fifty year-old face

Issa　一茶1815　ａｇｅ ５２

出代の市にさらすや五十顔

degawari no ichi ni sarasu ya go ju^ kao

David’s English

a laid-off servant at market--
his fifty year-old face
exposed

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

In springtime, old servants were replaced by young ones. The old ones would leave their employers to return to their home villages; the young ones traveled in the opposite direction. In earlier times this took place during the Second Month; later, the Third Month. Shinij Ogawa corrected my earlier translation. Instead of fifty faces (as I had assumed), there is just one fifty year-old face.

sakuo haiga