ga sakigake shitari ume no hana

the owl
sees them first...
plum blossoms

The owl is literally "first in line" (sakigake), ahead of the human blossom-viewers.

1803

.松間にひとりすまして梅の花
matsu ai ni hitori sumashite ume no hana

among the pines
all alone
a plum tree blooms

1803

.娶貰ふ時分となるや梅の花
yome morau jibun to naru ya ume no hana

tis the season
for taking a wife...
plum blossoms

Issa was 41 when he wrote this poem. His own marrying season was still eleven years away.

1803

.あたら雨の昼ふりにけり花の山
atara ame no hiru furi ni keri hana no yama

a regrettable rain
falls at noon...
blossoming mountain

Or: "blossoming mountains." Why is the rain regrettable? Did Issa get soaked?

1803

.方脇に息をころして花見哉
kata waki ni iki wo koroshite hanami kana

off to one side
they're breath-taking...
blossom viewing

1803

.としよりの追従わらひや花の陰
toshiyori no tsuisho warai ya hana no kage

an old man's
flattering laughter...
blossom shade

Shinji Ogawa notes that Japanese blossom viewing is a social event. People go in groups--neighbors, relatives, colleagues. "The old man is trying to be sociable in the party."

Why does Issa single him out? Is he trying too hard? Is he a sycophant?

Shinji responds: "It's a good question. In Japan, especially in Issa's day, it is a common view that an old man, keeping his dignity, doesn't laugh so easily. Therefore, it is noteworthy that even an old man laughs a flattering laugh on such an occasion as a blossom-viewing party."

"Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1803

.花の雲あれが大和の臣下哉
hana no kumo are ga yamato no shinka kana

blossom clouds--
the loyal retainers
of Old Japan

"Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku. Issa fancies that the "clouds" of blooming cherry trees are the "retainers" (shinka) of ancient Japan.

1803

.夕暮や鳥とる鳥の花に来る
yûgure ya tori toru tori no hana ni kuru

evening falls--
a bird of prey flies
into blossoms

The musical phrase tori toru tori is short for tori wo toru tori (literally, a bird-seizing bird, or "bird of prey"). "Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1803

.翌の分に一山残す桜哉
asu no bu ni hito yama nokosu sakura kana

by tomorrow
one mountain left...
cherry blossoms

In other words, only one mountain will still have blooming cherry trees.

1803

.安元の比の桜哉夕の鐘
angen no koro no sakura ya yû no kane

an ancient cherry tree
in bloom...
evening bell

The tree dates back to the Angen Era (1175-77), seven centuries before Issa's time. Since Issa is referring to the bell of a Buddhist temple, the tree is most likely growing on the grounds of a temple.

The editors of Issa zenshû suggest a reading of ya for the particle kana to preserve the 5-7-5 sound structure (1976-79) 1.222. I have followed this suggestion in my rômaji transcription.

1803

.暖国の麦も見えけり山桜
dangoku no mugi no mie keri yama-zakura

in a warm province
you see wheat...
mountain cherry blossoms

Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley. Cherry trees bloom in spring; wheat normally grows in summer. However, in this particular warm province Issa notes an exception.

1803

.一足も踏せぬ山の桜哉
hito ashi mo fumasenu yama no sakura kana

a mountain where
no foot has stepped...
cherry blossoms

Pristine beauty without the usual blossom-viewing crowds.

1803

.人に喰れし桜咲也みよしの山
hito ni kuwareshi sakura saku nari mi-yoshino yama

these cherry blossoms
people eat...
Yoshino Hill

Yoshino is a famous place for viewing cherry blossoms. In this case, Issa refers to blossoms that "people eat" (hito ni kuwareshi). They literally devour the beauty.

This haiku has an unusual 7-7-6 sound structure.

1803

.山桜きのふちりけり江戸の客
yama-zakura kinou chiri keri edo no kyaku

the mountain cherry blossoms
fell yesterday...
visitors from Edo

Or: "a visitor from Edo." Edo is the old name for Tokyo.

Shinji Ogawa comments: "Though there is no hard rule to determine, edo no kyaku ('visitor of Edo') may mean 'the visitors from Edo' or 'the visitors to Edo.' " He finds the former more likely in this case. The visitor or visitors arrived a day too late to see the blossoms.

1803

.夕桜家ある人はとくかへる
yûzakura ie aru hito wa toku kaeru

evening cherry blossoms--
people with homes
hurry home

According to Makoto Ueda, this haiku alludes to the Chinese poem, "A Solitary Pear Tree," in which a man misses a brother from whom he has been separated; Dew on the Grass (2004) 47-48. In Issa's haiku, families who have picnicked under the blossoms start for home--something that Issa didn't really have at this point in his life.

1803

.祈りしはしらぬ里也桃の花
inorishi wa shiranu sato nari momo no hana

for the strange village
a prayer...
peach blossoms

At first I read inorishi wa shiranu sato as "a village where prayer is unknown," but Shinji Ogawa interpets it to mean that Issa is saying a prayer for an unfamiliar village. Why does the village inspire Issa's prayer? Is he thanking them for planting the lovely, blooming peach trees?

1803

.青柳の先見ゆるぞや角田川
ao yagi no mazu miyuru zo ya sumida-gawa

green willows
are the first thing seen...
Sumida River

Willows line the banks of the great river of Edo (today's Tokyo). A springtime scene.

1803

.是からは大日本と柳哉
kore kara wa dainippon to yanagi kana

from here on
it's Great Japan!
willow trees

Shinji Ogawa notes the nationalistic tone of this haiku.

1803

.六月の空さへ二十九日哉
rokugatsu no sora sae ni jû kyû hi kana

it's still
a Sixth Month sky...
summer's last day

In the old Japanese calendar autumn began with the first day of Seventh Month. Issa notes that summer will be officially over tomorrow, but the sky still looks the same.

1803

.短夜の門にうれしき榎哉
mijika yo no kado ni ureshiki enoki kana

short summer night--
at the gate a happy
hackberry tree

1803

.短夜の鹿の顔出す垣ね哉
mijika yo no shika no kao dasu kakine kana

short summer night--
a deer pokes her face
through the hedge

Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge." A delightful shock, the deer appears to animal-loving Issa as if to say, "Here I am, neighbor! I live in this world too!"

1803

.麻ひたす池小ささよ涼しさよ
asa hitasu ike chiisasa yo suzushisa yo

hemp plants soak
in the pond a bit...
cooling off

Cannabis hemp was cultivated in Issa's Japan for clothing fiber and items used in Shinto rituals (symbolizing purity). Its use as a psychoactive drug was prohibited.

1803

.涼しさは黒節だけの小川哉
suzushisa wa kuro-bushi dake no ko-gawa kana

such cool air!
just ankle-deep
the little river

Shinji Ogawa notes that kuro-bushi signifies an "ankle." The little river is only ankle-deep.

1803

.木末から土用に入し月よ哉
kozue kara doyô ni irishi tsuki yo kana

from the treetop
gliding into midsummer...
bright moon

1803

.寝心や膝の上なる土用雲
negokoro ya hiza no ue naru doyôgumo

tucking me in
they cover my lap...
midsummer clouds

Literally, the clouds are a "sleeping comforter" (negokoro).

1803

.家一つ蔦と成りけり五月雨
ie hitotsu tsuta to nari keri satsuki ame

the house has become
one heap of ivy...
June rain

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1803

.一日にはや降りあがる五月雨
ichi nichi ni haya furi agaru satsuki ame

every day
the briefest of stops...
June rain

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1803

.かい曲り柱によるや五月雨
kaimagari hashira ni yoru ya satsuki ame

the house pillar
suddenly looks bent...
June rain

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1803

.五月雨の竹に隠るる在所哉
samidare no take ni kakururu zaisho kana

in June rain
hidden by bamboo...
farmhouse

The farmhouse is doubly hidden: by sheets or rain and a thick grove of bamboo. Issa hints that whoever lives there (and maybe it's him) is enjoying hermit-like privacy encased within sensuous walls of bamboo and water. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1803

.五月雨や二階住居の草の花
samidare ya ni kai sumai no kusa no hana

June rain--
the second floor room
has wildflowers!

Growing lavishly in the rain, a vine has crept all the way up to a second floor dwelling--and blooms. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1803

.二階から見る木末迄五月雨
ni kai kara miru kozue made satsuki ame

even the branches
viewed from the second floor...
June rain

Even the upper branches of the tree sag under the heavy rain. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

About this haiku, Shinji Ogawa writes, "I think that Issa wanted to show his sense of humor" in depicting "the satsuki ame or samidare that falls day after day.... as the result of which everything, including the upper branches of the tree, is wet."

1803

.ほつほつと二階仕事や五月雨
hotsu-hotsu to ni kai shigoto ya satuki ame

little by little
work on the second floor...
June rain

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar. Is repair work going on due to rain damage?

1803

.川縁ははや月夜也雲の峰
kawaberi wa haya tsuki yo nari kumo no mine

on the river's bank
already it's a moonlit night...
billowing clouds

I picture a moon rising over the river, shining in the space under the "peaks of clouds" (kumo no mine).

1803

.雲の峰いささか松が退くか
kumo no mine isasaka matsu ga shirizoku ka

billowing clouds--
have the pine trees
shrunk a bit?

Literally, Issa wonders if the pines have "retreated" (shirizoku): they look smaller below the massive "peaks of clouds" (kumo no mine).

1803

.雲の峰の下から出たる小舟哉
kumo no mine no shita kara detaru kobune kana

emerging under
billowing clouds...
a little boat

Issa often juxtaposes vast and tiny: deep blue ocean below, mountainous white clouds above, a small boat gliding between. The boat is Issa; the boat is you.

1803

.しばらくは枕の上や雲の峰
shibaruku wa makura no ue ya kumo no mine

for the moment
straight above my pillow...
billowing clouds

1803

.あれ程の中洲跡なし夏の月
arehodo no nakasu ato nashi natsu no tsuki

a vast river island
gone without a trace...
summer moon

Shinji Ogawa explains that are hodo no indicates that the now-vanished island once was of "such a size."

1803

.乞食せば都の外よ夏の月
kojiki seba miyako no soto yo natsu no tsuki

if you're a beggar
get out of Kyoto!
summer moon

Issa described himself as "Shinano Province's chief beggar." Some cities are more beggar-friendly than others.

1803

.夏の月と申すも一夜二夜哉
natsu no tsuki to môsu mo hito yo futa yo kana

a so-called "summer moon"
one night
two nights...

The moon is full for only one or two nights.

1803

.夏の月中州ありしも此比や
natsu no tsuki nakasu arishi mo konogoro ya

summer moon--
this river island then
and now

The word arishi can mean ancient, long ago.

1803

.夏の月二階住居は二階にて
natsu no tsuki ni kai sumai wa ni kai nite

summer moon--
the second-story dweller's
second-story view

1803

.なりどしの隣の梨や夏の月
naridoshi no tonari no nashi ya natsu no tsuki

a big crop
for my neighbor's pear tree...
summer moon

1803

.痩松も奢がましや夏の月
yase matsu mo ogori ga mashi ya natsu no tsuki

the scrawny pine, too
looks extravagant...
summer moon

1803

.夏山や片足かけては母のため
natsu yama ya kata ashi kakete wa haha no tame

summer mountain--
one foot on it
for Mother's sake

I imagine that Issa is going to visit his mother's grave, but he hesitates. Visiting his mother's grave means visiting his childhood: losing her at age three and later suffering emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel stepmother. One foot on the mountain, he pauses.

1803

.たまたまに晴れば闇よ夏の山
tama-tama ni hareba yami yo natsu no yama

finally a clear sky
yet no moon...
summer mountain

Shinji Ogawa notes that yami ("gloom" or "darkness") indicates the absense of the moon, even though Issa doesn't literally mention the latter.

1803

.夏山の膏ぎったる月よ哉
natsu yama no abura-gittaru tsuki yo kana

slicing off fat
on the summer mountain...
moonlight

This haiku has the headnote, kôkyû: "Sheep leather." The leather workers in Issa's Japan were Ainu, oppressed non-citizens who performed "unclean" tasks such as leather making.

1803

.夏山や一足づつに海見ゆる
natsu yama ya hito ashi zutsu ni umi miyuru

summer mountain--
with each step more
of the sea

Originally, I translated the second and third phrases, "with each step watching/ the sea." Shinji Ogawa clarified Issa's meaning: "summer mountain.../ with each step appearing/ the sea." With each step the viewer sees more and more of the sea.

1803

.空腹に雷ひびく夏野哉
sukibara ni kaminari hibiku natsu no kana

a rumble of thunder
in my empty stomach...
summer field

This haiku is a fine example of Issa's multilayered humor. The "thunder" of hunger pangs connects to longed-for rain that will grow the crops that will feed Issa.

1803

.あさら井の今めかぬ也夏花つみ
asara i no ima mekanu nari gebana tsumi

now you can't tell
where the well is...
picking summer flowers

Asara is an old word for asai: "shallow"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 118. People (maybe Issa?) have plucked away the flowers growing in the moist earth around it.

1803

.えた町に見おとされたる幟哉
eta machi ni miotosaretaru nobori kana

in the outcaste village
overlooked...
summer banners

This compassionate haiku refers to the Ainu. An oppressed minority, they performed "unclean" jobs such as disposing of dead animals, working with leather, and executing criminals.

1803

.川狩のうしろ明りの木立哉
kawagari no ushiro akari no kodachi kana

behind the night fishing
light
in a grove

R. H. Blyth describes the scene: men are fishing by the light of torches and using a large square net. The light that Issa mentions, according to Blyth, comes from "the faintly pale sky"; A History of Haiku (1964) 1.356. I wonder if the light might be that of the torches, revealing a background of trees?

1803

.むら雨の北と東に夜川哉
murusame no kita to higashi ni yo kawa kana

rain showers
to the north and east...
fishing the night river

In the original the word "fishing" is implied, not stated.

1803

.大名のなでてやりけり馬の汗
daimyô no nadete yari keri uma no ase

the great lord
does the brushing...
horse's sweat

Instead of relying on servants, the feudal lord himself brushes his horse: a moment of tenderness that has nothing to do with human hierarchies or political power.

1803

.飴ン棒横に加へて初袷
amenbô yoko ni kuwaete hatsu awase

chewing the side
of her candy stick...
summer kimono

Or: "his candy stick." I picture a child. This haiku refers to the year's first day of putting on summer clothes.

1803

.常体の笠は似合ぬ袷哉
tsunetei no kasa wa niawanu awase kana

my everyday umbrella-hat
doesn't match it...
summer kimono

Issa reflects, tongue in cheek, on a fashion faux pas.

1803

.青山を始て見たる日傘哉
aoyama wo hajimete mitaru higasa kana

seeing the green mountain
for the first time...
ladies with parasols

Issa doesn't directly mention "ladies" in his original text, but Shinji Ogawa suggests that the closing image, higasa ("parasol"), is meant to evoke "ladies with parasols."

1803

.木母寺が見ゆる見ゆると日傘哉
mokuboji ga miyuru miyuru to higasa kana

I see Mokubo Temple
I see ladies
with parasols

Issa doesn't directly mention "ladies" in his original text, but Shinji Ogawa suggests that the closing image, higasa ("parasol"), is meant to evoke "ladies with parasols."

1803

.門々も雨ははれけり青すだれ
kado kado mo ame wa hare keri ao sudare

gate after gate
the rain has cleared...
green bamboo blinds

"Green bamboo blinds" (ao sudare) is a summer season word. The blinds are fresh-made. A year later, they will be yellow.

1803

.風吹や穴だらけでも我蚊帳
kaze fuku ya ana darake demo waga kachô

wind blows--
lots of rips, my so-called
mosquito net

Shinji Ogawa explains that Issa is saying, literally, despite its rips, it is nevertheless a mosquito net. Its effectiveness is, of course, doubtful.

1803

.糊こはき帷子かぶる昼寝哉
nori kowaki katabira kaburu hirune kana

his starched summer
robe his blanket...
siesta

Katabira refers to a light summer garment made of hemp.

1803

.青い柳に任せて出たる扇哉
ao yagi ni makasete detaru ôgi kana

entrusting it
to the green willow...
my paper fan

Or: "the paper fan."

1803

.あさ陰に関も越えたる扇哉
asa kage ni kan mo koetaru ôgi kana

in morning shadows
he passes through the barrier gate...
with paper fan

The "with" isn't stated by Issa but implied.

1803

.雨三粒はらって過し扇哉
ame mi tsubu haratte sugishi ôgi kana

sweeping off three drops
of rain in passing...
paper fan

Shinji Ogawa notes that sugishi means, in this context, "to pass by"—not "to surpass" or "to be too much."

1803

.海の月扇かぶって寝たりけり
umi no tsuki ôgi kabutte netari keri

moon on the sea--
he's under his fan
asleep

Or: "I'm under my fan." Whoever it is (Issa or a friend), that person is missing out on a glorious summer moon in sky above and sea below.

1803

.朝顔に老づら居て団扇哉
asagao ni oi-zura suete uchiwa kana

my old face rests
in morning glories...
fanning my paper fan

Shinji Ogawa offers this as a possible reading: "laying my old face beside the morning glories ... paper fan" or "... fanning myself." I think in this situation, the action of fanning is important, so I've translated it in this way.

1803

.うつくしき団扇持けり未亡人
utsukushiki uchiwa mochi keri mibôjin

holding
such a pretty fan...
the widow

Shinji Ogawa traslates mibôjin as "widow." In my first translation, I was way off, reading this to mean "the deceased."

1803

.風下の蘭に月さす蚊やり哉
kaza shimo no ran ni tsuki sasu ka yari kana

downwind, an orchid
in moonlight...
smudge pot smoke

This haiku refers to the custom of smoking out mosquitos using the dense smoke of a smudge pot. The perfect, "poetic" scene of an orchid in moonlight is wrecked by the drifting smoke.

1803

.富士おろし又吹け吹けと蚊やり哉
fuji oroshi mata fuke fuke to kayari kana

descending Mount Fuji
blow! blow!
smudge pot smoke

This haiku refers to the custom of smoking out mosquitos using the dense smoke of a smudge pot.

1803

.餅音の西に東に蚊やり哉
mochi oto no nishi ni higashi ni kayari kana

pounding rice cakes
to the west, to the east
smudge pots

This haiku refers to the custom of smoking out mosquitos using the dense smoke of a smudge pot.

1803

.行灯を持ってかたづく涼み哉
andon wo motte katazuku suzumi kana

holding a lantern
tidying up...
evening cool

Ending the translation with "evening cool" is one of Shinji Ogawa's suggestions. Issa doesn't literally use this phrase--he ends the haiku simply with "cool air" (suzumi kana)--but the presence of the lantern indicates the time fo day.

1803

.一尺の竹に毎晩涼み哉
isshaku no take ni maiban suzumi kana

in the foot-tall bamboo
night after night...
cool air

Shinji Ogawa comments, "The foot-tall bamboo serves as an air conditioner for Issa."

1803

.噂すれば鴫の立けり夕涼み
uwasa sureba shigi no tachi keri yûsuzumi

speak of the devil!
a snipe takes flight...
evening cool

There is an expression in Japanese, uwasa wo sureba kage ga sasu, literally, "If you talk about him (or her), his (her) shadow will appear." The closest English equivalent expression is, "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Evidently, Issa or someone was talking about the snipe right before it shot into the sky.

1803

.木一本畠一枚夕涼み
ki ippon hatake ichi mai yûsuzumi

one tree
one farmer's field...
evening cool

1803

.さわってもとがむる木也夕涼み
sawatte mo togamuru ki nari yûsuzumi

this tree hates
to be touched...
evening cool

Issa's headnote refers to a poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing about a "soaring tree" that "you may not rest under," perhaps symbolizing an unapproachable maiden. Tran. Ha Poong Kim, Joy and Sorrow: Songs of Ancient China (2016) 20. I wonder if Issa might be jokingly commenting on an inviting shade tree that has been fenced off.

1803

.死跡の松をも植てゆふ涼み
shini ato no matsu wo mo uete yûsuzumi

planting a pine too
for after I die...
evening cool

This haiku has a headnote referring to a poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing. The poem, "In the Mountain Grows the Thorn-elm," begins, “In the mountain grows the thorn-elm,/ In the lowland grows the white elm." Tran. Ha Poong Kim, Joy and Sorrow: Songs of Ancient China (Eastbourne UK: Sussex Academic Press 2016) 147.

1803

.近よれば祟る榎ぞゆふ涼み
chika yoreba tataru enoki zo yûsuzumi

if you get too close
the hackberry tree will curse you!
evening cool

Shinji Ogawa explains Issa's idea: "It may true in all religions in the world that on the one hand it may be believed that you will be blessed if you approach close to a holy thing; on the other hand, you will be cursed because of being too close to the holy thing." In this case, the hackberry tree is believed to be a holy tree.

1803

.松苗ややがて他人のゆふ涼み
matsunae ya yagate tanin no yûsuzumi

pine sapling--
before long, strangers enjoy
evening's cool

Someone (Issa?) plants a pine sapling and imagines the day when it will be a big tree, and people unknown to him or her will sit in its shade, enjoying the cool air of a summer evening.

1803

.行過て茨の中よゆふ涼み
yukisugite ibara no naka yo yûsuzumi

going too far
into the thick of thorns...
evening cool

Issa has gone outside to enjoy the cool air of the summer evening only to stray into a thorn patch.

1803

.夜涼のやくそくありし門の月
yo suzumi no yakusoku arishi kado no tsuki

a promise
of cool air this evening...
moon at the gate

Simple pleasures on a summer evening: cool air, bright moon.

1803

.竹植て竹うっとしきゆふべ哉
take uete take uttôshiki yûbe kana

planting bamboo
to be gloomy and dark...
evening

My guess is that Issa is looking ahead to when the young shoots of bamboo will grow to become a tall, shadowy grove.

1803

.住来の人にすれたる鹿の子哉
waurai no hito ni suretaru ka no ko kana

bold with people
who come and go...
fawn

The phrase, hito ni suretaru, means "bold with people." Shinji Ogawa explains, "In Nara where many temples were built, deer are protected and sometimes become a nuisance to the people."

1803

.おへば追ふ鹿の子の兄よ弟よ
oeba ou kanoko no ani yo otôto yo

fawn chasing
each other...
big brother, little brother

1803

.親鹿のかくれて見せる木の間哉
oya shika no kakurete miseru konoma kana

a mother deer
so well hidden...
in the trees

Because a "parent deer" (oya shika) is mentioned we can assume that a fawn is nearby.

1803

.片隅に乳の不足かのこ哉
kata sumi ni chichi no tarawanu kanoko kana

tucked in a nook
still unweaned...
the fawn

By "nook" (sumi) Issa means a hiding spot in the trees.

1803

.傘の下にしばらくかのこ哉
karakasa no shita ni shibaraku kanoko kana

lingering
under the paper umbrella...
a fawn

A scene in a temple's precincts. One of the tame deer, a fawn, enjoys the protection of someone's (Issa's?) umbrella.

1803

.鹿の子の人に摺たる柴生哉
shika no ko no hito ni suretaru shibau kana

the fawn's become
bold with people...
temple lawn

Though the word "temple" doesn't appear, Issa strongly hints that the "lawn" (shibau) in question is that of a Buddhist temple, where deer are protected and quite bold.

1803

.暁のむぎの先よりほととぎす
akatsuki no mugi no saki yori hototogisu

dawn--
from atop the wheat
"Cuckoo!"

Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley. Shinji Ogawa explains that the word saki in this context, means the "edge" or the "end," ergo, the bird is singing from "the top of the wheat."

1803

.下枝に子も口真ねや閑古鳥
shita eda ni ko mo kuchi mane ya kankodori

on a low branch
a child's imitation...
mountain cuckoo

1803

.はいかいの地獄のそこか閑古鳥
haikai no jigoku no soko ka kankodori

so is haiku hell
over that-a-way...
mountain cuckoo?

The headnote reads, "At Tate-yama." Tate-yama is a mountain located in the northwestern Japanese Alps. A dormant volcano, its ancient crater is called, "Hell's Valley" (jigoku tani). The bird warbles its "haiku" in "Hell."

Shinji Ogawa notes a biographical dimension to this poem. Issa had lost his father two years earlier, his inheritance dispute with his stepmother and half brother was unresolved, and his own haiku career in Edo at the time seemed "not so promising." Issa sees the mountain cuckoo (kankodori) very much as a kindred spirit.

Makoto Ueda adds that there is a popular belief in Japan, according to which a cuckoo leads the dead to hell; Dew on the Grass (2004) 49.

1803

.樅からも二つなきけりかんこ鳥
momi kara mo futatsu naki keri kankodori

from the fir tree too
two are singing...
mountain cuckoos

1803

.行々し尋ねる牛は吼へもせず
gyôgyôshi tazuneru ushi wa hoe mo sezu

reed warbler--
the cow doesn't answer
his question

This haiku has the headnote, "An argument." Issa imagines a quarrel between the cow and the bird.

1803

.追われ追われ蚊の湧く草を寝所哉
oware oware ka no waku kusa wo nedoko kana

chased away
from my napping spot...
mosquito-spurting grass

Literally, the grass "boils" (waku) with moquitoes.

1803

.蚊を殺す紙燭にうつる白髪哉
ka wo korosu shishoku ni utsuru shiraga kana

lit by the mosquito-murdering
taper...
my white hair

Or: "his white hair," or "her white hair." R. H. Blyth notes "a contrasted harmony" between the mosquito's death and the old age of the human in the scene; A History of Haiku (1964) 1.357. I agree!
Shishoku is a variant of shisoku: a type of taper; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 764.

1803

.蚊のゆふべ坊主にされし一木哉
ka no yûbe bôzu ni sareshi hito ki kana

mosquito evening--
a monk driven away
from the tree

Perhaps Issa (always on the lookout for iconoclastic humor) hints that the monk was meditating under a tree just as Buddha once did, but with far less success than his great predecessor. Instead of achieving inner peace and enlightenment, he's eaten alive--and runs.

1803

.蚊一つの一日さはぐ枕哉
ka hitotsu no ichi nichi sawagu makura kana

a mosquito
all day it whines...
by my pillow

Or: "by the pillow." Issa doesn't identify the pillow as his, but this might be inferred.

1803

.宵越しのとうふ明りや蚊のさわぐ
yoigoshi no tôfu akari ya ka no sawagu

left out all night
the tofu gleams...
mosquitos whine

Shinji Ogawa believes that some sort of mold or bacteria is making the tofu gleam.

1803

.蝿一つ打ては山を見たりけり
hae hitotsu utte wa yama wo mitari keri

swatting at a fly
looking at
a mountain

Issa belonged to the True Teaching Pure Land sect, Jôdoshinshû. Following Buddha's rules (like not killing) ultimately means nothing: just trust in Amida Buddha. Everyone sins.

1803

.風も吹き月もさしけり蚤の宿
kaze mo fuki tsuki mo sashi keri nomi no yado

wind still blows
moon still shines...
inn of fleas

Issa's accomodations for his journey may be miserable, but the universe remains glorious.

1803

.草の蚤はらはらもどる火かげ哉
kusa no nomi hara-hara modoru hokage kana

the grasses' fleas
pitter-patter return...
lamplight's shade

Issa implies that he has (mercifully) tossed his fleas into the grass, but one by one they are returning to him.

1803

.浮島やうごきながらの蝉時雨
uki-jima ya ugoki nagara no semi shigure

while the floating island
moves along...
cicada chorus

Issa is referring to the concept of semi shigure ("cicada rain"): in Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor)'s words, "cicadas sing like heavy rain falling."

1803

.夕顔にひさしぶりなる月夜哉
yûgao ni hisashiburi naru tsuki yo kana

for moonflowers
long time no see...
bright moon

Moonflower (yûgao) is a night-blooming summer flower.

1803

.夕顔の長者になるぞ星見たら
yûgao no chôja ni naru zo hoshi mitara

I'm becoming
a Moonflower Rich Man...
such stars!

Issa is referring to a Japanese folktale about an evil elder brother and good younger one. The younger one is eventually rewarded with a bountiful harvest of rice coming from the gourds of his moonflowers, causing him to be called Yûgao Chôza (Moonflower Rich Man).

1803

.夕顔や草の上にも一つ咲く
yûgao ya kusa no ue ni mo hitotsu saku

moon blossom--
above the tall grasses
it blooms alone

Issa doesn't include the word "tall," but the grass that he is referring to would have been tall and wild, not a trimmed lawn.

1803

.夕顔や兵共の雨祝
yûgao ya tsuwamono domo no ame iwai

moonflowers--
a warrior celebrates
the rain

A "rain celebration" (ame iwai) takes place especially after a drought.

1803

.夕顔や柳は月に成にけり
yûgao ya yanagi wa tsuki ni nari ni keri

moonflowers--
the willow becomes
their moon

A cloudy night?

1803

.夕顔やひとつひとつに風さわぐ
yûgao ya hitotsu hitotsu ni kaze sawagu

moonflowers--
one by one the wind
rustles them

According to Shinji Ogawa, this haiku literally says: "moonflowers.../ at each one/ wind rustles." He notes that Issa is focusing his attention on the wind, perceived through the movement of the moonflowers.

1803

.陽炎のおびただしさやけしの花
kagerô no obitadashisa ya keshi no hana

heat shimmers
on top of heat shimmers...
poppies

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

Issa views the flowers through an "abundance" (obitadashisa) of heat shimmers. The visual effect of the colorful distant flowers, bending and waving, is intense.

1803

.けつくして松の日まけや芥子の花
kekku shite matsu no hi make ya keshi no hana

the tall pines
end up sunburned
O poppies!

Or: "the tall pine." Issa doesn't mention that the pines are "tall," but a size comparison between them and the poppies is implied, so I felt that "tall" is necessary, for clarity, in my translation. The pines, high in the sun, aren't so well off--at least according to Issa in this poem. It's better to be a humble little poppy in the shade than something "great." In the long run (kekku shite) the pine ends up sunburned. Could Issa be speaking obliquely about the human world as well (pines = lords; poppies = commoners)?

Nancy from Telluride speculates that Issa is "stating the essence of the 'tall poppy syndrome' whereby the tall poppy is the one which gets cut down."

1803

.咲く日より雨に逢けりけしの花
saku hi yori ame ni ai keri keshi no hana

from the day they bloomed
drenched by rain...
poppies

Is Issa reflecting on how hard life can be--for flowers and people? His own life could be described almost perfectly with this haiku.

1803

.兵が足の跡ありけしの花
tsuwamono ga ashi no ato ari keshi no hana

among footprints
of long-ago warriors...
poppies

This haiku has the headnote, "North Wind" (haifû), which the editors of Issa zenshû describe as an allusion to an old poem; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.141, note 6. According to The Book of Chinese Poetry,published by Clement Francis Romilly Allen (London: Kegan Paul, 1891), there is an ancient Chinese ballad from "the land of P'ei," "Hard Times," that starts with the lines, "Chilly blows the north wind;/ Thickly falls the snow..." It ends with men getting on their chariots--evidently, soldiers. Issa echoes Bashô's haiku in Oku no hosomichi ("Narrow Road..."): "summer grasses.../ all that remains/ of warriors' dreams." Interestingly, Bashô's own haiku echoes an ancient Chinese poem written by Du Fu.

1803

.門番がほまちなるべしけしの花
monban ga homachi narubeshi keshi no hana

the gatekeeper's
side-field...
let the poppies bloom!

"Side-field" (homachi) refers to a plot of newly cultivated land that, in that period, was farmed in secret, evidently to avoid the daimyo's taxation; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1495. In this haiku, the guard at a barrier gate has such a field, but it's filled with poppies instead of wheat or rice.

1803

.明星に影立ちすくむ葵哉
myôjô ni kage tachi-sukumu aoi kana

awestruck
beneath the morning star...
hollyhocks

Issa's image seems to involve the flowers cowering respectfully beneath the shining splendor of Venus.

1803

.暁に人気も見へぬはらす哉
akatsuki ni hitoge mo mienu harasu kana

at dawn
not a soul in sight...
lotus blossoms

Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation.

1803

.白蓮に二筋三すじ柳哉
shiro hasu ni ni suji san suji yanagi kana

in the white lotuses
two or three strands
of willow

This haiku reminds Shinji Ogawa of Bashô's haiku: "white chrysanthemum/ not a piece of dust/ can be seen."

1803

.せせなぎの樋の口迄蓮の花
sesenagi no toi no kuchi made hasu no hana

even in the mouth
of the gutter pipe...
lotuses

Sesenagi is an old word for a ditch or gutter; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 912.

1803

.蓮の香をうしろにしたり岡の家
hasu no ka wo ushiro ni shitari oka no ie

the scent of lotuses
in the back
house on a hill

1803

.山松に吹つけられし百合の花
yama matsu ni fukitsukerareshi yuri no hana

against the mountain pine
they're blown...
lilies

1803

.我見ても久しき蟾や百合の花
ware mite mo hisashiki hiki ya yuri no hana

staring at me
on and on...
toad in the lilies

Issa is the toad; the toad is Issa; Issa and toad are us--immersed in a world of splendor for our short time.

1803

.浮草の花より低き通りかな
ukigusa no hana yori hikuki tôri kana

duckweed blooms--
and below that
a street

Makoto Ueda believes that this is a sketch of Issa's neighborhood in 1803: an area next to the Tate River in Edo (today's Tokyo) where the streets were lower than the water level; Dew on the Grass (2004) 49.

1803

.浮草や黒い小蝶のひらひらと
ukigusa ya kuroi ko chô no hira-hira to

duckweed--
a little black butterfly
flitting

Or: "little black butterflies." I prefer to picture one butterfly flapping (hira-hira) its delicate black wings over the marsh.

According to the editors of Issa zenshû, Issa would have pronounced duckweed, ukikusa. Modern pronunciation = ukigusa; (1976-79) 1.403.

1803

.麦刈の不二見所の榎哉
mugi kari no fuji mi-dokoro no enoki kana

a Mount Fuji viewing spot
for wheat harvesters...
hackberry tree

The harvesters are most likely sitting in the shade of the tree.
Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley.

1803

.山水の溝にあまるや田麦刈
yama mizu no mizo ni amaru ya ta mugi kari

leftovers in the mountain
spring's ditch...
wheat harvest

Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley.

1803

.麦刈の用捨もなしやことし竹
mugi kari no yôsha mo nashi ya kotoshi take

the wheat harvesters
show no mercy...
young bamboo

Collateral damage. Some of the year's new bamboo is being hacked down with the ripened grain. Issa feels for the plants unjustly destroyed.

1803

.わか竹の起きんとすれば電り
waka take no okin to sureba inabikari

just as young bamboo
start to rise...
lightning flash

This haiku has the headnote, "Reverberating thunder" (inkirai). It's a hard world. Young bamboo have been flattened by an earlier storm. Now, just as they start to rise again, lightning flashes.

1803

.おくればせに我が畠も茄子哉
okurebase ni ware ga hatake mo nasubi kana

also running late--
my garden's
eggplants

1803

.苗売の通る跡より初なすび
naeuri no tôru ato yori hatsu nasubi

where the seedling
seller passed...
first eggplant

Issa implies that the seedling seller must have dropped one of his clippings. It grew and produced summer's first eggplant. A happy haiku about life's tenacity and nature blessing even those without money.

1803

.も一日葉陰に見たき茄子哉
mo ichi nichi ha kage ni mitaki nasubi kana

one more day
of leafy shade for you...
eggplant

After one more day the eggplant will be picked.

1803

.駒つなぐ門の杭にわか葉哉
koma tsunagu kado no kuize ni wakaba kana

on the gate's post
where the pony is tied...
fresh green leaves

I picture a vine wrapped around the post, its new green leaves a sign of summer. The pony reinforces the idea of fresh new life.

1803

.大蛇の二日目につく茂り哉
ôhebi no futsukame ni tsuku shigeri kana

for the second day
the same big snake...
thick summer grasses

In his headnote to his haiku, Issa says that he spotted a snake 3.3 yards long (1 jo) while on a journey. Shinji Ogawa translates futsukame ni tsuku as "has been seen for two days."

1803

.日々に四五本ちるや合歓の花
nichi-nichi ni shi go hon chiru ya nemu no hana

every day
four or five fall...
Sleeping Tree's blossoms

Unlike the cherry blossoms of spring that fall like a blizzard, the soft pink blossoms of the nemunoki ("Sleeping Tree") linger on the branches, falling one by one. The tree derives its name from the fact that its small leaves close at night, as if sleeping; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1284.

1803

.青梅に蟻の思ひも通じけん
aoume ni ari no omoi mo tsûjiken

the green plum
also accepts the feeling
of the ant

Shinji Ogawa, who helped with this translation, writes, "I do not understand the meaning of the haiku. Is the ant Issa and the green plum a young lady? Or is Issa's sympathy with the sweet-toothed ants encountering the sour green plum?"

1803

.探る梅枝の蛙のをしげ也
saguru ume eda no kawazu no oshige nari

groping for plums--
the frog on the branch
is magnanimous

1803

.秋寒や行く先々は人の家
akisamu ya yuku saki-zaki wa hito no ie

autumn cold--
wherever I go people
have homes

According to Makoto Ueda, this haiku alludes to the Chinese poem, "A Magpie's Nest": a congratulatory verse written on the occasion of a princess marrying into another house. Issa transforms it into a poem about lonely travels; Dew on the Grass (2004) 47-48.

1803

.うつる日やあはれ此世は秋寒き
utsuru hi ya aware kono yo wa aki samuki

daylight--
this damned world
of cold autumn!

On the surface the poem is a grumpy complaint about the weather; deeper down, it suggests the Pure Land Buddhist notion that we live in a wretched world and age.

1803

.漸寒き後に遠しつくば山
yaya samuki ushiro ni tôshi tsukuba yama

nippy air--
far to my back
is Mount Tsukuba

This haiku has the headnote, "A shrine visit to Susaki." Susaki is a shinto shrine in Kyoto, far from Tsukuba, a mountain in Ibaraki Prefecture to the north and east of Edo (today's Tokyo). Issa has traveled quite far on this pilgrimage.

1803

.はだ寒き国にふみ込むゆふべ哉
hada samuki kuni ni fumikomu yûbe kana

skin-chilling air
strolls into the land...
evening falls

In this fanciful haiku Issa personifies the chilly autumn air, boldly invading the land.

1803

.朝寒にとんじやくもなき稲葉哉
asa-zamu ni tonjaku mo naki inaba kana

paying no heed
to morning's cold...
shoots of rice

1803

.念入て竹を見る人朝寒き
nen irete take wo miru hito asa samuki

he checks the bamboo
with concern...
morning cold

1803

.活過し門の夜寒や竹の月
ikisugishi kado no yozamu ya take no tsuki

living too long
a cold night at the gate...
moon in bamboo

Moon in bamboo was a popular subject for paintings in Issa's day. In this haiku about winter its light seems cold and cruel. Issa often notes how hard cold weather is on old people. The gate to death?

1803

.殻俵たたいて見たる夜寒哉
kara tawara tataite mitaru yozamu kana

beating the empty
straw bag--nothing!
a cold night

I assume that Issa is out of charcoal ... and starting to shiver.

1803

.灯ちらちらどの顔つきも夜寒哉
hi chira-chira dono kaotsuki mo yozamu kana

by flickering lamplight
someone's face...
a cold night

The fact that the face is "someone's"--unspecified--adds to the physical and emotional coldness expressed in this masterful haiku.

1803

.見る程の木さへ山さへ夜寒哉
miru hodo no ki sae yama sae yozamu kana

all I can see
a tree, a mountain...
a cold night

Or: "trees and mountains." I prefer to picture a single tree and a single mountain. It's so cold outside that Issa has decided to stay indoors, peering out a window (perhaps looking for poetic inspirtation?) and seeing so little.

1803

.よりかかる度に冷つく柱哉
yorikakaru tabi ni hiyatsuku hashira kana

while leaning on it
it's turned chilly...
the post

This haiku has a headnote that, according to Jean Cholley, is a parody of a passage in Confucius's Book of Poems (Bei Feng). The passage concerns a lover waiting for a woman who doesn't show up; he asks himself the age-old question, "Should I stay or should I go?" Issa is lingering at the beginning of one of his journeys. See En village de miséreux (1996) 235, note 21.

1803

.一つなくは親なし鳥よ秋の暮
hitotsu naku wa oya nashi tori yo aki no kure

all alone
the orphan bird chirps...
autumn dusk

Motherless himself from age three on, Issa feels a deep connection to the bird. In a famous haiku he offers to play with an orphan sparrow. This one with its overtones of death ("dusk," "autumn") is much darker.

1803

.我植し松も老けり秋の暮
waga ueshi matsu mo oi keri aki no kure

even the pine tree
I planted grows old!
autumn dusk

The third phrase of this haiku, aki no kure, means both "autumn night" and "autumn's end."

R. H. Blyth reads the first kanji as ware; A History of Haiku (1964) 1.356. The editors of Issa zenshû read it as waga; Nagano: Shinano Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1976-79, 1.441.

1803

.ばか長き夜と申したる夜永哉
baka nagaki yo to môshitaru yonaga kana

"It's a foolishly long
night!" I say
in the long night

1803

.耳際に松風の噴く夜永哉
mimi-giwa ni matsukaze no fuku yonaga kana

the pine wind
blows in my ear...
a long night

1803

.天の川都のうつけ泣やらん
ama-no-gawa miyako no utsuke naku yaran

Milky Way--
maybe the fools of Kyoto
are crying

Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way. The word utsuke can mean emptiness in general but also, more particularly, empty-headed people. Why is Issa poking fun at the people of the capital? Is it raining this night? The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo. Issa might be contrasting the boundlessness of the starry heavens with the cramped emptiness of small minds.

Shinji Ogawa notes that yaran makes the verb ("cry") conjectural ("may be weeping"). He is also puzzled by this haiku.

Jean Cholley believes that Issa is alluding to the fact that refined poets of the court followed a tradition of composing repetitive and cliché poems about the Milky Way; En village de miséreux (1996) 235, note 19.

1803

.雲形に寝て見たりけり天の川
kumogata ni nete mitari keri ama-no-gawa

a cloud zigzags
above where I lie...
Milky Way

Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way.

Shinji Ogawa notes that kumogata ("cloud formation") can specifically denote "a letter Z-shape with rounded corners. It is a typical cloud form used in traditional Japanese painting."

1803

.汁なべもながめられけり天の川
shiru nabe mo nagamerare keri ama-no-gawa

a clear view
in the soup kettle...
Milky Way

Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way--reflected here in his soup.

1803

.深さうな所もありけり天の川
fuka sôna toko mo ari keri ama-no-gawa

some spots up there
look deep...
heaven's river of stars

Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa), refers to the Milky Way. He humorously perceives deep places in the celestial river.

1803

.我星はどこに旅寝や天の川
waga hoshi wa doko ni tabine ya ama-no-gawa

where will my star
stop for the night?
Milky Way

This haiku refers to a popular belief that each person upon birth is assigned a corresponding star in the heavens. Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way.

Richard Damrow writes, "For me, as rolling-stone persona, while I collect no moss, I am left with the mystery of just where I will reside. While I recognize that "home" is illusionary and temporary at best; nonetheless, at times I do wonder where my star will will stop. Thus, I identify with Issa, using travel as a form of pilgrimage--home being where the heart is."

1803

.投られし角力も交じる月よ哉
nagarareshi sumô mo majiru tsuki yo kana

the defeated sumo wrestler, too
joins the crowd...
bright moon

The sumo wrestler, literally, has been "thrown" (nagarareshi), i.e., from the ring. However, his defeat does not keep him from joining the party of moon-gazers.

1803

.西向て小便もせぬ月よ哉
nishi muite shôben mo senu tsuki yo kana

no westward facing
pissing tonight...
bright moon

This haiku has a headnote that cites a sign in the Book of Divinations, denoting the unlucky direction northeast; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.143, note 1. Instead of relieving one's self while facing Amida's Western Paradise and the full moon, Issa suggests that it would be better to take aim in the unlucky direction.

1803

.名月は翌と成けり夜の雨
meigetsu wa asu to nari keri yoru no ame

the harvest moon
comes tomorrow...
evening rain

The weather doesn't look good for tomorrow night's moon-gazing.

1803

.姥捨の山のうらみる今宵哉
ubasute no yama no ura miru koyoi kana

behind a mountain
where the old were left to die...
tonight's moon

Obasute (sometimes Ubasute) is a mountain in Issa's home province of Shinano (present-day Nagano Prefecture) where old people were, according to legend, "thrown away": left to die. Issa ends this haiku with koyoi ("tonight"), an abbreviation of tsuki koyoi ("tonight's moon").

1803

.草の雨松の月夜や十五日
kusa no ame matsu no tsuki yo ya jû go nichi

rain in the grass
moon in the pine...
night of the 15th

In the old calendar, there were two harvest moons: the 15th day of Eighth Month (this is the more important meigetsu) and the 13th day of Ninth Month. In this haiku, "day of the 15th" (jû go nichi) refers to the former. Though literally Issa says, "day of the 15th," I translate it as "night of the 15th" because the term tsuki yo, earlier in the haiku, denotes, "moonlit night."

1803

.白石のしろき心の月見哉
shira ishi no shiroki kokoro no tsukimi kana

on the white rock's
white heart...
moon-gazing

This haiku has a headnote referring to a poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing. The poem, "Spraying Stream," begins, “The spraying stream,/ The white stones...” Tran. Ha Poong Kim, Joy and Sorrow: Songs of Ancient China (Eastbourne UK: Sussex Academic Press 2016) 148.

1803

.名月もそなたの空ぞ毛唐人
meigetsu mo sonata no sora zo ketôjin

harvest moon
up in that sky...
for foreigners, too!

Originally, ketôjin refered to Chinese people. Later, it came to refer to all foreigners; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 563. Issa feels a connection, perhaps camaraderie, with the people in distant lands who are seeing the same moon at that moment.

Shinji Ogawa writes, "The moon has moved into the western sky," causing Issa to surmise that it must be at its zenith in the Chinese sky "and Chinese people must be enjoying it."

1803

.刈株のうしろの水や秋日和
karikabu no ushiro no mizu ya akibiyori

there's water
beyond the stubble...
clear fall weather

A simple landscape charged with subtle, seasonal feeling.

1803

.秋雨やともしびうつる膝頭
akisame ya tomoshibi utsuru hizagashira

autumn rain--
the lamplight lights
my knees

Hizagashira literally means "kneecap" or "bend of the knee."

Issa wrote this haiku on the 13th day of Eighth Month, 1803. On the same day he revised it:
hizabushi ni hi no chirameku ya aki no ame

lamplight glimmers
on my knees...
autumn rain

1803

.秋の雨つい夜に入し榎哉
aki no ame tsui yo ni irishi enoki kana

autumn rain--
night begins now
for the hackberry tree

1803

.馬の子の故郷はなるる秋の雨
uma no ko no kokyô hanaruru aki no ame

the pony leaves
his home village...
autumn rain

Like the pony, Issa left his own family and home at a tender age: just 15 (13 in the Western way of calculating age). He too found himself alone in the world.

1803

.片袖の風冷つくや秋の雨
kata sode no kaze hiya tsuku ya aki no ame

the wind chills
one sleeve...
autumn rain

The wind is blowing toward Issa's side, chilling one "sleeve" (sode) but not the other.

1803

.喰捨の瓜のわか葉や秋の雨
kui sute no uri no wakaba ya aki no ame

the half-eaten melon's
young green leaf...
autumn rain

A poignant image. Someone has eaten part of a melon, then thrown it away--the sort of everyday occurence that most people overlook but Issa, the poet, notices.

1803

.口明て親待つ鳥や秋の雨
kuchi akete oya matsu tori ya aki no ame

its mouth open
waiting for mother...
baby bird in the autumn rain

1803

.田の雁の古郷いかに秋の雨
ta no kari no furusato ika ni aki no ame

what's your home village like
rice field goose?
autumn rain

From one traveler to another, Issa questions the wild goose (or geese).

1803

.膝節に灯のちらめくや秋の雨
hizabushi ni hi no chirameku ya aki no ame

lamplight glimmers
on my knees...
autumn rain

Hizagashira literally means "kneecap" or "bend of the knee."

Issa wrote this haiku on the 13th day of Eighth Month, 1803. It immediately follows a similar haiku:
akisame ya tomoshibi utsuru hizagashira

autumn rain--
the lamplight lights
my knees

1803

.ひよろ長き草四五本に秋の雨
hyoronagaki kusa shi go hon ni aki no ame

on four or five
slender blades of grass
autumn rain

1803

.松の木も在所めきけり秋の雨
matsu no ki mo zaisho-meki keri aki no ame

even the pine tree
looks rustic...
autumn rain

Added to a noun, -meku is equivalent to the modern endings -rashii and no yô ni naru (-like); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1609. Here, Issa uses the past tense -meki keri. Added to zaisho ("farmhouse") it denotes "farmhouse-like" or, as I've translated it, "rustic."

1803

.秋の風親なきに我を吹そぶり
aki no kaze oyanaki ni ware wo fuku soburi

the autumn wind
blows as if it knows
I'm an orphan

Issa was indeed "parentless" (oyanaki) at the time. His mother died in his childhood, and his father died two years before the composition of this haiku. The cold autumn wind seems to be picking on him.

1803

.大根の二葉うれしや秋の風
daikon no futaba ureshi ya aki no kaze

two leaves of radish
rejoice!
autumn wind

Though many readers these days know what a daikon is, I continue to translate it with the more familiar (though technically inaccurate) term, "radish."

1803

.一人づつ皆去にけり秋の風
hitori-zutsu mina sari ni keri aki no kaze

one by one
everyone has left...
autumn wind

A haiku of keen existential aloneness, what Bashô called sabi. In fact, Issa's poem echoes one by Bashô: "This road/ with no one on it.../ autumn dusk."

1803

.日の暮や人の顔より秋の風
hi no kure ya hito no kao yori aki no kaze

sunset--
from people's faces
the autumn wind

The world is turning colder; so are the expressions on faces.

1803

.夕月のけばけばしさを秋の風
yûzuki no kebakebashisa wo aki no kaze

shining up
the evening moon...
autumn wind

This haiku has the headnote, "Behind the house" (ushiro ni).

1803

.露けさや石の下より草の花
tsuyukesa ya ishi no shita yori kusa no hana

humidity--
from beneath a stone
wildflowers

This haiku has the headnote, "A burnt mountain's dead grass burned off." The wildflowers under the stone are a welcome sign of life. Tsuyukesa is an old word for the kind of damp air that produces autumn dew; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1107.

1803

.露けしや草一本も秋の体
tsuyukeshi ya kusa ippon mo aki no tei

humidity--
even one blade of grass
is autumn

Dewdrops are forming on the blade of grass, making, all by itself, an autumn scene (aki no tei = "autumnal"). Tsuyukeshi is a variant of tsuyukesa, an old word for the kind of damp air that produces autumn dew; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1107.

1803

.朝露の袖からけぶり初めけり
asa tsuyu no sode kara keburi hajime keri

signs of morning dew
start to show...
my sleeves

Or: "his sleeves" or "the sleeves." I prefer to imagine that Issa's talking about his own sleeves dragging in tall grass, getting damp with dew.

1803

.活過し脛をたたくや草の露
ikisugishi sune wo tataku ya kusa no tsuyu

hitting shins
that have lived too long...
grass's dew

In Eighth Month 1803 Issa wrote two haiku about shins that have lived too long; this is the second, written on the second day of the month. The first, written on the first day, has his shins being struck by a falling paulownia leaf.

1803

.大名の笠にもかかる夜露哉
daimyô no kasa ni mo kakaru yo tsuyu kana

clinging to the lord's
umbrella-hat too...
evening dew

1803

.同じ年の顔の皺見ゆる灯籠哉
onaji toshi no kao no shiwa miyuru tôro kana

a wrinkled face
he's my age...
lanterns for the dead

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

1803

.灯籠やきのふの瓦けふ葎
tôrô ya kinou no kawara kyô mugura

Bon lanterns--
yesterday's roof tiles
all leafy vines

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. The word mugura refers to creeping vines that grow over other vegetation.

1803

.盆灯籠三ッ二ッ見てやめにけり
bon tôro mitsu futatsu mite yame ni keri

stopping to watch
three, two...
lanterns for the dead

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

1803

.松陰におどらぬ人の白さ哉
matsu kage ni odoranu hito no shirosa kana

in pine-tree shade
the one who doesn't dance
ivory white

The "dance" referred to pertains to the autumn Bon Festival. The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Dancing is also part of the festivities, but one pale "wall flower" doesn't join in. Hiroshi Kobori imagines that this hesitant person is a young lady. "As the festival dance comes to full swing," he writes, "she is a little hesitant to come into the circle, but not aloof."

1803

.かぢのをとは耳を離れず星今よい
kaji no oto wa mimi wo hanarezu hoshi ko yoi

the sound of oars
lingers...
good stars tonight

The expression, "good stars tonight" (hoshi ko yoi), refers to Tanabata, a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together.

1803

.かはがりの煙もとどけ星今よひ
kawagari no kemuri mo todoke hoshi ko yoi

for the fisherman's
rising smoke too...
good stars tonight

The expression, "good stars tonight" (hoshi ko yoi), refers to Tanabata, a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together. In this haiku, the smoke against the clear heavens signals a good night for star-gazing.

1803

.七夕の相伴に出る川辺哉
tanabata no shôban ni deru kawabe kana

going outside
to enjoy Tanabata night...
river beach

Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night) they cross the starry river to be together.

1803

.七夕や親ありげなる人の舟
tanabata ya oya arigenaru hito no fune

Tanabata night--
the man in the boat
must be a dad

Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. Two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night) they cross the starry river to be together. Perhaps the man in the boat is pointing at the sky and relating the legend to his children (who Issa can't see).

1803

.七夕や流れの方を枕して
tanabata ya nagare no hô wo makura shite

Tanabata night--
head on my pillow
the flowing stars

Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. Two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night) they cross the starry river to be together.

1803

.七夕や大和は男三分一
tanabata ya yamato wa otoko san bun ichi

Tanabata in Great Japan--
one out of three
are male

Issa is referring to people who are out celebrating Tanabata, a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together. The female-male ratio suggests that women have more romantic imaginations.
Yamato is the ancient name for Japan. Because of its patriotic overtones, I have translated it "Great Japan."

1803

.寝聳ってふんぞりかへって星迎
nesobette funzori kaette hoshi mukae

lying on my back
legs stretched forth...
stars of Tanabata

Tanabata is a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. Two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night) they cross the starry river to be together.

1803

.けふぎりの入日さしけり勝角力
kyôgiri no irihi sashi keri kachi sumô

the sun sets
on the tournament...
sumo champion

1803

.正面は親の顔也まけ角力
shômen wa oya no kao nari make-zumô

in the front row
his father's face...
defeated sumo wrestler

Years of training and family hope have led to this decisive moment of a son's shame and a father's disappointment.

1803

.案山子にもうしろ向かれし栖哉
kagashi ni mo ushiro mukareshi sumika kana

even the scarecrow
turns his back to it...
my home

A bit of self-deprecating humor: Issa alludes, once more, to his trashy house.

1803

.川音や鳴子の音や明近き
kawa oto ya naruko no oto ya ake chikaki

sound of river
sound of bird clapper...
daybreak is near

The "bird clapper" (naruko) is a wood and bamboo contraption that hangs from a rope over a field. The wind causes its dangling parts to clack loudly together, a sound that the farmer hopes will scare off birds that might otherwise raid his crop.

Shinji Ogawa points out that the kanji in Issa's last phrase should be construed, ake chikaki: "daybreak is near."

1803

.赤兀の山の贔屓や遠ぎぬた
akahage no yama no hiiki ya tô-ginuta

favoring
Mount Akahage...
distant cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

1803

.片耳は尾上の鐘や小夜砧
kata mimi wa onoe no kane ya sayo-ginuta

in one ear a bell
on the ridge, someone pounding cloth
in the evening

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

1803

.砧打夜より雨ふる榎哉
kinuta utsu yo yori ame furu enoki kana

pounding cloth
in the night...
rain on the hackberry tree

The word, yori, indicates that the rain starts to fall after the sound of the wooden mallet is heard. Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

1803

.口も手も人並でなし小夜砧
kuchi mo te mo hitonami de nashi sayo-ginuta

her mouth and hands
not like everyone's...
evening cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. In this haiku, the cloth-pounder's mouth and hands are not "average" (hitonami). He leaves it to the reader to decide what this might mean.

1803

.洪水は去年のけふ也小夜砧
kôzui wa kozo no kyô nari sayo-ginuta

the flood was exactly
a year ago...
evening cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. In this haiku, Issa literally says that "the flood is last year's misfortune" (kôzui wa kozo no kyô nari). Shinji Ogawa writes,"It is a traditional treatment of the wooden mallets in haiku to depict the hard reality of the struggle for living." Their clonking sound evokes, he adds, a feeling of "elegy or blues."

1803

.更しなの蕎麦の主や小夜砧
sarashina no soba no aruji ya sayo-ginuta

the lord of Sarashina's
buckwheat fields...
evening cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

Sarashina is one of the districts of Issa's home province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture). Bashô visited Sarashina Village in 1688, writing in his Visit to Sarashina Village (Sarashina kikô).

Though he lords over fields of "buckwheat" (soba), the landowner, too, must dry his clothes. Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation.

1803

.更しなや闇き方には小夜砧
sarashina ya kuraki hô ni wa sayo-ginuta

Sarashina--
in a dark direction
evening cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

Sarashina is one of the districts of Issa's home province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture). Bashô visited Sarashina Village in 1688, writing in his Visit to Sarashina Village (Sarashina kikô).

1803

.昼中の須磨の秋也遠砧
hiruchû no suma no aki nari tôginuta

this afternoon in Suma
autumn begins...
distant cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. In a haiku, cloth-pounding is an autumn season word. As Issa hears the distant sound, he declares that autumn has officially begun.

Suma is a famous moon-gazing location that Issa's great predecessor, Basho, visited.

1803

.小男鹿の角引つかけし葎哉
saoshika no tsuno hikkakeshi mugura kana

dangling from
the young buck's antlers...
leafy vines

The word mugura refers to creeping vines that grow over other vegetation. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1803

.鴉めが推参したる堅田哉
karasume ga suisan shitaru katada kana

a crow pays
the wild geese a visit...
rice field

Though the first kanji in katada should denote that the rice field is hard and dry, I doubt that this is Issa's image. Spelled with a different kanji (as Issa does elsewhere), katada can mean "one rice field."

1803

.小烏にあなどられたり小田の雁
ko karasu ni anadoraretari oda no kari

the little crow
is snubbed...
rice field geese

This haiku has a headnote referring to a poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing. The poem, "Londe Wild Pear-tree," begins, “There stands a lone wild pear-tree,/ Its leaves dense,” and contains the lines, "Ah, traveler,/ Why don't you befriend me?" Tran. Ha Poong Kim, Joy and Sorrow: Songs of Ancient China (2016) 151.

1803

.殺されにことしも来たよ小田の雁
korosare ni kotoshi mo kita yo oda no kari

another year
they're back for the massacre...
rice field geese

Jean Cholley notes that the daimyo and other high personages held great hunts for the migrating geese, often decimating them; En village de miséreux (1996) 235, note 18.

1803

.殺されに南へ行か天つ雁
korosare ni minami e yuku ka amatsu kari

flying south
for the slaughter?
celestial geese

Amatsu kari ("celestial geese") is a season word for geese migrating in autumn. Jean Cholley notes that the daimyo and other high personages held great hunts for the migrating geese, often decimating them; En village de miséreux (1996) 235, note 18.

1803

.一群は今来た顔や小田の雁
hito mure wa ima kita kao ya oda no kari

a new face
in the flock...
rice field geese

1803

.待ちもせぬ烏がおりしかただ哉
machi mo senu karasu ga orishi katada kana

unexpectedly
a crow comes down...
rice field

Humorous disappointment. Issa was expecting the exciting arrival of migrating autumn geese. Instead, an ordinary crow descends from the sky.

1803

.夕暮は鴉がおりても片田哉
yûgure wa karasu ga orite mo katada kana

as evening falls
a crow comes down too...
rice field

From the word "too" (mo) we can assume that the crow is joining a group of migrating autumn geese.

1803

.又来たら我家忘れな行燕
mata kitara waga ya wasure na yuku tsubame

when you return
don't forget my house!
departing swallows

Or: "swallow," though I agree with French translator Jean Cholley, who prefers to visualize a flock of hirondelles ("swallows"), not a single bird; En village de miséreux (1996) 49.

1803

.人の世も我もよし也とぶいなご
hito no yo mo waga mo yoshi nari tobu inago

"The world of man
and me are good!"
locusts fly

Or: "the locust flies." I believe that the first part of the haiku expresses the words of the locust(s), not a human perspective, and so I have placed it in quotes. This editorial choice was influenced by the fact that, in a later, similar haiku, Issa directly states that the locusts are speaking. The insects are elated with the "world of man" (hito no yo), eager to devour people's crops.

1803

.捨られし夜より雨ふるきりぎりす
suterareshi yo yori ame furu kirigirisu

after a wasted night
the rain falls...
katydid

A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

1803

.けふも死に近き入りて草の花
kyô mo shinu ni chikaki irite kusa no hana

today again
death draws closer...
the wildflowers

1803

.染総のつつぱりとれて菊の花
somefusa no tsuppari torete kiku no hana

their many colors
fade so soon...
chrysanthemums

My translation of this haiku was guided by Kenneth Yasuda's example in The Japanese Haiku: Its Essential Nature, History, and Possibilities in English (Tokyo/Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle, 1957; rpt. 1987) 194.

Shinji Ogawa notes that tsuppari torete means, "the inner tension is gone (or withered)."

1803

.朝顔のこく咲にけりよ所の家
asagao no koku saki ni keri yoso no ie

morning glories
blooming thick...
someone else's house

1803

.朝顔やしたたかぬれし通り雨
asagao ya shitataka nureshi tôri ame

morning glories
utterly drenched...
a passing rain

1803

.今時の人とは見へず窓の蔦
imadoki no hito to wa mirenu mado no tsuta

nowadays
I see no people...
window ivy

Ivy covering Issa's window shuts him off from the world.

1803

.蔦紅葉も一つ家をほしげ也
tsuta momiji mo hitotsu ie wo hoshige nari

red autumn ivy--
another house
I wish I had

Who hasn't experienced house envy?

1803

.松の蔦紅葉してから伐られけり
matsu no tsuta momiji shite kara kirare keri

pine's ivy--
after leaves turn red
cut down

1803

.御馬の屁ながれけり萩の花
on-uma no he nagare keri hagi no hana

Sir Horse's fart
wafting over...
blooming bush clover

1803

.乱れ萩門の葎におとらじと
midare hagi kado no mugura ni otoraji to

disheveled bush clover--
wild like choking vines
by the gate

The blooming shrub is in disarray. Untrimmed, it grows wildly like the nearby "choking vines" (mugura). Issa (the owner who has failed to or refuses to prune?) has a soft spot in his heart for unkepmt nature.

1803

.痩萩や松の陰から咲そむる
yase hagi ya matsu no kage kara saki somuru

scrawny bush clover
in pine tree shade...
blooming now

The shrub is scrawny--like the frog that Issa will urge in a later haiku of 1816 to not give up the fight (Issa loved underdogs). Though somewhat deprived of sunlight, it manages to bloom.

1803

.膳先へのさばり出たり葛紅葉
zen saki e nosabari detari kuzu momiji

swaggering toward
the dinner tray...
autumn-red arrowroot

Nosabaru is an old word that means to behave selfishly or in an arrogant manner; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1292. The blooming vine, Issa imagines, is proud of its autumn hue.

1803

.水上も秋になしたり葛蔓
minakami mo aki ni nashitari kuzu kazura

the headwaters too
usher in autumn...
arrowroot vines

The vine's leaves are turning red at the bubbling source of the mountain stream.

1803

.神風のはや吹給ふ稲葉哉
kamikaze no haya fuki tamau inaba kana

the divine wind
blows a blessing...
spears of rice

Literally, kamikaze refers to a "providential wind," the "wind of the gods." Long after Issa's time, the word was used to describe suicide planes packed with explosives that pilots flew into enemy ships.

1803

.大豚の顔出しけり芦の花
ôbuta no kao idashi keri ashi no hana

a big pig
sticks out his face...
blooming reeds

One of Issa's delightful haiku surprises.

1803

.川下は知識の門よ夕紅葉
kawa shimo wa chishiki no kado yo yûmomiji

downstream, the gate
to knowledge...
evening's red leaves

This haiku is lovely but enigmatic. Perhaps Issa is saying that autumn leaves have fallen into a river and now float downstream to the sea, where they will learn the Buddhist truth of mujô, transience: all things must pass.

1803

.ふまぬ地をふむ心也夕紅葉
fumanu chi wo fumu kokoro nari yûmomiji

pulled by my heart
to step where none have stepped...
evening's red leaves

My Japanese advisor Shinji Ogawa feels that this haiku is about stepping into "another world." Reality is suddenly, shockingly transfigured by true perception. The Pure Land here and now.

1803

.二軒して作る葱や柿紅葉
ni ken shite tsukuru nebuka ya kaki momiji

green onions raised
by two households...
red persimmon leaves

Issa implies that the leaves have fallen and are covering the onion crop.

1803

.あらかんと二人寝て見る一葉哉
arakan to futari nete miru hito ha kana

lying down with
the holy man we watch...
one leaf fall

"One leaf" (hito ha) is haiku shorthand for a paulownia leaf falling, signaling that autumn has begun. The "holy man" might be a statue of an arhat.

1803

.活過し脛を打けば一葉哉
ikisugishi sune wo tatakeba hito ha kana

hitting shins
that have lived too long...
one leaf falls

"One leaf" (hito ha) is haiku shorthand for a paulownia leaf falling/ signaling that autumn has begun. In Eighth Month 1803 Issa wrote two haiku about shins that have lived too long; this is the first/ written on the first day of the month. The second/ written on the second day/ has his shins hitting dewy grass.

1803

.起々に片ひざ抱ば一葉哉
oki-oki ni kata hiza dakeba hito ha kana

waking up
it's hugging one knee...
one fallen leaf

"One leaf" (hito ha) is haiku shorthand for a paulownia leaf falling, signaling that autumn has begun. We can picture Issa sitting outside when this large sign of autumn lands on his leg.

1803

.白露のおき所也桐一葉
shiro tsuyu no oki tokoro nari kiri hito ha

a chalice
for the silver dew...
paulownia leaf

Although Issa uses the kanji that denotes a Chinese parasol tree (aogiri), his intended meaning seems to be a paulownia tree (kiri). "One paulownia leaf" (kiri hito ha) means that a single leaf has fallen, signaling that autumn has begun.

1803

.月影のささぬ方より一葉哉
tsukikage no sasanu hô yori hito ha kana

from where moonlight
doesn't shine...
a paulownia leaf

"One leaf" (hito ha) is haiku shorthand for a paulownia leaf falling, signaling that autumn has begun.

1803

.人去って行灯きえて桐一葉
hito satte andon kiete kiri hito ha

people have gone
lanterns have died...
a paulownia leaf falls

"One paulwnia leaf" (kiri hito ha) means a paulownia leaf is falling, signaling that autumn has begun.

1803

.ふはふはとしていく日立つ一葉哉
fuwa-fuwa to shite ikuhi tatu hito ha kana

softly, softly
a lucky day dawns...
one leaf falls

"One leaf" (hito ha) is haiku shorthand for a paulownia leaf falling, signaling that autumn has begun.

1803

.痩臑を抱き合せけり桐一葉
yase-zune wo daki-awase keri kiri hito ha

falling to hug
these skinny shins...
paulownia leaf

"One paulownia leaf" (kiri hito ha) means that a single leaf has fallen, signaling that autumn has begun. The leaf is quite large.

1803

.夕暮やひざをいでけば又一葉
yûgure ya hiza wo idakeba mata hito ha

as evening falls
another hugs my lap...
paulownia leaf

"One leaf" (hito ha) is haiku shorthand for a paulownia leaf falling, signaling that autumn has begun. Previously on the same day (1st day of Seventh Month, 1803) Issa wrote a similar haiku about a paulownia leaf hugging his "skinny shins" (yase-zune).

1803

.山椒をつかみ込んだる小なべ哉
sanshô wo tsukami kondaru ko nabe kana

taking hold
of the mountain pepper...
little kettle

The "mountain pepper" (sanshô) is also known as "Japanese pepper."

1803

.手の前に蝶の息つく茸哉
te no mae ni chô no ikitsuku kinoko kana

it's all yours
butterfly, take a rest
on the mushroom

1803

.松茸にむされて立つか山兎
matsutake ni musarete tatsu ka yama usagi

did you pop up
with the matsutake mushrooms?
mountain rabbit

Issa wonders if the rabbit grew magically from the ground alongside the tall and delicious mushrooms.

1803

.京の師走高みに笑ふ仏哉
kyô no shiwasu takami ni warau hotoke kana

Kyoto's Twelfth Month--
in a high place
Buddha laughs

1803

.けろけろと師走月よの榎哉
kero-kero to shiwasu-zuki yo no enoki kana

indifferent--
the hackberry tree
in Twelfth Month

The opening phrase, kero-kero means "appearing to show no concern or interest"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 574. The tree seems (to Issa) unconcerned about the fact that it's wintertime.

1803

.旅の空師走も二十九日哉
tabi no sora shiwasu mo ni jû ku nichi kana

a traveler's sky--
Twelfth Month
29th day

In one more day it will be New Year's and the beginning of spring in the old Japanese calendar. Issa is eager to leave his winter confinement. The season word for this haiku is simply "Twelfth Month," a winter season word. The reason I don't call it "December" is because I want the reader to sense that, indeed, the Japanese traditional calendar is different from the Western one. The 29th day of Twelfth Month could correspond to a much later date in the modern calendar. For example, Issa died on the 19th day of Eleventh Month in the dynastic year that corresponds to 1827. But, because the old Japanese New Year's Day comes later than the Western one, Issa's actual death date is January 5th, 1828. This means, in that particular year, the 29th Day of Twelfth Month would have occurred somewhere in the third week of February, Western calendar.

1803

.今時分の寒の入るらん夜念仏
ima jibun no kan no iruran yo nembutsu

the cold season
must be here...
evening prayers

Issa often associates winter with the fear of death. The coldest nights of the year inspire piety. The "prayer" is the nembutsu: "Namu Amida Butsu"--"All praise to Amida Buddha!"

1803

.降雨の中に寒の入にけり
furu ame no naka ni mo kan no iri ni keri

even from falling rain
stabbing
cold

1803

.井戸にさへ錠のかかりし寒さ哉
ido no sae jô no kakarishi samusa kana

even the well
is padlocked...
winter cold

Coldness is both physical and metaphorical in this haiku.

1803

.掌に酒飯けぶる寒さ哉
tenohira ni sakameshi keburu samusa kana

palms
in the cooking smoke
winter cold

Issa simply shows the scene: the palms, the cooking smoke, the winter cold. Like many of his haiku, it's a slice-of-life image and yet it's more. We feel the coldness of the universe surrounding us, but we also feel the warmth of our little cooking fire as we extend our open hands to it. For at least a little while, life is winning in its struggle with death.

According to Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor), sakameshi is rice boiled with tea and sake--a poor man's dinner.

1803

.鳥の羽のひさしにさはる寒さ哉
tori no ha no hisashi ni sawaru samusa kana

bird wings
brush against the eaves...
winter cold

I picture birds huddling for warmth on the eaves of Issa's house.

1803

.流れ木のアチコチとしてとし暮ぬ
nagare-gi no achi-kochi to shite toshi kurenu

driftwood floating
this way, that way...
ends the year

Is the "driftwood" that restless traveler, Issa? He once referred to himself as unsui: a "Cloud-Water Wanderer" in the Buddhist sense.

1803

.片壁に海手の風や冬の月
kata kabe ni umite no kaze ya fuyu no tsuki

over one wall
the sea wind blows...
winter moon

Umite means "near the sea."

1803

.冬の月さしかかりけりうしろ窓
fuyu no tsuki sashikakari keri ushiro mado

the winter moon
hanging over...
back window

1803

.冬の月膝元に出る山家哉
fuyu no tsuki hizamoto ni deru yamaga kana

the winter moon
on my lap...
mountain home

1803

.古郷に高い杉ありはつしぐれ
furusato ni takai sugi ari hatsu shigure

cedars are tall
in my hometown...
first winter rain

1803

.初時雨馬も御紋をきたりけり
hatsu shigure uma mo o-mon wo kitari keri

first winter rain--
even the warlord's horse
wears his crest

Issa doesn't directly mention a daimyo or "lord" in the poem, but such a person is implied by the honorific o-mon ("crest"). Despite his worldly power, the winter rain falls on him (and his horse) as it does on everyone else.

1803

.一時に二ッ時雨し山家哉
ittoki ni futatsu shigureshi yamaga kana

right away
a second winter rainfall...
mountain home

1803

.北時雨火をたく顔のきなくさき
kita shigure hi wo taku kao no kinakusaki

cold northern rain--
the fire-starter's face
smells burnt

A wonderful slice-of-life haiku.

1803

.けぶり立隣の家を時雨哉
keburi tatsu tonari no ie wo shigure kana

on the neighbor's house
where smoke rises...
winter rain

1803

.しぐるるや牛に引かれて善光寺
shigururu ya ushi ni hikarete zenkôji

winter rain--
led by a cow
to Zenkô Temple

This haiku refers to a popular folktale in Issa's home province of Shinano. A sinful woman left a piece of cloth to dry in the garden behind her house, but a passing cow snagged it with a horn and trotted off. The woman followed the beast all the way to Zenkôji, where it disappeared and she found herself standing before the image of Amida Buddha. From that point on, she became pious.

Eight years later (1811) Issa revises this haiku, beginning with "spring breeze" (harukaze). Either way, the poem is a tribute to Pure Land Buddhism. According to the patriarch of Issa's Jôdoshinshoû sect, Shinran, salvation is a gift that comes from beyond the ego's calculations. The woman in the story arrives at salvation without thinking about it--simply by following a cow. Issa, too, follows a cow to Zenkô Temple (and salvation) in this haiku. And, perceptive readers will follow it there too.

1803

.吹かれ吹かれ時雨来にけり痩男
fukare fukare shigure ki ni keri yase otoko

windblown here they come--
the winter rain
the thin man

It is likely that the "thin man" is Issa.

1803

.山の家たがひ違ひに時雨哉
yama no ie tagai chigai ni shigure kana

mountain house--
it's off, it's on
the winter rain

Literally, winter rainstorms are "taking turns" (tagai chigai), one after the other.

1803

.夕時雨馬も古郷へ向てなく
yû shigure uma mo furusato e muite naku

rainy winter night--
the horse neighs too
toward his home village

Written on the 10th day of Third Month, 1803, this haiku alludes to Issa's own exile from his native village of Kashiwabara. According to the poet, two years previously his dying father asked him to promise to return to the family home, but Issa's stepmother later refused to allow this vow to be carried out. It would take nine more years of haggling before Issa would be allowed to return in 1812.

1803

.夕時雨すつくり立や田鶴
yûshigure sukkuri tatsu ya ta tsuru

evening of winter rain--
a rice field crane
stands tall

Issa ends this haiku with an atypical ending phrase of three sound units: ta tsuru ("ricefield crane"). Perhaps he meant to add the particle kana at the end but neglected to do so.
Sukkuri means to stand completely straight; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 884.

1803

.夜時雨の顔を見せけり親の門
yo shigure no kao wo mise keri oya no kado

in night's winter rain
a face...
his parents' gate

Or: "her parents' gate." I read this haiku autobiographically: a scene of Issa returning home after years of exile. His mother died when he was a child, and his father died two years before the composition of this haiku. If Issa is writing about himself, the poem is quite melancholy: the son soaked in the winter rain, returning to his parental home where no parents are living. However, if we read the poem without reference to Issa's life, it seems more hopeful: a son returns to a warming hearth and loving parents.

1803

.我上にふりし時雨や上総山
waga ue ni furishi shiture ya kazusa yama

winter rain
pouring down on me...
Kazusa mountains

Kazusa was an ancient province in the Kantô area.

1803

.時雨雲毎日かかる榎哉
shigure-gumo mainichi kakaru enoki kana

winter rain cloud
every day snagged
in the hackberry tree

1803

.三度くふ旅もつたいな時雨雲
san do kuu tabi mottaina shigure-gumo

three meals a day
this trip, too much!
winter storm clouds

A deeper meaning of this haiku derives from its context. Issa wrote it during a trip to Shimôsa Province on the 12th day of Tenth Month: Bashô's death anniversary. Jean Cholley notes that Issa's poetic role model, Bashô, often experienced hunger on his journeys, which is why Issa pretends to feel ashamed of his own relatively cushy travels; En village de miséreux (1996) 235 note 22.

The ending phrase, "winter storm clouds" (shigure-gumo) is an allusion to Bashô, since another name for that poet's death anniversary is "Winter Rain Anniversary" (shigure ki).

1803

.風寒し寒し寒しと瓦灯哉
kaze samushi samushi samushi to gwatô kana

"The wind
is cold! cold! cold!"
ceramic lamp

Issa imagines that his "ceramic lamp" is speaking ... and complaining. A gwatô is a ceramic lamp (tôsei no tôka gu); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 540.

1803

.木がらしの夜に入かかる榎哉
kogarashi no yo ni irikakaru enoki kana

settling into a night
of winter wind...
hackberry tree

Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1803

.木がらしや鋸屑けぶる辻の家
kogarashi ya ogakuzu keburu tsuji no ie

winter wind--
smoke from a sawdust fire
house at the crossroads

Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1803

.木がらしや門に見えたる小行灯
kogarashi ya kado ni mietaru ko andon

winter wind--
looking in the gate
with a little lantern

Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1803

.木がらしや壁の際なる馬の桶
kogarashi ya kabe no kiwa naru ume no oke

winter wind--
on the wall's ledge
the horse's bucket

Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1803

.木がらしやこの坂過る今の人
kogarashi ya kono saka suguru ima no hito

winter wind--
this hill's enough
for people today

This haiku has a headnote: "Kibi [Province, 88 hills." Kibi Province is today's Okayama Prefecture. The "88 hills" could refer to a pilgrimage route modeled after the more famous 88 temple route on the nearby island of Shikoku. Issa jokes that pilgrims of the past climbed 88 hills, but "peole of today" (ima no hito) find one hill to be enough. The old verb suguru (also sugu) could mean to pass through a place.

1803

.木がらしや隣といふは淡ぢ島
kogarashi ya tonari to iu wa awajishima

winter wind--
Awaji Island is called
"neighbor"

Awaji Island is located in Japan's Inland Sea, a famously temperate place. My theory of this haiku is that Issa is noting the irony of feeling such bitter-cold wind when warm Awaji Island is just "next door." In a related haiku written the same day (Tenth Month, 26th Day), Issa imagines that his pillow is stuffed with the island.

1803

.木がらしや枕元なる淡ぢ島
kogarashi ya makura moto naru awajishima

winter wind--
next to my pillow
Awaji Island

Awaji Island is located in Japan's inland sea. In a haiku written previously on the same day (Tenth Month, 26th Day) Issa imagines (with wry irony) that this warm island is just "next door." He scribbled an edit for this haiku, changing "next to" (moto naru) to "reaching" (ni todoku). In his dreams, Issa wants to travel to the warm paradise.

1803

.乙松も索を綯るや冬日向
otomatsu mo nawa wo naeru ya fuyu hinata

the youngest child too
twining rope...
sunny spot in winter

The editors of Issa zenshû speculate that otomatsu, a word that suggests a grafted pine branch, could signify the youngest child of a family (3.455).

1803

.初雪に聞おじしたる翁哉
hatsu yuki ni kiku ojishitaru okina kana

hearing of first snow
a dreadful thing...
old man

An ironic haiku. Poets look forward eagerly to the year's first snowfall, but the old man dreads it, wondering if he will make it through another hard winter.

1803

.初雪のふはふはかかる小鬢哉
hatsu yuki no fuwa-fuwa kakaru kobin kana

the first snow
softly, softly clings...
side lock of hair

This haiku has the headnote, Mushinshojaku, an obscure word from poetic tradition that appears in Manyôshu ("Collection of 10,000 Leaves"), the first major anthology of Japanese poetry compiled in the 8th century. It means a song without meaning. See Maruyama Kazuhiko, Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 57, note 233; and Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1595. Issa presents his haiku about snow on a side lock of hair as a mere trifle--nothing deep here.

1803

.五日月此世の雪も見倦てか
itsuka tsuki kono yo no yuki mo mi aite ka

crescent moon--
are you as sick as I am
of this world's snow?

The fifth-day moon is a slender crescent, five days after the new moon phase.

1803

.海音は塀の北也夜の雪
umi oto wa hei no kita nari yoru no yuki

sound of ocean
north of the wall...
night snow

A cold, cold, cold world.

1803

.七りんの門も旭や草の雪
shichirin no kado mo asahi ya kusa no yuki

rising sun--
brazier at the gate
snow on the grass

A shichirin is an earthen brazier used for cooking.

1803

.夜々の雪を友也菜雑炊
yoru yoru no yuki wo tomo nari nazôsui

night after night
paired with the snow...
vegetable rice gruel

The warm gruel is perfect on a cold, snowy night.

1803

.真昼の草にふる也たびら雪
mappiru no kusa ni furu nari tabira yuki

onto high noon's grasses
flitting down...
snowflakes

Tabira yuki is an old expression that connotes a light, flitting snow; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1019.

1803

.衛士の火のますますもゆる霰哉
eji no hi no masu-masu moyuru arare kana

the imperial guard's fire
blazes still more...
hailstones

1803

.玉霰降れとは植ぬ柏哉
tama arare fure to wa uenu kashiwa kana

hey hailstones!
keep falling and the oak
won't grow

Two years later (1805) Issa writes a similar haiku in which he warns the autumn wind that its blowing will stunt a little pine's growth.

1803

.けしからぬ月夜となりしみぞれ哉
keshikaranu tsuki yo to narishi mizore kana

feels so wrong--
moon shining
on falling sleet

Just as the sun can be shining while it rains, so can the moon when it sleets. This, Issa says, feels mysteriously odd, vaguely disturbing.

1803

.酒菰の戸口明りやみぞれふる
sakagomo no toguchi akari ya mizore furu

my sake keg
unwrapped and open...
sleet pouring down

Issa opens the "doorway" of his sake keg while sleet falls outside: a good day to stay home and drink. Sakagomo is a reed mat used to protect sake kegs.

1803

.酒飯の掌にかかるみぞれ哉
sakameshi no tenohira ni kakaru mizore kana

my tea-boiled rice
in the palm of my hand...
falling sleet

According to Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor), sakameshi is rice boiled with tea and sake--a poor man's dinner.

1803

.みぞれはく小尻の先の月よ哉
mizore haku kojiri no saki no tsuki yo kana

sweeping sleet--
at the rafter's metal tip
a bright moon

A kojiri is the ornamental metal fixture at the end of a rafter; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 617.

1803

.夕みぞれ竹一本もむつかしき
yû mizore take ippon mo mutsukashiki

night sleet--
even my bamboo plant
in a rotten mood

Or: "the bamboo plant." Issa doesn't say that it's his plant, but this can be inferred.
Mutsukashiki is an old word that can signify having a bad or unpleasant feeling; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1597.

1803

.ゆで汁のけぶる垣根也みぞれふる
yudejiru no keburu kakine nari mizore furu

steam from boiling soup
a fence...
falling sleet

Is Issa implying that the steam from his soup will protect him from the cold world outside--the falling sleet?
Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge."

1803

.一人前菜も青けりけさの霜
ichininmae na mo aomi keri kesa no shimo

my full serving of vegetables
all greens...
morning frost

This haiku has the headnote, ("Sanrai divination sign." One of the sixty-four divination signs, sanrai refers to the chin and is associated with eating and nutrition to promote health and good fortune; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.127, note 1. Perhaps Issa's point is that, now that cold weather has arrived, he is eating healthy greens.
Ichininmae ("in front of one person") denotes one plate, one helping.

1803

.起々にくさめの音や草の霜
oki-oki ni kusame no oto ya kusa no shimo

waking up
with a sneeze...
frost on the grass

1803

.掌に酒飯けぶる今朝の霜
tenohira ni sakameshi keburu kesa no shimo

warming my palms
in the cooking smoke...
morning frost

According to Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor), sakameshi is rice boiled with tea and sake--a poor man's dinner.

1803

.としよりの高股立や今朝の霜
toshiyori no takamomodachi ya kesa no shimo

the old man's skirt
hiked up his thighs...
morning frost

This haiku has a headnote referring to a poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing. The poem, "Lamb Skins," begins “In lamb skins/ Sewn with white silk thread in five strands,/ He is withdrawing from office for meal...” Tran. Ha Poong Kim, Joy and Sorrow: Songs of Ancient China (2016) 30.

1803

.かくれ家に日のほかほかとかれの哉
kakurega ni hi no hoka-hoka to kareno kana

on a secluded house
the warm sun...
withered fields

Shinji Ogawa notes, "The word hoka-hoka means (1) rapid, sudden (2) thoughtless (3) warm. In the context, I think Issa meant the third one 'warm'." The sun is shining warmly on the house.

1803

.片袖に風吹通すかれの哉
kata sode ni kaze fuki-tôsu kareno kana

through one sleeve
the wind passes...
withered fields

1803

.子七人さはぐかれのの小家哉
ko shichi nin sawagu kareno no ko ie kana

a seven-child ruckus
in withered fields...
little house

The season is winter, but the scene is full of life, as seven children raise a happy ruckus in the little house amid the withered fields. Issa's love for children is palpable in the poem; the more, the merrier.

1803

.ざぶりざぶりざぶり雨ふるかれの哉
zaburi-zaburi-zaburi ame furu kareno kana

splish-splash
splash-splish the rain...
withered fields

Issa's poetry is often quite musical, especially in Japanese.

1803

.近道はきらひな人や枯野原
chikamichi wa kiraina hito ya kareno hara

he hates taking
the shortcut...
withered fields

Or: "I hate." Shinji Ogawa notes that chikamichi wa kiraina hito ya means "a person who dislikes (to take) a short cut."

1803

.鳥をとる鳥も枯野のけぶり哉
tori wo toru tori mo kareno no keburi kana

a bird of prey
and smoke...
over withered fields

Issa plays with sound pattern in this haiku: tori wo toru tori (literally, a bird-seizing bird).

1803

.虫除の札のひよりひよりかれの哉
mushiyoke no fuda no hyoro-hyoro kareno kana

the anti-insect charm
flutters, flutters...
withered fields

This haiku refers to the popular custom of hanging a magic charm in a field to protect it from insects. Now the fields are barren, harvest is long over, and the charm flutters forlornly in the winter wind.

1803

.影ぼうしの翁に似たり初時雨
kagebôshi no okina ni nitari hatsu shigure

my shadow looks
like the Old Man's!
first winter rain

The "Old Man" (okina) is the great haiku poet, Bashô.

1803

.としうへの人交りて里神楽
toshiue no hito majiwarite sato kagura

an old man
joins in too...
Shinto dancers

Villagers are taking part in a sacred dance in winter.

1803

.此程の梅にかまはず寒念仏
kono hodo no ume ni kamawazu kan nebutsu

ignoring the blooming
plum trees...
winter prayers

Issa chants his winter prayers despite the early blooming of the plum tree, a sign of spring. "Winter prayers" refers to chanting the nembutsu for 30 days (or, often, nights) during the coldest part of winter. The nembutsu ("Namu Amida Butsu"--"All praise to Amida Buddha") is a prayer of thanksgiving for, and praise of, Amida Buddha's liberating power. Eons ago, Amida promised that all who rely on him will be reborn in the Pure Land (the Western Paradise).

1803

.君が代を鶏も諷ふや餅の臼
kimi ga yo wo tori mo utau ya mochi no usu

even a rooster singing
Great Japan!
rice cake tub

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time.

An usu is a large wooden tub used for rice or herb cake making. The cakemaker pounds the ingredients with a wooden mallet. Issa imagines that the rooster is singing praises to the emperor's reign, prompted by the sound of rice cake pounding.

1803

.もちつきはうしろになりぬ角田川
mochi tsuki wa ushiro ni narinu sumida-gawa

the rice cake pounding
is now behind me...
Sumida River

Shinji Ogawa comments: "Issa was walking along with Sumida River. Describing the switch of the sound source from front to behind, he skillfully shows his own movement along with the river."

1803

.としとりに鶴も下たる畠哉
toshitori ni tsuru mo oritaru hatake kana

also a year older
the crane flies down...
a field

The season word in this haiku, toshitori, ("growing old") relates to the year's ending; in the traditional Japanese system for counting age, everyone gains a year on New Year's Day. The crane, a symbol of longevity, has gained another year--as has Issa.

1803

.狩小屋の夜明也けり犬の鈴
kari koya no yoake nari keri inu no suzu

dawn
at the hunting shack...
the dog's bell

Or: "the dogs' bells."

1803

.あじろ木にま一度かかれ深山霧
ajiroki ni ma ichi do kakare miyama-giri

the wicker fishing trap
hidden once again...
deep mountain haze

Issa refers to fishermen who build wicker traps for catching fish.

1803

.親のおやの打し杭也あじろ小屋
oya no oya no uchishi kui nari ajiro koya

the posts driven in
by his father's father...
wicker fish trap

Issa refers to fishermen who build wicker traps for catching fish.

1803

.親の世に生し蔦かよあじろ小屋
oya no yo ni haeshi tsuta ka yo ajiro koya

did his father
plant this ivy?
wicker fish trapper hut

Issa refers to fishermen who build wicker traps for catching fish.

1803

.三四本流れ寄たるとし木哉
san yo hon nagare yosetaru toshige kana

three or four have
drifted to shore...
firewood for the new year

Issa is referring to the end-of-year custom of cutting and bundling firewood for the new year. In this case people are gathering driftwood.

1803

.不二颪真ともにかかる頭巾哉
fuji oroshi matamo ni kakaru zukin kana

in the teeth
of Mount Fuji's wind...
winter skullcap

Or: "winter skullcaps."

1803

.昼比にもどりてたたむふとん哉
hiru-goro ni modorite tatamu futon kana

around noon
I come back to fold it up...
futon

Issa has procrastinated about making his bed.

1803

.三つ五つ星見てたたむふとん哉
mitsu itsutsu hoshi mite tatamu futon kana

three or five stars
by the time I fold it...
futon

Issa has really procrastinated about making his bed today!

1803

.御迎ひの鐘の鳴也冬篭
o-mukai no kane no naru nari fuyugomori

the death bell
tolls at the temple...
winter seclusion

Shinji Ogawa notes that the phrase o-mukae no kane (Issa's variant: mukai no kane) means "welcome-bell" in the sense of welcoming the faithful to the next world, Amida Buddha's Pure Land. I first translated it, "the welcome bell," but Gabi Greve feels that this loses the sense of "someone waiting for his death." She suggests: "funeral bells/ starting to toll" or "coming to get me/ the bell is tolling." I have decided to go with "death bell," and to include the word "temple" (not in Issa's original text but certainly implied).

1803

.親も斯見られし山や冬篭
oya mo kô mirareshi yama ya fuyugomori

my father saw
this same damn mountain...
winter seclusion

I translate "parent" (oya) as "my father" based on the assumption that Issa is alluding to his father, who passed away just two years earlier. The "damn" has been added to convey a sense of boredom that I feel in Issa's original.

1803

.清水を江戸のはづれや冬篭
kiyo mizu wo edo no hazure ya fuyugomori

for pure water
go to Edo's outskirts...
winter seclusion

During the long winter seclusion, the city water of Edo (today's Tokyo) is dirty. One must venture all the way to the outskirts to find the pure stuff...Issa groans.

1803

.浅ぢふは昼も寝よげよ土火鉢
asajiu wa hiru mo ne yoge yo tsuchi hibachi

among tufted grasses
a good midday nap...
ceramic brazier

"Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass. Though it's wintertime, a nap outside is possible, thanks to the warmth of the earthenware brazier.

1803

.草の門も貧乏めかぬ火鉢哉
kusa no to mo bimbô mekanu hibachi kana

even my bramble door
looks less shoddy...
little brazier

The brazier happily warming Issa's home makes everything look less poor.

1803

.暮るる迄日のさしにけり土火鉢
kururu made hi no sashi ni keri tsuchi hibachi

the sun shines
only till sunset...
ceramic brazier

When the sun sets, Issa will rely on his little brazier for heat.

1803

.川風の真西吹く也大火鉢
kawa kaze no manishi fuku nari ôhibachi

the river's wind
blows due west...
a big brazier

Issa wrote two different openings for this haiku, first: "castle's outer moat" (sotobori no) and, secondly, "river's wind" (kawa kaze no). The second creates a clearer picture, I think. Issa prefaces the haiku with a headnote, "Entryway step" (shikidai), so one might picture the big brazier blazing just outside an entrance.

1803

.町内の一番起きの火鉢哉
chônai no ichiban oki no hibachi kana

the best blazing
fire in town...
my brazier

On a cold winter's day a brazier is a priceless possession. In this haiku and many others Issa expresses his appreciation.

1803

.二日程座り込んだる火鉢哉
futsuka hodo suwari kondaru hibachi kana

almost two days now
squatting inside...
by my brazier

Issa's province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture) has bitterly cold winters. I have visited Issa's home (actually, what's left of his home: a shed that he had to move into when his house burned down). It had about four feet of snow piled on its roof--and it was mid-March!

1803

.ぼんのくぼ夕日にむけて火鉢哉
bon no kubo yûhi ni mukete hibachi kana

on the nape
of my neck, setting sun
and hibachi

1803

.松風の吹古したる火鉢哉
matsukaze no fuki-furushitaru hibachi kana

that wind through pines
is getting old...
little brazier

I picture Issa huddling inside, close to his charcoal fire, while a bitter-cold wind howls through the trees: psychological torture!

1803

.峯の松しばし見よとて火鉢哉
mine no matsu shibashi mi yo tote hibachi kana

a quick look
at the pine on the peak...
then my brazier!

It's too cold for poetic sightseeing. Issa takes a peek at the majestic pine, then returns to his brazier and the practical business of staying alive.

1803

.赤人見る槇をうへて炬燵哉
aka hito miru maki wo uete kotatsu kana

red-faced he watches
his yew shrub grow...
brazier

In the depth of winter someone (Issa?) keeps his or her self and ornamental Japanese yew warm by a burning brazier. In this playfully structured haiku, the word miru ("watch") must be divided in the reder's mind to create a 5-7-5 pattern of sound units; superficially, the structure is 6-6-5.

1803

.朝戸出や炬燵と松とつくば山
asa tode ya kotatsu to matsu to tsukuba yama

leaving at dawn--
brazier, pines
and Mount Tsukuba

A poem of farewell. Mount Tsukuba is located near the city of Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture.

1803

.おのが身になれて火のない火燵哉
ono ga mi ni narete hi no nai kotatsu kana

emulating me--
brazier
without fire

Issa jokes at his own expense, claiming that the brazier without fire is (to use an English idiom) "standing in his shoes."

1803

.川縁に炬燵をさますゆふべ哉
kawaberi ni katatsu wo samasu yûbe kana

on the riverbank
the brazier goes cold...
evening

On the tenth day of Eleventh Month 1803, Issa wrote two haiku back-to-back about a brazier turning cold on a riverbank. This is the second one.

1803

.川縁や炬燵の酔をさます人
kawaberi ya kotatsu no yoi wo samasu hito

riverbank--
the drunk man's brazier
goes cold

This translation is tentative. On the tenth day of Eleventh Month 1803, Issa wrote two haiku back-to-back about a brazier turning cold on a riverbank. This is the first one.

1803

.南天よ炬燵やぐらよ淋しさよ
nanten yo kotatsu yagura yo sabishisa yo

southern sky--
by the watchtower's brazier
lonely

This haiku has a playful and interesting repetion of yo (exclamatory particle) three times. Ten years earlier (1793) Issa wrote a haiku about a Mount Fuji-facing watcher in a watchtower by a brazier.

1803

.赤い実も粒々転る粉炭哉
akai mi mo tsubu-tsubu korogaru kozumi kana

red berries too
roll and tumble...
little charcoals

Issa wrote this haiku on the 26th day of Tenth Month (1803). The next day he wrote a similar verse about red berries mixed with small charcoals being weighed on a scale.

1803

.赤い実は何の実かそもはかりずみ
akai mi wa nan no mi ka somo hakari-zumi

how many red berries
amid the charcoals
on the scale?

Issa wrote this haiku on the 26th day of Tenth Month (1803). The next day he wrote a similar verse about red berries mixed with small charcoals being weighed on a scale.

1803

.起てから烏聞く也おこり炭
okite kara karasu kiku nari okori-zumi

after getting up
I hear a crow...
starting my charcoal fire

Shinji notes that crows often caw in early morning hours. He translates from an old Japanese old song: "Killing all the crows in the whole world, I wish to sleep late in the morning with my darling."

1803

.くわんくわんと炭のおこりし夜明哉
kan-kan to sumi no okorishi yoake kana

charcoal catching
fire blazes fiercely...
dawn

1803

.炭くだく腕にかかる夜雨哉
sumi kudaku kaina ni kakaru yoame kana

charcoal-smashing
arms charcoal-dusted...
evening rain

Issa implies that the charcoal-smasher will rinse his arms in the rain.

1803

.炭の火のふくぶくしさよ藪隣
sumi no hi no fukubukushisa yo yabu tonari

a charcoal fire
happy and well...
the thicket next door

Is Issa envious of his neighbor's fire? This is a reordering of another haiku: "through the thicket/ happy and well.../ little charcoal fire." He wrote both of these haiku, back to back, on the 28th day of Tenth Month, 1803.

1803

.炭の火も貧乏ござれといふべ哉
sumi no hi mo bimbô gozare to iube kana

even my charcoal fire
piss-poor...
evening

1803

.雷盆の上手にかけておこり炭
suribachi no jyôzu ni kekete okori-zumi

nicely done
in my earthen mortar...
charcoal fire

1803

.鳴鶏のはらはら時の炭火哉
naku tori no hara-hara toki no sumibi kana

the rooster flaps and crows
"It's time!"
morning's charcoal fire

Shinji Ogawa believes that "the scene is of an early winter morning where a rooster crows and Issa is preparing a charcoal fire. In Japan, the rooster's crow in the early morning is called an announcement of the hour."

In this case, the rooster tells Issa it's time to light the fire.

1803

.二三俵粉炭になるもはやさ哉
ni san hyô kozumi ni naru mo hayasu kana

two or three bags
of little charcoals...
so quick

Issa is either filling the bags with charcoals quickly or, I suspect, using them up quickly in the cold winter weather.

1803

.ぱちぱちと椿咲けり炭けぶる
pachi-pachi to tsubaki saki keri sumi keburi

snap and crackle
the camellia blooms
the coal fire smokes

1803

.昔人の雨夜に似たりはかり炭
mukashi-bito no amayo ni nitari hakari-zumi

like a rainy night
in olden times...
charcoal on the scale

I believe that Issa is describing (rather romantically) the pitter-patter sound of charcoals being poured onto the scale.

1803

.藪ごしに福々しさよおこり炭
yabu-goshi ni fukubukushisa yo okori-zumi

through the thicket
happy and well...
morning's charcoal fire

Issa rearranges the main elements of this haiku in another one: "a charcoal fire/ happy and well.../ the thicket next door." He wrote both of these haiku, back to back, on the 28th day of Tenth Month, 1803.

The phrase, okori-zumi, signifies "beginning charcoal fire." In Issa's Japanese okoru could mean hajimaru ("begin"); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 260. The implication is that it's morning's first fire on a cold winter's day.

1803

.夜々は炭火福者のひとり哉
yoru yoru wa sumi hi fukusha no hitori kana

night after night
my charcoal fire...
lucky but alone

Issa feels like a "lucky person" or "wealthy person" (fukusha) to enjoy the nightly luxury of his little fire.

1803

.けふけふと命もへるや炭俵
kyôkyô to inochi mo heru ya sumidawara

fearfully fast
your life slips away too...
charcoal bag

Issa connects his own life to a charcoal bag that slowly empties as winter drags on.

1803

.げっそりとほしへり立ぬ炭俵
gessori to hoshiheri tachinu sumi-dawara

disappointment--
my dried-out sagging
bag of charcoal

The editors of Issa zenshû speculate that hoshiheri is a compound verb describing when a thing dries out and decreases in volume (2.159).

1803

.炭もはや俵の底ぞ三ケの月
sumi mo haya tawara no soko zo mika no tsuki

my charcoal goes quickly--
bag's bottom
lit by a sickle moon

It's winter and Issa's supply of heating coal is dangerously low. The dim glow of a "three-day moon" (just a sliver) illuminates this discovery, adding to the shivering coldness of the scene.

1803

.忽に淋しくなりぬ炭俵
tachimachi ni sabishiku narinu sumidawara

in just a twinkling
you've gotten low...
charcoal bag

Shinji Ogawa explains that sabishiku naru literally means "getting lonesome" but, in this context, denotes "getting scarce" or "getting low."

Issa bemoans the fact that he's running out of charcoal on a cold winter's day (or night). His phraseology suggests a humanized view of the bag. It, like Issa, has grown old, it seems, too fast.

1803

.場ふさげと思ふ間もなし炭俵
bafusage to omou ma mo nashi sumidawara

no sooner than I thought
it an obstacle...
charcoal bag

Bafusagi, according to Shinji Ogawa, means originally "an encumbrance" and derivatively "useless" or "good-for-nothing." Shinji believes that the original meaning applies here.

Before the cold weather arrived, did the charcoal bag seem like an annoying encumbrance, just taking up space in the house? Now, does Issa imply that he appreciates the bag and its contents?

1803

.炭𥧄にぬり込られし旭哉
sumigama ni nurikomerareshi asahi kana

sealed inside
the charcoal kiln...
a rising sun

Issa equates the fiercely burning, red-glowing coals with a rising sun.

1803

.赤い実の粒々転るたどん哉
akai mi no tsubu-tsubu korogaru tadon kana

red berries too
roll and tumble...
briquettes

Issa wrote this haiku on the 26th day of Tenth Month, 1803. The next day he wrote an almost identical one ending with "little charcoals" (kozumi kana). The context seems to be the weighing of charcoals on a scale.

1803

.雨の日やほたを踏へて夕ながめ
ame no hi ya hota wo fumaete yû nagame

rainy day--
tramping over firewood
to my evening's gazing

The firewood is too soaked to be of any use, at least not tonight.

1803

.うれしさは暁方のほた火哉
ureshisa wa akatsuki kata no hotabi kana

happiness
just before dawn
is a wood fire

Since the wood fire is used to warm the house on a cold winter's day, it means happiness to Issa.

1803

.二軒前干菜かけたり草の雨
ni ken mae hoshi na kaketari kusa no ame

vegetables hung to dry
at two houses...
thatch dripping rain

In the same year Issa writes another version of this haiku, ending with "little houses" (ko ie kana).

Literally, the vegetables are hung "in front of two houses" (ni ken mae).

In this haiku I assume that kusa no ame ("grass's rain") refers to rain dripping from the thatched roofs, as it seems to in a later poem (1814):
sasa no ya ya hiina no kao e kusa no ame

thatched hut--
on the doll's face dripping
rain

1803

.二軒前干菜もかけし小家哉
ni ken mae hoshi na mo kakeshi ko ie kana

vegetables hung to dry
in front...
two little houses

In the same year Issa writes another version of this haiku, ending with "thatch dripping rain" (kusa no ame).

1803

.御仏の真向ふ先がかけ菜哉
mi-hotoke no ma-mukau saki ga kake na kana

smack in front
of Buddha, vegetables
hung to dry

Issa is referring to a statue of wood or stone.

1803

.浅ましと鰒や見らん人の顔
asamashi to fugu ya miruran hito no kao

looking shameful
to the pufferfish...
people's faces

A humorous role-reversal. People may think that the fish has an ugly face, but, Issa imagines, this negative perception could go both ways. Issa uses the kanji for "abalone" but, according to the editors of Issa zenshû, it is to be pronounced, fugu: pufferfish; (1976-79) 1.711. Pufferfish soup is a winter season word.

1803

.親分と家向あふて鰒と汁
oyabun to ie mukiaute fukuto-jiru

for the headman
in the house facing mine...
pufferfish soup

Issa seems to envy the "headman" or "boss" (oyabun). In other haiku he makes it clear that pufferfish soup, a winter season word, is a luxury dish.

Carole MacRury notes that pufferfish are highly poisonous and must be prepared carefully. She writes, "I'm grinning as I think just maybe Issa's thinking this might be a luxury a lowly poet would happily avoid!"

1803

.京も京京の真中や鰒と汁
kyô mo kyô kyô no manaka ya fukuto-jiru

Kyoto, Kyoto
in the heart of Kyoto!
pufferfish soup

Pufferfish soup (fukuto-jiru) is a winter season word.

1803

.汝等が親分いくら鰒と汁
nanjira ga oyabun ikura fukuto-jiru

how much are you bringing
to the headman?
pufferfish soup

Pufferfish soup (fukuto-jiru) is a winter season word. Here, he refers to the servant(s) of the "headman" or "boss" (oyabun). In a related haiku of the same year (1803) the headman is eating pufferfish soup in the house facing Issa's.

1803

.はらはらと紅葉ちりけり鰒と汁
hara-hara to momiji chiri keri fukuto-jiru

red leaves
flitting down...
pufferfish soup

Pufferfish soup (fukuto-jiru) is a winter season word.

1803

.鰒汁や大宮人の顔をして
fugu shiru ya ômiyabito no kao wo shite

pufferfish soup--
putting on airs
like a great courtier

Literally, the person eating the soup is "making a face like a great courtier." Pufferfish soup, a winter season word, was a luxury dish.

1803

.鰒好と窓むきあふて借家哉
fugu-zuki to mado mukiaute kariya kana

a pufferfish soup-lover
in the facing window...
rented house

In a related haiku of the same year (1803) the soup eater in the facing house is a "headman" or "boss" (oyabun). Whoever he is, Issa seems to have soup envy. Pufferfish soup, a winter season word, was a luxury dish.

1803

.鰒と汁くひたくもなるつぶり哉
fukuto-jiru kuitaku mo naru tsuburi kana

pufferfish soup--
not wanting to eat
the head

Pufferfish or fugu soup is a winter season word. Is the fish's head (tsuburi = tsumuri) not appetizing because of its bloated, famously ugly face?

1803

.京にも子分ありとや鰒と汁
miyako ni mo kobun ari to ya fukuto-jiru

in Kyoto
even for apprentices!
pufferfish soup

Pufferfish soup, a winter season word, was a luxury dish.

The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

1803

.ももしきの大宮人や鰒と汁
momoshiki no ômiyabito ya fukuto-jiru

for a great courtier
of the imperial palace...
pufferfish soup

It's not clear whether Issa is depicting an actual courtier or speaking metaphorically: suggesting that eating the winter delicacy makes one feel like a courtier. In the same year (1803) he writes:
fugu shiru ya ômiyabito no kao wo shite

pufferfish soup--
putting on airs
like a great courtier

1803

.山紅葉吹おろしけり鰒と汁
yama momiji fuki-oroshi keri fukuto-jiru

the mountain's red leaves
blowing down...
pufferfish soup

Pufferfish soup (fukuto-jiru) is a winter season word.

1803

.片袖は山手の風や鳴千鳥
kata sode wa yamate no kaze ya naku chidori

from one side
wind from the hills...
plovers singing

Literally, the wind from the hills is felt on "one sleeve." Perhaps, by implication, Issa hears the plovers singing in the direction of his other sleeve, i.e., in the other direction.

1803

.夕やけの鍋の上より千鳥哉
yûyake no nabe no ue yori chidori kana

from atop a kettle
in evening's glow...
a plover's song

Issa's "from" (yori) implies that something is passing from the location of the kettle to where Issa is; this something must be the song of the plover. Therefore, though Issa ends his poem simply with "plover" (chidori) plus the emphatic particle kana, I've added this implied "song" to my translation.

1803

.鐘の声水鳥の声夜はくらき
kane no koe mizudori no koe yo wa kuraki

a temple bell tolls
a waterfowl calls...
a dark night

In his original Japanese text, Issa repeats the word "voice" (koe): voice of a bell and voice of a bird--both heard in darkness.

1803

.降る雨に水鳥どもの元気哉
furu ame ni mizudori domo no genki kana

in falling rain
waterfowl...
healthy and spry

Issa imagines the joyful energy that water imparts to waterfowl.

1803

.水鳥のあなた任せの雨夜哉
mizudori no anata makase no amayo kana

trust in the Buddha
waterfowl!
a rainy night

In Issa's Pure Land Buddhist belief, even waterfowl must trust in the "beyond": Amida Buddha.

1803

.水鳥のどちへも行かず暮にけり
mizudori no dochi e mo yukazu kure ni keri

whichever way
you fly, waterfowl...
it's dusk

This simple statement of fact might (if contemplated) be a metaphor for life and what follows it.

1803

.水鳥や人はそれぞれいそがしき
mizudori ya hito wa sore-zore isogashiki

waterfowl--
each and every human
so busy

Issa imagines the perspective of the bird as it watches the restless activities of human beings. Serene and living in the now, it seems closer to enlightenment than the people.

1803

.どこを風が吹かとひとり鰒哉
doko wo kaze ga fuka to hitori fukuto kana

to wherever
the wind may blow it...
a pufferfish

Issa spells fukuto ("tetrodon" or "pufferfish") using the Japanese character for awabi ("abalone").

In this haiku, he puns with fuka to ("blows") and fukuto ("pufferfish"). He seems to be referring to a fish that has been caught and now will be sent to who-knows-where.

1803

.とら鰒の顔をつん出す葉かげ哉
torafugu no kao wo tsundasu ha kage kana

a tiger pufferfish
face sticks out...
shade of leaves

"Tiger puffer" (torafugu) is a kind of pufferfish--caught and eaten in winter. Perhaps it has been wrapped in leaves.

1803

.葱の葉に顔をつん出す鰒哉
negi no ha ni kao wo tsundasu fukuto kana

from scallions
a face sticks out...
pufferfish

Pufferfish in Japan are caught and eaten in winter.

1803

.都にもままありにけり鰒の顔
miyako ni mo mama ari ni keri fugu no kao

even in Kyoto
the same as always...
pufferfish face

Though considered ugly by (some) human standards, the fish doesn't try to change or put on airs in the refined and beautiful capital city. I sense that Issa admires and suggests that we emulate the pufferfish's "just-as-I-am, changing-for-no-one" attitude.

1803

.かれ萩に裾引つかける日暮哉
kare hagi ni suso hikkakeru higure kana

my hem caught
on withered bush clover...
sunset

Suso ("hem") is the bottom border of a kimono; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 882.

1803

.冬枯の萩も長閑けく売家哉
fuyu kare no hagi mo nodokeku uriya kana

winter's withered bush clover
peaceful too...
house for sale

1803

.赤い実の毒々しさよかれすすき
akai mi no dokudokushisa yo kare suzuki

those red berries
are poisonous!
withered plume grass

1803

.かれすすき人に売れし一つ家
kare susuki hito ni urareshi hitotsu ie

withered plume grass--
a solitary house
for sale

The lone house amid the withered winter field, vacant and for sale, makes a desolate image.

1803

.一本は翌の夕飯大根哉
ippon wa asu no yûmeshi daikon kana

that one is
tomorrow night's dinner...
radish

Though many readers these days know what a daikon is, I continue to translate it with the more familiar (though technically inaccurate) term, "radish."

1803

.時雨よと一本残す大根哉
shigure yo to ippon nokosu daikon kana

even if winter rain falls
I'll save this one
radish

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) paraphrases: "Even if cold winter rain falls, I will keep this radish."

1803

.大根引一本づつに雲を見る
daikon hiku ippon-zutsu ni kumo wo miru

yanking radishes
one by one...
watching the clouds

Shinji Ogawa comments, "Issa comically depicts the guy pulling radishes out by bending himself backward as if he is looking up to watch the clouds each time."

Why is the farmer watching the clouds? Is bad weather threatening? His multi-tasking is funny but also troubling. Radishes below, clouds above--Issa paints another memorable scene where a human being stands (and stoops) in between.

1803

.むら雨にすつくり立や大根引
murasame ni sukkuri tatsu ya daikon hiki

in the rain shower
standing straight...
the radish puller

Sukkuri means to stand completely straight; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 884.

1803

.我庵の冬は来りけり痩大根
waga io no fuyu wa kitari keri yase daikon

winter arrives
at my hut...
a scrawny radish

The radish is appropriately emaciated (yase), reflecting Issa's typical self-portraiture.

Maxene Alexander writes, "What I like about this one is ... it shows how haiku may include mankind as part of nature - an obvious reflection of Issa's current situation, reflected by a scrawny radish."

1803

.売家の長閑也けりかれ茨
uri ie no nodoka nari keri kare ibara

the house for sale
so peaceful...
withered roses

This haiku evokes, for me, deep feelings. I picture a house filled with family and love, but years have passed, children have grown up and left, and now the house is for sale. The roses have withered. Issa wrote this and another haiku about a house for sale on the 26th day of Tenth Month, 1803. The other haiku (written first) mentions the "former owner" (saki no hito).

1803

.枯茨のけてくれけり先の人
kare ibara nokete kure keri saki no hito

he kindly cleared away
the withered roses...
former owner

Issa wrote two haiku on the topic of a house for sale on the 26th day of Tenth Month, 1803. This is the first. In the second one, he remarks how "peaceful" the house seems (nodoka nari keri).

1803

.引足は水田也けり枯茨
hiku ashi wa mizuta nari keri kare ibara

its dragged foot
makes a rice paddy...
withered roses

The dragged foot is that of a lame wolf. Its track has filled with rain water, resembling (to Issa) a paddy field. This haiku has a headnote. "The Wolf Stumbles," referring to a poem in the ancient Chinese classic Shi Jing. The poem begins, “The wolf stumbles on its own dewlap,/ Trips on its own tail." Tran. Ha Poong Kim Joy and Sorrow: Songs of Ancient China (2016) 208.

1803

.赤い実は何のみかそもかれ木立
akai mi wa nan no mi ka somo kare kodachi

those red berries
what on earth are they?
withering grove

My mother would warn Issa, "Don't eat them!"

1803

.二葉三葉根ばりづよさよ冬木立
futaba mi ha nebarizuyosa yo fuyu kodachi

two or three leaves
are tenacious...
winter grove

One senses that Issa admires these tough leaves, clinging to their trees.

1803

.こやし積夕山畠や散紅葉
koyashi tsumu yû yama hata ya chiru momiji

more fertilizer
for the evening mountain garden...
red leaves fall

1803

.あたら日のついと入りけり帰り花
atara hi no tsui to iri keri kaeri-bana

sadly sunset
comes fast...
out-of-season blooms

"Out-of-season blossom" (kaeri-bana) is a winter expression. The early winter sunset is regrettable from the flowers' point of view, which Issa compassionately imagines.

1803

.北窓や人あなどれば帰り花
kita mado ya hito anadoreba kaeri-bana

north window--
though scorned by people
out-of-season blooms

"Out-of-season blossom" (kaeri-bana) is a winter expression.

1803

.畠人の思ひの外や帰り花
hata-bito no omoi no hoka ya kaeri-bana

surprising
the gardener...
out-of-season blooms

"Out-of-season blossom" (kaeri-bana) is a winter seasonal expression.

1803

.山川のうしろ冷し帰り花
yama-gawa no ushiro tsumetashi kaeri-bana

by a mountain stream
catching a chill...
out-of-season blooms

"Out-of-season blossom" (kaeri-bana) is a winter seasonal expression.

1803

.剰海へ向って冬椿
amatsusae umi e mukatte fuyu tsubaki

also facing
the sea...
winter camellias

Who or what else is facing the sea? I assume that Issa means himself.

1803

.塊のはしやぎ抜けけり冬椿
tsuchikure no hashiyagi nuke keri fuyu tsubaki

thrusting up
throught dried-up mud...
winter camellias

Hashiyagi refers to dryness, aridity.

1803

.火のけなき家つんとして冬椿
hinoke naki ie tsunto shite fuyu tsubaki

"No warmth in this house!"
the stuck-up
winter camellia

Issa imagines the flower has a prima donna attitude.

1803

.日の目見ぬ冬の椿の咲にけり
hi no me minu fuyu no tsubaki no saki ni keri

without seeing sunlight
the winter camellia
blooms

1803

.世にあはぬ家のつんとして冬椿
yo ni awanu ie no tsunto shite fuyu tsubaki

"No society here!"
the stuck-up
winter camellia

Issa imagines the flower has a prima donna attitude.

1803

.七郷の柱とたのむ榎哉
shichigô no hashira to tanomu enoki kana

the pillar marking
Shichigo village...
hackberry tree

Shichigô is a town in Miyagi Prefecture.

1803

.晴天の真昼にひとり出る哉
seiten no mahiru ni hitori izuru kana

a clear sky
at high noon...
walking out alone

Hiroshi Kobori believes that this haiku symbolically expresses "the poet's state of mind, blank and transparent. Quite a forerunner of the contemporary haiku." He adds that Issa felt no need for a season word, focusing instead on expressing "his spiritual landscape."

1804

.元日の寝聳る程は曇る也
ganjitsu no nesoberu hodo wa kumoru nari

on New Year's Day
tall as a sleeping man...
the clouds

Shinji Ogawa explains that the phrase, nesoberu hodo wa, means "as much as a lying down person."

1804

.正月やよ所に咲ても梅の花
shôgatsu ya yoso ni saite mo ume no hana

First Month--
the plum trees blooming
elsewhere

1804

.又土になりそこなうて花の春
mata tsuchi ni narisokonaute hana no haru

once again
I've managed not to die...
blossoming spring

Shinji Ogawa explains that tsuchi ni narisokonaute ("I failed to become mud") is a way of saying, "I didn't die." Issa has lived through another winter. My alternate translation: "one more year/ above the ground.../ blossoming spring."

1804

.わが春は竹一本に柳哉
waga haru wa take ippon ni yanagi kana

my spring--
a bit of bamboo
and a willow sprig

Issa refers to the traditional pine-and-bamboo decoration (kadomatsu) on New Year's Day, the first day of spring in the old Japanese calendar. His own decoration is characteristically without frills: just a single stick of bamboo and a sprig of willow leaves.

1804

.春立や四十三年人の飯
haru tatsu ya shi jû san nen hito no meshi

spring begins--
forty three years
fed by strangers

Literally, the food is "rice" (meshi). In traditional Japan the first day of the year was also the first day of spring. On that day--not the birthday--a year was added to a person's age. Shinji Ogawa helped me to grasp Issa's meaning in this haiku. Literally, the poem ends, "people's rice" (hito no meshi), which I formerly translated, "human food." Shinji explained that hito in this context means "unrelated persons," and so the haiku alludes to the poet's long, bitter exile from his native village.

1804

.春立や見古したれど筑波山
haru tatsu ya mi-furishitaredo tsukuba yama

spring begins--
Mount Tsukuba a vision
from long ago

This haiku has the headnote (From Ryôgoku Bridge a purple sunrise). Ryôgoku Bridge is the oldest of the major bridges crossing the Sumida River in Edo (today's Tokyo). It links the provinces of Shimosa and Musashi, hence its name (which means Both Provinces). Issa recopied this haiku in a later journal with the headnote, "Looking out the window."

1804

.春立やよしのはおろか人の顔
haru tatsu ya yoshino wa oroka hito no kao

spring begins--
in Yoshino the faces
of fools

Yoshino is a famous place for viewing cherry blossoms.

1804

.中々にかざらぬ松の初日哉
naka-naka ni kazaranu matsu no hatsu hi kana

without a shred
of pine decoration...
the year's first dawn

Issa is perversely proud of the fact that he hasn't put up, at his house, the traditional New Year's pine-and-bamboo decoration.

1804

.上段の代の初日哉旅の家
jôdan no yo no hatsu hi kana tabi no ie

I greet the year's first dawn
in the top bunk...
inn

Jôdan can mean a dais, the raised part of a floor, or an upper berth. Issa means the latter in this haiku.

1804

.上段の代の先あふ初日哉
jôdan no yo no mazu au hatsu hi kana

in the top bunk
I'm first to greet it...
year's first dawn

Jôdan can mean a dais, the raised part of a floor, or an upper berth. Issa means the latter in this haiku.

1804

.粥杖に撰らるる枝か小しほ山
kayuzue ni eraruru eda ga oshio yama

choosing a branch
for her "pregnancy stick"...
Mount Oshio

On the 15th day of First Month, wood was whittled into a special cane that was used to strike childless women. It was believed that this ritual would result in the birth of a male child that year; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 410.

1804

.やぶ入の先に立けりしきみ桶
yabuiri no saki ni tachi keri shikimi oke

the homecoming servant
stands in front
visiting graves

Literally, Issa ends this haiku with the phrase, shikimi oke: a bucket filled with sacred shikimi wood. Cut branches of the evergreen shrub shikimi ("star anise") are placed at Buddhist graves, often in stone vases. Originally, the fragrance of the branches covered the odor of decay. After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. In this haiku, I picture a servant returning home to find that one or both of his parents have died while he was away. Shinji Ogawa, however, believes that there isn't sufficient evidence in the haiku to assume a parent's death.

1804

.やぶ入やきのふ過たる山神楽
yabuiri ya kinou sugitaru yama kagura

homecoming servant--
Shinto dances on the mountain
ended yesterday

After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. The dances in question are sacred Shinto dances (kagura). The servant in this haiku arrives home a day late.

1804

.やぶ入や先つつかなき墓の松
yabuiri ya mazu tsutsuganaki haka no matsu

homecoming servant--
the graveyard's pine
safe and sound

Or: "graveyard's pines." I prefer to picture one particular pine tree that is shading a particular grave a servant is visiting. After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. In this haiku, the servant's parent(s) may be dead, but there is something comforting and reassuring about the same pine tree, another year alive and well.

1804

.薮入よ君が代歌へ麦の雨
yabuiri yo kimi ga yo utae mugi no ame

Servants' Holiday!
sing "Great Japan"
rain on the wheat field

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo, a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time. After New Year's (First Month, 16th Day), servants in the cities were given time off to return to their native villages and families. Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley.

1804

.榎迄引抜れたる子の日哉
enoki made hiki-nukeretaru ne no hi kana

even a hackberry tree
is uprooted...
first day of Rat

Pulling up a young pine tree is a New Year's season custom that originated in China. This haiku was written in Second Month of 1804, which indeed was a Year of the Rat. Shinji Ogawa explains that its purpose is to ensure longevity. Here, instead of a pine, someone indiscriminantly uproots a young hackberry tree.

1804

.月見よと引残されし小松哉
tsukimi yo to hiki-nokosareshi ko matsu kana

yanking up trees
he saves one for moon-gazing...
little pine

Pulling up a young pine tree is a New Year's season custom. Its purpose is to ensure longevity. Here, as Shinji explains, one tree is spared. One day, it will grow tall and become part of an ideal moon-gazing scene.

1804

.門の松おろしや夷の魂消べし
kado no matsu oroshi ya ebisu no tamagebeshi

down comes my New Year's pine--
let the god of wealth
be shocked!

The traditional pine-and-bamboo decoration ensures prosperity for the new year. Issa takes it down, imagining how shocking this must be to the god of wealth (ebisu).

1804

.住の江ものべつけにして門の松
sumi no e mo nobetsuke ni shite kado no matsu

a Sumiyoshi shrine charm
attached too...
gate's pine decoration

Shinji Ogawa translates sumi no e as "a charm of Sumiyoshi Shrine."

1804

.ちる雪に立合せけり門の松
chiru yuki ni tachiawase keri kado no matsu

keeping the falling
snow company...
New Year's pine

This haiku refers to the traditional New Year's pine-and-bamboo decoration on the gate.

1804

.万歳のまかり出たよ親子連
manzai no makari ideta yo oyako-zure

the begging actors
pay a visit...
parents and children

This haiku refers to begging actors who make their rounds during the New Year's season performing a traditional style of stand-up comedy.

1804

.七草を敲き直すや昼時分
nanakusa wo tataki naosu ya hiru jibun

the pounding
of the seven herbs resumes...
noontime

The seven herbs of health (nanakusa) were eaten at New Year's. This haiku refers to the sound of the herbs being pounded into a gruel.

1804

.あらためて鶴もおりるか初わかな
aratamete tsuru mo oriru ka hatsu wakana

are you coming down
crane, to see?
picking herbs

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1804

.こてこてと鍋かけし若菜哉
kote-kote to nabe kakeshi wakana kana

the kettle's lid
rattle-rattles...
New Year's herbs

A happy slice-of-life poem involving a boiling pot, a wooden lid, sound, and (implied) smell. Kote-kote ("thickly") in this context is an onomatopoeic imitation of rattling. Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of Firsth Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1804

.三足程旅めきぬ朝わか菜
miashi hodo tabi mekinu asa wakana

right underfoot
for travelers...
morning's New Year's herbs

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1804

.あの藪に人の住めばぞ薺打
ano yabu ni hito no sumeba zo nazuna utsu

in every thicket
where people live...
pounding New Year's herbs

Nazuna (shepherd's purse) is one of the seven herbs of health that are eaten in a gruel on the seventh day of First Month, Mankind's Day.

1804

.君が世の鶏諷ひけり餅むしろ
kimi ga yo no tori fûi keri mochi mushiro

Great Japan's answer
to cock-a-doodle-doo...
rice cake pounding

"Great Japan" is my translation of kimi ga yo a phrase that refers to the emperor's reign and begins the Japanese national anthem. Issa would have known the lyrics, though not the current melody which came after his time. People are pounding New Year’s rice cakes; their sound in the morning is a rooster substitute.

1804

.親里へ水は流るる春辺哉
oya-zato e mizu wa nagaruru harube kana

to my home village
the water flows...
springtime

This is a homesick haiku written while Issa was living in Edo (today's Tokyo), far from his "parental village" (oya-zato). Makoto Ueda speculates that Issa came upon a stream that was flowing in a northwesterly direction: toward his native village in the mountains. Of course, since water can't flow uphill, there's a bit of humor in the haiku to balance the nostalgia; Dew on the Grass (2004) 56.

1804

.長閑さや去年の枕はどの木の根
nodokasa ya kozo no makura wa dono ki no ne

spring peace--
last year which tree root
was my pillow?

Now that spring has returned, Issa is ready for a delicious nap.

1804

.春の日や水さへあれば暮残り
haru no hi ya mizu sae areba kure nokori

the spring day's
remnants...
only in the water

According to Jean Cholley, Issa wrote this haiku in Katsushikano, a neighborhood of today's Tokyo known as Katsushika. It was one of the poet's favorite walking places, with plenty of ponds and streams. At dusk, even though the sky was already dark, glimmers of twilight lingered on the surfaces of water; En village de miséreux (1996) 235, n. 25.

1804

.春の夜や瓢なでても人の来る
haru no yo ya fukube nadete mo hito no kuru

spring evening--
he comes out to pet
the gourd

Is the proud gardener Issa?

1804

.春もはや残りすくなや山の雨
haru mo haya nokori sukuna ya yama no ame

spring rushes by
so little of it left...
mountain rain

1804

.京人はあきずもあらなん春の雪
kyôbito wa akizu mo aranan haru no yuki

Kyoto citizens
just sick of it...
spring snow

I hope I'm reading Issa's double negative correctly. The citizens are, literally, "not being not tired" of the snow.

1804

.足癖のあさぢが原や春の雨
ashiguse no asaji ga hara ya haru no ame

fancy footwork
through tufted grasses...
spring rain

"Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass.

1804

.あたら日をふりなくしけり春の雨
atarabi wo furinaku shi keri haru no ame

not falling
on the predicted day...
spring rain

1804

.垣添にゆで湯けぶりや春の雨
kakizoi ni yude yu keburi ya haru no ame

steam of boiling water
in the hedge...
spring rain

Has someone prepared and is now perhaps enjoying an outdoor bath? Rain, steam, and green, leafy hedge mingle sensuously.

1804

.から下戸の片長家也春の雨
kara geko no kata nagoya nari haru no ame

on the nondrinker's
row house...
spring rain

A nagaya is a long, narrow house with a single roof ridge: a poor tenement house.

1804

.川見ゆる木の間の窓や春の雨
kawa miyuru ko no ma no mado ya haru no ame

watching the river
through a window of trees...
spring rain falls

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) assisted with this translation.

1804

.きのふ寝しさが山見へて春の雨
kinô neshi saga yama miete haru no ame

yesterday from bed
I could see Mount Saga...
spring rain

Issa wakes up to a transformed world: the mountain obliterated by cloud and rain.

1804

.草山のくりくりはれし春の雨
kusa yama no kuri-kuri hareshi haru no ame

haystacks fat and round
when clouds clear...
spring rain

Like ghostly apparitions. "Haystack" is my translation for kusa yama ("grass mountain").

1804

.さが山に誰々寝ます春の雨
saga yama ni dare-dare nemasu haru no ame

who's sleeping
up on Mount Saga?
spring rain

Maybe Issa finds the pitter-patter of the rain soporific.

1804

.酒ありと壁に張りけり春の雨
sake ari to kabe ni hari keri haru no ame

"Sake for sale"
a sign on a wall...
spring rain

Issa humorously suggests it's a good day for staying inside and drinking. Sake ari ("sake is here") are words pasted on a wall.

1804

.白壁のもっと遠かれ春の雨
shirakabe no motto tôkare haru no ame

the white wall
is farther away...
spring rain

The wall that Issa sees (perhaps from his window) appears to have receded to a far distance, viewed through raindrops.

1804

.捨杵のちょろちょろ水や春の雨
sutegine no choro-choro mizu ya haru no ame

water trickles
from the cloth-pounding mallet...
spring rain

The word sutegine can refer to the last decisive hit of a wooden mallet when pounding fabric or bedding.

1804

.袖笠や水見ておはす春の雨
sodegasa ya mizu mite owasu haru no ame

sleeve for a hat
watching water...
spring rain

The compound word sodegasa ("sleeve" + "umbrella-hat") signifies using one's sleeve to cover one's head in the rain.

1804

.袖たけの垣根うれしや春の雨
sodetake no kakine ureshi ya haru no ame

tall as my sleeve
it's a happy hedge...
spring rain

The little hedge is sure to grow, thanks to the rain.

1804

.春雨で恋しがらるる榎哉
harusame de koishigararuru enoki kana

because of spring rain
the dear hackberry tree
is missed

According to Shinji Ogawa, harusame de signifies "due to the spring rain," and koishigararuru enoki denotes a "nostalgically beloved hackberry tree," in other words, a hackberry tree that is no longer here. Is Issa implying that he cut down the tree but regrets it, now that he needs a rain shelter?

1804

.春雨になれて灯とぼる薮の家
harusame ni narete hi toboru yabu no ie

becoming inured
to spring's rain...
lamp-lit house in the trees

Shinji Ogawa offers this translation:

Getting used to
the spring rain,
The house in the woods is lighted.

1804

.春雨のいくらもふれよ茶呑橋
harusame no ikura mo fure yo chanomi-bashi

a lot of shaking
in spring rain...
tea-drinking bridge

Sounds dangerous.

1804

.春雨の中に立たる榎哉
harusame no naka ni tachitaru enoki kana

standing tall
in the spring rain...
hackberry tree

1804

.春雨もはやうるさがる榎哉
harusame mo haya urusagaru enoki kana

spring rain
so soon is annoying...
hackberry tree

Perhaps Issa is sheltering under the big shade tree.

1804

.春雨やけぶりの脇は妹が門
harusame ya keburi no waki wa imo ga kado

spring rain--
alongside the smoke
my sweetheart's gate

Imo ("sister") is a literary word for "dear one"--an intimate term that a man uses to refer to his beloved; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 454.

1804

.春雨や雀口明く膳の先
harusame ya suzume kuchi aku zen no saki

spring rain--
a sparrow begs
by my dinner tray

The sparrow opens its mouth; one assumes it is begging for a handout. A zen (dining tray) is about one foot by one foot with five-inch legs.

1804

.春雨やはや灯のとぼる亦打山
harusame ya haya hi no toboru matchi yama

spring rain--
lamps lit so early
on Mount Matchi

Rain clouds bring darkness: an early evening.

1804

.春雨や火もおもしろきなべの尻
harusame ya hi mo omoshiroki nabe no shiri

spring rain--
a delightful fire
under the kettle

1804

.昼過の浦のけぶりや春の雨
hiru sugi no ura no keburi ya haru no ame

steam on the bay
past midday...
spring rain

1804

.ほうろくをかぶって行や春の雨
hôroku wo kabutte yuku ya haru no ame

walking along
a baking pan on his head...
spring rain

Or: "her head." One of the most important aspects of haiku is that much is left ambiguous, unspoken, undefined. Ludmila Balabanova writes, "Haiku isn't a perception shared by the author, but an invitation to the reader to achieve his own enlightenment" (World Haiku Association speech, Tenri Japan, October 2003). Is the person walking along a child? An adult? Issa? I prefer to picture a child, but this choice is left to each reader to decide. Whoever we imagine, the makeshift umbrella-hat raises a smile. The delight of seeing a baking pan in this unexpected place, worn as a hat, is justification enough for the poem--a sketch from life that isn't straining to reveal deeper meaning. The image is simple, but the feeling it evokes, one of springtime joy, resonates in our hearts. Raindrops patter on the pan; the person under it--child, man, woman or Issa--strides forward unabashed.

1804

.山の鐘も一つひびけ春の雨
yama no kane mo hitotsu hibike haru no ame

clang once more
mountain temple bell!
spring rain

Literally, it is a "mountain bell" (yama kane), but Issa's readers Japanese readers understand that this refers to the bell of a Buddhist temple. Originally, I had the bell "ring," but Shinji Ogawa advises, "A Japanese mountain bell (or temple bell) is so huge that it rather peals than rings." I then changed it to "clang"--a stronger, louder sound, though the temple bells that I heard in Japan sounded more like BONGGGGGGGgggggg!

1804

.我松もかたじけなさや春の雨
waga matsu mo katajikenasa ya haru no ame

my pine tree too
is grateful...
spring rain

1804

.口ばたに春風吹きぬ田舎飴
kuchibata ni harukaze fukinu inaka ame

in Kuchibata
a spring breeze blows...
country candy

Hard candy. Kuchibata seems to be a place name, but I have not been able to find it on a map.

1804

.小盥の貫すは青し春の風
ko-darai no nukisu wa aoshi haru no kaze

the little tub's
braided bamboo is green...
spring breeze

Nukisu is a mat of woven bamboo used in hand-washing. Shinji Ogawa explains that the greenness of the bamboo means it is a newly-made screen. "When the bamboo is fresh, it carries a green color, and the color changes to yellow after a month or so."

1804

.春風の吹かぬ草なし田舎飴
harukaze no fukanu kusa nashi inaka ame

not a blade of grass
untouched by the spring breeze...
country jelly

An odd juxtaposition.

1804

.春風の夜水かかりし山田哉
harukaze no yomizu kakarishi yamada kana

the spring breeze
waters it at night...
mountain rice field

Yomizu is water that irrigates rice paddies at night. Is the breeze bringing rain clouds or dew?

1804

.春風や翌行く生駒檜原山
harukaze ya asu yuku ikoma hibara yama

spring breeze--
tomorrow Mount Ikoma
Mount Hibara

The breeze stirs Issa to travel. Ikoma and Hibara are mountains in historical Nara Prefecture.

1804

.春風や黄金花咲むつの山
harukaze ya kogane hana saku mutsu no yama

spring breeze--
golden flowers bloom
on Mutsu mountain

Mutsu was one of Japan's old provinces, now divided into four prefectures, one of which is Fukushima.

1804

.二荒嶺も黄金花さけ春の風
futarane mo kogane hana sake haru no kaze

at Mount Nantai
bloom, golden flowers!
spring breeze

Futarane (Futara Peak) is another name for Mount Nantai near Nikko.

1804

.松苗も肩過にけり春の風
matsunae mo kata sugi ni keri haru no kaze

the pine saplings
over shoulder-high...
spring breeze

1804

.霞とてえりわり出れば鳥辺山
kasumi tote eriwari dereba toribe yama

spring mist
rising with a purpose...
Mount Toribe

The "purpose" is to create a more poetic image (as in misty Chinese and Japanese landscape paintings). Eriwari is another form of eriwaza: to do something deliberately.

1804

.霞み行や二親持し小すげ笠
kasumi yuku ya futa oya mochishi ko suge-gasa

walking in mist
in a little sedge hat
with both parents

Or: "with her parents." The child is wearing a little sedge umbrella-hat (ko suge-gasa).

Shinji Ogawa notes that the phrase, "walking into the mist" (kasumi yuku) shows "the time progression during which Issa was watching them enviously."

Perhaps. Or, perhaps, Issa is simply happy for the lucky little child who, unlike himself, is no orphan?

1804

.春がすみ江戸めかぬ家二三軒
haru-gasumi edo mekanu ie ni san ken

spring mist--
two or three houses
visible in Edo

The mist must be thick, Edo (today's Tokyo) being a vast city even in Issa's time.

1804

.陽炎によしある人の素足哉
kagerô ni yoshi aru hito no suashi kana

in heat shimmers
the holy man's
bare feet

The subject of the haiku is a "good person" (yoshi aru hito); I think that by this Issa might mean a Buddhist arhat.

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1804

.雪汁のかかる地びたに和尚顔
yuki-jiru no kakaru jibita ni oshôgao

splashed with slush
close to the ground...
a high priest's face

In a prose passage of his journal preceding this haiku, Issa declares that he felt pity to see a monk chained to a pillory near Nihonbashi bridge in Edo. Passersby, walking through the slush, splashed his face. Jean Cholley notes that the monk was being punished for seducing a member of the congregation: chained in a kneeling position, hands behind his back, head nearly touching the ground; En village de miséreux (1996) 236, n. 29.

1804

.かくれ家も人に酔けり春の山
kakurega mo hito ni yoi keri haru no yama

secluded house--
even here, crowd-sick
spring mountain

Originally, I thought that someone was getting drunk in this haiku, but Shinji Ogawa set me straight. The phrase hito ni yoi keri, he explains, means "felt sick from the jostling of a crowd" or "got sick from overcrowding." Is Issa suggesting, then, that he has too many house guests--perhaps fellow poets who have come to enjoy his spring mountain?

1804

.寝仲間に我をも入れよ春の山
ne nakama ni ware wo mo ire yo haru no yama

the sleepers
make room for me...
spring mountain

A scene at an inn. Springtime has produced lots of travelers, Issa included.

1804

.降暮し降暮しけり春の山
furikurashi furikurashi keri haru no yama

living in rain
living in rain...
spring mountain

The expression furikurashi ("living in rain") appears in Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji. According to Issa's journal, it indeed rained on the day he wrote this haiku: the 29th of First Month (1804).

1804

.老僧のけばけばしさよ春の山
rôsô no kebakebashisa yo haru no yama

the old priest
in his fancy clothes...
spring mountain

1804

.髪虱ひねる戸口も春野哉
kami-jirami hineru toguchi mo haru no kana

pinching head lice
in a doorway...
spring fields

1804

.苔桃も節句に逢ふや赤い花
kokemomo mo sekku ni au ya akai hana

cowberries too
at the festival...
red flowers

Cowberries, also called ligonberries, are red.

1804

.かつしかや昔のままの雛哉
katsushika ya mukashi no mama no hiina kana

in Katsushika
like olden times, unchanged...
Doll Festival

The Doll Festival takes place on the third day of Third Month. Katsushika is an area of land east of Sumida River--a riverside suburb of Edo (today's Tokyo).

1804

.朝漬を働きぶりの汐干哉
asazuke wo hatarakiburi no shiohi kana

a method for brining
morning pickles...
low tide

"Morning pickles" (asazuke) are garden vegetables (radishes, gourds, eggplants...) that are pickled for a short time, literally overnight. Here, someone uses low tide seawater in the process.

1804

.女から先へかすむぞ汐干がた
onna kara saki e kasumu zo shiohigata

the mist covers up
the women first...
shell gathering

Or: "woman." Shinji Ogawa interpets the poem to be saying that the mist is moving in, covering the women who are gathering shells. There's a hint of annoyance in the poem, since the mist is depriving Issa of a view of the women.

William J. Higginson (assisted by Emiko Sakurai) interprets the haiku differently: a woman "leads into the mist"; The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku (Tokyo: Kodansha International,1985) 18. In Higginson's vision, a woman is moving; in Ogawa's vision, the mist is moving.

1804

.淋しさや汐の干る日も角田河
sabishisa ya shio no hiru hi mo sumida-gawa

solitude--
even on a low tide day
Sumida River

Sumida River flows through Edo (today's Tokyo) and into Tokyo Bay. Its level is affected by the tides.

1804

.汐干潟雨しとしとと暮かかる
shiohi-gata ame shito-shito to kure kakaru

low tide
in a soft, soft rain...
darkness coming

The season word ("tideland at low tide": shiohi-gata) suggests that there are people in the scene, hunched over, searching for shellfish. The day is growing dark, and rain is falling. Issa evokes a slice of life, with a world of feeling and implications, with a few deft strokes of his writing brush.

1804

.汐干潟女のざいに遠走り
shiohi-gata onna no zai ni toppashiri

low tide--
to my woman's house
a long way to go

In modern Japanese, toppashiri means "long-distance flight." For Issa it meant a long distance.

1804

.汐干潟しかも霞むは女也
shiohi-gata shikamo kasumu wa onna nari

low tide--
the mist wrecks my view
of the women

Or: "the woman." The women (or woman) are gathering shellfish at low tide. As Shinji Ogawa explains, shikamo in this context means, "why on earth" or "oh well." Issa doesn't like the spring mist that obscures his view, interfering with his girl-watching.

1804

.汐干潟松がなくても淋しいぞ
shiohi-gata matsu ga nakute mo sabishii zo

low tide
without pine trees...
lonelier still

1804

.すで笠の霞まずとても汐干哉
sugegasa no kasumazu totemo shiohi kana

their sedge umbrella-hats
not completely mist-swallowed...
low tide

Shell-gatherers.

1804

.住吉や汐干過ても松の月
sumiyoshi ya shiohi sugite mo matsu no tsuki

at Sumiyoshi
all through the low tide...
moon in the pine

Sumiyoshi is a Shinto shrine in Osaka. Shinji Ogawa notes that sugiru has two meanings: "to pass through a space" and "to pass through time." He believes that the latter applies better in this case: that the moon is still above the pine after the low tide.

1804

.折角の汐の干潟をざんざ雨
sekkaku no shio no hi-gata wo zanza ame

waited so long
for the low tide...
a driving rain

Zanza is an old word that describes an energetic and swift action; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 735. And Shinji Ogawa notes that sekkaku no can mean "special" or "long-awaited." The latter makes better sense in this case. People have waited patiently and long for the low tide and the opportunity to collect shellfish, but now a hard rain is falling.

1804

.どの木でも汐干の見ゆる箱根山
dono ki de mo shiohi no miyuru hakone yama

from which tree
to watch low tide?
Mount Hakone

Mount Hakone is south of Edo (today's Tokyo). Issa wrote this haiku on the 23rd day of First Month. A week later on the 30th, he revised it to begin with "from which pine?" (dono matsu).

1804

.どの松で汐干見ようぞ箱根山
dono matsu de shiohi mi yô zo hakone yama

from which pine
to watch low tide?
Mount Hakone

Mount Hakone is south of Edo (today's Tokyo). Issa wrote this haiku on the 30th day, First Month. A week earlier, on the 23rd, he began a first version of this haiku with the question, "from which tree?" (dono ki).

1804

.鶏のなく家も見へたる汐干哉
tori no naku ie mo mietaru shioi kana

a house
with a rooster crowing...
low tide

1804

.はればれと御八聞る汐干哉
hare-bare to oyatsu kikoyuru shiohi kana

bright and clear
voices in the afternoon...
low tide

Because Issa emphasizes the voices, we might assume that the shell-gatherers are hidden in sea mist.

1804

.降雨や汐干も終に暮の鐘
furu ame ya shiohi mo tsui ni kure no kane

rain falling--
for shellfish gatherers
the sunset bell at last

A wet, gray scene. Shellfish hunters have been working at low tide. A temple's sunset bell is a relief and a blessing.

1804

.御寺から直に行るる汐干哉
mi-tera kara sugu ni yukaruru shioi kana

from the temple
quick and easy access...
shell gathering

Low tide shell gathering is a spring seasonal expression.

1804

.我庵は人も目かけぬ茶の木哉
waga io wa hito mo mekakenu cha no ki kana

at my hut
tended by no one...
tea plant

Another example of Issa's laziness which might thinly disguise a deep belief in letting nature be.

1804

.鳥の巣を見し辺りぞや山を焼
tori no su wo mishi atari zo ya yama wo yaku

where I've seen
birds nesting...
they burn the mountain

Fires are set in the mountains to clear away dead brush and prepare the fields for tilling.

1804

.巣の鳥の口明く方や暮の鐘
su no tori no kuchi aku hô ya kure no kane

toward the open mouth
of the nesting bird...
the sunset bell tolls

Issa is referring to the bell of a Buddhist temple.

1804

.つつがなき鳥の巣祝へあみだ坊
tsutsuganaki tori no su iwae amida-bô

pray good health
for the nesting bird!
Amida's priest

Amida Buddha is the Buddha most revered in the Pure Land Buddhism that Issa followed. "Amida's priest" (amida-bô) might be "Priest Issa."

1804

.鳥の巣のありありみゆる榎哉
tori no su no ariari miyuru enoki kana

the bird nest
in plain sight for all to see...
hackberry tree

1804

.鳥の巣や翌は切らるる門の松
tori no su ya asu wa kiraruru kado no matsu

bird's nest--
tomorrow the pine by the gate
will be cut down

The bird builds its nest without knowledge of tomorrow. An image of Buddhist impermanence but also a reminder of the burden of human awareness.

1804

.子雀は千代千代千代と鳴にけり
ko suzume wa chiyo chiyo chiyo to naki ni keri

"Happy New Year,
long live Japan!"
a baby sparrow cheeps

A patriotic bird! Issa hears it chirping a New Year's wish for the emperor: "May your reign last a thousand generations" (chiyo)--taken from an old waka poem that would later provide the lyrics for Japan's national anthem. Issa prefaces this haiku with the fitting headnote, "Congratulations."

1804

.雀子も梅に口明く念仏哉
suzumego mo ume ni kuchi aku nebutsu kana

sparrow babies
in plum blossoms
praise Buddha!

This haiku refers to the nembutsu ("Namu Amida Butsu"--"All praise to Amida Buddha"), a prayer of thanksgiving for, and praise of, Amida Buddha's liberating power. Eons ago, Amida promised that all who rely on him will be reborn in the Pure Land (the Western Paradise).

1804

.鶯ももどりがけかよおれが窓
uguisu mo modori-gake ka yo ore ga mado

bush warbler
are you also returning?
my window

1804

.鶯よこちむけやらん赤の飯
uguisu yo kochi muke yaran aka no meshi

hey bush warbler
turn this way!
red beans and rice

Though literally translated as "red rice," aka no meshi (also aka no gohan) is a rice and red bean dish served in a bowl. Issa is evidently sharing his with his friend.

1804

.窓あれば下手鶯も来たりけり
mado areba heta uguisu mo kitari keri

to every window
an off-key bush warbler
comes too

Issa doesn't specify that they are his windows, though this might be inferred. Literally, he says "where there's a window" or "if there's a window" (mado areba) a poor-singing bush warbler (i.e, its song) also comes.

1804

.痩藪の下手鶯もはつ音哉
yase yabu no heta uguisu mo hatsu ne kana

in a sparse thicket
an off-key bush warbler too...
first song

1804

.片山は雨のふりけり鳴雲雀
kata yama wa ame no furi keri naku hibari

on the mountain
rain falling
lark singing

1804

.住吉に灯のとぼりけり鳴雲雀
sumiyoshi ni hi no tobori keri naku hibari

at Sumiyoshi
lamps are burning
larks are singing

Or: "a lark is singing." Sumiyoshi is a Shinto shrine in Osaka.

1804

.鳴雲雀人の顔から日の暮るる
naku hibari hito no kao kara hi no kururu

a skylark sings--
a man facing
sunset

Or: "a woman."

1804

.鳴雲雀貧乏村のどこが果
naku hibari bimbô mura no doko ga hate

singing skylark
where is this poor village's
border?

Issa seems to be requesting aerial reconnaissance.

1804

.野大根も花咲にけり鳴雲雀
no daiko mo hana saki ni keri naku hibari

even the field's
radishes are blooming...
the lark singing!

Though many readers these days know what a daikon is, I continue to translate it with the more familiar (though technically inaccurate) term, "radish."

1804

.雲雀鳴通りに見ゆる大和哉
hibari naku tôri ni miyuru yamato kana

the lark sings
as it flies along...
Great Japan!

Yamato is the ancient name for Japan. Because of its patriotic overtones, I have translated it "Great Japan!"

1804

.故郷の見へなくなりて鳴雲雀
furusato no mienaku narite naku hibari

my home village
no longer in sight...
singing lark

The village is out of sight, but to whom? In his translation, Lewis Mackenzie implies that the village is out of sight to Issa, but he can still hear the lark there; The Autumn Wind (1957; rpt. 1984) 55.

Shinji Ogawa lists four ways to picture this haiku: (1) Issa's home village is out of sight to Issa. Issa hears the skylarks that are plentiful in his village, reminding him of it. (2) After his home village is out of sight, Issa notices the singing lark. (3) The singing lark flies high, trying but no longer able to see its home village. (4) Issa's home village is no longer in sight to Issa. But from the vantage point of the singing lark, Issa's village may be visible. Shinji comments, "Due to the short form, ambiguity is one of haiku's properties. In my opinion, haiku poets should minimize ambiguity. Implication and ambiguity are two different things."

R. J. writes, "Perhaps Issa sees his new situation in its enormity at once with its perils, yet with its obverse coming into focus he can't help but sing."

The same year (1804) Issa writes:
oya no ie mienaku narinu natsu no yama

my parents' house
no longer in sight...
summer mountain

1804

.夕急ぐ干潟の人や鳴雲雀
yû isogu higata no hito ya naku hibari

evening rushes in--
someone on the tideland
a lark singing

The person in the scene is most likely gathering shellfish at low tide.

1804

.夕雲雀野辺のけぶりに倦るるな
yû hibari nobe no keburi ni akaruru na

evening lark
don't let the field's smoke
annoy you

Yet another of Issa's many encouraging pep talks addressed to a fellow creature.

1804

.雷に鳴あはせたる雉哉
kaminari ni naki awasetaru kigisu kana

mingling
with the thunder--
a pheasant's cry

1804

.雉なくや千島のおくも仏世界
kiji naku ya chishima no oku mo butsu sekai

a pigeon cries--
even deep in the Thousand Islands
it's Buddha's world

Literally the "Thousand Islands," Chishima refers to the Kurile Islands.

1804

.朝雨を祝ふてかへれ小田の雁
asa ame wo iwaute kaere oda no kari

celebrate the morning rain
then off you go!
rice field geese

Shinji Ogawa points out that kaere in this context can be translated as "return" or "leave" (command). Since this is a spring haiku, the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands). However, before they depart, Issa recommends that they celebrate the morning rain--as he does, in the haiku.

1804

.跡立は雨に逢ひけりかへる雁
atodachi wa ame ni ai keri kaeru kari

the last in line
hits the rain...
departing geese

Atodachi is an old word referring to the last one in a procession, parade, or queue; see Kogo dai jiten (1983) 47.

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1804

.かへる雁翌はいづくの月や見る
kaeru kari asu wa izuku no tsuki ya miru

departing geese
where will you moon-gaze
tomorrow?

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands). Issa implies that the geese are just like haiku poets: they, like he, travel restlessly, forever seeking new places in which to appreciate nature.

1804

.立雁のぢろぢろみるや人の顔
tachi kari no jiro-jiro miru ya hito no kao

the departing goose
stares the man
in the face

The expression jiro-jiro miru connotes the idea of sizing up someone or something. This comic haiku shows a goose (geese?) staring boldly at a person (most likely Issa), appraising him coldly.

The editors of Issa's collected works suggest a reading of tachi kari for the first two kanji of this haiku; Issa zenshû (1976-79) 1.151. Shinji Ogawa asserts that tatsu kari is "more natural in Japanese pronunciation."

1804

.田の雁のかへるつもりか帰らぬか
ta no kari no kaeru tsumori ka kaeranu ka

are the rice field's geese
planning to fly north?
planning not to?

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1804

.田の人の笠に糞してかへる雁
ta no hito no kasa ni hako shite kaeru kari

pooping on the farmer's
umbrella-hat
the goose departs

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1804

.はげ山も見知ておけよかへる雁
hage yama mo mishirite oke yo kaeru kari

the bald mountain, too
memorize by sight!
geese flying north

Hageyama literally means, "bald mountain." French translator Jean Cholley chooses to visualize several bald mountains in the scene; En village de miséreux (1996) 53.

1804

.一つでも鳴て行也かへる雁
hitotsu demo naite yuku nari kaeru kari

just one
but he goes honking...
departing goose

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands).

1804

.行雁に呑せてやらん京の水
yuku kari ni nomasete yaran kyô no mizu

geese taking off
have a drink on me...
Kyoto's water

Kyoto was Japan's capital in Issa's time.

1804

.行雁やきのふは見へぬ小田の水
yuku kari ya kinou wa mienu oda no mizu

traveling geese--
those rice fields weren't flooded
yesterday

Japanese rice fields are dry until planting time. Issa is suggesting that today the fields are being flooded so that rice can be planted. I think it might be possible that the poet is imagining the aerial perspective of the geese, as they look down at the land and comment on its changes.

1804

.行な雁廿日も居れば是古郷
yuku na kari hatsuka mo ireba kore kokyô

don't go geese!
after twenty days
this is your home

Shinji Ogawa corrected my way-off-the-mark translation of this haiku by providing this paraphrase: "don't leave geese!/ having stayed for more than twenty days/ it's your hometown now."

1804

.我恋はさらしな山ぞかへる雁
waga koi wa sarashina yama zo kaeru kari

"My love
is at Mount Sarashina!"
the goose departs

Or: "geese fly north."

I assume that this statement is being made by the goose (or geese), not Issa, hence the quotation marks. Issa wrote this haiku the previous year (1803):
ichi do mitaki sarashina yama ya kaeru kari

all eager to see
Mount Sarashina...
departing geese

This is a spring haiku; the wild geese are leaving Japan (i.e., returning to northern lands). Mount Sarashina is another name for Ubasute or Obasute: a mountain in Issa's home province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture) where old people were, according to legend, "thrown away": left to die. Today it is called Kamurikiyama.

1804

.油火のうつくしき夜やなく蛙
aburabi no utsukushiki yo ya naku kawazu

a lovely night lit
with oil lamps...
croaking frogs

1804

.蛙なくや始て寝たる人の家
kawazu naku ya hajimete netaru hito no ie

croaking frogs--
my first night
visiting this house

Shinji Ogawa explains that this is Issa's "first sleep" at a house he is visiting. Perhaps the raucous frogs are keeping him up?

1804

.鍋ずみを目口に入てなく蛙
nabe-zumi wo meguchi ni irete naku kawazu

the kettle's soot
in his mouth and eyes...
croaking frog

Is the frog annoyed by this human-made pollution?

1804

.初蛙梢の雫又おちよ
hatsu kawazu kozue no shizuku mata ochi yo

spring's first frog--
another drop falls
from the twig

I believe that the water drops are falling onto the frog's head. Is he perturbed? Astonished? Accepting the drops with Buddhist equanimity? The reader must decide.

1804

.あたふたに蝶の出る日や金の番
atafuta ni chô no deru hi ya kane no ban

on a hurry-scurry
butterfly day
guarding the money

A study in contrasts: butterflies bustling here and there while a person watches over his (or more likely, his master's or employer's) money.

1804

.今上げし小溝の泥やとぶ小蝶
ima ageshi ko mizo no doro ya tobu ko chô

fresh-scooped mud
from the little ditch...
a little butterfly

Mud and the butterfly make an interesting juxtaposition.

1804

.うそうそと雨降中を春のてふ
uso-uso to ame furu naka wo haru no chô

nervously
through the raindrops...
spring butterfly

Uso-uso can mean "uneasily" or "full of anxiety"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 196.
Michael Hebert writes, "Unease or anxiety is an 'unskillful' mental state in Buddhist thought. In the past scholars translated dhukka as suffering, as in the Four Noble Truths: 1. Life is suffering. I have read modern scholars who note that the word dhukka is based on a root word that means a wheel out of balance, and infer that instead of suffering, something more akin to unease, unsatisfactoriness is a better understanding of the meaing of the word. Perhaps Issa is empathizing with the anxious butterfly, knowing that he too, is anxious?"

1804

.川縁や蝶を寝さする鍋の尻
kawaberi ya chô wo nesasuru nabe no shiri

riverbank--
the butterfly's bed
a kettle's bottom

The kettle has been washed and left upside-down to dry.

1804

.手のとどく山の入日や春の蝶
te no todoku yama no irihi ya haru no chô

the mountain sunset
within my grasp...
spring butterfly

Or: "spring butterflies." French translator Jean Cholley chooses the plural here; En village de miséreux (1996) 55.

1804

.通り抜ゆるす寺也春のてふ
tôrinuke yurusu tera nari haru no chô

a shortcut through
the temple with permission...
spring butterfly

1804

.とぶ蝶や溜り水さへ春のもの
tobu chô ya tamari mizu sae haru no mono

flitting butterfly
even stagnant water
a spring thing

1804

.初蝶のいきおひ猛に見ゆる哉
hatsu chô no ikioi mou ni miyuru kana

the year's first
butterfly
full of swagger

Hiroshi Kobori offers this translation:

a butterfly
this year's first--
straight, bold

In his translation Lucien Stryk renders the key phrase, "Moment of/ fierceness"; The Dumpling Field: Haiku of Issa (1991) 17.

1804

.吹やられ吹やられたる小てふ哉
fuki yarare fuki yararetaru ko chô kana

blowing along
blowing along...
little butterfly

The brave little butterfly is subject to the erratic whim of the wind: an image from life and parable about it.

1804

.又窓へ吹もどさるる小てふ哉
mata mado e fuki-modosaruru ko chô kana

blown to the window
again
little butterfly

1804

.湖の駕から見へて春の蝶
mizuumi no kago kara miete haru no chô

from a palanquin
at the lake, watching
spring butterflies

Some noble personage sits in the palanquin, enjoying the spring scene.

1804

.目の砂をこする握に小てふ哉
me no suna wo kosuru kobushi ni ko chô kana

rubbing sand from his eyes
in my hand...
little butterfly

Literally, the butterfly is in his "fist" (kobushi), but since Issa can see the butterfly in it rubbing its eyes, his fist isn't closed. I picture his hand cupped open.

1804

.行人のうしろ見よとや風のてふ
yuku hito no ushiro mi yo to ya kaze no chô

behind the man
walking along, look!
windblown butterfly

The man isn't alone; a butterfly follows close behind, a delicate little traveling compasion. In this world (Issa hints) no one truly walks alone.

1804

.よしずあむ槌にもなれし小てふ哉
yoshizu amu tsuchi ni mo nareshi ko chô kana

getting used to
the screen weaver's hammer...
little butterfly

The weaver is braiding reed screens.

1804

.女衆に追ぬかれけり菫原
onna shu ni oinukare keri sumire-bara

a group of women
overtake me...
field of violets

Do the women pass Issa because he has slowed down to look at the violets? Or, are they rushing past him to pick the violets? Or is Issa wryly commenting on his own lack of leg power? The reader must decide.

Ed Grossmith speculates,"A fourth interpretation, one that I immediately sensed, was he witnessed their multi-colored, floral garments and was overtaken by their femininity which he equated to a field of violets." And Ashley Mabbit thinks, along similar lines, that "the women remind [Issa of a small bundle of violets; maybe one or two are wearing blue or purple, and they are keeping close to one another."

1804

.菫咲門や夜さへなつかしき
sumire saku kado ya yoru sae natsukashiki

violets on the gate--
even at night
sweet nostalgia

Natsukashiki has no exact English equivalent. It usually connotes the feeling of something dear or fondly remembered--a sort of sweet nostalgia.

1804

.花菫便ない草もほじらるる
hana sumire bin nai kusa mo hojiraruru

blooming violets--
some worthless grass
dug up too

1804

.我前に誰々住し菫ぞも
waga mae ni dare dare sumishi sumire zo mo

before me
who also lived here
with these violets?

Issa composed this haiku on the 17th day of First Month, 1804, a rainy day, according to his journal. He was living at the time in Edo, today's Tokyo. The violets endure while human generations come and go. Issa wonders about the previous tenants of his rented house; did they, too, gaze out the window on rainy days, looking at the violets? He doesn't know who they were, and they can never know him, but they share a warm connection: the flowers.

1804

.雨だれの毎日たたく椿哉
amadare no mainichi tataku tsubaki kana

clobbered every day
by raindrops from the eaves...
camellias

An amadare is an eavesdrop, where water falls from a roof's overhang.

1804

.片浦の汐よけ椿咲にけり
kata ura no shio yoke tsubaki saki ni keri

a tide wall
for the coast, camellias
blooming

Mayumi notes, "What I understand (at least in Japan) about ocean weather is that "winter sea" is very rough. Camellia is an early spring tree flower. So, if a camellia is blooming the weather is getting mild, and the sea is not as rough as it was in midwinter. A win-win situation for a fishing village.

1804

.赤貝を我もはかるよ梅の花
akagai wo ware mo hakaru yo ume no hana

surveying also
bloody clams...
plum blossoms

Or: "a bloody clam." Akagai, literally "red shell" or "red shellfish," refers to a "bloody clam" or "ark shell."

1804

.あれ梅といふ間に曲る小舟哉
are ume to iu ma ni magaru kobune kana

"Look! Plum blossoms!"
the little boat
turns around

1804

.家一つあればはたして梅の花
ie hitotsu areba hatashite ume no hana

if there's a house
standing alone, sure enough...
plum blossoms

1804

.いたいけに梅の咲けり本道
itai-ke ni ume no saki keri hondôri

precious little plum trees
in bloom...
the main road

Itai-ke denotes something small, precious, dear (kawairashii); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 118.

1804

.一日も我家ほしさよ梅の花
ichi-nichi mo waga ya hoshisa yo ume no hana

if only for a day
to have my own house!
plum blossoms

Shinji Ogawa notes that Issa at age 42 (when he wrote this haiku) was poor and could not afford to buy a house. Perhaps he is looking longingly at a house with blooming plum trees in the yard.

1804

.うしろからぼろを笑ふよ梅の花
ushiro kara boro wo warau yo ume no hana

behind me
laughter at my rags...
plum blossoms

The "me" in this haiku is implied, not stated, in Issa's original.

1804

.梅がかやどなたが来ても欠茶碗
ume ga ka ya donate ga kite mo kake chawan

plum blossom scent--
for whoever shows up
a cracked teacup

Lucien Stryk's translation is more interpretive: "guest won't mind..."; The Dumpling Field: Haiku of Issa (1991) 25.

Makoto Ueda describes this haiku as a "deprecating self-portrayal"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 55.

1804

.梅さくに鍋ずみとれぬ皴手哉
ume saku ni nabe-zumi torenu shiwade kana

in plum blossoms
kettle soot won't come off...
my wrinkled hands

Is Issa "ashamed" of his dirty hands amid the pure blossoms?

Cynthia writes, "The blossoms are a sign of spring, new life, rebirth. The plum blossoms, like the lilies in the Gospel, 'neither toil nor spin.' They just are. Both the wrinkled hands and the soot embedded in the wrinkles are signs of things long in use, careworn, shopworn, showing their age. A kettle with soot is no longer new, and neither is Issa."

1804

.梅咲くや木を割さへも朝げしき
ume saku ya ki wo waru sae mo asa-geshiki

plum in bloom--
even wood chopping
a morning scene

Shinji Ogawa notes the ki wo waru means "wood chopping" and not, as I first thought, a "chopped-down tree."

1804

.梅咲や去年は越後のあぶれ人
ume saku ya kozo wa echigo no abure-bito

plum blossoms--
last year's unemployed worker
from Echigo

Or: "workers." Echigo is one of the old provinces of Japan, today's Niigata Prefecture.

Shinji Ogawa notes that abure-bito signifies an unemployed person. Many farmers from Echigo Province were working in Edo, but, according to the haiku, some were unemployed.

Shinji comments: "Plum blossoms bloom much earlier than cherry blossoms so that their beauty and faint fragrance are highly appreciated as messengers of spring. In olden times, such as the seventh or eighth centuries, when a poet said "flowers" (hana), this meant mean plum blossoms, not (as in later centuries) cherry blossoms. There are many good poems and haiku regarding plum blossoms, but in Issa's days Edo haiku had become so hackneyed that we must give credit to Issa for juxtaposing an unemployed farmer to plum blossoms. I prefer to interpret the phrase 'last year's unemployed' in the sense of 'that was last year he was unemployed, but now he is working and it's a joyful spring.'"

1804

.梅の木は咲ほこりけりかけ硯
ume no ki wa saki-hokori keri kake suzuri

plum trees bloom
in full glory...
my broken inkstone

The "my" could be omitted, since Issa doesn't specify that it's his inkstone. However, this might be inferred. What's the connection between the inkstone and the blossoms? Perhaps Issa is bemoaing the fact that the plum trees are in full bloom, the perfect topic for a haiku, but his inkstone is broken--making writing impossible. Of course, somehow, he wrote this poem!

1804

.梅の月牛の尻迄見ゆる也
ume no tsuki ushi no shiri made miyuru nari

moon, plum blossoms
and the rump
of a cow

The moon over the blossoms is divine, ethereal, distant; the cow's rump below them is wordly, palpable, near. Both are round and full. A deliciously complex haiku.

1804

.梅見ても青空見ても田舎哉
ume mite mo ao-zora mite mo inaka kana

viewing plum blossoms
viewing blue sky...
but I'm in the sticks

1804

.大原やぶらりと出ても梅の月
ôhara ya burari to dete mo ume no tsuki

also rambling
over the big field...
moon over plum blossoms

1804

.来るも来るも下手鶯よ窓の梅
kuru mo kuru mo heta uguisu yo mado no ume

one by one they come
off-key bush warblers
to the plum blossom window

Shinji Ogawa explains that kuru mo kuru mo signifies a repeated action. One after another, the bush warblers come, though Issa isn't impressed by their singing.

1804

.此当り洛陽なるか梅の月
kono atari rakuyô naru ka ume no tsuki

have I time-traveled
to old Lo-yang?
moon over plum blossoms

Lo-Yang was a capital of the eastern Han Dynasty in China. On the southern bank of one of the tributaries of the Yellow River, Lo-Yang was described by Tang Dynasty poets, including Li Po and Han Yu, as an ideal site for drinking, writing poetry, and enjoying the flowering landscape.

1804

.咲日から梅にさわるや馬の首
saku hi kara ume ni sawaru ya uma no kubi

after blooming
the plum tree a neck scratcher...
for the horse

Or: "head scratcher." Haiku poets rejoice in the beauty of the plum blossoms, a glorious sign of early spring; the horse has a more practical use in mind.

1804

.袖すれば祟る杉ぞよ梅の花
sode sureba tataru sugi zo yo ume no hana

the damn cedars
ripping sleeves!
plum trees in bloom

Shinji Ogawa explains that sode sureba means "if the sleeve rubs" or "if the sleeve touches." If one's sleeve rubs against the rough bark of a cedar tree, the tree will "bite it off." Issa presents a tale of two trees: sleeve-ripping cedars alongside gentle, blooming plum trees.

1804

.ちる梅のかかる賎しき身柱哉
chiru ume no kakaru iyashiki chirike kana

a plum blossom falls
to a low place...
scar from burning wormwood

Chirike is the name of a specific point on the body where sharp sticks of wormwood would be stuck, and burned, for healing purposes or simply to ensure good health.

1804

.膝の児の指始梅の花
hiza no ko no yubisashi hajime ume no hana

the lap-baby's
first pointing...
plum blossoms

Or: "the lap-baby/ points first..."? Either way, Issa expresses a natural and spontaneous connection between the baby and Nature's wonders. The love of beauty, love of Nature, is not taught or learned, in Issa's vision. It is simply part of being human. The baby's heart responds to the lovely blossoms without prompting. Plum blossoms, an early sign of spring, reflect the freshness and newness of the baby's own life. His or her gesture of pointing suggests the start of a lifelong love affair with Nature. One day, the child will grow up, perhaps become a haiku poet like Issa, and still, spring after spring, feel just as moved by the blossoms, just as excited.

1804

.ひたすらに咲うでもなし門の梅
hitasura ni sakô demo nashi kado no ume

not very devoted
to blooming...
plum tree at my gate

1804

.むづかしやだまって居ても梅は咲
muzukashi ya damatte ite mo ume wa saku

a difficult feat--
in utter silence
the plum tree blooms

Shinji Ogawa believes this is Issa's wry comment on the Japanese mania for discussing when plum trees with bloom. The tree can of course perform this wonder even if people would shut up about it.

1804

.我庵の貧乏梅の咲にけり
waga io no bimbô ume no saki ni keri

my hut's
down-and-out plum tree
has bloomed!

1804

.狙どのも赤いべえきて梅の花
saru dono mo akai bee kite ume no hana

Mister Monkey too
wears a funny face...
plum blossoms

I assume that by akaibee Issa means akambe (or akanbe or akanbee), which literally means to turn one's eyelids inside out. It denotes making a face at someone: sticking out one's tongue. The monkey seems to be answering Issa's own funny face.

1804

.白妙の僧白妙の梅の花
shirotae no sô shirotae no ume no hana

white as a monk's
white robe...
plum blossoms

Blossoms in Japan are associated with impermanence: a foundational truth of Buddhism. The blooming tree that embodies a sermon appears to Issa like a white-robed monk.

1804

.雀らも身祝するか梅の花
suzumera mo mi-awai suru ka ume no hana

are the sparrows too
having a private party?
plum blossoms

Or: "are you sparrows too..." According to the editors of Issa zenshû, mi-awai refers to a personal celebration (isshinjô no shûgi); (1976-79) 3.511, note 3. People are scattered among the blooming plum trees, having private parties. Issa asks if the sparrows are doing the same.

1804

.咲くからに雨に逢けり花の山
saku kara ni ame ni ai keri hana no yama

soon after blooming
pelted by rain...
mountain cherry trees

"Blossoms" (hana) can denote cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1804

.どこからの花のなぐれぞ角田川
doko kara no hana no nagure zo sumida-gawa

from where
did those blossoms float?
Sumida River

"Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku. In this haiku, Issa sees cherry blossoms petals drifting down Sumida River past Edo (today's Tokyo). He wonders out loud where they might have come from.

1804

.奈良漬を丸でかじりて花の陰
narazuke wo maru de kajirite hana no kage

eating my pickle
rind and all...
blossom shade

Or: "his pickle" or "her pickle." Narazuke is a pickle seasoned in sake lees (the sediment that settles during fermentation). "Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

Shinji Ogawa writes that maru de kajirite means "to eat something whole without slicing."

1804

.初花や山の粟飯なつかしき
hatsu hana ya yama no awameshi natsukashiki

first flowers--
boiled mountain millet
sweet nostalgia

The taste of the millet reminds Issa of his own faraway home in the mountains.

1804

.花びらの埃流にふる雨か
hanabira no hokori nagashi ni furu ame ka

are you falling
to wash dust off blossoms
rain?

"Blossoms" (hana) can signify cherry blossoms in the shorthand of haiku.

1804

.ふる雨に一人残りし花の陰
furu ame ni hitori nokorishi hana no kage

in falling rain
one man remains...
blossom shade

1804

.見かぎりし古郷の山の桜哉
mikagirishi kokyô no yama no sakura kana

the home village
I abandoned...
mountain cherry blossoms

Kashiwabara was Issa's home village that he "abandoned" until his homecoming in 1813. According to volume 1 of Issa zenshû, this haiku was written in 1803, but in volume 2 a date of 1804 is given (1976-79, 1.222; 2.199).

1804

.江戸衆に見枯らされたる桜哉
edo shû ni mi karasaretaru sakura kana

made to wither
by the people of Edo's eyes...
cherry blossoms

The blossoms are so sensitive and delicate, Issa imagines that the gazes of the crowd have made them dry and wither.

1804

.大川へ吹なぐられし桜哉
ôkawa e fuki nagurareshi sakura kana

blown to the big river
floating away...
cherry blossoms

"Big River" (ôkawa) commonly refers to the Sumida River in Edo (today's Tokyo) and to the Yodo River in Osaka. Issa most likely is referring to Sumida River.

1804

.大降りや桜の陰に居過して
ôburi ya sakura no kage ni i-sugoshite

heavy rain--
in cherry blossom shade
I stayed too long

Shinji Ogawa notes that i-sugosu means "stay too long." Issa's long stay in the cherry blossom's shade is the cause of his getting caught in the rain.

1804

.京人にせつちうされし桜哉
kyôbito ni setchû sareshi sakura kana

blended in
with people of Kyoto...
cherry blossoms

1804

.咲からに縄を張れし桜哉
saku kara ni nawa wo harareshi sakura kana

after blooming
they're roped off...
cherry blossoms

Issa isn't at all happy that a landowner has roped off the cherry blossoms, claiming this divine gift of nature as private property.

1804

.四五九年見ても初花ざくら哉
shi go ku nen mite mo hatsu hana-zakura kana

four, five, nine years
always the first to bloom...
cherry tree

Shinji Ogawa translates more literally: "in my four, five, or nine years observation/ the cherry tree is/ always the first bloomer."

1804

.聖人に見放されたる桜哉
seijin ni mi-hanasaretaru sakura kana

the holy man
leaves them behind...
cherry blossoms

This haiku appears with an anecdote about a Pure Land Buddhist high priest named Tokuon. This saintly man, according to Issa, endured cold and heat, rain and snow, every day preaching Amida Buddha's way to the wild creatures on his mountain, including wild boars and monkeys. Now, Tokuon has deigned to come down to the human world to preach at Ryôzen Temple, leaving his beloved mountain cherry blossoms behind. See Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.200.

1804

.袖たけのはつ花桜咲にけり
sodetake no hatsu hana-zakura saki ni keri

the first cherry tree
tall as my sleeve...
in bloom

A miniature bonsai tree, perhaps?

1804

.初桜はやちりかかる人の顔
hatsu sakura haya chiri kakaru hito no kao

the first cherry blossoms
soon scatter and stick...
people's faces

1804

.花桜一本一本のいさほしや
hana sakura ippon ippon no isaoshi ya

cherry blossoms--
tree after tree
of good karma

Literally, each tree embodies a "meritorious deed" or "diligent achievement" (isaoshi). Issa playfully hints that this astounding beauty flows from good past-life deeds.

1804

.本降のゆふべとなりし桜哉
homburi no yûbe to narishi sakura kana

an evening
of steady rainfall...
cherry blossoms

Is it real rain or a metaphorical downpour of blossoms? Issa slyly lets the reader choose the image and mood.

1804

.又人の立ふさがるや初桜
mata hito wo tachi-fusagaru ya hatsu sakura

again someone stands
blocking my view!
first cherry blossoms

Issa loves the blooming cherry trees but not the crowds.

1804

.むら雨に半かくれし桜哉
murasame ni nakaba kakureshi sakura kana

mostly hidden
by the pouring rain...
cherry blossoms

A philosophical reflection on human existence?

1804

.夕暮や池なき方もさくらちる
yûgure ya ike naki kata mo sakura chiru

evening falls--
in a pondless place, too
cherry blossoms scatter

Might Issa be implying that others are viewing and appreciating the falling blossoms only by some picturesque pond, ignoring the just-as-lovely blossoms elsewhere?

1804

.桜花どつちへ寝ても手のとどく
sakura hana dotchi e nete mo te no todoku

cherry blossoms--
whichever side I sleep on
within hand's reach

An outdoor nap?

1804

.福蟾ものさばり出たり桃の花
fuku-biki mo nosabari detari momo no hana

Lucky the Toad, too
swaggers out...
peach blossoms

"Lucky" (Fuku) is a common pet name for toads. Nosabaru is an old word that means to behave selfishly or in an arrogant manner; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1292.

1804

.青柳や蛍よぶ夜の思はるる
ao yagi ya hotaru yobu yo no omowaruru

green willow--
thinking of a night
of calling fireflies

1804

.青柳ややがて蛍をよぶところ
ao yagi ya yagate hotaru wo yobu tokoro

green willow--
soon we'll be calling
fireflies here

Or: "they'll be calling." "Green willow" is a spring seasonal expression, while fireflies are associated with summer. Issa is looking ahead.

1804

.しるよしの郷の鐘なる柳哉
shiruyoshi no sato no kane naru yanagi kana

Shiruyoshi's bell
is clanging...
willow tree

Or: "willow trees." I picture Issa sitting in the shade of the willow tree, listening to the bell: a tranquil scene.

1804

.鳥どもに糞かけられし柳哉
tori domo ni kuso kakerareshi yanagi kana

all spattered
with bird poop...
the willow tree

1804

.独寝るつもりの家か柳陰
hitori neru tsumori no ie ka yanagi kage

no one at home
to sleep with?
willow shade

Issa (rhetorically) asks the man under the tree if he would be sleeping alone in his house, should he sleep there. Instead, lying in the shade of the willow, he isn't alone.

1804

.蛍よぶ夜のれうとやさし柳
hotaru yobu yoru no ryô to ya sashi yanagi

an evening spot
for calling fireflies...
planting a willow

Issa is visualizing the future. When the willow is large and shady, people will sit under it in the summertime, calling fireflies.

1804

.身じろぎもならぬ塀より柳哉
mijirogi mo naranu hei yori yanagi kana

from where a fence
pens it in...
a willow

Shinji Ogawa translates mijirogi mo naranu as "cannot-move-around" or "narrow spot." He explains that Issa's humor derives from the fact that he uses this idiom, since "we all know that the willow doesn't move around."

1804

.三筋程松にかくれし柳哉
mi suji hodo matsu kakureshi yanagi kana

three strands or so
hide in the pine...
willow tree

1804

.柳見へ東寺も見へて昔也
yanagi mie tôji mo miete mukashi nari

looking at willows
and Toh Temple...
olden times return

Tôji is a temple in Kyoto.

1804

.段々に夏の夜明や人の顔
dan-dan ni natsu no yoake ya hito no kao

little by little
the summer night turns dawn...
people's faces

The features of Issa's companions slowly materialize as night turns to day.

1804

.夏の夜や人も目かける草の花
natsu no yo ya hito mo megakenu kusa no hana

summer evening--
no one notices
the wildflowers

Except for Issa! The editors of Issa zenshû provide two different readings of the verb in this haiku: mekakeru (1.246) and megakenu (2.218); the latter makes sense to me..

1804

.けふも暮けふも暮けり五月雨
kyô mo kure kyô mo kure keri satsuki ame

all day, all day
day after day...
June rain

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1804

.五月雨の里やいつ迄笛法度
samidare no sato ya itsu made fue hatto

June rain--
in the town how long
this flute ban?

According to the editors of Issa zenshû, this haiku refers to a law prohibiting the playing of flutes. Issa, perhaps bored by the constant rain, seems to long for a melodic distraction. See Issa zenshû (1976-79) 2.211, note 6. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1804

.五月雨や子のない家は古りたれど
samidare ya ko no nai ie wa furitaredo

June rain--
a house with no children
and growing old

Issa wanted badly to have children. Four died young; he knew his fifth child only as a baby bump--then died. "Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1804

.五月雨や弥陀の日延もきのふ迄
samidare ya mida no hinobe mo kinou made

June rain--
postponed by Amida
till yesterday

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1804

.鳴烏けふ五月雨の降りあくか
naku karasu kyô samidare no furiaku ka

cawing crow
today will the June rains
peter out?

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1804

.二人とは行かれぬ厨子や五月雨
futari towa ikarenu zushi ya satsuki ame

two won't fit
in the little shrine...
June rain

"Fifth Month rain" pertains to the old lunar calendar; it would be June rain in the present calendar.

1804

.うつくしき寝蓙も見へて夕立哉
utsukushiki negoza mo miete yûdachi kana

a pretty sleeping mat
also in view...
cloudburst

A negoza is a sleeping mat that one spreads on top of a futon in summertime to lessen the heat; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1279.

1804

.夕立や竹一本の小菜畠
yûdachi ya take ippon no ko na-batake

rainstorm--
a one-bamboo
little vegetable patch

1804

.夕立や舟から見たる京の山
yûdachi ya fune kara mitaru kyô no yama

rainstorm--
watching from a boat
Kyoto's mountain

1804

.雲の峰立や野中の握飯
kumo no mine tatsu ya no naka no nigirimeshi

billowing clouds rise--
in the field below
rice balls

Puffy and white, rice balls visually mirror the clouds. Also, there's a causal connection: clouds bring that rain that will make the rice grow. The clouds are a delicious promise.

1804

.どの人も空腹顔也雲の峰
dono hito mo hidaru kao nari kumo no mine

on every man's face
a hungry look...
billowing clouds

Issa suggests that rain will fall and cause crops to grow, thus making food. For now, they watch the clouds with hungry anticipation.

1804

.湖に手をさし入て雲の峰
mizuumi ni te wo sashi irete kumo no mine

plunging my hand
into the lake...
billowing clouds

Or: "his hand" or "her hand." Perhaps Issa (or someone else) is trying to touch the clouds reflected in the lake.

1804

.葎家は人種尽きん雲の峰
mugura ya wa hitodane tsukin kumo no mine

house under vines--
while sperm is spent
billowing clouds

I believe that Issa is referring to a house of prostitution of the lowest, unsanctioned type--like the one that he later writes about (in 1819), in which customers pay only 24 mon ("pennies"), a pittance. The house is thatched with mugura ("choking vines").

1804

.虫のなる腹をさぐれば雲の峰
mushi no naru hara wo sagureba kumo no mine

patting my belly
full of worms...
billowing clouds

Or: "his belly" or "her belly." Issa suggests that rain will fall from the clouds and cause crops to grow, thus making food. For now, he pats his hungry (and worm-filled) belly and waits.

1804

.うら町は夜水かかりぬ夏の月
uramachi wa yo mizu kakarinu natsu no tsuki

no night water
hauled to this backstreet...
summer moon

A playful urban spoof of Buson's bucolic haiku: yomizu toru sato hito no koe ya natsu no tsuki: "voices of village men/ hauling night water.../ summer moon."

1804

.汁なべも厠も夏の月よ哉
shiru nabe mo kawaya mo natsu no tsuki yo kana

in soup kettle
and outhouse
the summer moon

1804

.夏の月柱なでても夜の明る
natsu no tsuki hashira nadete mo yo no akeru

summer moon--
in one pat on the pillar
it's dawn

The summer night is short. I wonder if Issa's image here might be a bit risqué.

1804

.一人見る草の花かも夏の月
hitori miru kusa no hana kamo natsu no tsuki

all alone
is he gazing at wildflowers?
summer moon

In his journal on the 14th day of Sixth Month, 1804, Issa wrote this haiku immediately after another one on the topic of looking at wildflowers on a summer evening: natsu no yo ya hito mo megakenu kusa no hana ("summer evening--/ no one notices/ the wildflowers"). In this second haiku, someone is looking down at the flowers instead of up at the moon? Is it his or her personal preference, or is it perhaps cloudy?

1804

.水切の騒ぎいつ迄夏の月
mizugire no sawagi itsu made natsu no tsuki

how much longer
this damn drought?
summer moon

Issa asks the moon how much longer this "uproar" or "agitation" (sawagi) caused by the drought will last.

1804

.親の家見へなくなりぬ夏の山
oya no ie mienaku narinu natsu no yama

my parents' house
no longer in sight...
summer mountain

The same year (1804) Issa writes:
furusato no mienaku narite naku hibari

my home village
no longer in sight...
singing lark

1804

.夏山や京を見る時雨かかる
natsu yama ya kyô wo miru toki ame kakaru

summer mountain--
just when I sight Kyoto
rain!

1804

.夏山やつやつやしたる小順礼
natsu yama ya tsuya-tsuyashitaru ko junrei

summer mountain--
a glowing
little pilgrim

1804

.柱拭く人も見へけり夏の山
hashira fuku hito mo mie keri natsu no yama

a man wiping
a post...
the summer mountain

1804

.浅ぢふも月さへさせば清水哉
asajiu mo tsuki sae saseba shimizu kana

among tufted grasses
when the moon shines...
pure water

"Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass.

1804

.かくれ家や月ささずとも湧清水
kakurega ya tsuki sasazu to mo waku shimizu

secluded house--
no moonlight
but gushing pure water

Issa's secluded life on a cloud-wrapped mountain has its advantages. Pure water is a summer season word.

1804

.清水湧く翌の山見て寝たりけり
shimizu waku asu no yama mite netari keri

pure water gushes--
looking at tomorrow's mountain
lying down

Will Issa climb the mountain tomorrow? For now, he enjoys a lazy moment, listeing to the sound of the gushing spring.

1804

.茨ありと仰おかれし清水哉
bara ari to ôse okareshi shimizu kana

out of respect
for the wild roses...
pure water

Issa humorously describes the mountain spring as if it were a humble servant, fulfilling the wishes of a superior: the roses.

1804

.二筋はなくてもがもな清水湧く
futa suji wa nakute mo gamo na shimizu waku

no need for two
is there?
pure water gushing

The editors of Issa Zenshû translate the expression, nakute mo gamo na, into modern Japanese: nakute hoshii ga naa ("no need for, no?"; 2.218, note 1). One "vein" (suji) of pure spring water gushing is enough.

1804

.二森も清水も跡になりにけり
futamori mo shimizu mo ato ni nari ni keri

in Futamori
even summer's pure water...
running late

Issa doesn't include the word "summer," but this is implied. Futamori is in today's Fukukuoka Prefecture.

1804

.松迄は月もさしけり湧く清水
matsu made wa tsuki mo sashi keri waku shimizu

the moon shines
up to the pine...
pure water gushes

Shinji Ogawa comments: "Issa might want to say, 'The moon illuminates the pine. But the spring under the pine is in the dark. Therefore, only the gushing sounds of the spring can be heard'."

1804

.湧く清水浅間のけぶり又見ゆる
waku shimizu asama no keburi mata miyuru

gushing pure water--
Mount Asama's smoke
appears again

Mount Asama is a volcano in Issa's home province of Shinano, active during the poet's lifetime. The eruption of 1783, when Issa was twenty-one years old and living in Edo (today's Tokyo), killed 1,151 people.

Shinji Ogawa helped with my translation by providing this paraphrase: "In gushing pure water, I see again Mount Asama's smoke." The "again" (mata) is the key. The volcanic smoke is so all-pervasive, it shows up everywhere, even at the gushing spring. Dirty smoke and pure water create an interesting juxtaposition.

1804

.悪まれし草は穂に出し青田哉
nikumareshi kusa wa ho ni deshi aoda kana

the hated grasses
rear their heads...
green rice field

A rewrite of a 1794 haiku, in which the unwanted plant is identified as hie ("barnyard grass").

1804

.木がくれに母のほまちの青田哉
kogakure ni haha no homachi no aoda kana

hidden by trees
mother's side-field...
rice so green

The mother's "side-field" (homachi) refers to a plot of newly cultivated land that, in that period, was farmed in secret, evidently to avoid the daimyo's taxation; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1495.

1804

.更衣そもそも藪の長者也
koromogae somo-somo yabu no chôja nari

new summer robes--
the thicket's become
opulent

Issa implies that his new summer robes match the richness of the lush green grove. Somo-somo is an expression used when one is beginning to explain something. English equivalents include, "well," "to begin," and "in the first place..."; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 953. In this light, the middle phrase could be translated, "well, the thicket's become..." I've left out the "well" because it seems unnecessary in the English version.

1804

.更衣松の木ほしくなりにけり
koromogae matsu no ki hoshiku nari ni keri

new summer robes--
now I want
a pine tree!

Shinji Ogawa suspects that "there may be a some literary relationship between the change of clothes and a pine tree."

1804

.高砂は榎も友ぞころもがへ
takasago wa enoki mo tomo zo koromogae

at Takasago
even for the hackberry tree...
a new summer robe

Takasago is a famous pine tree-covered coastal area. Issa's twist is to focus instead on the lowly hackberry tree. Literally, the hackberry tree is a "friend" (tomo); I take this to mean that it is Issa's companion in the act of changing to summer clothes. I suspect that he is referring to its thick summer foliage.

1804

.痩藪も窓も月さすころもがへ
yase yabu mo mado mo tsuki sasu koromogae

in a sparse thicket, in my window
the bright moon...
new summer robes

1804

.袷きて見ても淋しや東山
awase kite mite mo sabishi ya higashi yama

even trying on my summer kimono
is lonely...
eastern mountains

Higashiyama ("Eastern Mountains") is the collective name for a number of mountains located between Kyoto and Lake Biwa: a total of 36 peaks, one of which is the temple mountain, Hieizan.

1804

.あばら家に入ると見へしよ日傘
abaraya ni iru to mieshi yo higarakasa

entering my ramshackle
hut you see...
a parasol

Or: "the ramshackle hut." Issa doesn't say that it's his but this can be inferred. The humor of this haiku arises from the juxtaposition the broken-down house and the delicate, colorful parasol.

1804

.僧正が野糞遊ばす日傘哉
sôjô ga no-guso asobasu higasa kana

the high priest
poops in the field...
parasol

Issa is often bold and iconoclastic--poetically and politically. He doesn't hesitate to poke fun at authority, in this case, portraying the high priest of a Buddhist temple in a moment that isn't exactly flattering. Issa shocks those readers who expect only pretty sights in haiku: moon and blossoms. In addition to such conventional images, he gladly presents bodily functions that many would not expect to be the stuff of poetry. However, by showing a priest pooping under a parasol (with a giggle), he reminds us of life's plenitude: there are sublime moments under moon and blossoms, but there is also the universal need to poop. His comic portrait humanizes the high priest.

The priest does his business outside, shaded by a parasol. Is he alone in the scene or is a young monk dutifully holding the parasol for him? The reader must decide.

Jean Cholley believes this haiku reveals Issa's disdain for arrogant and corrupt Buddhist officials. Despite his magnificent parasol (a symbol of his status), the high priest is just flesh and blood; En village de miséreux (1996) 235-36, n. 26.

The verb asobasu is an honorific verb meaning "to do"--according to Shinji Ogawa.

1804

.窓だけに月のさし入る紙帳哉
mado dake ni tsuki no sashi iru shichô kana

moonlight enters
only through the window...
paper mosquito net

Shinji Ogawa explains that shichô means a paper enclosure, used as a substitute for a mosquito net. A window is made by cutting the paper and attaching a piece of thin see-through cloth. Issa, being inside the paper enclosure, can see the moon only through the window in the paper.

1804

.二番火の酒試るうちは哉
ni ban hi no sake kokoromiru uchiwa kana

after trying out
the twice-fired sake...
paper fan

Literally, Issa ends simply with the image of the "round fan" (uchiwa kana), but this noun strongly implies the action of fanning.

1804

.一人では手張畠や渋団扇
hitori de wa tebaru hatake ya shibu uchiwa

the field's too much
for one man alone...
rustic fan

The hard-working farmer fans himself. A shibu uchiwa is a rustic fan coated in persimmon juice.

1804

.松の露ぽちりぽちりと蚊やり立つ
matsu no tsuyu pochiri-pochiri to kayari kana

the pine tree dew
dripping, dripping...
smudge pot smoke

1804

.木に打ってば竹にたらざる流哉
ki ni utteba take ni tarazaru nagare kana

when the tree is watered
the bamboo makes do...
run-off

1804

.朝顔の折角咲ぬ門涼み
asagao no sekkaku sakinu kado suzumi

morning glories blooming
just for me...
cool air at the gate

Or: "just for us."

Shinji Ogawa notes, "The nu in sakinu functions as the word 'have' in English to make the perfect tense (have bloomed). The word sekkaku (with much trouble) may carry important meaning in the haiku to show Issa's gratitude for the morning glories."

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) pictures the following scene. Issa has risen on a summer morning. Last night was so hot, he couldn't sleep well. He steps out and finds the morning glories blooming, looking as if they have bloomed especially for him. He feels the cool air of the morning at the gate.

This haiku is his "thank-you" to Nature

1804

.翌は剃る仏が顔や夕涼み
asu wa soru hotoke ga kao ya yûsuzumi

tomorrow
Buddha will be shaved...
evening cool

I originally believed that Issa was the "Buddha" in the haiku, reflecting on shaving his own head. However, Shinji Ogawa warns that "Buddha" can also mean a dead person. He writes, "It is possible that Issa was to shave some dead person's face the next day. In the context, the evening cool is not a pleasant pastime but a soul-searching time."

1804

.門涼み余所は朝顔咲にけり
kado suzumi yoso wa asagao saki ni keri

cooling at the gate--
morning glories have bloomed
elsewhere

1804

.涼にもはりあひあらじ門の月
suzumu ni mo hariai araji kado no tsuki

even cool air basking
not worth the effort...
moon at the gate

Late in life, in 1826, Issa revises this haiku slightly, using the middle phrase, hariai no nashi. The meaning is the same.

1804

.竹笛は鎌倉ぶりよ田植がさ
take fue wa kamakura-buri yo taue-gasa

a bamboo flute
Kamakura-style, rice planters
in umbrella-hats

Kamakura is one of Japan's ancient capitals, on Sagami Bay southwest of Tokyo.

1804

.有明もさし合せけり一夜酒
ariake mo sashiawase keri hitoyozake

crack of dawn
already it's ready!
overnight sake

Issa refers here to the summer custom of using overnight fermentation to produce a sweet kind of sake enjoyed in hot weather. The joyful tone of the haiku suggests that he didn't wait till cocktail hour to sample it.

1804

.一夜酒隣の子迄来たりけり
hitoyozake tonari no ko made kitari keri

overnight sake--
even the neighbor kid
comes over

Or: "kids come..." Issa refers here to the summer custom of using overnight fermentation to produce a sweet kind of sake enjoyed in hot weather.

1804

.松よりも古き顔して心太
matsu yori mo furuki kao shite tokoroten

his face older
than the pine...
sweet jelly

Or: "her face." Issa's poem is cryptic. I picture an old man enjoying his jelly.

Tokoroten is still a popular summer dessert in Japan. It is a jelly made from seaweed called Gelidium Amansii. Tokoroten is pushed through a coarse mesh to form long threads like Japanese noodles." Gelidium is a genus of red algae.

1804

.かつしかやどこに住でも時鳥
katsushika ya doko ni sunde mo hototogisu

even living
in Katsushika...
"Cuckoo!"

Katsushika is an area of land east of Sumida River--a mosquito-infested riverside suburb of Edo (today's Tokyo).

1804

.角田川もつと古びよ時鳥
sumida-gawa motto furubi yo hototogisu

Sumida River
even more old-timey...
"Cuckoo!"

The verb furubu means to become old-style; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1460.

1804

.雷のごろつく中を行々し
kaminari no gorotsuku naka wo gyôgyôshi

amid the thunder's
rumble...
a reed warbler singing

Issa literally ends this haiku, simply, with "reed warbler" (gyôgyôshi), but he implies that he is hearing the bird's song.

1804

.行々しどこが葛西の行留り
gyôgyôshi doko ga kasai no yukidomari

O reed warbler
which road is the dead end
of Kasai?

A subway stop in Greater Tokyo today, in Issa's time Kasai was a farming village east of Edo. In another haiku of the same year, Issa again asks a reed warbler for directions, this time to Naniwa, the old name for Osaka.

1804

.行々しどこが昔の難波なる
gyôgyôshi doko ga mukashi no naniwa naru

hey reed warbler
which way to ancient
Naniwa?

Naniwa is an old name for Osaka and its vicinity; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1227. In another haiku of the same year, Issa again asks a reed warbler for directions, this time to Kasai, a farming village east of Edo.

1804

.はつはつに松島見へて行々し
hatsu-hatsu ni matsushima miete gyôgyôshi

Matsushima
barely in sight...
warble of a reed warbler

Matsushima is a famously lovely bay of Japan known for its picturesque pine islands, a place that Issa's role model, the poet Bashô, visited but found too beautiful to write a suitable haiku about. In this haiku, Issa sees the reed warbler as a fellow traveler and, perhaps, a poet. Shinji Ogawa notes that hatsu-hatsu ni means "barely" in this context: "Matsushima barely came into sight..."

1804

.今植し草とも見ゆれとぶ蛍
ima ueshi kusa to mo miyure tobu hotaru

take a look
at the fresh-sprouted grass...
flitting firefly

Or: "flitting fireflies."

1804

.風道を塞ぐ枝より蛍哉
kazamichi wo fusagu eda yori hotaru kana

from branches that block
the wind...
fireflies

Or: "from the branch that blocks." Shinji Ogawa asks, "Is Issa saying that the branch becomes a nuisance because it blocks winds but that one merit of it is the production of fireflies?"

1804

.けしからぬ夕晴人やとぶ蛍
keshikaranu yûbare hito ya tobu hotaru

disgraceful!
'round the red-faced drunkard
fireflies flit

Shinji Ogawa speculates that yûbare (the clear weather or sky at sunset; sunset glow) joined with hito (person) might denote "a red-faced (drunken) person." If so, the fireflies are the ones who are commenting, "disgraceful!"

1804

.小竹さへよそのもの也とぶ蛍
ko take sae yoso no mono nari tobu hotaru

even the little bamboo
isn't mine...
flitting fireflies

Originally, I believed that yoso no mono denotes "strange" in this context, but Shinji Ogawa reads it as "things belonging to other persons." The young bamboo belongs to someone else, not to Issa. The haiku comically alludes to his poverty: he has nothing to offer the fireflies.

1804

.とぶ蛍家のうるさき夜也けり
tobu hotaru ie no urusaki yo nari keri

flitting fireflies--
another annoying night
in the house

Humorously, Issa regards these flickering, "poetic" insects as a nuisance. He's trying to sleep!

1804

.はたはたと蛍とぶ夜の桶茶哉
hata-hata to hotaru tobu yo no okecha kana

flit-flitting
a night of fireflies...
tea water bucket

1804

.鉢植の一つほしさよとぶ蛍
hachiue no hitotsu hoshisa yo tobu hotaru

I wish I had
a potted plant...
flitting firefly

Or: "fireflies." Maybe Issa believes that a potted plant would be attractive and welcoming to the firefly or flireflies, pollen and nectar being food to some species.

1804

.物さしのとどかぬ松や初ぼたる
monosashi no todokanu matsu ya hatsu-botaru

a pine
no taller than a ruler...
first firefly

The exact length of Issa's ruler is unknown, but his point is that his tree is quite small.

1804

.大雨や大ナ月や松の蝉
ôame ya ôkina tsuki ya matsu no semi

big rain
big moon
cicada in the pine

A wonderful minimalistic scene.

1804

.かくれ家は浴過けり松の蝉
kakurega wa yuami sugi keri matsu no semi

secluded house--
a hot bath
and cicadas in the pines

A sensual haiku: Issa soaking in a hot spring or tub serenaded by cicadas.

1804

.聞倦て人は去也枝の蝉
kiki aite hito wa saru nari eda no semi

tired of listening
the man walks away...
cicada on a branch

1804

.蝉なくや柳ある家の朝の月
semi naku ya yanagi aru ya no asa no tsuki

cicadas chirr--
house in the willows
morning moon

Or: "a cicada chirrs."

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) asks: Whose house is it? Based on the year of composition, he speculates that it might be Issa's house near the river in Edo (today's Tokyo). In this period, Issa wanted to make a name for himself in the big city. He surrounded himself with guests and friends.

1804

.宵越の茶水明りやかたつぶり
yoigoshi no cha mizu akari ya katatsuburi

glimmer of tea water
left out overnight...
a snail

The word "glimmer" (akari) suggests an almost magical beauty to the ordinary tea water that has attracted the snail. Shinji Ogawa assited with this translation.

1804

.初松魚序ながらも富士の山
hatsu-gatsuo tsuide nagara mo fuji no yama

viewed in passing
after summer's first bonito...
Mount Fuji

Shinji Ogawa explains that the haiku shows the fever for the first bonito in Edo. The first bonito takes first place and Mount Fuji is a distant second. In haiku, bonito is a summer season word.

1804

.初松魚山の際迄江戸気也
hatsu-gatsuo yama no kiwa made edoki nari

summer's first bonito--
even at the mountain's edge
a taste of Edo

Issa later revises this haiku in 1816:
yama kage mo edoki ni shitari hatsu-gatsuo

even in mountain shade
a taste of Edo...
first bonito

In haiku, bonito is a summer season word.

In this haiku, the fish so popular in Edo (today's Tokyo) is enjoyed even at the edge of a mountain some distance from the city.

1804

.一向に日まけは見へぬぼたん哉
ikkô ni himake wa mienu botan kana

not a trace
of sunburn shows...
peony

The flower blooms gloriously in the summer sunshine without sunburn (himake has the same meaning as hiyake). In a related haiku of the same year (1804) Issa changes his mind and imagines that a peony amid the grasses is getting sunburn.

1804

.草の葉に半分見ゆる牡丹哉
kusa no ha ni hambun miyuru botan kana

half of it showing
in the deep grass...
peony

1804

.日まけする草の中よりぼたん哉
himake suru kusa no naka yori botan kana

getting sunburned
amid the grasses...
peony

In another haiku of the same year (1804) Issa imagines the peony wonderfully without a trace of sunburn.

1804

.青柳ははや夜に入て蓮の花
ao yagi wa haya yo ni irite hasu no hana

for the green willow
night rushes in...
lotus blossoms

1804

.大沼や一つ咲ても蓮の花
ônuma ya hitotsu saite mo hasu no hana

in a big swamp
just one bloom...
but it's a lotus!

Shinji Ogawa believes that is is trying to show "the high status of the lotus among other flowers. After all, the lotus is the flower associated with Buddha."

1804

.雀等が浴なくしたり蓮の水
suzumera ga abi nakushi tari hasu no mizu

sparrows bathing
have scattered it...
lotus water

Shinji Ogawa explains that the phrase, abi nakushi tari signifies, "bathed and lost." The sparrows took a bath in the pool of water inside a blossom but flapped around so much, they drained their tub.

1804

.百合の花朝から暮るるけしき也
yuri no hana asa kara kururu keshiki nari

lilies in bloom--
from morning on
sunset colors

More literally, Issa says that "from morning on, it's a sunset scene." The colors of the lilies are the same as those in the sky at sunset.

1804

.冷し瓜二日立てども誰も来ぬ
hiyashi uri futsuka tatedo mo dare mo konu

the melon cooling
two days now...
no one has come

Or: "the melons cooling." No one has come to eat the melon (or melons) with Issa.

1804

.待もせぬ月のさしけり冷し瓜
machi mo senu tsuki no sashi keri hiyashi uri

unexpected moonlight
shines down...
cooling melon

Shinji Ogawa believes that "Issa is not welcoming the moonlight for security reasons." The moon might light the way for a melon thief.

1804

.とぶ蝶や青葉桜も縄の中
tobu shô yo aoba sakura mo nawa no naka

a flitting butterfly
and green-leafed cherry tree
roped off

Evidently, some sort of barrier rope surrounds the tree and butterfly. Issa makes a wry comment on the human mania to make Nature the object of private ownership.

1804

.灰汁桶の蝶のきげんや木下闇
aku oke no chô no kigen ya koshitayami

round the lye bucket
a happy butterfly...
deep cool shade

Japanese lye is made from an puckery sap. For now, the butterfly is happy, flirting with the danger below.

1804

.卯の花に蛙葬る法師哉
u no hana ni kawazu hômuru hôshi kana

amid deutzia blossoms
the priest buries...
a frog

Blossoms contrast powerfully with a dead frog, hinting of a cosmic balance that perhaps the Buddhist priest--beholding these images of life and death--understands.

1804

.卯の花や葬の真似する子ども達
u no hana ya sô no mane suru kodomotachi

deutzia blossoms--
the children play
funeral

As it becomes clear in other versions of this haiku, they are burying a frog or a toad.

1804

.卯の花や水の明りになく蛙
u no hana ya mizu no akari ni naku kawazu

deutzia blossoms--
in the water's gleam
a croaking frog

The frog's appearance in the scene (and the haiku) is comically anticlimactic. The deutzia shrub's delicate, white, pure blossoms, one imagines, reflect in the tranquil water below. The frog barges into this picture of peace and beauty, croaking raucously, as if to say, "I belong here, too!"

1804

.淋しさに蠣殻ふみぬ花卯木
sabishisa ni kakigara fuminu hana u no ki

in solitude
walking on oyster shells...
deutzia in bloom

Issa might be referring to Fukagawa, a neighborhood in Edo (today's Tokyo) on Sumida River's east bank. The great haiku poet Bashô lived there (as did Issa, for a time). Makoto Ueda explains that many residents of Fukagawa shucked shellfish, creating hills of shells; Dew on the Grass (2004) 138. In a later haiku (1821), Issa writes:
fukugawa ya kakigara yama no aki no tsuki

Fukagawa--
an oyster shell mountain
and autumn's moon

1804

.立秋や旅止まくと思ふ間に
tatsu aki ya tabi yamemaku to omou ma ni

autumn begins--
I thought by now this journey
would've ended

1804

.雨だれや三粒おちてもけさの秋
amadare ya san tsubu ochite mo kesa no aki

from the roof's overhang
three drops...
first autumn morning

An amadare is an eavesdrop, where water falls from a roof's overhang.Though only three drops fall, they presage the hard weather to come.

1804

.朝寒や松は去年の松なれど
asa-zamu ya matsu wa kyonen no matsu naredo

a cold morning--
but the same pine tree
as last year

1804

.あさぢふや茶好になりて朝寒き
asajiu ya cha-juki ni narite asa samuki

among tufted grasses
becoming a tea lover...
morning cold

I agree with Issa: hot tea is best a cold morning. "Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass.

1804

.深川の家尻も見へて朝寒き
fukugawa no yajiri mo miete asa samuki

the backs
of Fukagawa's houses...
morning cold

Fukagawa is a neighborhood in Edo (today's Tokyo) on Sumida River's east bank. Issa lived there for a while (as did Basho before him). I'm unclear on the connection between the cold weather and the backs of the houses.

1804

.青梧の見れば見る程夜寒哉
aogiri no mireba miru hodo yozamu kana

the more I look at
the parasol tree...
a cold night

A "Chinese parasol tree" (aogiri) is an ornamental tree, Firmiana simplex.

1804

.朝見れば夜寒げもなし次の宿
asa mireba yozamu ge mo nashi tsugi no yado

in the morning
no sign of night's cold...
another inn

The words tsugi no or "next," which I translate as "another," imply a continuing journey of warm mornings but cold autumn nights.

1804

.兄分の門とむきあふ夜寒哉
anibun no kado to mukiau yozamu kana

facing the gate
of elder brother...
a cold night

Issa didn't have an elder brother. The word, anibun, can refer to a person that one regards as one's elder brother. Though the identity of this "brother" is unknown, the haiku is quietly powerful--hinting of a greater story.

1804

.すりこ木もけしきに並ぶ夜寒哉
surikogi mo keshiki ni narabu yozamu kana

a pounding pestle
completes the scene...
a cold night

This haiku has a headnote that alludes to a poem by the 8th-century Chinese poet, Du Fu, "Friendship in Poverty." Stephen Owen, Tran., The Poetry of Du Fu (De Gruyter 2016) 94-95.

1804

.野のけぶり袖にぞ這る夜寒哉
no no keburi sode ni zo hairu yozamu kana

the field's smoke
crawls into my sleeves...
a cold night

A field (no) is burning. Is Issa letting the smoke enter his sleeves as a way for him to stay warm? Or, more comically, does he imagine that the smoke is crawling into his garment so that it can stay warm? Both possibilities exist.

1804

.山見るも片ひざ立って夜寒哉
yama miru mo katahiza tatte yozamu kana

looking at a mountain
kneeling on one knee...
a cold night

In later haiku Issa shows animals in this unusual posture: a frog (1805) and a buck (1820 & 1825). Does he mean to imply a gesture of reverence?

1804

.秋の夜やよ所から来ても馬のなく
aki no yo ya yoso kara kite mo uma no naku

autumn evening--
from elsewhere another horse
neighs in reply

A key word in this haiku is mo ("also"). It indicates that the horse from "elsewhere" (yoso) isn't the only horse neighing in the autumn evening.

1804

.すりこ木もけしきにならぶ夜永哉
surikogi mo keshiki ni narabu yonaga kana

even the pestle
becomes part of the scene...
a long night

The pounding of the pestle, which most likely is keeping Issa up, is simply part of the "scenery" (keshiki) this long autumn night.

1804

.出る度に馬の嘶く夜永哉
deru tabi ni uma no inanaku yonaga kana

every time I go out
the horse neighs...
a long night

Issa is (most likely) referring to his frequent, nocturnal trips to the outhouse.

1804

.利根川の秋もなごりの月よ哉
tone-gawa no aki mo nagori no tsuki yo kana

Tone River's
farewell to autumn...
bright moon

In the Kantô region, the Tone is one of Japan's three great rivers.

1804

.木に鳴はやもめ烏か天の川
ki ni naku wa yamome karasu ka ama-no-gawa

cawing in the tree
are you a widow, crow?
Milky Way above

Issa's phrase, "Heaven's River" (ama-no-gawa) refers to the Milky Way.

1804

.やぶ陰も月さへさせば我家哉
yabu kage mo tsuki sae saseba waga ya kana

shaded by thicket--
the moon breaks through...
my house

Symbolically might this poem be describing Buddhist enlightenment?

1804

.名月や後にして行くあさぢ原
meigetsu ya ato ni shite yuku asajihara

harvest moon--
and later a field
of tufted grass

"Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass.

1804

.名月や雨なく見ゆるよ所の空
meigetsu ya ame naku miyuru yoso no sora

harvest moon
on a clear, rainless night
elsewhere!

1804

.名月や石のあはひの人の顔
meigetsu ya ishi no awai no hito no kao

harvest moon--
people on the stone
with pale faces

The verb, "sitting," doesn't appear in Issa's text, but this action is implied. People have gathered on some sort of rock to view the moon.

1804

.名月や誰々ばかり去年の顔
meigetsu ya dare-dare bakari kozo no kao

harvest moon--
all the same faces
as last year

Issa humorously notes that the same people who attended the previous year's moon-gazing party have gathered again. On a deeper level of comedy, the moon's "face" is also the same.

1804

.名月や都に居てもとしのよる
meigetsu ya miyako ni ite mo toshi no yoru

harvest moon--
even in Kyoto
growing old

The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived.

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) notes that the full moon in decline over Kyoto might have a political dimension: "authority in ancient time all has gone away," as the center of power in Japan has moved from imperial Kyoto to the Shogun's city, Edo (Tokyo).

1804

.橋見へて暮かかる也秋の空
hashi miete kure kakaru nari aki no sora

watching the bridge
as evening falls...
autumn sky

This haiku has the headnote, "At a Ryôgoku Bridge tea shop." Ryôgoku Bridge is the oldest of the major bridges crossing the Sumida River in Edo (today's Tokyo). It links the provinces of Shimosa and Musashi, hence its name, which means, "Both Provinces."

According to Maruyama Kazuhiko, Ryôgoku was a famous east-west bridge where people would gather to enjoy the cool of evening; Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 132, note 637.

1804

.秋雨や人げも見へぬうらの門
akesame ya hitoge mo mienu ura no kado

autumn rain--
not a soul in sight
the back gate

1804

.秋雨や我にひとしきかたつぶり
akisame ya ware ni hitoshiki katatsuburi

autumn rain--
he's just like me
the snail

The snail in its shell is like Issa in his house--but this is just the obvious level of meaning in this haiku. There are more.

1804

.秋の雨松一本に日の暮るる
aki no ame matsu ippon ni hi no kururu

autumn rain--
for a lonely pine
day's end

1804

.売馬の親かへり見る秋の雨
uri uma no oya kaeri miru aki no ame

the sold pony
looks back at mother...
autumn rain

1804

.越後節蔵に聞へて秋の雨
echigo-bushi kura ni kikoete aki no ame

a song from Echigo
in the storehouse...
autumn rain

Echigo is one of the old provinces of Japan, today's Niigata Prefecture.

1804

.かつしかや遠く降っても秋の雨
katsushika ya tôku futte mo aki no ame

in Katsushika
falling in the distance...
autumn rain

Katsushika is an area of land east of Sumida River--a riverside suburb of Edo (today's Tokyo).

1804

.手の皺の一夜に見ゆる秋の雨
te no shiwa no hito yo ni miyuru aki no ame

all night looking
at my wrinkled hands...
autumn rain

1804

.山里や秋の雨夜の遠歩き
yama-zato ya aki no ame yo no tô aruki

mountain village--
a rainy autumn evening's
long walk

1804

.秋風や手染手をりの小ふり袖
akikaze ya te-zome teori no ko furisode

autumn wind--
a hand-dyed, handspun
little kimono

I picture a child wearing the little, homemade "long-sleeved kimono" (furisode), its sleeves flapping happily in the wind.

1804

.秋の風芸なし狙も夜の明る
aki no kaze geinashi-zaru mo yo no akeru

autumn wind--
even for a monkey without tricks
the dawn

In a later haiku of 1810 Issa shows an "artless monkey" (geinashi-zaru) in Edo among spring blossoms. In both cases I suspect that Issa is talking about himself.

1804

.秋の風乞食は我を見くらぶる
aki no kaze kojiki wa ware wo mikuraburu

autumn wind--
a beggar looking
sizes me up

A beggar appraises poor, ragged Issa. We might conclude that he doesn't bother to hold out his bowl.

1804

.秋の風蝉もぶつぶつおしと鳴く
aki no kaze semi mo butsu-butsu oshi to naku

autumn wind--
the cicadas' grumbling
is louder

1804

.秋の風剣の山を来る風か
aki no kaze tsurugi no yama wo kuru kaze ka

does this autumn wind
come from the Mountain
of Swords?

This haiku was written after a visit to Daijô Temple, where Issa viewed a didactic painting of Hell. According to the scholar-monk Genshin (the Japanese Dante), one level of Hell contained a forest of razor-sharp swords. The painting that Issa viewed could have been a depiction of this.

Shinji Ogawa notes, "Issa felt that the chilly autumn wind might be coming from the Mountain of Swords."

1804

.秋の風我が参るはどの地獄
aki no kaze waga ga mairu wa dono jigoku

autumn wind--
on my pilgrimage
to which hell?

Shinji Ogawa notes, "It is said that there are many sorts of hells. We will go to one of them according to the sins we committed." He paraphrases the haiku, "autumn wind--/ to which hell/ am I going?"

1804

.あや竹の袂の下を秋の風
ayadake no tamoto no shita wo aki no kaze

blowing under
the loom's rod sleeves...
autumn wind

An ayadake is a "lease rod" of a loom, used to keep threads separated and in order.

1804

.姥捨し国に入けり秋の風
ubasuteshi kuni ni iri keri aki no kaze

entering a land
where the old are discarded...
autumn wind

Obasute (sometimes Ubasute) is a mountain in Issa's home province of Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture) where old people were, according to legend, "thrown away": left to die. Today it is called Kamurikiyama. Here, Issa poetically connects the cold wind and approaching winter with old age and death.

1804

.松苗のけばけばしさよ秋の風
matsunae no kebakebashisa yo aki no kaze

the little pine
puts on a show...
autumn wind

Issa notices (so we notice) the pine seedling bravely dancing in the chilly wind: a tiny, tough spirit in a vast, dangerous world.

1804

.浴せぬ腕を見れば秋の風
yuami senu kaina wo mireba aki no kaze

arms exposed
but not in hot tubs...
autumn wind

Or: "not in hot springs." The wind is blowing back kimono sleeves, exposing skin normally shown only when a person bathes. Instead of luxurious warmth, shivers.

1804

.垣際の足洗盥野分哉
kaki-giwa no ashi arai-darai nowaki kana

next to the fence
a foot-washing tub...
autumn gale

Or: "next to the hedge." Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge."

1804

.ぽつぽつと馬の爪切る野分哉
potsu-potsu to uma no tsume kiru nowaki kana

bit by bit
trimming the horse's hooves...
autumn gale

1804

.山本の祭の釜に野分哉
yamamoto no matsuri no kama ni nowaki kana

festival at the mountain's foot--
in the cauldron
an autumn gale

1804

.あさ露のきほう折けんつくもがみ
asa tsuyu no kihô oreken tsukumogami

popping a bubble
of morning dew...
a ghost

A tsukumogami is an "artifact spirit": a kind of ghost that haunts household objects. Issa imagines that one such spirit is to blame for the destruction of a bubble of dew: a fanciful thought that, on a deeper level, may suggest that worlds come and go in the great scheme of things ... ours included.

1804

.おく露になつかしがらす榎哉
oku tsuyu ni natsukashigarasu enoki kana

amid dewdrops
it triggers nostalgia...
hackberry tree

Might Issa be referring to a childhood memory?

1804

.おく露やことしの盆は上総山
oku tsuyu ya kotoshi no bon wa kazusa yama

dewdrops form--
I spend this year's O-Bon
in Kazusa's mountains

The melancholy feeling of this haiku might be lost to many non-Japanese readers. At the time of the O-Bon Festival, people return to their homes, if they are able to, to greet the souls of their ancestors. Issa, far from home and his roots, finds himself on the road during this season for family ... again. Kazusa is an old province that, along with Shimôsa, made up the territory of present-day Chiba Prefecture.

1804

.土器のほどこし栗や草の露
kawarake no hodokoshi kuri ya kusa no tsuyu

in earthenware
an offering of chestnuts...
dewy grass

The editors of Issa zenshû speculate that Issa might have meant to write "millet" (awa) instead of "chestnut" (kuri), a similar kanji (Nagano Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1979, 1.474).

1804

.国の父に申し分なき夜露哉
kuni no chichi ni môshi wakenaki yo tsuyu kana

not apologizing
to the country's father...
evening dew

The "country's father" (kuni no chichi) is the Emperor of Japan, but why should the dew apologize to him? Is Issa perhaps noting that nature follows its own course, that human hierarchies don't matter to it?

1804

.人は旅日は朝朗けさの露
hito wa tabi hi wa asaborake kesa no tsuyu

travelers set out
as the sun rises...
morning dew

Or: "a traveler sets out." Issa wrote three haiku back-to-back on the second day of Seventh Month, 1804, that begin with the same image. This is the first.

1804

.人は旅見なれし草や秋の露
hito wa tabi minareshi kusa ya aki no tsuyu

travelers set out
in familiar grass...
autumn dew

Or: "a traveler sets out." On the second day of Seventh Month, 1804, Issa wrote three haiku that begin the same way. This is the third.

1804

.秋霧や河原なでしこ見ゆる迄
aki-giri ya kawara nadeshiko miyuru made

autumn fog--
the river beach's pinks
barely visible

Shinji Ogawa paraphrases: "The autumn mist is as thin as to make the pinks of the riverbed barely visible." This haiku is related to an undated poem:
aki-giri ya kawara nadeshiko patto saku

autumn fog--
the river beach's pinks
have bloomed in a flash

1804

.仰山に霧のはれけり付木突
gyôsan ni kiri no hare keri tsukegi-tsuki

when the fog clears
a mountain...
of fire chips

The expression gyôsan ni refers to a large quantity of something, in this case, the tsukegi-tsuki: chips of cypress wood coated with sulphur. Shinji Ogawa explains: "Only after the mist cleared off, Issa noticed the large quantity of chips that had been made." The word tsukegi means not exactly a match but a piece of thin wood coated with sulphur on the edge. It does not generate fire like a match does, but is used to transfer fire."

1804

.しきみ桶手からも霧は立にけり
shikimi oke te kara mo kiri wa tachi ni keri

from a hand that holds
a bucket of sacred branches...
fog rises

Cut branches of the evergreen shrub shikimi ("star anise") are placed at Buddhist graves, often in stone vases. Originally, the fragrance of the branches covered the odor of decay. Issa immediately revises this haiku in his journal. The haiku that follows it is identical, except that it begins with the phrase shikimi sasu ("pricked by sacred branches").

1804

.しきみさす手からも霧は立にけり
shikimi sasu te kara mo kiri wa tachi ni keri

from a hand
pricked by sacred branches...
fog rises

Cut branches of the evergreen shrub shikimi ("star anise") are placed at Buddhist graves, often in stone vases. Originally, the fragrance of the branches covered the odor of decay. This is an immediate rewrite in Issa's journal. The haiku that precedes it is identical, except that it begins with the phrase shikimi oke ("sacred branches bucket").

1804

.山霧のかかる家さへ祭哉
yama-giri no kakaru ie sae matsuri kana

even at a house
shrouded in mountain fog...
a festival

A haiku written on the 25th day of Seventh Month, 1804. In the old Japanese calendar, Seventh Month signaled the beginning of autumn (it roughly corresponds to late August or early September in the Western calendar). In Japan, this is a time of festivals. According to Issa's diary, Bunka ku chô ("Bunka Era Haiku Collection"), he entered Edo (today's Tokyo) on that day, so this is the likely setting for the haiku: perhaps Issa's house or that of one of his friends, covered in autumn mist, where a festival is being celebrated with song, dance, and wine.

1804

.妹が家は跡になりけり花の原
imo ga ya wa ato ni nari keri hana no hara

behind my sweetheart's
house a field...
of flowers

The first phrase, imo ga ie, refers to the "dear one's house," imo being an intimate term that a man uses to refer to his beloved.

1804

.赤紙のちさい草履を玉迎
aka-gami no chisai zôri wo tama mukae

tiny sandals
made of red paper...
for the ancestor

This haiku refers to a Bon Festival memorial service for one's ancestors.

1804

.迎鐘ならぬ前から露のちる
mukae-gane naranu mae kara tsuyu no chiru

when the bell tolls
for the ancestors...
dewdrops scatter

This haiku refers to a Bon Festival memorial service for one's ancestors.

1804

.うかうかと盆も過たる灯ろ哉
uka-uka to bon mo sugitaru tôrô kana

the Bon Festival
flickers out too...
lanterns for the dead

Uka-uka to is an old expression meaning (1) not at peace or (2) thoughtless or absentminded; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 182. In this case I am assuming that Issa is using the first meaning: the lamplights flicker restlessly as the festival ends. The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

1804

.夕風や木のない門の高灯籠
yûkaze ya ki no nai kado no takadôro

evening wind--
for the tree-less gate
a tall Bon lantern

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

1804

.よ所事と思へ思へど灯ろ哉
yoso-goto to omoe omoedo tôro kana

someone else's affair
you think...
lanterns for the dead

Is this Issa's version of "Ask not for whom the bell tolls;/ It tolls for thee"? The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

1804

.仇し野の火の片脇におどり哉
adashi no no hi no katawaki ni odori kana

right alongside
Adashi Field's fires...
Bon Festival dance

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration. Gabi Greve explains that Adashi Field adjoins the Adashino Nembutsu-ji, a famous temple and cemetery on the outskirts of Kyoto. With over 8000 grave markers it is a place that, Gabi writes, evokes the Buddhist concept of "the brevity and fragility of life."

1804

.うら町の曲りなりなるおどり哉
uramachi no magari nari naru odori kana

becoming crooked
down a backstreet...
Bon Festival dance

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration.

1804

.おどる夜や浅間の砂も廿年
odoru yo ya asama no suna mo ni jû nen

evening Bon dance--
dust from Asama's eruption
twenty years old

Mt. Asama in Issa's home province erupted in 1783, killing 1,151 people. Issa wrote this haiku in 1804--after twenty years had passed. The juxtaposition of living dancers and the dust of the dead is stark.

1804

.おどる夜や大坂陣の後の松
odoru yo ya ôsaka jin no ato no matsu

evening Bon dance--
this pine tree saw
the Osaka Siege

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration. In the Osaka Siege of 1615 the Tokugawa shogunate defeated the Toyotomi clan, killing thousands. The old pine dates was a "witness" to the conflict. Perhaps Issa is imagining those ghosts of those samurai who were killed invisibly joining the dance.

1804

.おどる夜や水にのがれし門榎
odoru yo ya mizu ni nogareshi kado enoki

evening Bon dancers
flee the rain...
hackberry by the gate

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration. These dancers flee, literally, "water" (mizu), running for shelter under the tree.

1804

.去年迄は踊りし下駄よ門の月
kozo made wa odorishi geta yo kado no tsuki

up to last year
his Bon dancing clogs...
moon at the gate

Or: "her" clogs. Issa implies that someone has died and can no longer participate in the Bon dance. The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is part of the celebration.

1804

.寝て聞くも今はうるさき踊り哉
nete kiku mo ima wa urusaki odori kana

trying to sleep
now the noise is annoying...
Bon Festival dance

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration. Issa implies that the music and crowd noises were fine, earlier--when he was dancing too.

1804

.二人とは行れぬ町におどり哉
futari to wa yukarenu machi ni odori kana

two people
in a town no one visits...
Bon Festival dance

The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home. Group dancing is also part of the celebration.

1804

.山かげの一軒家さへおどり哉
yama kage no ikken-ya sae odori kana

an isolated house
in mountain shade
but a festival dance!

1804

.山里やおどりもしらで年のよる
yama-zato ya odori mo shirade toshi no yoru

mountain village--
the old man doesn't know
the dance

The "dance" referred to pertains to the autumn Bon Festival. The Bon Festival of the Dead takes place in Eighth Month in the old lunar calendar. At this time, people light lanterns to guide their ancestors' spirits back home.

1804

.七夕や都もおなじ秋の山
tanabata ya miyako mo onaji aki no yama

Tanabata Night
in Kyoto, the same
autumn mountain

This haiku refers to Tanabata, a festival that takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together. The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

1804

.人の世や山の小すみもほし迎
hito no yo ya yama no kosumi mo hoshi mukae

world of man--
in a mountain nook too
Tanabata stars

Tanabata Festival takes place on the seventh day of Seventh Month. According to a romantic legend, two celestial lovers--the stars Altair and Vega--are separated by Heaven's River (the Milky Way). One night a year (Tanabata night), they cross the starry river to be together.

Shinji Ogawa translates the phrase, hoshi mukae, "welcome to Tanabata stars."

1804

.我星は上総の空をうろつくか
waga hoshi wa kazusa no sora wo urotsuku ka

sky over Kazusa--
is my star up there
prowling?

This haiku refers to a popular belief that each person upon birth is assigned a corresponding star in the heavens.

1804

.無縁時の鐘も聞へて大花火
muen-ji no kane mo kikoete ôhanabi

Muen Temple's bell
clangs too...
great fireworks

1804

.秋角力初まる日から山の雲
aki sumô hajimaru hi kara yama no kumo

autumn sumo tournament--
from day one
mountain clouds

1804

.咲かかる草の辺りに角力哉
saki kakaru kusa no atari ni sumô kana

heading straight
to the wildflowers...
sumo wrestler

Is the moment comic or tender? Comic: the whale-bellied wrestler, not noticing the flowers, threatens to crush them. Tender: the wrestler, though huge, goes straight to the flowers, perhaps to pick some.

1804

.淋さを鶴に及ぼすかがし哉
sabishisa wo tsuru ni oyobosu kagashi kana

making the crane
feel lonely...
the scarecrow

Colleen Rain Austin notes: "As cranes are a significant symbol of joy and marital bliss in Japan, the scene is even more desolate; the crane and the scarecrow are a mismatched pair."

1804

.最う古いかがしはないか角田川
mô furui kagashi wa nai ka sumida-gawa

was there ever
an older looking scarecrow?
Sumida River

1804

.えた町も夜はうつくしき砧哉
eta mura mo yo wa utsukushiki kinuta kana

in the outcastes' village too
a lovely night...
pounding cloth

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) writes, "In my native town there is an eta village; mothers tell their children not to enter there. Issa has a very peaceful mind. He know well the sadness of living. When he saw the Eta village in the night, not only darkness covered, but racial discrimination as well. And he heard the sound of the kinuta as if it came from Buddha."

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. This haiku refers to the Ainu. An oppressed minority, they performed "unclean" jobs such as disposing of dead animals, working with leather, and executing criminals.

1804

.小夜砧菰きて蘇鉄立にけり
sayo-ginuta komo kite sotetsu tachi ni keri

evening cloth-pounding--
a cycad tree wrapped
in a reed mat

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. In this haiku, a cycad (a palm-like evergreen plant) "stands" (tachi ni keri). Shinji Ogawa pictures a typical autumn scene; one hears the sounds of wooden mallets at night and sees a tree "dressed" in a reed mat. Cloth-pounding required little light, which is why cloth-pounding was a night job. People dressed trees in reed or straw mats in autumn. The bugs in the trees would come down in late autumn to go underground to pass the winter. The mat's purpose was to trap the bugs. At a proper time the mat would be removed and burned. "This method is still in use today," Shinji adds.

1804

.兀山も見棄られぬぞ小夜砧
hage yama mo misuterarenu zo sayo-ginuta

even the bald mountain
isn't left out...
evening cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound.

1804

.身祝の榊もうへて砧哉
mi-iwai no sakaki mo uete kinuta kana

a sakaki tree planted
for good luck...
cloth-pounding

Wooden mallets were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. In this haiku, the pounding never seems to stop. Issa (or someone) plants a sacred sakaki tree for good fortune. Shinji Ogawa comments, "Though it is a hard life, people maintain a positive attitude."

1804

.松苗も風の吹く夜のしん酒哉
matsunae mo kaze no fuku yo no shinshu kana

for the pine sapling too
a windy night...
new sake

The brewing of new saker (rice wine) is an autumn event. Issa might be playing with the concept of "pine tree wind" (matsukaze), suggesting that even his small sapling can have wind wafting through its branches.

1804

.さをしかや恋初めてより山の雨
saoshika ya koi somete yori yama no ame

young buck--
when he starts to make love
mountain rain

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) notes that the image of a buck crying on a rainy mountain is a poetic scene found often in early tanka.

1804

.死所もかなりに葺て鹿の鳴
shinidoko mo kanari ni fuite shika no naku

his dying place
fairly well thatched...
crying deer

Or: my dying place.

1804

.なけ鶉邪魔なら庵もたたむべき
nake uzura jama nara io mo tatamubeki

sing, quail!
if my hut bothers you
I'll close it

It is unclear why Issa makes such a magnanimous offer to the quail.

1804

.今しがた逢し人ぞよ鴫をつく
imashigata no aishi hito zo yo shigi wo tatsu

the man I'm meeting
just now...
scares a snipe

Literally, the man "reaches" (tsuku) the bird; I picture him approaching through tall grass, scaring the bird hidden at his feet to take flight. Snipe (shigi) is an autumn bird.

1804

.鴫鳴くや鶴はいつもの松の丘
shigi naku ya tsuru wa itsumo no matsu no oka

a snipe calls--
the crane on his usual
pine tree hill

Snipe (shigi) is an autumn bird.

1804

.人は年とるべきものぞ鴫の立
hito wa toshitorubeki mono zo shigi no tatsu

all people must
grow old...
the snipe rises

This is an enigmatic haiku. Since the snipe is an autumn bird, perhaps Issa sees it as a sign of his own growing old. Lewis Mackenzie's translation of the first two phrases is no help: "Men must take the years that come/ Know they are thus!" See The Autumn Wind (1957; rpt. 1984), 59.

1804

.姫松のけばけばしさを鴫の立つ
himematsu no kebakebashisa wo shigi no tatsu

the princess pine
so fancy...
a snipe flies up

A "princess pine" (himematsu) is a small pine tree. Issa suggests that its showiness has properly impressed the snipe (shigi), an autumn bird.

1804

.あながちにかくれもせぬや小田の雁
anagachi ni kakure mo senu ya oda no kari

not exactly
well hidden...
rice field goose

Issa might be implying that the migrating autumn goose is calling too much attention to itself by honking and/or splashing. Are hunters nearby?

1804

.小田の雁畠の月夜や庵ほしき
oda no kari hata no tsuki yo ya io hoshiki

rice field geese
with moon above...
I want a hut here!

More literally, there are two kinds of "field" in the haiku: migrating wild geese are in the "rice field" (oda), while the moon shines over the nearby "vegetable and/or grain field" (hata). To Issa, the location seems ideal.

1804

.雁鴨にゆるりとかさん畠も哉
kari kamo ni yururi to kasan hata mo kana

also lent
to the geese and ducks...
vegetable patch

Perhaps due to overcrowding in the rice field, geese and ducks also sprawl into a nearby field of vegetables or grain.

1804

.雁鴨も武ばり顔也かさい筋
kari kamo mo bubari kao nari kasai suji

even ducks and geese
with samurai faces...
natives of Kasai

A subway stop in Greater Tokyo today, in Issa's time Kasai was a farming village east of Edo. Tough people must have lived there because, Issa notes, even the ducks and geese of Kasai have "soldierly" (bubari) faces.

1804

.雁鴨や一夜もほしき田一枚
kari kamo ya hito yo mo hoshiki ta ichi mai

geese and ducks--
all night wishing for
a rice field

Are the migrating birds flying above, looking for a place to land?

1804

.あのやうに我も老しか秋のてふ
ano yô ni ware mo oishi ka aki no chô

will I grow old
like you?
autumn butterfly

Issa wrote this haiku at age 42. Butterflies are a spring season word in haiku, so an autumn butterfly isn't long for this world.

1804

.うろたへな寒くなるとて赤蜻蛉
urotae na samuku naru tote aka tombo

don't be bewildered
by the cold weather!
dragonfly

1804

.蜻蛉や二尺飛では又二尺
tombô ya ni shaku tonde wa mata ni shaku

dragonfly--
flying two feet
then two feet more

1804

.きりぎりす隣に居ても聞へけり
kirigirisu tonari ni itte mo kikoe keri

even the katydid
next door...
an earful

A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

1804

.その草はむしり残すぞきりぎりす
sono kusa wa mushiri nokosu zo kirigirisu

that grass over there
won't be cut...
katydid

Issa is "inviting" the katydid to land on the long, uncut grass, perhaps after the fact. Is he referring (proudly) to his own yard?

Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation.

A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

1804

.焼原やはやくも鳴やきりぎりす
yake hara ya hyaku mo naku ya kirigirisu

a burned field
but soon he's singing...
katydid

Shinji Ogawa explains that hyaku has two meanings: "fast" and "soon." In this context, he believes that "soon" applies: "Everything runs away from the burning field. After the short silence, Issa heard the katydid singing."

A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

1804

.夕月や流残りのきりぎりす
yûzuki ya nagare nokori no kirigirisu

evening moon--
surviving the flood
a katydid

Or: "katydids." French translator Jean Cholley pictures "some grasshoppers" (quelques sauterelles); En village de miséreux (1996) 59.

This is the second of two haiku in a row written about a flood at Nagareyama village in Shimosa Province. The first one is as follows:
uodomo no asobi ariku ya kiku no hana

fish frolic about
on foot...
chrysanthemums

Issa entered Nagareyama on the 27th day of Eighth Month, 1804, amid rainy weather. He wrote both of the haiku on the 2nd day of Ninth Month.

A katydid (kirigirisu) is a shrill-calling cousin of crickets and grasshoppers.

1804

.雨落に生へ合せたり草の花
amaochi ni hae awasetari kusa no hana

in the rain gutter too
wildflowers
have sprouted

1804

.五六日居過す門や草の花
go roku nichi I sugosu kado ya kusa no hana

lasting five, six days
at the gate...
wildflower

The flower is trampled in this high-traffic area. Hanging onto life for five or six days shows its toughness.

1804

.魚どもの遊びありくや菊の花
uodomo no asobi ariku ya kiku no hana

fish frolicking
on foot...
chrysanthemums

Ariku, I assume, is a variant of aruku, "to walk." Issa presents the strange image of fish, left over from a flood, wriggling among the chrysanthemums.

This is the first of two haiku in a row written about a flood at Nagareyama village in Shimosa Province. The second one is as follows:
yûzuki ya nagare nokori no kirigirisu

evening moon--
surviving the flood
a katydid

Issa entered Nagareyama on the 27th day of Eighth Month, 1804, amid rainy weather. He wrote both of the haiku on the 2nd day of Ninth Month.

1804

.菊園につつと出たる葎哉
kiku-zono ni tsutto idetaru mugura kana

in the mum garden
sprouting all at once...
choking vines

The word mugura refers to creeping vines that grow over other vegetation. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1804

.柴門の薮の中迄小菊哉
shiba kado no yabu no naka made ko-giku kana

even in the thicket
beyond the bramble gate
a little chrysanthemum

1804

.白菊に拙き手水かかる也
shira-giku ni tsutanaki chôzu kakaru nari

a splash for the white
chrysanthemum...
hand-wash water

1804

.たやすくも菊の咲けり川の縁
tayasuku mo kiku no saki keri kawa no fuchi

chrysanthemums bloom
with ease...
river's edge

1804

.痩土にぼつぼつ菊の咲にけり
yase tsuchi ni botsu-botsu kiku no saki ni keri

in poor soil
little by little it blooms...
chrysanthemum

Botsu-botsu (also hotsu-hotsu) can mean "little by little"; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1489.

Whether intentional or not, this haiku portrays Issa: a poor man from a poor province who, despite all odds, bloomed as a poet.

1804

.僧も立鶴も立たる野菊哉
sô mo tachi tsuru mo tachitaru nogiku kana

a standing priest
a standing crane...
field chrysanthemums

"Field chrysanthemums" (nogiku) are wildflowers that bloom in autumn.

1804

.朝顔や藪蚊の中にりんとして
asagao ya yabu ka no naka ni rin to shite

morning glories--
amid the mosquitos
standing tall

Admiring the beauty of the flowers, under the circumstances, is an act of courage.

The phrase rin to means "majestically, imposingly, gallantly," writes Maruyama Kazuhiko; see Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 207, note 1080. Shinji Ogawa explains further that rin to shite is short for rinzen to shite: "commandingly."

"Thicket mosquito" (yabu ka) refers to a species of especially fierce striped mosquito. The scientific name is Stegomyia fasciata.

1804

.蔦紅葉口紅つけし庇也
tsuta momiji kuchibeni tsukeshi hisashi nari

red-leaf ivy--
lipstick is applied
to the eaves

The ivy is growing on the eaves (hisashi). In his original text, Issa wrote, kuchi ima ("mouth now"); the editors of Issa zenshû believe that he meant to write, kuchibeni ("lipstick"); Nagano: Shinano Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1976-79, 1.571.

1804

.豆蔦もまけぬ気になる紅葉哉
mame tsuta mo makenu ki ni naru momiji kana

the petite ivy
not to be outdone
turns red

Issa implies that other (larger) trees and plants are all exhibiting their glorious autumn colors; the little ivy plant does the same.

1804

.寺嗅き夕べではなし萩の花
tera kusaki yûbe de wa nashi hagi no hana

no stink this evening
in the temple...
blooming bush clover

A natural air freshener.

1804

.みそ萩や水につければ風の吹く
misohagi ya mizu ni tsukereba kaze no fuku

loosestrife--
if soaked in water
wind will blow

Issa suggests a mysterious connection between thre flowering plant loosestrife (Lythrum anceps) and the wind blowing. In a variant form of this haiku he uses the verb hitasu; the meaning is the same, equally enigmatic.

1804

.ぼつぼつと痩けいたうも月夜也
botsu-botsu to yase keitô mo tsuki yo nari

little by little
scrawny cock's combs bloom...
in moonlight

Silver cock's comb (Celosia Argentea) is a brightly colored autumn bloom.

1804

.しなのぢはそば咲けりと小幅綿
shinano ji wa soba saki keri to kohabawata

the Shinano road
through blooming buckwheat...
a swath of cloth

The editors of Issa zenshû comment on the ending of this haiku: "In traditional Japan kohabawata was a set size of kimono cloth, approximately 36 centimeters width of cotton" (1976-79) 2.233, note 1. Shinano, present-day Nagano Prefecture, was Issa's home province, known as buckwheat country. The road running through the blooming autumn fields appears like a long narrow strip of unrolled kimono cloth.

1804

.そばの花咲くや仏と二人前
soba no hana saku ya hotoke to futarimae

buckwheat blossoms
enough for the Buddha
and me

Issa seems to be referring to a statue of the Buddha made of stone or wood.

1804

.そばの花二軒前程咲にけり
soba no hana ni ken mae hodo saki ni keri

buckwheat
in front of two houses...
in bloom

Issa writes several haiku about "two houses" from 1803 to 1820, possibly referring to his own house and that of a next-door neighbor.

1804

.近い比しれし出湯やそばの花
chikai koro shireshi ideyu ya soba no hana

very soon
it's hot springs time...
buckwheat blooming

The autumn harvest of the now ripe buckwheat signals a time of year when hot springs bathing (a luxury in chilly weather) will be popular.

1804

.痩山にぽつと咲けりそばの花
yase yama ni patto saki keri soba no hana

on a barren mountain
it bloomed in a flash
buckwheat

1804

.稲かけし夜より小藪は月よ哉
inekakeshi yo yori ko yabu wa tsuki yo kana

rice dries on racks--
all night the little thicket
lit by the moon

After the autumn harvest, ears of rice are laid on racks to dry.

1804

.稲こきの相手がましき家鴨哉
inekoki no aite ga mashiki ahiru kana

the rice thresher's
extra partner...
a duck

The duck is "helping" by gobbling up fallen grains of rice.

1804

.啄木も日の暮かかる紅葉哉
kitsutsuki mo hi no kure kakaru momiji kana

the woodpecker too
engulfed in sunset...
red leaves

1804

.それ切にしてもよいぞよ薄紅葉
sorekiri ni shite mo yoi zo yo usumomiji

to stop at that point
is just fine...
pale red leaves

Issa enjoys the pale red color, no need for the leaves to turn deeper red.

1804

.初紅葉どれも榎のうしろ也
hatsu momiji dore mo enoki no ushiro nari

first red leaves--
the view blocked
by hackberry trees

The red leaves are literally "behind" (ushiro) the hackberry tree or trees, whose leaves can turn yellow in fall but not brilliant colors.

1804

.松切に鳥も去けり夕紅葉
matsu kiru ni tori mo sari keri yûmomiji

the birds have left
the chopped down pine...
evening's red leaves

1804

.箕をかつぐ人と連立紅葉哉
mi wo katsugu hito to tsuredatsu momiji kana

following the man
who shoulders a winnow...
red leaves

A winnow or winnowing fan is a farm implement used to separate chaff from grain. By saying that the red leaves are "going along with" the farmer, Issa implies that they are blowing in a wind in the same direction that the farmer is walking.

1804

.紅葉々にま一度かかれ今の雨
momiji-ba ni ma ichi do kakare ima no ame

once again
red leaves get doused...
today's rain

A good thing: the rain makes autumn colors shine.

1804

.うかうかと出水に逢し木槿哉
uka-uka to demizu ni aishi mukuge kana

acting fidgety
in the flood...
roses of Sharon

Uka-uka to is an old expression meaning (1) not at peace or (2) thoughtless or absent-minded; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 182. Here, the first definition seems to fit. An overflowing stream or river flows through the blooming shrubs, agitating them. This haiku is an example of Issa's bait-and-switch humor: after the first two phrases the reader might expect that some human is acting fidgety, but instead, in the third phrase (the punch line), we see roses.

Shinji Ogawa, however, notes that even in Issa's time the second meaning ("absent-minded") was dominant. Knowing both meanings, Shinji prefers to apply the second one, the illogicality being the whole point:

acting absent-mindedly
they encountered the flood...
roses of Sharon

1804

.寝る外に分別はなし花木槿
neru hoka ni funbetsu wa nashi hana mukuge

outside of sleeping
lacking good sense...
rose of Sharon

In his translation, Lucien Stryk believes that Issa is addressing the flower, asking for forgiveness ("forgive me..."); The Dumpling Field: Haiku of Issa (1991) 39. I think that the poet is simply describing the lazy life of the flower.

1804

.不平な垣もむくげは咲にけり
futairana kaki mo mukuge wa saki ni keri

an unlevel hedge, too
in bloom...
roses of Sharon

Kaki can be translated as "fence" or "hedge." Since Issa is referring to blooming shrubs, the latter translation fits here.

1804

.雨三粒おちてもぬれし瓢哉
ame san tsube ochite mo nureshi fukube kana

three drops of rain
and it's drenched...
the gourd

Though the kanji for "gourd" is today read as hisago, Issa read it as fukube.

1804

.うきうきと草の咲そふ瓢哉
uki-uki to kusa no sakisô fukube kana

with light hearts
the grasses bloom...
gourds

Though the kanji for "gourd" is today read as hisago, Issa read it as fukube.

1804

.見覚して鳥の立らん大瓢
mioboe shite tori no tachiran ô fukube

the bird flies off
making a mental note...
the big gourd

Issa imagines that the bird is thinking of returning to eat it when it isn't being guarded.

Though the kanji for "gourd" is today read as hisago, Issa read it as fukube.

1804

.闇の夜に段々なるぞ種瓢
yami no yo ni dan-dan naru zo tane fukube

in the gloom of night
bit by bit it grows...
the gourd

Or, more literally, "the seed gourd" (tane fukube). Though the kanji for "gourd" is today read as hisago, Issa read it as fukube.

1804

.門口の木の実に見るや木曽の雨
kado-guchi no ko no mi niru ya kiso no ame

at the gate
looking at berries...
Kiso cloudburst!

Kiso is the name of a district and town in Issa's home province of Shinano, present-day Nagano Prefecture. Are the berries falling from a tree (perhaps a gingko) and pelting Issa?

1804

.くやしくも過し山辺や木の実散る
kuyashiku mo sugishi yamabe ya ko no mi chiru

how annoying
to walk this mountain
pelted by berries

In autumn the amber berries of gingko trees fall. They not only stain but have a rancid smell. Sometimes nature's grandeur has a cost.

1804

.ちる木の実赤ふんどしがうれしいか
chiru ko no mi aka fundoshi ga ureshiika

falling berries--
is my red loincloth
happy now?

The berries are red. Have they stained Issa's loincloth that color, or is the loincloth already red and therefore safe from becoming stained?

1804

.爪先にいく日馴たる木の実哉
tsumasaki ni ikuhi naretaru ko no mi kana

how many days
staining my toes?
berries

Or: "staining toes." Literally, Issa's toes (or everyone's) are "becoming used to" (naretaru) the berries that, we can assume, have fallen onto the ground. I take this to mean that the toes have all turned red.

1804

.前の人も春を待しか古畳
mae no hito mo haru wo machishi ka furu-datami

did others sit here too
waiting for spring?
old tatami mat

1804

.大年のよい夢見るかぬり枕
ôtoshi no yoi yume miru ka nuri makura

a good dream
for the year's end?
lacquered pillow

The "lacquered pillow" (nuri makura) was mainly used in the pleasure quarter--what today is known as the red-light district...a pillow not for sleeping. See Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1276.

1804

.寝所はきのふ葺けり初時雨
nedokoro wa kinou fuki keri hatsu shigure

my sleeping place
just thatched yesterday...
first winter rain

Or: "the sleeping place." Issa doesn't specify whose.

1804

.寝始る其夜を竹の時雨哉
ne hajimaru sono yo wo take no shigure kana

my very first night
sleeping here...
winter rain on bamboo

On the 21st day of Tenth Month of 1804 Issa moved to a new residence near Sumida River just east of Edo, in Bashô's old neighborhood. The reader must decide if Issa is annoyed by the noisy rain interrupting his first night's sleep in the new place, or if he might have perceived the winter rain, a season word particularly associated with Bashô's death day, as a lucky omen, a sort of welome to the neighborhood.

1804

.木がらしに口淋しいとゆふべ哉
kogarashi ni kuchi sabishii to yûbe kana

in winter wind
no one to talk to...
evening

Literally, the middle phrase is "lonely mouth" (kuchi sabishii to).
Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1804

.木がらしに三尺店も我夜也
kogarashi ni san-jakudana mo waga yo nari

in winter wind
in three-foot wide lodgings...
my night

According to Makoto Ueda, Issa rented a small house in Edo (today's Tokyo), near the Sumida River. He wrote this haiku after fixing it up to move in; Dew on the Grass (2004) 49.
Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1804

.木がらしの吹き留まりけり鳩に人
kogarashi no fuki-domari keri hato ni hito

the winter wind
stops blowing...
people like pigeons

I have asked a Japanese advisor, Toru Kiuchi to help me understand Issa's meaning in this haiku.

1804

.木がらしや小溝にけぶる竹火箸
kogarashi ya ko dobu ni keburu take hibashi

winter wind--
in a little ditch smoke
and bamboo tongs

Someone (Issa?) is cooking a meal, using bamboo tongs and a little, perhaps makeshift grill.
Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn-deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1804

.木がらしやこんにゃく桶の星月夜
kogarashi ya konnyaku oke no hoshi tsuki yo

winter wind--
in the konjac jelly
stars and moon

Literally, stars and moon are reflected in the jelly's "bucket" (oke). Konjac jelly (konnyaku) is a popular treat made by boiling konjac in water; it solidifies as it cools.

1804

.木がらしや地びたに暮るる辻うたひ
kogarashi ya jibita ni kururu tsuji-utai

winter wind--
a street singer at dusk
hunkers to the ground

This haiku has the headnote, "Living in the world is made hard (kewashii) by mountains and rivers." According to the editors of Issa zenshû, the street singer is a type of beggar who sings little songs by the wayside (1976-79) 2.248, note 4.

Maruyama Kazuhiko adds that the singer's face is probably hidden under a fan or umbrella-hat; see Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 76, note 329.

French translator Jean Cholley visualizes several street singers in the scene; En village de miséreux (1996) 59.

Makoto Ueda adds that the singer performed "passages from famous Noh plays"; Dew on the Grass (2004) 54.
Kogarashi ("winter wind") means "a dry windy day during the late autumn--deep winter season." It is classified as a winter season word.

1804

.はつ雪に白湯すすりても我家哉
hatsu yuki ni sayu susurite mo waga ya kana

in first snowfall
though slurping only hot water...
my home

Shinji Ogawa comments, "The meaning of mo (even though) in susurite mo is important. In essence, Issa is saying, 'Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home'."

Shinji adds, "The word 'humble' in Payne's poem is conceptual whereas Issa's 'slurping mere hot water' is concrete; 'there's no place like home' is reasoning or explanatory whereas Issa states 'my home' without explanation. I'm not saying which is better but to show one of the important characteristics of haiku. Haiku avoids to state conceptual words but states instead concrete matters or actions, preferably plain everyday matters or actions, in plain language. Therefore, any explanatory remark may be regarded as a flaw or a weakness of the haiku."

1804

.はつ雪や翌のけぶりのわら一把
hatsu yuki ya asu no keburi no wara ichi wa

first snowfall--
tomorrow's smoke one
bundle of straw

1804

.はつ雪や竹の夕を独寝て
hatsu yuki ya take no yûbe wo hitori nete

first snowfall--
in the bamboo evening
sleeping alone

1804

.初雪や古郷見ゆる壁の穴
hatsu yuki ya furusato miyuru kabe no ana

first snow--
my home village through a hole
in the wall

Three years after his father's death, Issa's desire to return home as his father had wanted him to was being thwarted by his stepmother with the support of many villagers. Cold scene, cold hearts.

1804

.それがしも雪を待夜や欠土鍋
soregashi mo yuki wo matsu yo ya kake donabe

"I too await
snowy nights!"
chipped earthen pot

Or, we could omit the quotation marks and assume that this is Issa's declaration, not that of the pot. Both interpretations are possible.

1804

.降る雪にもったいなくも枕哉
furu yuki ni mottai naku mo makura kana

in falling snow
with a pang of guilt...
I stay in bed

Literally, Issa ends the haiku with "pillow" (makura), shorthand for being in bed. Mottai naku derives from mi no mottanai: to feel shame about something, in this case, Issa's indolence.

1804

.雪の日も蒙求しらぬ雀哉
yuki no hi mo môgui shiranu suzume kana

on a snowy day
ignorant of history...
a sparrow

Specifically, the sparrow doesn't know about the traditional Chinese primer, The Child's Treasury (Mengqiu), a collection of historical anecdotes, written by Li Hen (possibly) in the eighth century.

1804

.藪菊や霰ちる日に咲合
yabu-giku ya arare chiru hi ni saki-awase

thicket's chrysanthemum
on a day of hailstorm...
blooms

1804

.大霜の古家も人の地内也
ôshimo no furuya mo hito no chinai nari

heavy frost
on the old house, its owner
in the ground

A heavy poem for light-hearted Issa.

1804

.淋しさは得心しても窓の霜
sabishisa wa tokushin shite mo mado no shimo

adding to
my solitude...
frost on the window

1804

.枯原の雨のひびきし枕哉
kare-bara no ame no hibikishi makura kana

rain on withered fields
resounds...
my pillow

The relentless pounding of the winter rain on the barren fields resonates in Issa's pillow.

1804

.野はかれて何ぞ喰たき庵哉
no wa karete nani zo kuitaki iori kana

withering fields--
oh for a bite to eat
in my hut!

1804

.芭蕉忌に先つつがなし菊の花
bashôki ni mazu tsutsuganashi kiku no hana

safe and sound
on Basho's Death-Day...
chrysanthemum

The death anniversary of the great poet, Bashô, falls on the 12th day of Tenth Month. This anniversary is also called "Winter Rain Anniversary" (shigure ki) and "The Old Man's Anniversary" (okina ki).

Shinji Ogawa notes, "A haiku composed for death anniversary often contains something to remind one of the deceased. In this case, Issa put the word "mazu" to reflect Bashô's haiku:
mazu tanomu shiinoki mo ari natsukodachi

This haiku appears at the very end of Bashô's haibun, Genju Hut. The meaning of the haiku: 'in case of need, there is a pasania (oak) among the summer trees.' Bashô expresses his dilemma between his determination to die on the road and the human nature to seek some comforts."

1804

.京を出て聞き直さうぞはち敲き
kyô wo dete kikinaosau zo hachi tataki

leaving Kyoto
I hear it again...
monks beating bowls

In winter Pure Land Buddhist priests went on nightly pilgrimages, begging for food along the way by banging on their bowls.

1804

.西山はもう鶯かはち敲
nishi yama wa mô uguisu ka hachi tataki

in western mountains
a bush warbler already?
a monk beats his bowl

In winter Pure Land Buddhist priests went on nightly pilgrimages, begging for food along the way by banging on their bowls. Amida's Pure Land is located in the mythic west.

1804

.鉢敲今のが山の凹み哉
hachi tataki ima no ga yama no kubomi kana

a monk beats his bowl--
by now a dent
in the mountain!

A fun poetic exaggeration. In winter Pure Land Buddhist priests went on nightly pilgrimages, begging for food along the way by banging on their bowls.

1804

.冬構蔦一筋も英耀也
fuyugamae tsuta hito suji mo eyô nari

stocking up
for my winter seclusion...
a treasured strand of ivy

Japanese ivy is edible.

1804

.月さすや年の市日の待乳山
tsuki sasu ya toshi no ichibi no matsuchi yama

shining moon--
the year's end fair
on Mount Matsuchi

Matsuchi-yama is a hill on Sumida River's west bank--in Edo (today's Tokyo).

1804

.年の市何しに出たと人のいふ
toshi no ichi nani shi ni deta to hito no iu

year's end fair
"What's he doing here?"
they ask

Jean Cholley describes the scene: Issa is alone in the city, ignorant of where his next bowl of rice will come from, walking through the crowd at the year's end fair just for the pleasure of seeing the world. His ragged appearance attracts attention and people's looks that seem to say: "What could he possibly want here, having no money?" En village de miséreux (1996) 236, n. 30.

1804

.我宿は蠅もとしとる浦辺哉
waga yado wa hae mo toshitoru urabe kana

at my home
the flies too, a year older...
seacoast

Or: "the fly." The season word in this haiku, toshitori, ("growing old") relates to the year's ending; in the traditional Japanese system for counting age, everyone gains a year on New Year's Day.

1804

.冬篭其夜に聞くや山の雨
fuyugomori sono yo ni kiku ya yama no ame

winter seclusion--
all night the sound
of mountain rain

1804

.垣越しの人に答る火桶哉
kakigoshi no hito ni kotayuru hioke kana

for a man who climbed
over my fence...
a wooden brazier

I'm tempted to translate this "person" (hito) as a "neighbor" (which he probably is), but I'll stick to Issa's literal meaning.

1804

.炭俵はやぬかるみに踏れけり
sumidawara haya nukarumi ni fumare keri

empty charcoal bag--
in the mud so quickly
trampled

The word "empty" doesn't appear in Issa's original text, but this seems to be implied. As Makoto Ueda pictures it, someone has used an empty sack to cover a muddy spot in a street after a rainfall; Dew on the Grass (2004) 54.

1804

.ほたの火や目出度き御代の顔と顔
hota no hi ya medetaki miyo no kao to kao

wood fire--
oh happy age!
on every face

Though the seasonal expression, hota no hi, suggests winter, R. H. Blyth reads this as a haiku of New Year's Day (correctly, I think, due to its celebratory tone); A History of Haiku (1964) 1.357.

1804

.久木おふ片山かげや鰒汁
hisagi-fû kata yama kage ya fukuto-jiru

under tall oaks
in the mountain's shade
pufferfish soup

Hisagi are tall, shady deciduous trees such as the red budded oak (akame kashiwa); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1385.

Pufferfish soup (fukuto-jiru) is a winter season word.

1804

.山風を踏こたへたりみそさざい
yama kaze wo fumi kotaetari misosazai

fighting the mountain wind
on foot...
a wren

1804

.みそさざいちつといふても日の暮る
misosazai chitto iute mo hi no kururu

little wren
despite your cheeping
the day ends

This haiku appears in R. H. Blyth's Haiku with a major typo: "it grows duck" should read, "it grows dark" (1981-1982/reset paperback edition) 4.1264.

1804

.夕雨を鳴出したりみそさざい
yû ame wo naki-ideshitari misosazai

breaking out in song
at the evening rain...
wren

1804

.片壁は千鳥に住す夜也けり
kata kabe wa chidori ni sumisu yo nari keri

a plover lives
in one of my walls...
evening

1804

.麦の葉の夜はうつくしや千鳥鳴
mugi no ha no yo wa utsukushi ya chidori naku

"This evening in the wheat field
so pretty!"
sings the plover

Issa leaves to the reader's imagination the identity of the speaker of the first two phrases: Issa or the plover. I like to think that the plover is the speaker, hence the quotation marks. The other way to read the haiku seems less interesting, less "Issa":

this evening in the wheat field
so pretty...
a plover is singing
Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley.

1804

.麦の葉は春のさま也なく千鳥
mugi no ha wa haru no sama nari naku chidori

"The field of wheat
so spring-like!"
sings the plover

As in a similar haiku of the same year (referring to evening in the wheat field), Issa leaves to the reader's imagination the identity of the speaker of the first two phrases: Issa or the plover. In both cases, I like to think that the plover is the speaker, hence the quotation marks.
Mugi is a generic term that refers to several grains, mainly wheat and barley.

1804

.鰒提げて京の真中通る也
fugu sagete kyô no mannaka tôru nari

with a pufferfish
in the middle of Kyoto...
he passes

The previous years (1803) Issa wrote a haiku in which the pufferfish has the same face, even in the capital. This comic haiku also plays with the incongruous juxtaposition of elegant Kyoto with (supposedly) ugly fish.

1804

.揚土にくつ付き初る木の葉哉
agetsuchi ni kutsu tsuki-somuru konoha kana

on raised ground
they start sticking to shoes...
fallen leaves

1804

.汁の実の見事に生えてちる木の葉
shiru no mi no migoto ni haete chiru konoha

my soup stock
is growing splendidly...
falling leaves

In a later haiku (1821) Issa uses chrysanthemums in his soup stock. Normally made with vegetables, meat, seaweed and such, Issa's soup stock suggests (in a self-ironizing way) that he is a poor man who uses whatever he can find.

1804

.ちらぬかと木槿にかかる木の葉哉
chiranu ka to mukuge ni kakaru konoha kana

did you break your fall
with roses of Sharon?
tree leaves

1804

.散木の葉ことにゆふべや鳩の豆
chiru konoha koto ni yuube ya hato no mame

a strange evening
for falling leaves...
pigeon feed

The pigeons must be hungry to be pecking at fallen tree leaves. Sympathetic Issa imagines how strange it must be for the leaves!

1804

.楢の葉の朝からちるやとうふぶね
nara no ha no asa kara chiru ya tôfu-bune

an oak leaf this morning
fallen
in the tofu tank

In undated revisions, Issa ends this haiku with the phrase, "tofu tub" (tôfu oke).

1804

.畠の菊折角咲けば木の葉哉
hata no kiku sekkaku sakeba konoha kana

the garden's chrysanthemum
blooms at great pains...
fallen leaves

A life-death juxtaposition. The flower, buried in dead leaves, is determined to assert its life.

1804

.はらはらと木槿にかかる木の葉哉
hara-hara to mukuge ni kakaru konoha kana

flitting down
to hang on roses of Sharon...
tree leaves

1804

.有明や窓の名残をちる紅葉
ariake ya mado no nagori wo chiru momiji

at dawn a keepsake
left on the window
red leaves

1804

.今打し畠のさまや散紅葉
ima uchishi hatake no sama ya chiru momiji

the garden looking
freshly plowed...
fallen red leaves

This haiku has the headnote, "Tenth Month, 27th day." In a revision the following year (1805), Issa changed the middle phrase slightly without affecting the meaning: hata no sama nari. Perhaps Issa is saying that someone has raked the leaves so vigorously, the garden seem freshly plowed.

1804

.川下は誰々が住むちる紅葉
kawa shita wa dare-dare ga sumu chiru momiji

who might be living
downriver?
red leaves fall

Issa wonders aloud about the person who will enjoy the sight of the pretty red leaves floating by.

1804

.志賀人の箕をきたなりや散紅葉
shigajin no mi wo kita nari ya chiru momiji

into the lake shoreman's
winnowing basket...
red leaves fall

The lake is Lake Biwa, east of Kyoto. Shiga is another name for it; Issa zenshû 2.245. A winnow or winnowing basket is a farm implement used to separate chaff from grain.

1804

.散紅葉流れぬ水は翌のためか
chiru momiji nagarenu mizu wa asu no tame ka

red leaves fall--
just to be swept away
tomorrow?

This haiku has the headnote, "At Shôtô Temple." Shôtôin is a famous Buddhist temple in Kamakura.

1804

.ちる紅葉水ない所も月よ也
chiru momiji mizu nai toko mo tsuki yo nari

red leaves fall--
even in a waterless place
a moonlit night

Red leaves and moon reflected on water would be aesthetically pleasing, but even without water Issa is enthralled.

1804

.寒菊にせき立られし梅の様
kangiku ni seki taterareshi ume no sama

a barrier built
for the winter mums...
plum tree

Or: "winter chrysanthemums."

1804

.寒菊や臼の目切がぼんのくぼ
kangiku ya usu no mekiri ga bon no kubo

winter chrysanthemum--
in the nape
of the mill-carver's neck

A mekiri is an artizan who carves the stone bottoms of hand-mills, including the drain hole or "eye" (me). This one (while he works) has a pretty flower stuck into his clothing behind his head.

1805

.年立や日の出を前の舟の松
toshi tatsu ya hi no de wo mae no fune no matsu

a new year begins--
before sunrise
a pine-decorated boat

Arrangements of pine and bamboo are traditional New Year's decorations.

1805

.元日のけしきになるや泥に雪
ganjitsu no keshiki ni naru ya doro ni yuki

it's become
a First Month scene...
snow on the mud

1805

.鳥なくや野老畳もお正月
tori naku ya yarô tatami mo o-shôgatsu

birds singing--
for an old farmer on a mat, too
happy New Year

Is the old farmer Issa? A happy, hope-filled scene.

1805

.わが春やたどん一つに小菜一把
waga haru ya tadon hitotsu ni ona ichi wa

my spring--
one charcoal ball
and a bundle of greens

1805

.欠鍋も旭さす也是も春
kake nabe mo asahi sasu nari kore mo haru

a cracked kettle
and the rising sun...
this too is spring

This haiku celebrates the first day of spring, which was the first day of the year in the old Japanese calendar.

1805

.はつ春も月夜となるや顔の皺
hatsu haru mo tsuki yo to naru ya kao no shiwa

spring's first day
turns moonlit night...
my wrinkled face

Or: "his" or "her" wrinkled face. Issa lets the reader decide how exactly to imagine this scene of passing time in which newness and age meet in stark juxtaposition.

1805

.初春も月夜もよ所に伏家哉
hatsu haru mo tsuki yo mo yoso ni fuseya kana

spring's beginning
and bright moon are elsewhere...
my humble hut

Where Issa lives it's cloudy and cold.

1805

.ちぐはぐの下駄から春は立にけり
chiguhagu no geta kara haru wa tachi ni keri

the offbeat clomping
of clogs...
must be spring!

1805

.春立や草さへ持つたぬ門に迄
haru tatsu ya kusa sae mottanu kado ni made

spring begins--
even for a gate
without grass

Perhaps the gate is Issa's. Other yards are blessed with fresh green grass on this first day of spring, not the poet's.

1805

.葎家も春になりけり夜の雨
mugura ya mo haru ni nari keri yoru no ame

spring comes too
to the vine-thatched hut...
evening rain

The word mugura refers to creeping vines that grow over other vegetation. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1805

.左義長や夜も天筆和合楽
sagichô ya yoru mo tenpitsu wagôraku

into the New Year's bonfire--
lucky calligraphy
harmony" and "ease

On a certain day in the New Year's season, lucky calligraphy is burned along with other gate decorations.

1805

.左義長や夜も天筆和合楽
sagichô ya yoru mo tenpitsu wagôraku

into the New Year's bonfire--
lucky calligraphy
harmony" and "ease

On a certain day in the New Year's season, lucky calligraphy is burned along with other gate decorations.

1805

.家二ッ三ッ四ッ凧の夕哉
ie futatsu mitsu yotsu tako no yûbe kana

two houses, three, four...
an evening
of kites

Shinji Ogawa notes that the numbers grammatically modify the houses, yet "the numbers influence the 'kites' also." He adds that the normal Japanese expression is to give just two numbers, "two, three," or "three, four," but here, "Issa uses three numbers to create special effects--to make the image more clear, the image of a tranquil and peaceful village." Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) also provided help with this translation.

1805

.凧今木母寺は夜に入るぞ
ikanobori ima mokuboji wa yo ni iru zo

a kite--
Mokubo Temple settles
into evening

1805

.山かげや薮のうしろや凧
yama kage ya yabu no ushiro ya ikanobori

mountain shade--
deep in a thicket
a kite

1805

.霞む日も寝正月かよ山の家
kasumu hi mo neshôgatsu ka yo yama no ie

on this misty day
sleeping through New Year's?
mountain home

Staying in bed during the New Year's holiday can be a sign of sickness, but for Issa (who liked to depict himself as a "lazy-bones") it's a way to poke fun at social conventions.

1805

.一桶は如来のためよ朝わかな
hito oke wa nyorai no tame yo asa wakana

one bucketful
for Buddha...
morning herbs

Someone (Issa?) leaves an offering of herbs for a statue of Buddha. Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1805

.夕空ののの様おがめわかなつむ
yûzora no no no yô ogame wakana tsumi

in a field looking sideways
at evening's sky...
New Year's herb picker

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance. With the light fading, time is running out for the herb picker. Note how Issa has fun with the repetition of no no no.

1805

.わかな摘鷺も淋しく思ふやと
wakana tsumi sagi mo sabishiku omou ya to

picking herbs
the heron also
seems lonely

Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1805

.わかなのや一葉摘んでは人をよぶ
wakana no ya hito ha tsunde wa hito wo yobu

herb garden--
picking one, he shouts
"Over here!"

Or: "she shouts" or "I shout." This is a very free translation. Literally, "a person picking one leaf of young greens calls a person." Wakana (young greens or herbs) are picked on the sixth day of First Month--a traditional New Year's observance.

1805

.空錠と人には告よ磯菜畑
karajô to hito ni wa tsuge yo iso na-bata

a broken lock
calls to people...
seaside herb garden

The herbs are for New Year's celebrations. The lock, described literally as "empty," is worthless. People are going into the garden, helping themselves.

1805

.揚土のいかにも春の日也けり
agetsuchi no ikanimo haru no hi nari keri

the earth mound's
part of it indeed...
a fine spring day

I have a hunch that Issa could be referring to a grave mound with the term, agetsuchi ("earth mound"), but Shinji Ogawa notes that "some gardens have earth mounds to make the view interesting."

1805

.橋の芥つゝつき流す春日哉
hashi no gomi tsuttsuki nagasu haru hi kana

the trash on the bridge
washed away...
a spring day

Cleansing rain.

1805

.破風からも青空見ゆる春日哉
hafu kara mo ao-zora miyuru haru hi kana

even from the gable
clear blue sky...
a spring day

1805

.春の日を背筋にあてることし哉
haru no hi wo sesuji ni ateru kotoshi kana

exposing my spine
to the spring sun...
this year

1805

.春の日を降りくらしたる都哉
haru no hi wo furikurashitaru miyako kana

on the spring day
all day, rain...
Kyoto

The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

1805

.春の日や暮ても見ゆる東山
haru no hi ya kurete mo miyuru higashi yama

spring day--
visible even after sunset
eastern mountains

Higashiyama ("Eastern Mountains") is the collective name for a number of mountains located between Kyoto and Lake Biwa: a total of 36 peaks, one of which is the temple mountain, Hieizan.

1805

.はんの木のひょいひょい先は春日哉
han no ki no hyoi-hyoi saki wa haru hi kana

alder trees
little by little blooming...
a spring day

A Japanese alder (Alnus japonica). Issa literally says that the tree or trees are first; I assume this means first to bloom.

1805

.山々や川の春日を針仕事
yama-yama ya kawa no haru hi wo hari shigoto

mountains and river
on this spring day...
needlework

Is someone sewing by a river, surrounded by spring mountains? Or, does Issa have a metaphorical meaning of "needlework" in mind?

1805

.暮遅き羅漢鴻や觜たたく
kure osoki rakankugui ya hashi tataku

getting dark later--
the bean goose
clacks his beak

Or: "her beak." "Getting dark later" (kure osoki) is a seasonal expression for springtime. The bean goose (rakankugui) is Anser fabalis.

1805

.さりとては此長い日を田舎哉
saritote wa kono nagai hi wo inaka kana

long spring days
and yet...
in the sticks

Instead of enjoying spring rituals like blossom-viewing in exciting Kyoto or Edo, Issa is stuck in a rural backwater.

1805

.砂をする大淀舟や暮遅き
suna wo suru ôyodobune ya kure osoki

grating on sand
the big ferryboat...
late sunset

The seasonal phrase "late sunset" (kure osoki) indicates a long day of spring.

1805

.ひょいひょいと痩菜花咲く日永哉
hyoi-hyoi to yase na hana saku hi naga kana

little by little
my scrawny vegetables bloom...
a long spring day

Just as Issa favored a scrawny frog in a famous pond battle, he cheered for the scrawny vegetables in his garden.

1805

.雨がちに都の春も暮る也
amegachi ni miyako no haru mo kururu nari

in falling rain
in Kyoto too
dusk of spring

The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo.

1805

.顔染し乙女も春の暮る哉
kao someshi otome mo haru no kururu kana

for the painted faced
maiden too...
spring dusk

Cynthia writes, "The clock is ticking for the young woman, who is in the dusk of her season of youthful beauty."

1805

.下京の窓かぞへけり春の暮
shimogyô no mado kazoe keri haru no kure

counting the windows
of Shimogyo Town...
spring dusk

Shimogyô in Issa's time was a place near Kyoto. Today, it is one of Kyoto's 11 wards.

1805

.菅笠の毛ば立もせず春暮るる
sugegasa no kebadachi mo sezu haru kururu

my sedge umbrella-hat
isn't fluffy...
spring dusk

My guess is that Issa's sedge hat, woven recently, has lost some of its newness after a day's use.

1805

.松に藤春も暮れぬと夕哉
matsu ni fuji haru mo kurenu to yûbe kana

for the wisteria in the pine, too
spring's dusk
this evening

1805

.木兎の面魂よ春の暮
mimizuku no tsuradamashii yo haru no kure

the horned owl
makes a face...
spring dusk

1805

.春の夜やくらからぬ里の梅臭ひ
haru no yo ya kurakaranu sato no ume nioi

spring evening--
in a village lacking nothing
plum blossom scent

To avoid a middle phrase of eight sound units, sato might possibly read as ri, but this reading makes less sense since it normally denotes a measurement of length rather than "village."

1805

.舞々や翌なき春を顔を染て
mai-mai ya asu naki haru wo kao wo somete

water spider
on spring's last day
blushing

In one manuscript, Issa prefaces this haiku with the comment, "Third Month's end." In the old lunar calendar, summer began on the first day of Fourth Month. The mai-mai is also called a "water spinner."

1805

.みよし野の春も一夜と成りにけり
miyoshino no haru mo hito ya to nari ni keri

Yoshino's spring--
just one more night
left

Miyoshino is another name for Yoshino, a famous place for viewing the cherry blossoms.

1805

.大和路や翌なき春をなく烏
yamato-ji ya asu naki haru wo naku karasu

road to Nara--
a crow caws
at spring's last day

The phrase yamato-ji means "road to Nara." Nara was Japan's ancient capital.

1805

.小田の鶴又おりよかし春の雨
oda no tsuru mata oriyokashi haru no ame

rice field crane
again, come on down!
spring rain

Shinji Ogawa explains that oriyokashi means, "come down, please!"

1805

.黒門の半分見へて春の雨
kurumon no hambun miete haru no ame

the Black Gate
just half visible...
spring rain

The "Black Gate" (kuromon) is the main temple gate of Kan-eiji in the Ueno district of Edo (today's Tokyo).

1805

.春雨や家鴨よちよち門歩き
harusame ya ahiru yochi-yochi kado aruki

spring rain--
ducks waddle-waddle
to the gate

Is it Issa's house and gate, and do the ducks expect to be fed there? Or are they just waddling about happily in the rain?

1805

.春雨や江戸気はなれし寛永寺
harusame ya edoke wa nareshi kaneiji

spring rain--
Edo's citizens are used to it
at Kanei Temple

Kaneiji is a Tendai Buddhist temple in Edo (present-day Tokyo).

1805

.春雨や膳の際迄茶の木原
harusame ya zen no kiwa made cha no kibara

spring rain--
to the dinner tray's edge
the tea grove

A zen (dining tray) is about one foot by one foot with five-inch legs.

1805

.春雨や蛤殻の朝の月
harusame ya hamaguri-gara no asa no tsuki

spring rain--
the morning moon
in a clam shell

I picture the moon being reflected in the water in the shell.

1805

.松の木も小ばやく暮れて春の雨
matsu no ki mo ko-bayaku kurete haru no ame

pine trees too
grow dark a bit early...
spring rain

Or: "the pine tree too/ grows dark..." Heavy rain clouds cause an early evening.

1805

.春風の闇にも吹くや浦の家
harukaze no yami ni mo fuku ya ura no ie

the spring breeze
blows in darkness too...
house on the shore

The wind is driving waves against the shore and, Issa claims, the darkness too.

1805

.春風や土人形をゑどる也
harukaze ya tsuchi ningyô wo wedoru nari

spring breeze--
the clay doll
gets some color

Someone is painting a clay doll, the freshness of the color accentuating the feeling of springtime.

1805

.棒先の茶笊かわくや春の風
bô saki no chazaru kawaku ya haru no kaze

on the tip of the pole
the tea strainer dries...
spring breeze

As Makoto Ueda points out, A tea strainer (chazaru) is made of bamboo. It needs to be dried in the sun to prevent it from becoming moldy; Dew on the Grass (2004) 138.

1805

.浅川や鍋すすぐ手も春の月
asa kawa ya nabe susugu te mo haru no tsuki

shallow river--
on hands rinsing a kettle
spring moon

1805

.草の月手ばやく過て春の月
kusa no tsuki tebayaku sugite haru no tsuki

more spry
than the harvest moon
spring moon

"Grass moon" (kusa no tsuki) is another word for the Eighth Month harvest moon. Issa fancies that the spring moon is more nimble, being supposedly younger than autumn's harvest moon.

1805

.沓持ちは松に立ち添ふ春の月
kutsu mochi wa matsu ni tachisou haru no tsuki

shoes are added
to the pine...
spring moon

Issa alludes to the luxurious activity of moon-gazing while barefooted in the soft spring grass.

1805

.春の月さはらば雫たりぬべし
haru no tsuki sawaraba shizuku tarinubeshi

spring moon--
if I touched it
it would drip

The suffix -beshi indicates that the action of the verb is probable: a guess on the poet's part; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 1469. Lucien Stryk's translation is a bit more hyperbolic than Issa's original: "raise a finger/ and it drips"; The Dumpling Field: Haiku of Issa (1991) 11. Issa wrote this on the 23rd day of Second Month. According to his journal, it rained that day, so perhaps the poem was inspired by the damp weather. Literally, he is saying, "If I touched the spring moon, water would drip from it, I bet."The wetness of the moon and the fanciful idea of touching it and making it drip combine in one of Issa's most imaginative and unforgettable images.

1805

.春の月軒の雫の又おちよ
haru no tsuki noki no shizuku no mata ochi yo

the spring moon
in a raindrop from the eaves...
falls again

1805

.夜明ても朧也けり角田川
yoakete mo oboro nari keri sumida-gawa

even at dawn
moonlit haze hovers...
Sumida River

Issa doesn't use the word "moon," but he implies the moon's presence with oboro: "hazy and dim," a word associated with the spring moon.

1805

.青苔や膝の上迄春の虹
ao-goke ya hiza no ue made haru no niji

green moss--
all the way to my lap
spring's rainbow

A love note to Planet Earth. Spring's dazzling colors touch and include Issa. He gazes and realizes: I am (we are) part of this glory!

1805

.家もはや捨てたくなりぬ春霞
ie mo haya sutetaku narinu haru-gasumi

disposing quickly
of the house...
spring mist

Making it vanish.

1805

.鰯焼片山畠や薄がすみ
iwashi yaku kata yama hata ya usu-gasumi

grilling sardines
in a mountain field...
thin mist

1805

.薄霞む夕々の菜汁哉
usu-gasumu yûbe-yûbe no na-zuyu kana

thin mist--
night after night
vegetable soup

1805

.うら窓にいつもの人が霞む也
ura mado ni itsumo no hito ga kasumu nari

at the back window
the same person...
mist

1805

.江戸めかぬ家も見へけり春霞
edo mekanu ie mo mie keri haru-gasumi

houses in Edo
are barely visible...
spring mist

In a haiku of the previous year (1804) Issa perceived only two or three houses in the thick mist covering Edo (today's Tokyo).

1805

.かすむ日もうしろ見せたる伏家哉
kasumu hi mo ushiro misetaru fuseya kana

the misty day, too
viewed out back...
my humble hut

Or: "the humble hut." Issa doesn't specify that it is his, but this might be inferred.

1805

.かすむ日や夕山かげの飴の笛
kasumu hi ya yûyama kage no ame no fue

misty day--
in evening mountain's shadow
candyman's flute

Makoto Ueda notes that ame no fue ("candy flute") signifies "a candyman's flute": the flute that a candy peddler is playing to catch children's attention (similar to the ice cream truck jingles of a later time); 56.

A year later (1806) Issa rewrites this haiku, changing the ending to fue no ame ("flute's candy").

Shinji Ogawa comments, "Issa tries to wrap the sound of the flute with mist to fuse the visual and acoustic senses into one."

1805

.壁画どる伏見の里や薄霞
kabe edoru fushimi no sato ya usu-gasumi

painting a wall
in Fushimi Village...
thin mist

Issa perceives through the spring mist the shape of the painter and the bright new color.

1805

.かりそめに出て霞むやつくば山
karisome ni idete kasumu ya tsukuba yama

peeking in, peeking out
of the mist...
Mount Tsukuba

Mount Tsukuba is located near the city of Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Karisome can mean "transient," "provisional," or "in sport." Shinji Ogawa chooses the third connotation when he paraphrases this haiku: "hide-and-seek/ with the spring mist/ Mount Tsukuba." He adds that this is a typical example of personification in Issa.

1805

.太郎槌うつの山辺や先ず霞む
tarôzuchi utsu no yamabe ya mazu kasumu

a blacksmith's mallet
clangs on the mountain...
spring mist

The mist is mazu: "first of all" or "first and foremost," by which Issa implies that the mist has swallowed everything.

1805

.とにかくにかすみかねたる卒塔婆哉
tonikaku ni kasumi kanetaru sotoba kana

the spring mist
doesn't really hide it...
grave tablet

There is no hiding death.

1805

.盗する烏よそれも春がすみ
nusumi suru karasu yo sore mo haru-gasumi

the thieving crow
strikes again...
helped by spring mist

Literally, Issa adds the mist as an additional fact of the scene: "a thieving crow indeed; in addition, spring mist." Mist is the crow's accomplice.

1805

.柱をも拭じまひけり春霞
hashira wo mo fuki-jimai keri haru-gasumi

the post is wiped
all clean...
spring mist

1805

.我袖も一つに霞むゆふべ哉
waga sode mo hitotsu ni kasumu yûbe kana

even my sleeve
is one with the mist...
evening

1805

.かげろふに任せておくや餌すりこ木
kagerô ni makasete oku ya esurikogi

entrusting it
to the heat shimmers...
wooden pestle

The little wooden pestle is used to grind bird food. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1805

.陽炎の内からも立葎哉
kagerô no nai kara mo tatsu mugura kana

from deep inside
heat shimmers rising...
choking vines

The word mugura refers to creeping vines that grow over other vegetation. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1805

.陽炎やいとしき人の杖の跡
kagerô ya itoshiki hito no tsue no ato

heat shimmers--
traces of a dear friend's
walking stick

"Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sometimes sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1805

.陽炎や笠の手垢も春のさま
kagerô ya kasa no teaka mo haru no sama

heat shimmers--
umbrella-hat's handprints too
a sign of spring

Sakuo Nakamura (friend and Japanese advisor) believes that the finger-smudged umbrella-hat might be Issa's own; it makes the poet think of starting his spring travels.

1805

.伏見のや月ささずとも春の山
fushimi no ya tsuki sasazu to mo haru no yama

Fushimi Field--
no moonlight
but spring mountains

Issa might be alluding to the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. A year earlier (1804) he wrote about "no moonlight" shining on his secluded house.

1805

.家形に月のさしけり春の水
ie nari ni tsuki no sashi keri haru no mizu

moonlight halos
the house...
water of spring

The seasonal reference of this haiku is to the warm waters of springtime.

1805

.袖かざす御公家もおはせ春の水
sode kazasu okuge mo owase haru no mizu

shading eyes with sleeve
the courtier made to carry...
spring water

I picture spring rain pooling in the courtier's sleeve, forcing him to carry it--as if he were a mere peasant.

1805

.初午や女のざいに淋し好き
hatsu uma ya onna no zai ni sabishi-zuki

Fox Festival--
my woman at home
must be lonely

The opening phrase, hatsu uma ("first horse") refers to a specific date in spring in the old lunar calendar, at which time celebrations were held in honor of Inari, the fox god.

1805

.草の葉や彼岸団子にむしらるる
kusa no ha ya higan dango ni mushiraruru

blades of grass
are plucked for their sake...
equinox dumplings

Higan is the spring equinox, celebrated at Buddhist temples.

1805

.京辺や彼岸太郎の先ず天気
miyakobe ya higantarô no mazu tenki

Kyoto suburb--
first business of equinox week
the weather

Issa refers to the belief that if the weather is clear on the first day of spring equinox week, that year's rice harvest will be bountiful

1805

.山陰も桃の日あるか砂糖売
yama kage mo momo no hi aru ka satô uri

even in mountain shade
is it Peach Day?
sugar vendor

This haiku refers to the annual Peach Festival.

1805

.猿も来よ桃太郎来よ草の餅
saru mo ko yo momotarô ko yo kusa no mochi

come, monkey!
come, Peach Boy!
herb cakes

Long ago a woman found a peach floating on a stream. Her husband cut it open, releasing a child: Peach Boy. Issa playfully invites the monkey(s) and the famous Peach Boy to have some dumplings made of rice flour and aromatic plants (especially mugwort)--a sweet treat at spring festivals..

1805

.我宿の餅さへ青き夜也けり
waga yado no mochi sae aoki yo nari keri

even at my home
herbs for cake turn green...
evening

1805

.草つみのこぶしの前の入日哉
kusa tsumi no kobushi no mae no irihi kana

the herb picker
reaches...
for the setting sun

From where Issa watches, the setting sun is "in front of" (mae ni) the fist of the herb picker. The picker seems to be reaching to pick the setting sun.

1805

.草摘むやうれしく見ゆる土の鈴
kusa tsumu ya ureshiku miyuru tsuchi no rin

happily watching
the herb-picking...
a ceramic bell

Ceramic bells in the shape of that year's Chinese zodiac animal are popular souvenirs at temples and shrines.

1805

.大和路は男もす也茶つみ歌
yamato-ji wa otoko mo su nari cha tsumi uta

road to Nara--
men also join in
the tea-picking song

The phrase yamato-ji means "road to Nara." Nara was Japan's ancient capital.

1805

.うつくしい鳥見し当よ山をやく
utsukushii tori mishi ate yo yama wo yaku

where I saw
a pretty bird...
they burn the mountain

Fires are set in the mountains to clear away dead brush and prepare the fields for tilling.

1805

.又一つ山をやく也おぼろ也
mata hitotsu yama wo yaku nari oboro nari

another mountain
set on fire...
the haze thickens

This haiku refers to the springtime burning of dead grass.

1805

.山やくや眉にはらはら夜の雨
yama yaku ya mayu ni hara-hara yoru no ame

dead grass burning--
on my eyebrows pattering
evening rain

Burning dead grass is a spring event. I thank Hiroshi Kobori for helping to translate this.

1805

.草蒔や肴焼香も小昼過
kusa maku ya sakana yaku ka mo ko-biru sugi

sowing herbs--
the smell of fish cooking
a little past noon

Someone is preparing lunch for the farmer(s).

1805

.妻乞や一角とれしのらの猫
tsuma-goi ya hito kado toreshi nora no neko

looking for a wife
he's become respectable...
stray cat

Shinji Ogawa notes that hito kado toreshi, literally, "round off the angle," is an idiom which means to "become sociable." The stray cat's rough edges have been smoothed, Issa imagines.

1805

.のら猫も妻かせぎする夜也けり
nora neko mo tsuma kasegi suru yo nari keri

the stray cat too
goes wife-hunting...
nightfall

Issa suggests that he, like the tomcat, is in search of female companionship this night.

1805

.山猫も恋は致すや門のぞき
yama neko mo koi wa itasu yo kado nozoki

even the wild cat
looks for sex...
peeking in the gate

Literally, the would-be lover is a "mountain cat" (yama neko).

1805

.山猫や恋から直に里馴るる
yama neko ya koi kara sugu ni sato naruru

wild cat--
after making love
he's the town pet

Literally, a "mountain cat" (yama neko).

1805

.鳥の巣の乾く間もなし山の雨
tori no su no kawaku ma mo nashi yama no ame

no break for the bird's nest
to dry...
mountain rain

1805

.其夜から雨に逢けり巣立鳥
sono yo kara ame ni ai keri su-dachi tori

from night onward
rain...
birds who've left the nest

Or: "a bird that has left the nest." Shinji Ogawa explains that sono yo kara means "from the night on." He suggests "fledglings" as a translation for su-dachi tori, but this might give the reader the impression that the birds are still safe in the nest. I read su-dachi tori literally as "birds who've left the nest." No longer protected from the hardships of the world, they learn their first lesson of life--in drenching rain.

1805

.人鬼が野山に住ぞ巣立鳥
hito oni ga noyama ni sumu zo su-dachi tori

human goblins live
in hills and fields!
bird leaving the nest

Iss might be offering a friendly warning to the nestling, alerting it to the danger of bird hunters, or he might be translating into human language the warning chirps of a parent bird.

1805

.浅草や乙鳥とぶ日の借木履
asakusa ya tsubame tobu hi no kari bokuri

Asakusa--
on the day the swallows fly
rented clogs

There is a Buddhist temple, Sensôji, at Asakusa in Tokyo. Bokuri are geta: wooden clogs.

1805

.草の葉のひたひた汐やとぶ乙鳥
kusa no ha no hita-hita shio ya tobu tsubame

blades of grass
swish in the tide...
a swallow flies

1805

.草の葉や燕来初てうつくしき
kusa no ha ya tsubame kisomete utsukushiki

blades of grass--
swallows start arriving
prettily

1805

.さし汐も朝はうれしやとぶ乙鳥
sashishio mo asa wa ureshi ya tobu tsubame

high tide
and a happy morning...
swallows flying

Or: "a swallow flies."

1805

.乙鳥のけぶたい顔はせざりけり
tsubakura no kebutai kao wa sezari keri

a swallow--
not at all bothered
by my smoke

Or: "swallows" or "the smoke." I add "my" in the translation for the following reason. Shinji Ogawa translates the phrase, kebutai kao as "to frown at the smoke." Kebutai or kebutashi is an old word meaning to suffocate on smoke; Kogo dai jiten (1983) 570. The swallow's face doesn't seem bothered by the smoke at all--a statement which implies that somebody is bothered. I assume that this somebody is Issa. The smoke could therefore be from his own cooking fire or smudge pot. It's blowing in his face, making him suffocate and scowl. The swallow, however, seems unperturbed.

1805

.乙鳥もことし嫌ひし葎哉
tsubakura mo kotoshi kiraishi mugura kana

swallows too
avoid it this year...
patch of choking vines

The word mugura refers to creeping vines that grow over other vegetation. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1805

.あさぢふは夜もうれしや雉なく
asajiu wa yoru mo ureshi ya kigisu naku

a happy night
among tufted grasses...
a pheasant cries

"Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass.

1805

.雉なくやきのふは見へぬ山畠
kiji naku ya kinou wa mienu yama hatake

a pheasant cries--
yesterday it wasn't there
mountain field

Perhaps the field is freshly plowed, startling the pheasant (in Issa's imagination) with a sight that wasn't here yesterday.

1805

.雉なくや立草伏し馬の顔
kiji naku ya tachi kusa fuseshi uma no kao

a pheasant cries--
bedded down in tall grass
a horse's face!

1805

.草山に顔おし入て雉のなく
kusa yama ni kao oshi-irete kiki no naku

poking his face
into the haystack...
a pheasant cries

Or: "her face." "Haystack" is my translation for kusa yama ("grass mountain").

1805

.菜の花がはなれにくいか小田の雁
na no hana ga hanare nikui ka oda no kari

is it hard leaving behind
the flowering mustard?
rice field geese

Mustard (also called rape and canola) is a bright yellow flowering oil seed plant. Issa fancies that the geese are delaying their migration, lingering in Japan.

1805

.あさぢふや目出度雨になく蛙
asajiu ya medetai ame ni naku kawazu

celebrating the rain
in tufted grasses...
croaking frogs

The rain is "auspicious" (medetai). "Tufted grasses" is my translation of asaji: cogon grass.

1805

.入相は蛙の目にも涙哉
iriai wa kawazu no me ni mo namida kana

sunset--
tears shine in a frog's eyes
too

Why are there tears in the poet's eyes? He doesn't say. Instead, he shows us, simply, a sunset and a frog.

1805

.片ひざは月夜也けり夕蛙
katahiza wa tsuki yo nari keri yû kawazu

on one knee
in moonlight...
a frog

This frog posed like a relaxed haiku poet gazing at the moon recalls the famous painted scrolls of anthropomorphized frogs and other animals at Kôzanji Temple in Kyoto.

1805

.蛙とぶ程はふる也草の雨
kawazu tobu hodo wa furu nari kusa no ame

looks almost
like frogs hopping!
rain on the grass

A striking image. The raindrops hit the grass and rebound...like hopping frogs.

1805

.草陰にぶつくさぬかす蛙哉
kusa kage ni butsukusa nukasu kawazu kana

in grassy shade
such rude grumbling...
a frog

1805

.草かげや何をぶつくさゆふ蛙
kusa kage ya nani wo butsukusa yû kawazu

in grassy shade
what's that grumbling?
evening frog

1805

.なく蛙此夜葎も伸ぬべし
naku kawazu kono yo mugura mo nobinubeshi

frogs singing--
"Tonight let the vines
stretch taller!"

The word mugura refers to creeping vines that grow over other vegetation. "Heat shimmers" are the wavy bends in the air that one sees in the distance on a warm day--a phenomenon associated with springtime in Japan.

1805

.葉がくれに鳴ぬつもりの蛙哉
ha-gakure ni nakanu tsumori no kawazu kana

in leafy shade
deciding not to croak...
a frog

Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation.

1805

.痩藪も己が夜也なく蛙
yase yabu mo ono ga yoru nari naku kawazu

even in a sparse thicket
"This is our night!"
croak the frogs

The thicket isn't very thick, but it will do. Shinji Ogawa notes that, even though it's a humble thicket, the frogs in it are celebrating their lives: "This is our world, this is our night!"

1805

.糸屑にきのふの露や春のてふ
itokuzu ni kinou no tsuyu ya haru no chô

in the waste threads
yesterday's dewdrops...
spring butterfly

1805

.すのへりにひたとひつつく小てふ哉
su no heri ni hita to hittsuku ko chô kana

devotedly stuck
to the reed mat...
little butterfly

As he so often does, Issa tries to imagine the consciousness of a fellow creature. For reasons only understood by it, the butterfly has chosen an edge of the reed mat as a favorite spot.

1805

.すりこ木の舟にひつつく小てふ哉
surikogi no fune ni hittsuku ko chô kana

clinging to
the pestle's trough...
little butterfly

The word fune, literally a "boat," can also signify a trough.

1805

.蝶とぶや二軒もやひの痩畠
chô tobu ya ni ken mo yahi no yase hatake

a butterfly flits--
two houses with piss-poor
gardens

Or: "butterflies flit."

The gardens are "sparse" (yase) and "vulgar, low-class" (yahi). I have a hunch that one of them is Issa's.

1805

.蝶とぶや夕飯過の寺参り
chô tobu ya yûmeshi sugi no tera mairi

flitting butterfly--
after dinner, a temple
pilgrimage

1805

.とぶ蝶に追抜れけり紙草履
tobu chô ni oi-nukure keri kami zôri

a flitting butterfly
outstrips me...
paper sandals

Walking along in his paper sandals (kami zôri), Issa is passed by a butterfly. Might the poem be a comment on the aging process, juxtaposing a slowing-down, older poet with a butterfly, a symbol of spring and youth? Issa was 44 when he wrote this haiku.

1805

.鳥もなき蝶も飛けり古畳
tori mo naki chô mo tobi keri furu tatami

birds singing
butterflies flitting...
old tatami mat

Or: "a butterfly flitting." Shinji Ogawa points out that naki means "sang" in this haiku, not, as I originally thought, "devoid of." With his correction, the haiku now makes perfect sense. Issa sits on his old tatami mat, enjoying the spring day along with the birds and butterflies.

1805

.二三本茄子植ても小てふ哉
ni sanbon nasubi uete mo ko chô kana

even when planting
two or three eggplants...
little butterflies

Or: "a little butterfly."

1805

.文七とたがひ違ひに小てふ哉
bunshichi to tagai chigai ni ko chô kana

now on, now off
the hair cord maker...
little butterfly

A bunshichi is a craftsman who produces hair cords out of shiny white paper.

1805

.町口ははや夜に入し小てふ哉
machiguchi wa haya yo ni irishi ko chô kana

at Machiguchi
night falls so fast...
little butterfly

1805

.豆程の人顕れし小てふ哉
mame hodo no hito arawareshi ko chô kana

just bean-sized
stirring my compassion...
little butterfly

Or: "little butterflies."

1805

.我庵は蝶の寝所とゆふべ哉
waga io wa chô no nedoko to yûbe kana

my hut
the butterfly's sleeping place
tonight

1805

.二三日はなぐさみといふ蚕哉
ni san hi wa nagusami to iu kaiko kana

for two or three days
its pure fun...
for silkworms

Bridget Dole, a raiser of silkworms, speculates that the fun involves eating mulberry leaves: "I assume the silkworms enjoy themselves more during the eating stage, and of course, they are more fun to watch. Before molting, they are still and, when I first started raising them, I worried that they were dead. Also, you are not supposed to touch them during that inactive time; it can prevent them from molting. So you can't play with them, and they are no longer enjoying themselves (as far as I know) but starting the hard work of pulling themselves out of their old skins."

Shinji Ogawa believes that the fun lies in cocoon spinning. He paraphrases the haiku: "The two or three days are our fun time/ So silkworms say" and comments, "It takes two days for a silkworm to complete the cocoon. I think Issa refers to the spinning period. A cocoon consists of 600 to 1,200 meters (2,000-4,000 feet) of silk. The cocoon making for two days may look very laborious. Issa made the silkworms say it's fun."

1805

.三ケ月や田螺をさぐる腕の先
mikazuki ya tanishi wo saguru ude no saki

a sickle moon--
hands groping
for pond snails

The moon is a "three-day moon"...just a sliver.

1805

.蜆さへ昔男のゆかりにて
shijimi sae mukashi otoko no yukari nite

even the clams
are related to the great
men of old

Issa contemplates reincarnation, the interconnectedness of all life.

1805

.田芹摘み鶴に拙く思れな
ta seri tsumi tsuru ni tsutanaku omoware na

parsley pickers--
don't let the crane
think you're clumsy!

This haiku sounds quite musical in Japanese, with its alliteration (...tsumi tsuru ni tsutanaku...). Shinji Ogawa helped me understand Issa's grammar and, therefore, his point. Issa fancies that the crane is watching the parsley pickers with a critical eye, and so the poet addresses the pickers, cajoling them to do their job with more grace.

1805

.菜の花も一つ夜明やよしの山
na no hana mo hitotsu yoake ya yoshino yama

one more dawn
for the flowering mustard...
Yoshino Hill

Yoshino is a famous place for viewing cherry blossoms. Mustard (also called rape and canola) is a bright yellow flowering oil seed plant.

1805

.今晴れし雨とも見へてわらび哉
ima hareshi ame tomo miete warabi kana

the rain cleared
recently, I see...
dripping bracken

Bracken is a fern with tough stems that sprouts in springtime. R. H. Blyth notes that this is a haiku of "logical deduction": Issa sees drops of rain on the bracken and decides that it must have rained recently. However, Blyth points out that the meaning of the haiku is "that of recognition"; History of Haiku (1964) 1.360.

1805

.誰が手につみ切れしよ痩蕨
tare ga te ni tsumikirareshi yo yase warabi

I wonder who picked
all this?
skinny bracken

Bracken is a fern with tough stems that sprouts in springtime. Shinji Ogawa assisted with this translation.

1805

.金のなる木のめはりけりえたが家
kane no naru ki no me hari keri eta ga ie

eyes wide for
a tree that turns to gold...
outcaste home

This haiku refers to the Ainu. An oppressed minority, they performed "unclean" jobs such as disposing of dead animals, working with leather, and executing criminals. The "tree that becomes gold" or "money tree" (Crassula ovata) is a potted jade plant (used in bonsai) often given as a gift in Japan, symbolizing prosperity and long life.

1805

.びんづるを一なでなでて木の芽哉
binzuru wo hito nade-nadete ki no me kana

giving Holy Binzuru
a rub...
the budding tree

According to Kazuhiko Maruyama, Binzuru is a Buddhist saint, one of the 16 Enlightened Ones. Folk custom dictates that if one prayerfully rubs his image, he or she will recover from illness; see Issa haiku shû (1990; rpt. 1993) 223, note 1169. Here, a tree's budding branch (ki no me) is doing the lucky rubbing.

1805

.庵椿見すぼらしくはなかりけり
io tsubaki misuborashiku wa nakari keri

my hut's camellias--
not a shoddy one
among them

Or: "the hut's camellias." Issa doesn't specify that it's his hut, but this can be inferred.

1805

.牛の子の顔をつん出す椿哉
ushi no ko no kao wo tsundasu tsubaki kana

a calf's face
stretches forward...
camellias

Issa loves to discover incongruent juxtapositions that, upon reflection, are actually congruent. The calf's face is unexpected in a scene of (and poem about) camellias. The human mind feasts on the beauty of flowers; the calf stretches its neck for a different kind of feast. At first, the haiku seems just a joke. Poets praise the delicate, colorful flowers; the calf strives to eat them. But appreciation is, after all, appreciation. In its way, the calf is a poet too.

1805

.馬貝を我もはかうよ里の梅
umagai wo waga mo hakau yo sato no ume

I'll put on shell-sandals
too!
village plum blossoms

At first I translated umagai as a "trumpet-shell," but Shinji Ogawa writes that it actually denotes a "trough-shell" or "round clam." Children wear these shells as play sandals.

1805

.梅咲くや三文笛も音を出して
ume saku ya san mon fue mo ne wo dashite

plum blossoms--
the sound of a three-penny
flute

The mon was the basic currency of Issa's time. It took the form of a coin with a hole in its middle so that it could be strung on a string. In Issa's day six mon could pay for a bowl of rice. In this haiku, the flute costs three mon, which would have a modern equivalent of approximately 75 cents (U.S.) I prefer the translation "three-penny" to "seventy-five-cent."

1805

.梅咲くや山の小すみは誰が家
ume saku ya yama no kosumi wa tare ga ie

plum blossoms--
in a mountain nook
somebody's house

The owner of the house may be an utter stranger, but Issa (and we) might conclude that he or she has a flower-loving heart.

1805

.梅のちる空は巳午の間哉
ume no chiru sora wa mi uma no aida kana

plum blossoms scatter
in the sky, nine a.m.
to one p.m.

Issa uses traditional Japanese time measure: the time of Snake (mi), 9-11 a.m., and the time of Horse (uma), 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

1805

.蒲焼の香にまけじとや梅の花
kabayaki no ka ni makeji to ya ume no hana

unconquered
by the smell of broiled eels...
plum blossoms

In Jean Cholley's French translation of this haiku the two smells are "rivals" (rivales); En village de miséreux (1996) 63.

Robin D. Gill suggests: "Not giving in / to the roast-eel smell-- / blossoming plums! "

1805

.袖口は去年のぼろ也梅の花
sodeguchi wa kozo no boro nari ume no hana

my kimono cuffs
are last year's rags...
plum blossoms

Issa paints a self-ironic portrait that emphasizes the contrast of old and new.

1805

.ちるは梅畠の足跡大きさよ
chiru wa ume hata no ashiato ôkisa yo

through the garden's fallen
plum blossoms, footprints...
he was big!

1805

.塊に裾引ずって梅の花
tsuchikure ni suso hikizutte ume no hana

my hem dragging
through dirt...
plum blossoms

"Hem" (suso) can pertain to the cuffs of trousers, but Issa is more likely referring to the hem of his kimono. The juxtaposition of "dirt clods" (tsuchikure) and plum blossoms is striking. Issa sees beauty and ugliness, yin and yang, with wide-open eyes.

1805

.寝勝手や夜はさまざまの梅の花
ne katte ya yo wa sama-zama no ume no hana

while I slept--
night unfurled all kinds
of plum blossoms

1805

.松が根に一息しては梅の花
matsu ga ne ni hito iki shite wa ume no hana

catching its breath
on the pine tree's root...
plum blossom

Issa humanizes the fallen blossom. He imagines that it is resting on its downward journey upon the pine tree's root.

1805

.梅咲や江戸見て来る子ども客
ume saku ya edo mite kitaru kodomo kyaku

plum blossoms--
they've come to see Edo
child tourists

Edo is today's Tokyo.

1805

.梅さくやかねの盥の三ケの月
ume saku ya kane no tarai no mika no tsuki

plum blossoms--
in a metal tub
a sickle moon

The moon is a "three-day moon"...just a sliver.

1805

.素湯売りも久しくなるや花の山
sayu uri mo hisashiku naru ya hana no yama

even the hot water vendor
lingers...
blossoming mountain

Or: