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Kobayashi Issa: Modern English Translations of the Japanese Haiku Master

Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) was a Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period. Also known as Kobayashi Yataro and Kobayashi Nobuyuki, he was born in Kashiwabara, Shinanao province, Japan. He took the pen name Issa, which means "cup of tea" or, according to Robert Hass, "a single bubble in steeping tea." Issa was a master of brief, startlingly clear and concise haiku/hokku.

Petals I amass
with such tenderness
prick me to the quick.
―Kobayashi Issa , loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson and Kobayashi Issa have been called the "essential masters" of the Edo Era. Many haiku lovers would add Masaoka Shiki to create the "Great Four" of haiku. Issa is particularly notable for his compassion and quirky sense of humor, both of which often show up in his poems about animals and children.

An enormous frog!
We stare at each other,
both petrified.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Skinny frog,
... hang on ...
Issa to the rescue!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Japanese poets like Basho, Buson and Issa influenced many Western poets, including early English/American modernists such as Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of Modernist poetry has been a turn away from highly ornate language toward the clarity and conciseness of Oriental poetry forms such as haiku and tanka.

The ghostly cow comes
mooing mooing mooing
out of the morning mist
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As you will see in the translations that follow, Issa's themes included animals and nature, children and families, love and relationships, life and death, and he wrote at least 84 poems about peonies, in which he sometimes accused them of being haughty and insolent! Why? It seems Issa thought peonies were too grand for his humble hut and he wasn't always happy about it!

Oh, magnificent peony,
please don't disdain
these humble surroundings!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

For explanations of how he translates and why he calls his results "loose translations" and "interpretations" please click here: Michael R. Burch Translation Methods and Credits to Other Translators

MODERN ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF HAIKU BY KOBAYAHSI ISSA

Dew evaporates
and all our world is dew—
so dear, so fresh, so fleeting.
―Kobayashi Issa, said to be about the death of his child, translator unknown

This world of dew
is a dewdrop world indeed;
and yet, and yet ...
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Translator's Note: I have seen both "dew poems" attributed to the death of Kobayashi Issa's daughter. If so, the poems may be bookends of a sort.

Standing beneath cherry blossoms
who can be strangers?
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Right at my feet!
When did you arrive here,
snail?
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I toss in my sleep,
so watch out,
cricket!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

In a better world
I'd leave you my rice bowl,
little fly!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Cries of the wild geese—
spreading rumors about me?
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

While a cicada
sings softly
a single leaf falls ...
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Wake up, old tomcat,
then with elaborate yawns and stretchings
prepare to pursue love
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The cry of a pheasant,
as if it just noticed
the mountain.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As I stumble home at dusk,
heavy with her eggs
a spider blocks me.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

All the while I'm praying to Buddha
I'm continually killing mosquitoes.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

If anyone comes, child,
don't open the gate
or the melons will flee!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

All's well with the world:
another fly's sharing our rice!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It's not at all anxious to bloom,
the plum tree at my gate.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This windy nest?
Open your hungry mouth in vain,
Issa, orphaned sparrow!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Cruel autumn wind!
Cutting to the very bones
Of my poor scarecrow!
―Kobayashi Issa, translator unknown

Standing unsteadily,
I am the scarecrow’s
skinny surrogate
―Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Climb Mount Fuji,
O snail,
but slowly, slowly.
―Kobayashi Issa, translator unknown

Plume of pampas grass
Trembling in every wind . . .
Hush, my lonely heart!
―Kobayashi Issa, translator unknown

Full moon—
my ramshackle hut
is an open book.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, brilliant moon
can it be true that even you
must rush off, tardy?
Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, brilliant moon
can it be true
that even you
must rush off, late
for some date?
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The snow melts
the rivers rise
and the village is flooded with children!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The orphan speaks: the year-end party . . .
I am even envious
Of scolded children
―Kobayashi Issa, translator unknown

Don't weep, we are all insects!
Lovers, even the stars themselves,
must eventually part.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Buddha on the hill . . .
From your holy nose indeed
Hangs an icicle!
―Kobayashi Issa, translator unknown

In our world
we walk suspended over hell
admiring flowers.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Children delight
in bonfires
for the dead;
soon they'll light
pyres
for us, instead.
―Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Bonfires for the dead?
Soon they'll light pyres
for us instead.
―Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

In this world where I was born
every rose hides a thorn
that pricks me to the quick.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Autumn wind ...
She always wanted to pluck
the reddest roses
―Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Issa wrote the haiku above after the death of his daughter Sato with the note: “Sato, girl, 35th day, at the grave.”

What does it matter how long I live,
when a tortoise lives many times as long?
―Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch

Peonies blossom;
the world is full of fibbers.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Peonies blossom;
the world is full of blooming liars.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Overdressed for my thatched hut:
a peony blossoms.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, magnificent peony,
please don't disdain
these humble surroundings!
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Insolent peony!
Demanding I measure your span
with my fan?
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

"This big!"
The child's arms
measured the peony.
―Kobayashi Issa, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Issa seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the peony, writing at least 84 haiku about the flower, sometimes praising it and sometimes accusing it of insolence and haughtiness!



The following are links to other translations by Michael R. Burch:

Matsuo Basho
Yosa Buson
Kobayashi Issa
Ono no Komachi
Oriental Masters/Haiku

The Love Song of Shu-Sin: The Earth's Oldest Love Poem?

Ancient Greek Epigrams and Epitaphs
Meleager
Sappho

The Seafarer
Wulf and Eadwacer
Sweet Rose of Virtue
How Long the Night
Caedmon's Hymn
Anglo-Saxon Riddles and Kennings
Bede's Death Song
The Wife's Lament
Deor's Lament
Lament for the Makaris
Tegner's Drapa
Whoso List to Hunt

Miklós Radnóti
Bertolt Brecht
Ber Horvitz
Paul Celan
Primo Levi
Wladyslaw Szlengel
Saul Tchernichovsky

Robert Burns: Original Poems and Translations
The Seventh Romantic: Robert Burns
Ahmad Faraz
Allama Iqbal
Sandor Marai
Alexander Pushkin's tender, touching poem "I Love You" has been translated into English by Michael R. Burch.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Marina Tsvetaeva
Renée Vivien

Free Love Poems by Michael R. Burch

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