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The Dumpling Field: Haiku of Issa
Koyashi Issa (1763–1827), long considered amoung Japan’s four greatest haiku poets (along with Basho, Buson, and Shiki) is probably the best loved. This collection of more than 360 haiku, arranged seasonally and many rendered into English for the first time, attempts to reveal the full range of the poet’s extraordinary life as if it were concentrated within a year. Issa’s haiku are traditionally structured, of seventeen syllables in the original, tonally unified and highly suggestive, yet they differ from those of fellow haikuists in a few important respects. Given his character, they had to. The poet never tries to hide his feelings, and again and again we find him grieving over the lot of the unfortunate – of any and all species.
No poet, of any time or culture, feels greater compassion for his life of creatures. No Buddhist-Issa was to become a monk—acts out the credos of his faith more genuinely. The poet, a devoted follower of Basho, traveled throughout the country, often doing the most menial work, seeking spiritual companionship and inspiration for the thousands of haiku he was to write. Yet his emotional and creative life was centered in his native place, Kashiwabara in the province of Shinano (now Nagano Prefecture), and his severest pain was the result of being denied a place in his dead father’s house by his stepmother and half brother.
By the time he was able to share the house of his beloved father, Issa had experienced more than most the grief of living, and much more was to follow with the death of his wife and their four children. In the face of all he continued to write, celebrating passionately the lives of all that shared the world with him, all creatures, all humans. Small wonder that Issa is so greatly loved by his fellow poets throughout the world, and by poetry lovers of all ages.
No poet, of any time or culture, feels greater compassion for his life of creatures. No Buddhist-Issa was to become a monk—acts out the credos of his faith more genuinely. The poet, a devoted follower of Basho, traveled throughout the country, often doing the most menial work, seeking spiritual companionship and inspiration for the thousands of haiku he was to write. Yet his emotional and creative life was centered in his native place, Kashiwabara in the province of Shinano (now Nagano Prefecture), and his severest pain was the result of being denied a place in his dead father’s house by his stepmother and half brother.
By the time he was able to share the house of his beloved father, Issa had experienced more than most the grief of living, and much more was to follow with the death of his wife and their four children. In the face of all he continued to write, celebrating passionately the lives of all that shared the world with him, all creatures, all humans. Small wonder that Issa is so greatly loved by his fellow poets throughout the world, and by poetry lovers of all ages.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Kobayashi Issa
118 books260 followersKobayashi Issa was a Japanese poet known for his haiku poems and journals. He is regarded as one of the four haiku masters in Japan, along with Bashō, Buson and Shiki. Reflecting the popularity and interest in Issa as man and poet, Japanese books on Issa outnumber those on Buson, and almost equal those on Bashō.
Although better known by his pen name Issa, he was born Kobayashi Yataro in 1763 on a farm in central Japan.
Although better known by his pen name Issa, he was born Kobayashi Yataro in 1763 on a farm in central Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 17, 2023
Eye opening poems about old things like mosquitoes and the moon. Put me in a reverie.
July 23, 2015
The translations are not my favorites among those I've read, but Issa always sparkles.
October 21, 2019
This collection of haiku by Issa, one of the four most famous haiku poets from Japan, is characterized by compassion, sadness, and wry humor, as well as a considerable amount of mosquitoes.
I have read several collections of Basho's haiku, as well as anthologies that Issa has appeared in, but never a whole collection by him. It was a refreshing read, translated to precisely convey the same moment as described in the original Japanese.
I have read several collections of Basho's haiku, as well as anthologies that Issa has appeared in, but never a whole collection by him. It was a refreshing read, translated to precisely convey the same moment as described in the original Japanese.
October 19, 2019
Stryk's translations are always a bit severe. Completely uncluttered. I used to use some of his translations in contrast to other translations of haiku as examples of a severe classicism. And here he is doing Issa -- the most playful even as he's the saddest of the great haiku masters. I like Stryk's translations here, even though I'm going to bet they are even shorter than the originals!
I read slowly through the book over the course of a week, then spent one day reading the whole thing from beginning to end. Stryk has picked a simple, even easy, organization: season. But that, too, seemed right. Issa seems approachable -- I, too, have thought of bugs that way! I too have watched the clouds! I too recognize the fleeting nature of the world (Zen), but can't quite believe it (Issa) (the famous poem Stryk chooses to end the collection with):
World of dew?
Perhaps,
and yet . . .
Also realized something I should have known decades ago -- that very sad poem Yeats wrote near the end of his life "Imitated from the Japanese" was coming off Issa:
A most astonishing thing
Seventy years have I lived;
(Hurrah for the flowers of Spring
For Spring is here again.)
Seventy years have I lived
No ragged beggar man.
Seventy years have I lived,
Seventy years man and boy,
And never have I danced for joy.
And then here's Issa in the Stryk translation:
Sixty years --
not one night
have I danced.
Oh, I love it when those connections across time and culture come clear in my mind!
I read slowly through the book over the course of a week, then spent one day reading the whole thing from beginning to end. Stryk has picked a simple, even easy, organization: season. But that, too, seemed right. Issa seems approachable -- I, too, have thought of bugs that way! I too have watched the clouds! I too recognize the fleeting nature of the world (Zen), but can't quite believe it (Issa) (the famous poem Stryk chooses to end the collection with):
World of dew?
Perhaps,
and yet . . .
Also realized something I should have known decades ago -- that very sad poem Yeats wrote near the end of his life "Imitated from the Japanese" was coming off Issa:
A most astonishing thing
Seventy years have I lived;
(Hurrah for the flowers of Spring
For Spring is here again.)
Seventy years have I lived
No ragged beggar man.
Seventy years have I lived,
Seventy years man and boy,
And never have I danced for joy.
And then here's Issa in the Stryk translation:
Sixty years --
not one night
have I danced.
Oh, I love it when those connections across time and culture come clear in my mind!
July 3, 2022
Will come back to this one - a few great poems in there!
November 30, 2020
Often when one thinks of haiku, we visualize temple bells, cherry blossoms, and other beauteous objects seems the norm.
With Issa, that’s not quite the case.
Oh sure, Issa goes there from time to time and he does that well.
However, much of his content centers around fleas, flies, dung, and other more, shall we say, earthy topics.
Issa approaches these haiku with a sense of humor. Although, like any of us, he complains about being bitten by mosquitoes or hearing a horse piss near him as he tries to sleep.
But what I enjoy about the breadth of his work is, when placing all of his haiku alongside one another, you get a real sense of what it is to be human.
Issa has the gift of lifting back the veil and that is rare.
With Issa, that’s not quite the case.
Oh sure, Issa goes there from time to time and he does that well.
However, much of his content centers around fleas, flies, dung, and other more, shall we say, earthy topics.
Issa approaches these haiku with a sense of humor. Although, like any of us, he complains about being bitten by mosquitoes or hearing a horse piss near him as he tries to sleep.
But what I enjoy about the breadth of his work is, when placing all of his haiku alongside one another, you get a real sense of what it is to be human.
Issa has the gift of lifting back the veil and that is rare.
December 5, 2018
A 1991 translation of Issa's haiku by Lucien Stryk while not my favorite
translation is still very worthwhile. Issa is one of my favorites.
Plum scent
guest won't mind
the chipped cup.
Morning glory--
whose face
is without fault?
By lightning,
I creak
across the bridge.
translation is still very worthwhile. Issa is one of my favorites.
Plum scent
guest won't mind
the chipped cup.
Morning glory--
whose face
is without fault?
By lightning,
I creak
across the bridge.
January 20, 2023
An absolutely marvelous collection of haiku.
September 6, 2023
Delicate, powerful, playful, clear-eyed.
First firefly,
why turn away--
it's Issa.
First firefly,
why turn away--
it's Issa.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews