Kobayashi Issa

1763–1828
Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa,
also known as Kobayashi Yataro
and Kobayashi Nobuyuki, was
born in Kashiwabara, Shinanao
province. He eventually took the
pen name Issa, which means
“cup of tea” or, according to
poet Robert Hass, “a single
bubble in steeping tea.”
Issa’s father was a farmer. His
mother died when he was
young, and he was raised by his
grandmother. His father
remarried, and Issa did not get
along well with his stepmother or stepbrother, eventually becoming involved in disputes over his
father’s property. When Issa was 14, he left home to study haiku in Edo. He spent years traveling and
working until returning to Kashiwabara in the early 1810s. In Kashiwabara, his life was marked by
sorrow— the death of his first wife and three children, an unsuccessful second marriage, the burning
down of his house, and a third marriage.
Issa’s haiku are as attentive to the small creatures of the world—mosquitoes, bats, cats—as they are
tinged with sorrow and an awareness of the nuances of human behavior. In addition to haiku, Issa wrote
pieces that intertwined prose and poetry, including Journal of My Father’s Last Days and The Year of
My Life.

“On a branch ...”

BY KOBAYASHI ISSA
TRANSLATED BY JANE HIRSHFIELD

On a branch
floating downriver
a cricket, singing.

Issa, “On a branch ... ,” translated by Jane Hirshfield. Reprinted with the permission of the translator.
[the snow is melting]
BY KOBAYASHI ISSA
TRANSLATED BY ROBERT HASS
The snow is melting
and the village is flooded
with children.

[the snow is melting] by Issa, from The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, edited and with an introduction by
Robert Hass. Copyright 1994 by Robert Hass. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

[goes out comes back]

BY KOBAYASHI ISSA
TRANSLATED BY ROBERT HASS
Goes out,
comes back—
the love life of a cat.

[goes out comes back] by Issa, fromThe Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, edited and with an introduction by
Robert Hass. Copyright 1994 by Robert Hass. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.