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Monday, June 16, 2008

I will be back on August.

Yesterday the gardener took care of my garden trees.
He cut and treats leaves for coming summer.

Tomorrow I am going to the hospital and am received surgery operation
held on 23 June.
It is 99% safety operation, but need the time for recovering.
My blog close today and will be open on the mid of August.

My haiku and haiga.

術受けし 木緑にならん 八月に
jyutu ukesi ki midori ni naran hatigatuni

operated tree
will be green again
on August.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Toh-ji Temple

小林一茶 1792年
to^ bakari miete to^ji wa natsu kodachi
塔ばかり見へて東寺は夏木立

David's English
Toh Temple--
just its pagoda shows
over the summer trees

by Issa, 1792
The haiku refers to To^ji, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Shinji Ogawa comments, "[Issa] skillfully depicts the vigorous green foliage in summer without mentioning anything about the foliage itself."
#visit http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo haiga

bloody clams

小林一茶  1804年 42歳

赤貝を我もはかるよ梅の花
akagai wo ware mo hakaru yo ume no hana

David's English

surveying also
bloody clams...
plum blossoms

by Issa, 1804
Or: "a bloody clam." Akagai, literally "red shell"
or "red shellfish," refers to a "bloody clam" or "ark shell."

# visit http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo renku

何を如何してはかるかしら
nani wo dousite hakaru kasira

what do you survey?
how do you mesure?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

the muddy road

小林一茶 1822年
泥道を出れば卯の花なかりけり
doro michi wo dereba u [no] hana nakari keri

David's English
leaving the muddy road
and the blooming deutzia
behind

by Issa, 1822
In Shinji Ogawa's interpretation, Issa has left the muddy road (a good thing) but has left behind the blooming deutzia (a bad thing).
#visit http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo renku
あるのは空と雲ばかり
aruno ha sora to kumo bakari

only existing
sky and cloud

Monday, June 09, 2008

kindly the wind

小林一茶 1820年
庵の煤風が払ってくれにけり
io no susu kaze ga haratte kure ni keri

David’s English
kindly the wind
sweeps my sooty
hut
by Issa, 1820
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sakuo
Last year he lost his daughter.
This year Oct 5th he got second son. Oct 16th he felled down with paralysis.
Say Japanese proverb.
捨てる神あり拾う神あり
suteru kami ari hirou kami ari

one God give up me
another God save me

Saturday, June 07, 2008

spring wind


小林一茶 
春風やひらたく成って家根をふく
haru kaze ya hirataku natte yane wo fuku

David's English
spring wind--
my thatched roof
blown flat

by Issa, 1812
Normally, I translate haru kaze as "spring breeze," but this haiku suggests a forceful "wind."
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sakuo haiga.

departing clouds

小林 一茶 45歳
行雲やかへらぬ秋を蝉の鳴く
yuku kumo ya kaeranu aki wo semi no naku

David’s English
departing clouds--
"Autumn won't return"
the cicadas sing

by Issa, 1807 
Or: "the cicada sings."
#visit http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo renga

Thursday, June 05, 2008

geese and gulls

小林 一茶 1813年
雁鴎おのが雪とてさわぐ哉
kari kamome ono ga yuki tote sawagu kana

David’s English
geese and gulls
raise a ruckus...
"It's my snow!"
by Issa, 1813
Shinji Ogawa notes that ono ga yuki ("my snow") refers to the first-person quacking and squawking of the geese and gulls. The birds are clamoring, "It's my snow! It's my snow!"
1813, Age 51
Second Month, he is living in Kashiwabara in a rented house. In autumn, his inheritance dispute finally settled, he moves into his family home.
# visit http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo renku & renga
兄弟で一つ屋根分け雪来る
kyoudai de hitotsu yane wake yuki kitaru

by the brothers
one roof devided
and snow coming

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

a glimpas of moon

小林 一茶 1807年47歳
たまに来た古郷の月は曇りけり
tama ni kita furusato no tsuki wa kumori keri

David’s English
a glimpse of moon
over my home village...
then clouds

by Issa, 1807

Issa's gloomy feeling about his native village derives from the fact that his fellow villagers did not support him in his inheritance dispute with his stepmother and half-brother--a long, drawn-out battle that was in full swing when he wrote this haiku. This haiku was written during a visit to the poet's home village in 1807: his first visit there since his father's death in 1801.
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo haiga

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Sir Whiskers

小林一茶 1812年50歳
髭どのに先こされけりはつ松魚
hige dono ni saki kosare keri hatsu-gatsuo

David’s English
Sir Whiskers
has first crack
at summer's first bonito

by Issa, 1812 aged 50.
In an earlier translation, I rendered hige dono as "Mr. Long Beard." Robin D. Gill prefers "Sir Whiskers," since it might connote a nobleman or samurai; in Robin's word, "a bigshot." In the present haiku, this connotation makes sense. A nobleman is the first one to enjoy the season's first bonito. Robin speculates that another possible meaning of "Sir Whiskers" might be "cat," in which case a cat (or cats) beats Issa to the first bonito. Shinji Ogawa agrees. Shinji explains, "Bonitos swim, along the Black Current (or Japan Current), from the Philippine Sea to the northern sea around Hokkaido. They pass near Tokyo (Edo) in spring [old calendar = summer] on their way to the north. They return to pass Tokyo in the fall on their way back to the south." In haiku, bonito is a summer season word.
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Sakuo haiga

the do-gooder

小林 一茶 1825年
世話好や不性不性に冬籠
sewazuki ya fusho^-busho^ ni fuyugomori

David' English
the do-gooder reluctantly
begins...
his winter seclusion

by Issa, 1825
Or: "her winter seclusion." Makoto Ueda translates sewazuki as "the busybody"; Dew on the Grass: The Life and Poetry of Kobayashi Issa (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004) 160.
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Sakuo
Issa and half brother’s family had fought on father’s asset.
But after his marriage, especially getting baby, they had become
familiar each others.
Then I changed translation;his winter seclusion―her

Renku.
隣の義母や 赤子離さず
tonari no gibo ya akago hanasazu

mother-in-law …
doesn’t our baby go off