cricket

Masajo 真砂女1961 Age 55

こほろぎや眼を見はれども闇は闇

ko-rogi ya me wo miharedomo yami ha yami

Lee & Emiko’s English

crickets---

my eyes wide open to darkness

nothing but darkness

Seasonal word: cricket(autumn)

Note: Masajo is looking for her lover who might come to visit in the dark. But she sees only the darkness.

sakuo renga

cuckoo

Issa, 1822 age 60

木の門や朝から晩迄かん子鳥

ki no kado ya asa kara ban made kankodori

David’s English

tree at the gate--
morning to evening
a mountain cuckoo

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

sakuo renga

Till the time,

Issa has lost three young babies

autumn wind

Masajo 真砂女1961 Age 55

秋風や知らぬ顔して行きし人

akikaze ya shiranu kao shite yukishi hito

Lee & Emiko’s English

autumn wind---

he pretends not to see me

as he passes

Seasonal word: autumn wind(autumn)

sakuo renga

cooling

Issa, 一茶 1816 age 54

立涼寝涼さても涼しさや
tachi suzumi ne suzumi sate mo suzushisa ya


David translation

cooling off standing
cooling lying down...
well, it's cool!

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

sakuo renga

soreni tsuketemo hiru no atusa yo
それにつけても 昼の暑さよ

that reminds me of
the daytime heat

a glass of beer

Masajo 真砂女1961 Age 55

ビールくむ抱かるゝことのなき人と

bi-ru kumu dakareru koto no naki hito to

Lee & Emiko’s English

a glass of beer---

I serve it to a man

I will never love

Seasonal word: beer(summer)

sakuo renga

buck's horn

Issa 一茶 1822 age 60

tied to the young
buck's horn...
a letter

saoshika no tsuno ni musubishi tegami kana
.さをしかの角に結びし手紙哉

An interesting form of mail delivery! Perhaps the deer in question is a tame animal on the grounds of a temple.
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/
By Dr. David.

sakuo renga

violet

Masajo 真砂女 1961 age 55

すみれ野に罪あるごく来て二人
sumireno ni tsumi aru gotoku kite futari

Lee & Emiko’s English

field of violets---
like those fallen from grace
like the two of us

Seasonal word: violet ( spring )

sakuo renga

zabuton remake

Remake: husband was a lover of air force, posted haiga is
remade here.

Masajo 真砂女 1961 age 55

かりそめの夫の座布団花ぐもり
karisome no tsuma no zabuton hanagumori

Lee & Emiko’s English

a zubuton cushion
for my borrowed husband—
cherry blossom clouds

Seasonal word: cherry blossom clouds (spring)
Note: Zabuton is a floor cushion to sit on.

sakuo renga

I said the husband was her brother in law, but it was an error.
the husband was Masajo’s lover of air force.
This is pointed by Emiko Miyashita, translator, on 28 Sept 2009. I again painted remade renga.

Sumida crain

Issa 一茶 1810 Age 48


柴の戸やかすむたそくの隅田鶴
shiba no to ya kasumu tasoku no sumida-zuru

David’s English

at my humble hut so many in the mist! Sumida River cranes

Shinji Ogawa explains that shiba no to (brushwood door) is an idiom for a "hut" or "my humble house." It does not mean that Issa's door is literally made of brushwood.
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo haiga

zabuton cushion

Masajo 真砂女 1961 age 55

かりそめの夫の座布団花ぐもり
karisome no tsuma no zabuton hanagumori

Lee & Emiko’s English

a zubuton cushion
for my borrowed husband—
cherry blossom clouds

Seasonal word: cherry blossom clouds (spring)
Note: Zabuton is a floor cushion to sit on.

sakuo renga

As my husband was my sister’s one, I was forced to marriage with him after her death.
It was said to do so because of our family’s hotel survives.

my fan

Issa 一茶 1824 Age 62

茶の水の蓋にしておく団扇哉
cha no mizu no futa ni shite oku uchiwa kana

David’s English

covering up my water for tea... my fan

Or: "the water...the fan..."
Issa doesn't specify that either is his, though this might be inferred.
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/


sakuo renku & haiga

家事は苦手な お飾り女房
kaji wa negate na okazari nyoubo

not good at housekeeping
only sitting decoration
my bride

lingering daylight

Masajo 真砂女 1961 age 55

砂山に人の恋見し日永かな
sunayama ni hito no koi mishi hinaga kana

Lee & Emiko’s English

on the seaside dunes
other people in love…
lingering daylight

Seasonal word: lingering daylight (spring)

sakuo renga

skinny fleas

Issa 一茶 1821

痩蚤を振ふや猫も夕祓
yase nomi wo furuu ya neko mo yu^ harai

David’s English

rousting his skinny fleas
the cat too...
evening's purification

This haiku refers to a Shinto purification ritual that takes place in Sixth Month in the traditional Japanese calendar. One of the observances is to launch special shrine boats in water; see Kiyose (Tokyo: Kakugawa Shoten, 1984) 162. Shinji Ogawa adds that the most popular forms of the ritual involve (1) entering a shrine through the chinowa (a large ring made of woven reeds) or (2) going to a river and releasing a paper boat containing a paper doll (katashiro). As the doll drifts away it is thought to take "all unclean things with it."
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo haiga

three worlds

Masajo 真砂女 1955 age 49

女三界に家なき雪のつもりけり
on’na sangai ni ie naki yuki no tsumori keri

Lee & Emiko’s English

in those three worlds
a woman is never at home;
snow on snow on snow

Seasonal word: snow ( winter )
Notte: On’na sangai ni ie nashi means that there is no home for a woman to live in peace in the whole world. She must obey her father when she is a child, humble to her husband when she gets married, and follow her eldest son after the death of her husband.

sakuo renga

counting heads

Issa 一茶 1816 age 54

湯入衆の頭かぞへる小てふ哉
yu iri shu^ no atama kazoeru ko cho^ kana

David’s English

counting heads
in a hot tub...
little butterfly

Issa makes use of his two-part joke structure in this haiku. The first two phrases, "counting heads/ in a hot tub..." lead the reader to expect a human agent, but then he surprises us by revealing the counter to be a "little butterfly!" The butterfly seems to share in the happiness of the humans, soaking away their aches and troubles in hot water. It flits from head to head, taking roll. This haiku is one of the "essential" 188 picked by the translator. back next
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo renga

my chest

Masajo 真砂女 1955 age 49

手をのせし胸の薄さや今朝の秋
te wo noseshi mune no ususa ya kesa no aki

Lee & Emiko’s English

I touched my chest
and felt its thinness---
autumn’s first morning

At that time, I weighed less than 40 kilograms ( 88 pounds). My chest, which had recovered from a mild case of tuberculosis, was thin, but I kept burning desire in this thin chest.

Seasonal word* autumn’s first morning
Notte: Kesa no aki is the morning of the first day of autumn, which is around August 7th or 8th.


sakuo renga

abandoned

Issa 一茶 1804 age 42

見かぎりし古郷の山の桜哉
mikagirishi kokyo^ no yama no sakura kana

David’s English

the home village
I abandoned...
mountain cherry blossoms

Kashiwabara was Issa's home village that he "abandoned" until his homecoming in 1813. According to volume 1 of Issa zenshu^, this haiku was written in 1803, but in volume 2 a date of 1804 is given (Nagano: Shinano Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1976-79, 1.222; 2.199).
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo renga & renga

江戸の句友の拍手喝采

getting a big hand
from haiku friends in Edo

hairy caterpillar

Masajo 真砂女 1955 age 49

あるときの心のむごく毛虫焼く
aru toki no kokoro no mugoku kemushi yaku

Lee & Emiko’s English

that one time
my heart so merciless:
I burned a hairy caterpillar

Seasonal word: hairy caterpillar ( summer )

sakuo haiga

tea-picking song

Issa 一茶1816 age 54

川霧のまくしかけたり茶つみ唄
kawa kiri no makushikaketari cha tsumi uta

David’s English

in the river fog
a boisterous noise...
tea-picking song

Makushikaku is an old verb meaning to raise
one's voice forcefully and energetically;
Kogo dai jiten (Shogakukan 1983) 1512.
http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

sakuo renga

jealous

Masajo 真砂女 1955 age 49

夏帯や夫への嫉妬さらになく
natuobi ya tsuma e no shitto sarani naku

Lee & Emiko’s English

summer obi---
jealous of my husband?
never!

Seasonal word: summer obi (kimono sash) ( summer)

sakuo’s renku & renga

自慢話や昨夜の女
jimanbanashi ya sakuya no onna

his bragging of
a woman of last night