Nobody like Me !

field by my hut


David English
field by my hut--
no thank-you offering
for the scarecrow

-Issa, 1813
５１ years old, On January the thirteen memorial party of his father's death , the negotiation of father's asset has finished. Many times he visited haiku friend in North Sinano. On June and July he was ill in bed for blotch .

sakuo Japanese
我畠や　助け断る　案山子哉
waga hata ya tasuke kotowaru kagasi kana

Issa　Original
庵の畠かがし納もなかりけり
io no hata kagashi osame mo nakari keri

David comment
Literally, Issa doesn't identify the hut or scarecrow as his, but this seems to be the implication.Shinji Ogawa explains that kagashi osame "is a ceremony to show appreciation for the scarecrow's efforts by offering some food and sake on the Tenth Day of Tenth Month of the lunar calendar." This ceremony, he adds, was "observed especially in Issa's province of Shinano, present-day Nagano Prefecture."

sakuo remark
After long struggle with his brother's family, Issa has got father's asset.But his neighbours were all his brother's side. Scarecrow's offering for the harvest was not in his field,that means nobody celebrated his success on the asset negotiation.