Is Issa suggesting that he sees a temple or image of the Buddha on one of the islands? Does he hear someone on one of the islands chanting the nembutsu prayer? Is it the cuckoo or the moonlit night that became a regular? This is the second of two back-to-back haiku written on the 9th day of Twelfth Month 1808 on th etopic of night falling and winter prayers to Amida Buddha beginning. Even though the First Month coincides with the beginning of spring in the old Japanese calendar, it's still cold enough for Issa to wear his Japanese coat (haori). The first word in this haiku, aratama, 먹튀사이트 모음 denotes an unpolished gem. Many of his haiku, like this one, could anachronistically be described a photographic. Issa imagines what the butterfly might look like from the dewdrop's point of view: not only huge but a possibly dangerous monster who could destroy it with the mere flutter of a wing. However, Shinji Ogawa proposes a simpler scene: some of the blossom viewers, possibly drunk, have bumped into and knocked over a roadside Buddha. I prefer to imagine one frog in the scene: Issa's aging counterpart.
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As Shinji Ogawa explains, the literal action in this haiku is that of plum blossoms being "attached" (tsuke) to the servant's face. In the shorthand of haiku, "blossoms" (hana) can mean "cherry blossoms." Shi-sumasu is an old verb that signifies "to be happily successful" (umaku yatte nokeru) or "to achieve" (nashitogeru); Kogo dai jiten (1983) 765. Despite the rain, the expression on the faces (or face) under the cherry blossoms is one of happy accomplishment. Or: "blossoming mountains." In the shorthand of haiku, "blossoms" (hana) can mean "cherry blossoms." In my first translation, I thought that the men had "killed Buddha," referring perhaps to the iconoclasm of Zen Buddhists. The mountain cuckoo (kankodori) is the voice of Nature in this haiku, bragging. Sakuo Nakamura notes that the word "money" (zeni) seems unpoetic, and yet with it Issa expresses how poor people are enjoying the warm spring day. Shinji Ogawa explains that suemono no sasa is an idiom that means "potted bamboo." Even the bamboo seems caught up in the excitement of bonito season.
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Funny food combos, this week on the Konnichiwa Podcast! A check of his journal shows that he wrote it early in the First Month of 1811, and so I assume that "first day," in this case, refers to the New Year. Issa wrote this haiku on the 12th day of Twelfth Month. Jean Cholley believes that this haiku alludes to Issa's frosty homecoming in his native village the previous month. Literally, Issa says, "First Month" (shôgatsu). On the first Day of the Tiger of each year, pilgrims could purchase the temple's famous flint stones by lowering a basket with their money into a hole. Edwin A. Cranston, A Waka Anthology (Stanford Univeristy Press, 2006) 2.411; see also Kogo dai jiten (1983) 114. In Issa's haiku an expert player is scooping up ten stones at a time. Issa jokes that it must be an expert on human nature. The word tanomu has special religious significance in Japanese Pure Land Buddhism: one must "trust" or "rely on" the liberating power of Amida Buddha. This haiku was written on the fifth day of Eleventh Month, 1807, at which time Issa returned to his native village of Kashiwabara.
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Humble grasses were good enough to become his "rice cake" (mochi). Literally, Issa wakes up with kusa no tsuyu ("grasses' desdrops") on his pillow. Issa admires how green the rice field is, but, alas, it isn't his. Chazuke is a poor man's meal of green tea-soaked rice. Despite it being the season for optimism and new beginnings, Issa broods. Issa imagines that the pigeon is complaining for being left out of the seasonal gift-giving. I imagine that Issa, drawn by the irresistible beauty of the blossoms, is trespassing. Since we can imagine the moon's reflection floating on the water alongside the little boat, a deep connection is suggested. This haiku refers to the New Year's custom of visiting a shrine or temple located in a lucky direction. This haiku refers to a custom at a certain Buddhist temple in Kyoto. This haiku is reminiscent of (18th-century poet) Chiyo-ni's haiku about her well bucket becoming tangled in morning glories.