This World is as Fleeting as Dew: Kobayashi Icha Haiku 300
About This Novel
Kobayashi Ichicha was the last haiku master in the Edo period, and together with Matsuo Basho and Shibumura, they are known as the three major haiku masters in Japanese classical haiku. Icha left his hometown and went to Edo to make a living in his early years. After wandering for half his life, he returned to his hometown and started a family. However, his children all passed away before him, and Icha spent his later years lonely and embarrassed, with only nature and all things and haiku to express his feelings. Yicha's haiku style is unique. He imitates his predecessors while developing unique variations. While inheriting the aesthetics of tranquility and secludedness, he also adds a humorous personal mark. He hates the world and rebels against the strong, but such radical emotions are completely diluted when he writes, leaving only the open-mindedness of being content with poverty, willing to taste the bitterness of life, endless compassion for weak lives, and lamenting the impermanence of the world. Icha composed more than 20,000 haiku in his lifetime. This book selects more than 300 sentences from them, arranges them chronologically, and attaches the original text, pronunciation and brief notes to aid appreciation.
What Readers Think
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Official(1)Scraped 20d ago
Listening to whispers
The genre seems so simple, but it is very interesting to read. You can see Yicha's closeness to nature and his joy in living in poverty. Children, wife, are guests in his life When he came, he was silently rejoicing After leaving, he quietly thought about it again I heard him say that he was cooking rice cakes alone again. It seems like everything is as before My nose is also sore But can't cry I just want to cook rice cakes with him
Rating
Community(0)
Official(1)Scraped 20d ago
Listening to whispers
The genre seems so simple, but it is very interesting to read. You can see Yicha's closeness to nature and his joy in living in poverty. Children, wife, are guests in his life When he came, he was silently rejoicing After leaving, he quietly thought about it again I heard him say that he was cooking rice cakes alone again. It seems like everything is as before My nose is also sore But can't cry I just want to cook rice cakes with him
