fish frolicking

Issa 一茶 1804 age 42

魚どもの遊びありくや菊の花

uodomo no asobi ariku ya kiku no hana

David’s English

fish frolicking
on foot...
chrysanthemums

Ariku, I assume, is a variant of aruku, "to walk." Issa presents the strange image of fish, left over from a flood, wriggling among the chrysanthemums. This is the first of two haiku in a row written about a flood at Nagareyama village in Shimosa Province. The second one is as follows: yu^zuki ya nagare nokori no kirigirisu evening moon-- surviving the flood a katydid Issa entered Nagareyama on the 27th day of Eighth Month, 1804, amid rainy weather. He wrote both of the haiku on the 2nd day of Ninth Month.

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sakuo haiga