vegetables

一茶　1803年　41歳
二軒前干菜かけたり草の雨
ni ken mae hoshi na kaketari kusa no ame

David’s English
vegetables hung to dry
at two houses...
thatch dripping rain
by Issa, 1803
In the same year Issa writes another version of this haiku, ending with "little houses" (ko ie kana). Literally, the vegetables are hung "in front of two houses" (ni ken mae). In this haiku I assume that kusa no ame ("grass's rain") refers to rain dripping from the thatched roofs, as it seems to in a later poem (1814): sasa no ya ya hiina no kao e kusa no ame thatched house-- on the doll's face dripping rain
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo comment
at two houses= at two houses before his friend.
dry vegetable=used for winter food.
thatch dripping rain= spring rain that makes grass grow..
Issa has come at the near of his friend. Even winter remains but spring
surely has come.

sakuo renku
気分は春　友の家近し
kibun wa haru tomo no ie tikashi

in the mood of spring
soon at friend’s house.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkEvy-9yVyQ