David English
come what may
praise Amida Buddha!
mountain cuckoo
-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
何たって 阿弥陀仏だよ 閑古鳥
nantaltute amidabutu da yo kankodori
Issa Original
何事も なむあみだ仏 閑古鳥
nanigoto mo namu a[mi]da butsu kankodori
David comment
I translate nanigoto as "come what may." In his French translation, L. Mabesoone has the bird singing a sutra "a la moindre occasion" ("with the least provocation" or, more metaphorically, "at the drop of a hat"); Issa to kuhi (Tokyo: Kankohkai 2003) 46. Not exactly a sutra, the nembutsu prayer, "Namu Amida Butsu," renders praise to Amida Buddha. According to Pure Land Buddhism, sentient beings must rely on Amida's saving grace to be reborn in the Western Paradise--a metaphor for enlightenment.
sakuo remark
My Japanese haiku is too cheerful . Issa at this summer was sad at his loved Kakyo's death.
Maybe he was on the way to Futtsu where Kakyou had lived in.
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