© Photo ... Hana no O-Edo
http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/htm/4480037764.html

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loafing around
in Kyoto...
autumn wind

norakura ya hana no miyako mo aki no kaze

のらくらや花の都も秋の風

by Issa, 1816

"The capital" (miyako) was the city of Kyoto in Issa's day.

http://cat.xula.edu/issa/

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Hana no Miyako MO .... maybe means

wandering around, even in Kyoto, the capital of the Cherry Blossom
viewing, the autumn wind is now blowing ...

Gabi

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hanging about --
even in the blossom capital
the autumn wind

Tr. Norman Darlington

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my idle life- -
but in the blossom capital
the autumn winds


Tr. gillena cox

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In Japanese I will say as follows,

のらりくらりしている内に、華やかな都にも、もう秋風が吹いてきた。

In English,

while I have spent an idle live
in the blossom capital
autumn wind begins to blow


1816 Issa stayed in Edo not in Kyoto. So I think 花の都 is not necessary to
be Kyoto.

1814 he married , came to Edo, returned at the year end.
1815 he repeated the same pattern [go and back, home village and Edo]
1816 he came to Edo, stayed there during the year.

At this time he had the contradictional desire between staying at home with his new
wife and being active in haiku in Edo.

norari kurari [ original norakura] is his feeling of self-mockery.

renku by Sakuo

信濃の菊の恋しかりけり
Shinano no kiku no koishi karikeri

chrysanthemum in Shinano
I am longing for you

PS: Kiku [chrysanthemum] is the name of Issa's first wife.

Nakamura Sakuo

Look at the Haiga by Sakuo san
http://sakuo3903.blogspot.com/2007/01/longing-for-new-wife.html

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.
MIYAKO　都 usually refers to the old capital of Kyoto.

through a hole
in the mosquito swarm...
Kyoto

ka-bashira no ana kara miyuru miyako kana

蚊柱の穴から見ゆる都哉

by Issa, 1814 (Tr. David Lanoue)

The mosquitoes are swarming in a column (ka-bashira). The "capital" (miyako) was Kyoto in Issa's day. This is where the emperor and his court lived. Political and military power was centered in the Shogun's city of Edo, today's Tokyo. Sakuo Nakamura pictures Issa, as he approached Kyoto, feeling heavy pressure to do well in this cultural and literary center. "Those pressures stood before him like a mosquito swarm."

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We also have the expression : the thriving city of Edo

hana no o-Edo, the flourishing town of Edo 花の大江戸

時鳥花のお江戸を一呑に
hototogisu hana no o-edo o hito nomi ni

oh cuckoo--
swallow blossom-filled Edo
in a gulp!

More Edo-Haiku by Issa (tr. David Lanoue)
http://haikuguy.com/issa/queryallcodetest4.php?keywords=&romaji=o-edo&comment=&year

There is an interesting book (see photo above) about the customs and life in the
Great Town of Edo.

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鐘一つ　売れぬ日はなし　江戸の春
kane hitotsu urenu hi wa nashi Edo no haru

寶井其角 Takarai Kikaku (1661-1707)


spring in Old Edo -
not a day without a
temple bell sold

(Tr. Gabi Greve)

Read about the translation of this haiku and the bells of Edo here

http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2006/07/bell-kane.html

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Read more details of this discussion from Translating Haiku

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/translatinghaiku/message/1194

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Edo, The City That Became Tokyo and HAIKU

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