Thursday, March 29, 2007


i thought is says quite a lot for times like these:










if you go out
to enjoy the coolness...
grovel and grovel!




French translator Jean Cholley explains that this haiku refers to the way that samurai forced peasants (like Issa) to grovel on roads; En village de miséreux: Choix de poèmes de Kobayashi Issa (Paris: Gallimard, 1996) 243, note 95. Shinji Ogawa adds that the phrase, shita ni shita ni ("stay low, stay low") was the warning call shouted in front of a parade of a military lord (daimyo). People were obliged to kneel on the roadside, often in the mud. Shinji writes, "In my opinion, this haiku is important to know Issa's social view. I wouldn't say that Issa was a great social critic, but he certainly excels Basho and Buson in this regard."

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