kamijiyama
Peeking through the fence
on a tranquil sunny day—
a young mountain monk
Nodokasa ya
kakima wo nozoku
yama no sō
Under this bright moon
I sit like an old buddha
knees spread wide
Meigetsu ya
hotoke no yo ni
hiza wo kumi
My noontime nap
sweetened by voices singing
rice-planting songs
Motaina ya
hirune shite kiku
taue-uta
Today and today
and today the bamboo’s watched
by the brazier
Kyō mo kyō mo
kyō mo take mint
hioke kana
In the midst of this world
we stroll along the roof of hell
gawking at flowers
Yo no naka wa
jigoku no ue no
hanami kana
Give me a homeland,
and a passionate woman,
and winter alone
Kimi ga yo wa
onna mo sunari
fuyu gomori
While the street-corner
priest continues to blather—
ah!—tranquillity
Tsuji dangi
chinpunkan mo
nodoka kana
A world of trials,
and if the cherry blossoms,
it simply blossoms
Ku no shaba ya
sakura ga sakeba
saita tote
In my hidden house,
no teeth left in the mouth,
but good luck abounds
Kakurega ya
ha no nai kuchi de
fuku wa uchi
So many fleabites,
but on her lovely young skin
they are beautiful
Nomi no ato
sore mo wakaki wa
utsukushiki
Now we are leaving,
the houseflies can make love
to their heart’s desire
Rusu ni sum zo
koi shite asobe
io no hae
The blossoming plum!
Today all the fires of hell
remain empty
Ume saku ya
jigoku no kama mo
kyujitsu to
Just to say the word
home, that one word alone,
so pleasantly cool
Waga yado to
iu bakari de mo
suzushisa yo
This year’s hottest day:
some nasty fellow stole
my umbrella!
Futatsu naki
kasa nusumareshi
doyo kana
How comfortable
my summer cotton robe
when drenched with sweat
Omoshiro ya
ase no shimitaru
yukata kana
Chrysanthemum blooms—
even the stench of urine
succumbs to its perfume
Shōben no
ka mo kayoi keri
kiku no hana
On this spindly plant,
finally, one shabby
blossom has arrived
Yasekusa no
yoro yoro hana to
nari ni keri
In this mountain village,
shining in my soup bowl,
the bright moon arrives
Yamazato wa
shiru no naka made
meigetsu zo
After a long nap,
the cat yawns, rises, and goes out
looking for love
Nete okite
ōakubi shite
neko no koi
O summer snail,
you climb but slowly, slowly
to Fuji’s summit
Katatsumuri
soro soro nobore
fuji no yama
It is true even
among this world’s insects:
some sing well, some not
Yo no naka ya
naku mushi ni sae
jōzu heta
Weakened by illness,
breaking this blossoming branch,
my mouth turns down
Otoroe ya
hana wo oru ni mo
kuchi mageru
Lying, arms and legs
splayed out, how supremely cool,
how sweetly lonely
Dai no ji ni
nete suzushisa yo
sabishisa yo
Sweaty summer night:
spent almost sleeping between
mounds of baggage
Atsuki yo no
ni to ni no aida ni
netarikeri
Pouncing, the kitten
tackles and holds down the leaf—
for the moment
Neko no ko no
choi to osaeru
konoha kana
The mountain warbler
lives by virtue of these
falling autumn leaves
Uguisu no
kuchisugi ni huru
ochiba kana
Evening clouds disperse:
under a pale sky, a range
of autumn mountains
Yūbare ya
asagi ni narabu
aki no yama
That old woodpecker
keeps working his tree even
as day turns to evening
Kitsutsuki ya
hitotsu tokoro ni
hi no kururu
Another useless man,
I walk the night alone
beneath a cold moon
Muda hito ya
fuyu no tsukiyo wo
bura bura to
The mountain water
is busy pounding the rice
while I enjoy a nap
Yama mizu ni
home wo tsukasete
hirune kana
O moonlit blossoms—
I’ve squandered forty-nine years
walking beneath you
Tsuki hana ya
shijuku-nen no
muda aruki
Spring has come again,
and it couldn’t be better,
oh, blossoming plum!
Waga haru mo
jōjō kichi yo
ume no hana
Ask tearfully, truly—
even the flowers are falling,
falling to the ground
Tada tanome
hana mo hara hara
ano tōri
From this day forward,
you will be Japanese geese—
may you thrive in peace
Kyō kara wa
nihon no kari zo
raku ni neyo
Bright autumn moonlight:
countless sea lice come rushing
over the stones
Meigetsu ya
funamushi hashiru
ishi no ue
I live as I do
and no matter—the tortoise
lives ten thousand years
Ā mama yo
ikite mo kame no
hyaku-bu ichi
The huge firefly,
a little wobbly on its wings,
comes fluttering by
Ō botaru
yurari yurari to
tōri keri
With my folding fan
I measured the peony—
as it demanded
Ōgi nite
shaku wo toraseru
botan kana
Futility
in the gaping mouth of
the sparrow’s stepchild
Mata muda ni
kuchi aku tori no
mamako kana
A fruitful year—
flies gather on the grass,
singing happily
Hōnen no
koe wo agekeri
kusa no hae
At the Zen temple,
pine needles silently fall
through the godless month
Zendera ni
matsu no ochiba ya
kannazuki
Autumn evening—
the hole in my shōji sounds like
a flute being blown
Aki no yo ya
shōji no ana no
fue wo fuku
My tired legs spread
comfortably—overhead,
a few passing clouds
Nagedashita
ashi no saki nari
kumo no mine
In a bitter wind
they wait—two bits per trick—
outside a whore’s shack
Kogarashi ya
nijū-yon-mon no
yūjo goya
Winter hermitage:
from the first night, listening
to rain on the mountain
Fuyugomori
sono yo ni kiku ya
yama no ame
Blown softly away
in rustling breezes, spring leaves
fields of new grasses
Yusa-yusa to
haru ga yuku zo yo
nobe no kusa
For our rice country,
only most superior
scorching summer heat!
Kome-guni no
jōjō-kichi no
atsusa kana
On the hottest day,
single-mindedly, a crow
buries its secret
Atsuki hi ni
naniyara umeru
karasu kana
Be calm, skinny frog!
Now that Issa’s on his way,
you needn’t worry
Yasegaeru
makeru na issa
kore ni ari
This mountain moonlight
gently illuminates
the flower thief
Yama no tsuki
hana nusubito wo
terashi tamō
All around my house,
pond frogs, from the beginning,
sang about old age
Waga io ya
kawazu shote kara
oi wo naku
How joyous and kind!
In my next life, let me be
a butterfly afield
Mutsumashi ya
umare-kawaraba
nobe no chō
Fly, butterfly!
I feel the dust of this world
weighting my body!
Chō tonde
waga mi mo chiri no
tagui kana
Under shady trees
resting with a butterfly—
this, too, is karma
Ki no kage ya
chō to yasumu mo
tashō no en
The field worker
wipes his snotty fingers
on the plum blossom
Hatauchi ya
tebana wo nejiru
ume no hana
The great daimyō
slowly dismounts from his horse—
cherry blossoms
Daimyō wo
uma kara orosu
sakura kana
Just being alive!
—miraculous to be in
cherry blossom shadows!
Kō ikite
iru mo fushigi zo
hana no kage
Pain and suffering—
even if the old cherry
had somehow blossomed
Ku no shaba ya
sakura ga sakeba
saita tote
Evening cherry
blossoms—now this day too
enters history
Yū-zakura
kyō mo mukashi ni
nari ni keri
“Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms!”
the old folk song went,
praising this old tree
Sakura sakura to
utawareshi
oiki kana
Among blooming flowers
we continue our writhing—
all living beings
Saku hana no
naka ni ugomeku
shujō kana
Where Kannon remains—
every endless direction—
the cherries blossom
Kannon no
aran kagiri wa
sakura kana
Truly heaven-sent,
drifting down from everywhere,
these cherry blossoms
Ten kara de mo
futtaru yō ni
sakura kana
After evening bath
and bows before the Buddha—
these cherry blossoms
Yu mo abite
hotoke ogande
sakura kana
People whispering—
listening, they blush a bit,
evening cherry blossoms
Hitogoe ni
hotto shita yara
yūzakura
It was my favorite
place for cherry blossom shade,
now gone forever
Kiniitta
sakura no kage mo
nakari keri
Stone River’s rushing
waters lit by bright flashes
of lightning
Ishikawa wa
guwarari inazuma
sarari kana
Loneliness already
planted with each seed in
morning glory beds
Haya sabishi
asagao maku to
yū hatake
Today, today too,
somehow getting by these days, still
living in a haze
Kyō mo kyō mo
kasunde kurasu
koie kana
In early spring rain
the ducks that were not eaten
are quacking happily
Harusame ya
kuware-nokori no
kamo ga naku
From birthing’s washbowl
to the washbowl of the dead—
blathering nonsense!
Tarai kara
tarai ni utsuru
chinpunkan
Notes
1. Traditionally in many Asian cultures, babies are considered to be one year old when they are born.
2. Moxa was burned and rubbed on the legs before travel and also burned on the trip as an incense to ward off Inari.
3. Kannon (Kuan Yin in Chinese) is the bodhisattva of compassion.
4. A yukata is a lightweight cotton robe.
5. Issa is alluding, of course, to Bashō’s Oku no hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Interior), the most influential volume of haibun ever written. All haiku poets after Bashō must wrestle with the great master’s tradition in order to find their own voices.
6. “Happy One” is the literal translation of Fuku, a common Japanese nickname for toads.
7. Burning mosquitoes was the common way of dealing with them other than by using mosquito nets.
8. Issa apparently thought these verses by Tochi and Ransetsu had been written by Bashō.
9. Nobuyuki Yuasa notes that the working poor in Issa’s district often sought winter work in Tokyo and were called “starlings” as they flocked along the road.
10. Visiting a bathhouse in Edo for the customary midwinter purification bath (a Shinto custom), Issa saw his fellow bathers were steeplejacks, firemen, and yakuza, or gangsters identifiable by their large tattoos.
11. During the popular Setsubun festival in the first week of February, the official beginning of spring, it was the custom to throw beans and chant these lines.
12. In Issa’s time, I Shinshu (now Nagano Prefecture) was notorious for the “bad things” people ate: cicada pupae, bee worms, and the like.
13. Jizō is the patron god of children and travelers.
14. Same as Jizō, “O” being an added honorific.
15. This poem alludes to the folk saying “Tonde hi ni iru natsu no mushi” (
Summer bugs plunge into fire of their own volition; a fool hunts for his fortune).
Index of first lines
Note: Index entries from the print edition of this book have been included for use as search terms. They can be located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.
A bird is singing
A bright moon lights
A butterfly
A child emerges
A child has drawn
A child on his back
A cicada, loud
A comical face—
A cut bamboo sprout—
A dime-sized patch of grass
A faint yellow rose
A few blossoms fall
A flowering plum
A flowing freshet—
A fruitful year—
A good day begins
A gray pussy willow
A gust of spring wind—
A heartbreaking cry
A huge wooden sword—
A little shady
A lone bindweed root
A mountain temple—
A new fawn twitches
A parent’s mind may
“A party of one,”
A servant scurries
A sheet of rain
A single leap—from
A stone Buddha in
A summer’s estate:
A towel for a headband
A wanderer rests
A well-wrought petition saved
A world of dew
A world of trials
Above the blather
After a long nap
After emptying
After evening bath
After the full moon
After the sermon,
After wheat harvest
All alone at home
All alone, the step-
All around my house
All night mosquito
All of us foolish
All the garden this
The Spring of My Life Page 7