summer moon
10 haiku out of 9486
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.
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
This is 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.
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
1805
.あさぢふや夏の月夜の遠砧
asajiu ya natsu no tsuki yo no tô-ginuta
a reedy place--
in summer moonlight, distant
cloth-pounding
In Japan and Korea, fulling-blocks were used to pound fabric and bedding. The fabric was laid over a flat stone, covered with paper, and pounded, making a distinctive sound. Asajiu means a place where asaji, a sort of miscanthus reed, is growing; Kogo dai jiten (Shogakukan 1983) 24-25.
1812
.小便に川を越けり夏の月
shôben ni kawa wo koe keri natsu no tsuki
crossing the river
taking a leak...
summer moon
1812
.夏の月無きずの夜もなかりけり
natsu no tsuki mukizu no yoru mo nakari keri
summer moon--
there's no such thing
as a flawless night
Perhaps clouds have come to cover the moon for a while.
1819
.なぐさみにわらをうつ也夏の月
nagusami ni wara wo utsu nari natsu no tsuki
just for fun
beating the straw...
summer moon
R. H. Blyth suggests that Issa is beating the straw with a mallet; A History of Haiku (Tokyo: Hokuseido, 1964) 1.392.
1823
.子は鼾親はわらうつ夏の月
ko wa ibiki oya wa wara utsu natsu no tsuki
the child snores
the mother pounds straw...
summer moon
1823
.寝せつけし子のせんたくや夏の月
ne-setsukeshi ko no sentaku ya natsu no tsuki
her child tucked in
she washes his clothes...
summer moon
In his translation, Makoto Ueda specifies the child's "laundry" (sentaku) as "diapers"; Dew on the Grass: The Life and Poetry of Kobayashi Issa (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004) 146. Regardless of what's being washed, this haiku presents a scene of daily life, daily labor, and the love that permeates both.
1824
.小乞食の唄三絃や夏の月
ko kojiki no uta samisen ya natsu no tsuki
the beggar child
plucks and sings...
summer moon
Since the child is playing a samisen, a sort of three-string banjo that geisha play, she is by implication a little girl. The moon shining overhead adds a touch of romance to the beggar child's music. In fact, we can imagine that the child isn't playing for tips at the moment but is serenading the Moon herself.