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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .
人つきや野原の草も若盛り
hitozuki ya nohara no kusa mo waka-zakari
they love to be together --
grasses in the field, too
in the first flush of youth
Tr. Chris Drake
This late spring hokku is from an undated letter. Issa wrote similar hokku in 1825 and 1826, when he was feeling old but hoping to marry for the third time, a goal he achieved in the 8th month (Sept.) of 1826. The つ in the first line can be either tsu or zu, and the noun the first line is glossed by Issa Hokku General Index (455) as 人付き, or hitozuki, the state of being 'sociable, gentle, naive, meek, affable, genial, amiable, lively, convivial.'
New wild grasses are growing rapidly everywhere in the field, and Issa senses the young stalks are full to overflowing with the desire to live and to be with other stalks, mingling and mixing with each other in dense clumps. How similar they seem to human teenagers, especially in spring. Issa consciously uses a word that includes hito, 'people, humans,' to characterize the young grass, and he also seems to be talking about the social instincts of grass at any age. In taking stalks of vigorous grass to be accurate images of human spiritual growth as well, Issa precedes Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855) by several decades. Whitman's world may be slightly more human-centered than Issa's, however, since Issa seems to treat grasses and humans as equals, and he delights in finding evidence of the wild desire of grass stalks to grow together with each other as they grow taller.
Issa puts it this way in a variant from 1825:
愛相やのべの草さへ若盛り
aisoo ya nobe no kusa sae waka-zakari
how warm to each other --
even grasses in the field
in the first flush of youth
The word aisou in the first line means the state of being 'sociable, amiable, cordial, warm-hearted, affable, hospitable' and differs from hitozuki in the first hokku in being slightly more publicly oriented. In both hokku, however, the young grass stalks enjoy company and strongly want to share their newfound energy and desire to live with each other.
Chris Drake
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More haiku abouat waka-zakari with translations by David Lanoue
鮎迄もわか盛也吉の川
ayu made mo waka-zakari nari yoshino kawa
the trout too
hit their peak young...
Yoshino River
. Issa at Yoshinoyama - 吉野山 Mount Yoshino .
人つきの有や草ばもわか盛
hito tsuki no ari ya kusaba mo waka-zakari
some of them stick
to people, young grasses
at their peak
むつましや男竹女竹のわか盛り
mutsumaji ya odake medake no waka-zakari
living in harmony--
boy and girl bamboos
the peak of youth
さわぐぞよ竹も小笹もわか盛り
sawagu zo yo take mo ko-zasa mo waka-zakari
what a racket!
for bamboo and pampas grass
the peak of youth
うれしげや垣の小竹もわか盛
ureshige ya kaki no ko take mo waka-zakari
joyful!
the fence's little bamboo
at the peak of youth
Tr. David Lanoue
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