David English
white versus yellow--the butterflies wrestle too
-Issa, 1820
58 years old, on October second son born. fall over and was smitten by palsy ,but lightly. wrote haiku literatures.
sakuo Japanese
白と黄 蝶も同じく 掴み合い
siro to ki tyou mo onajiku tukami ai
Issa Original
白黄色 蝶も組合 したりけり
shiro kiiro chô mo kumiai shitari keri
David Comment
Kumiai in modern Japanese means to form an association,
but in earlier times it meant to wrestle; see Kogo dai jiten
(Shogakukan 1983) 520. Issa's satirical message seems clear:
the butterflies fighting enemies of different color are
behaving in a sadly human fashion.
sakuo remark
Colour can express deferent sect on various human activities.
And man fight among each colours.
In present time , we put " tokku" at front of " kumiai" ,,,,then
combined "tokkumiai" means to wrestle.
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