--- In haikuinformation@yahoogroups.com, "Greve Gabi"
<gokurakuatworldkigo@...> wrote:
>
> quote:
>
> skinny frog
> don't give up the fight
> Issa is here!
>
> yasegaeru makeru na Issa koko ni ari
>
> The frog was a particular favorite of Issa. This poem, written in
> 1816, describes a sort of "frog sumo," but not for sport: the frogs
> are fighting over a female. As usual, Issa hopes the weak, skinny
>frog
> will win, a sentiment I fully agree with, as I also dislike
> "favorites" and "stars." It is also possible that Issa sees his own
> image in the skinny frog. Some commentators go so far to claim that
> Issa, who married late, is also encouraging himself to find a wife,
> but that interpretation does not seem probable, as Issa had married
> two years before he wrote this haiku.
>
> Next to the stone of Issa in Entenji is a small pond, where the
>haiku
> stone stands. In the pond a few stone frogs have been placed and in
> front of the Main hall sits a huge frog called Fuku Kaeru, Lucky
>Frog
> (or "Luck Returning"), which is very popular with worshipers (but
>this
> one is not skinny at all!). The same is true of this haiku:
>the "sumo"
> of the skinny frog, encouraged by Issa, is one of the most popular
> haiku Issa ever wrote.
>
> Japan Navigator by Ad Blankestijn
> http://www.japannavigator.com/2006/10/11/issas-haiku-in-tokyo-
>another-frog/
>
> ....................................................................
...
>
> Leap Day 2008
> http://haikuandhappiness.blogspot.com/2008/02/leap-day.html


I wonder if thinking of this as a frog "sumo" match, with two frogs
facing each other, doesn't give the wrong impression. I think I've
seen this activity in some nature film at some time or other, so I
have more of an impression of a number of male frogs fighting for
position in the process of attempting to mount a female frog.

According to David G. Lanoue, "In his diary, Issa explains, 'I
stooped to watch a frog scuffle on the 20th day of Fourth Month.' "

http://www.worldhaikureview.org/3-1/haikuined_dl.shtml

It's a shame that more translators don't include contextual
information like this with their translations. I wonder if Issa
included anything else in his diary about the writing of this haiku.


Both Makoto Ueda and Haruo Shirane mention the militaristic phrasing
found in this haiku.

In his book "Dew on the Grass," Ueda writes:

Issa wrote the frog poem after seeing several frogs fighting for a
lone female. The hokku has since become well known for its expression
of sympathy toward the weak, but we should also take note of the self-
confidence implied in it. Although he himself is a faltering old man,
he is still strong enough to help a frog. "Issa is here," which
mimicks the self-announcement of a samurai on the battlefield, adds a
touch of humor. [end of comment]

And Haruo Shirane, in his book "Early Modern Japanese Literature: An
Anthology 1600-1900," writes:

"Don't give up!" ('makeru na Issa kore ni ari') is a military phrase
used by a commander to urge on his troops. [end of comment]


I wonder, when a Japanese person hears this haiku, if they are struck
by the military nature of the expression.

Even after over 200 years of relative peace in Japan, a military-
style phrase still comes tripping off of Issa's tongue!

I think a spirit of nationalism must have been in the air. Issa
certainly felt it when he wrote about geese now being "geese of
Japan."

Kyo kara wa
Nihon no kari zo
Raku ni neyo

From today
You're Japan's geese, wild ones,
Rest then in peace!

Issa, trans. Lewis Mackenzie


I wonder even if the "black ships" hadn't appeared when they did, if
there still wouldn't have been a "Meiji restoration" at some point,
and the renewed militarism which followed.

Larry