Kobayashi Issa, or simply Issa, is one of Japan's best known and appreciated haiku poets.
Issa was born in Kashiwabara, in what is now part of the Nagano Prefecture in Japan. His father was a farmer. Issa's mother died when the boy was very young and his father soon remarried. Issa's stepmother mistreated him and, when he was fourteen, Issa was sent to Edo (Tokyo) where he studied haiku.
Although he gained some notoriety for his poetry early on, he struggled to get by financially and had to travel and work hard until his fifties.
Though Issa's life was filled with struggles -- the death of his mother at an early age, the conflicts with his stepmother, his poverty, and the death of his own children -- his haiku tend to celebrate the serene joys and simple spiritual moments of life.
Poems by Kobayashi Issa
His Home:
Kobayashi Issa - Storehouse where he lived (Shinano, Nagano, Japan)
haiku links
http://haikuguy.com/issa/
This website presents 10,000 of Issa's haiku in a searchable archive. Enjoy...
Museum: http://en.kobayashi-issa.jp/360i.html
Issa was born in Kashiwabara, in what is now part of the Nagano Prefecture in Japan. His father was a farmer. Issa's mother died when the boy was very young and his father soon remarried. Issa's stepmother mistreated him and, when he was fourteen, Issa was sent to Edo (Tokyo) where he studied haiku.
Although he gained some notoriety for his poetry early on, he struggled to get by financially and had to travel and work hard until his fifties.
Though Issa's life was filled with struggles -- the death of his mother at an early age, the conflicts with his stepmother, his poverty, and the death of his own children -- his haiku tend to celebrate the serene joys and simple spiritual moments of life.
Poems by Kobayashi Issa
- Autumn wind
- Buddha Law
- by the light of graveside lanterns
- Don't weep, insects
- even poorly planted
- First firefly
- From burweed
- In my house
- into morning-glories
- Just by being
- Mokuboji Temple
- Never forget
- now begins
- Reflected
- rice seedlings
- spring begins
- stillness
- swatting a fly
- the distant mountain's
- Where there are humans
- mountain temple
- blown to the big river
- spring day
- the dragonfly's tail, too
- serene and still
- without seeing sunlight
- Buddha's body
Wicki
External links
- Haiku of Kobayashi Issa A searchable online archive of some 10,000 Issa haiku, translated by David G. Lanoue
- Issa's 1818 self-portrait (frontispiece of the Bickerton 1932 source)
- (Japanese) 一茶発句全集 (The complete haiku of Issa)
- (English) Issa Memorial Museum - Official English Site
- (English & Japanese) Issa's Haiku home page
His Home:
Kobayashi Issa - Storehouse where he lived (Shinano, Nagano, Japan)
haiku links
Translations based on Issa
zenshû (Nagano: Shinano Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1976-79) 9 volumes. Some of the translations first appeared in Issa, Cup-of-Tea Poems, The Distant Mountain: The Life and Haiku of Kobayashi Issa and Pure Land Haiku: The Art of Priest Issa.
This website presents 10,000 of Issa's haiku in a searchable archive. Enjoy...
Museum: http://en.kobayashi-issa.jp/360i.html
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