Isn't it long way to my Village !

evening falls


David English
evening falls--on the tip of my fan Mount Asama

-Issa, 1810
48 years old, live in Edo,On April Dear Kakyou [ female haiku friend in Futtu ] ,with whom Issa had pleasant kukai meeting on March of last year, died.Without knowing of this happening , on May he returned to home village for the negotiation of father's asset. Soon come back to Edo. On June he went to Futtu for visiting Kakyou's grave.

sakuo Japanese
夕暮れや扇の先に浅間山
yugure ya ougi no saki ni Asama-yama

Issa original
暮行や扇のはしの浅間山
kure yuku ya ôgi no hashi no asama yama

David Comment
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.　

sakuo image
How hot it has been Today ! Evening fall comes, but it's a long way to my home village over Mount Asama that looks at beside my fan.

Issa site