Totemo nara miroku no miyo wo matsu no haruĪccording to the Shingon sect, Miroku Bodhisattva will become a Buddha far in the future, to save all beings who cannot achieve enlightenment. This undated haiku is a variant of one written in 1816. Issa's uplifitng "god" is the gloriously blooming spring. The phrase hirou kami ("god who uplifts") is part of a longer Japanese proverb: suteru kami areba hirou kami ari" ("if a god abandons you, another god uplifts"). The haiku has the headnote, "After fifty years' absence, returning to my native village."Ĭhiri no mi mo hirou kami ari hana no haru Shinji Ogawa notes that he had been away for so long, he must have had many things on his mind, myriad thoughts and memories whirling within-summed up cryptically by the single word, "amazing" ( fushigi). Since the haiku is undated, we have no way of knowing exactly how long Issa had been absent from his home in Kashiwabara village when he wrote this. The priest could be Issa (self-described as "a priest of Haikai Temple"), only going through the motions of spring cleaning. Spring's first dawn is New Year's morning. Shinji Ogawa has pointed out that kusa no to is not to be read literally as "grass door," but figuratively as "my hut." Izuchi is an old word that can mean dochira ("whichever") or doko ("wherever") Kogo dai jiten (1983) 137. Kusa no to ya izuchi shimai no kesa no haru This undated haiku is almost identical to one written in 1825, which ends with the phrase, ake no haru ("first of spring"). Here, it seems to refer to one face of the paper lantern. I assume that katappira is a combination of kata ("one") and hira, which in Issa's time could refer to anything thin and flat, like paper or leaves. Neko tsuka shôgatsu saseru gomame kanaĪ New Year's offering to the departed pet, left by a child (or, perhaps, Issa?). The master account book was kept in the store. Shinji Ogawa adds that Kayoichô was a handbook used by a delivery boy. And/or, this haiku might allude to his recent New Year's libations. Perhaps he is a bit late in payng his sake bill. In Issa's time debts were settled at the end of the year. The word "my" doesn't appear in the original. Shôgatsu ga futsuka arite mo shiwade kana Shinji Ogawa points out that by the time of Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) the negative meaning of shidara was well established. Shidara, which means slovenly or disorderly in modern Japanese, in earlier times stood for any condition or course of events Kogo dai jiten (1983) 773. His New Year's Day is not "like anybody else's" ( hito nami ni). Issa refuses to observe all the niceties of seasonal conventions, such as sweeping the house or putting a pine-and-bamboo decoration on his gate. Yoso nami no shôgatsu mo senu shidara kana: Hito nami no shôgatsu mo senu shidara kana Issa flaunts his laziness, even on the most auspicious day of the year. New Year's Day was the first day of spring in the old Japanese calendar. On the most auspicious day of the year Issa liked to present himself (and his house) as same-old, same old. The word shaba refers to the Buddhist notion of a fallen age, the "Latter Days of Dharma." Ganjitsu ya dochira muite mo hana no shaba Ganjitsu ya nihon bakari no hana no shaba This is an early haiku written in the 1790s.
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