Skill of Insects【Haiku of Japan #6】
For today's Haiku of Japan, an amusing haiku from Issa.
In this world
even among the insects...
some sing well, some don't
—Issa
世の中や 鳴虫にさへ 上づ下手
(yo no naka ya / naku mushi ni sa e / jouzu heta)
Credit where credit is due: I saw this haiku and image on my Twitter stream this morning—here.
I know the original Japanese of the haiku, so I offer my own translation of it above.
Issa is another one of the 4 great Haiku Masters of Japan (along with Basho and Buson, whose haiku poems I've posted before). He was by far the most prolific of all of them, writing over 20,000 haiku in his lifetime. His work contains a sense of humor and an innocence that has won him readers up to the present day and make him even more popular than the great Basho among many people.
(Woodblock print by Ohara Koson and titled Grasshoppers)
Don't miss the other great haiku in the Haiku of Japan series!
#1 - Traveling to the inn
#2 - Childless Woman
#3 - Old Dancing Butterfly
#4 - Seeing the Moon
#5 - Checking the Scarecrow
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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. |
Wow. This is so very Issa. I will have to remember this poem as perhaps the best single haiku introduction to the writer.
Knowing Issa, he's talking about himself as a poet as much as he's talking about insects...
I think so too. He is usually making some self-deprecating comment about himself.
Thanks for the comment :)
Nice one...!!
Thank you, @abedoonsubhani
Excellent post, very well articulated. thank you so much.
Thank you, @capari
Hehe, I like this dbooster. :)