Kobayashi Issa

Kobayashi Issa

Kobayashi Issa ( Japanese 小林 一 茶 ; * June 15, 1763 in Kashiwabara, Shinano Province (today: District of Shinano , Nagano Prefecture ); † January 5, 1828 there ; real name: 小林 信 之 Kobayashi Nobuyuki , childhood name: 小林 弥 太郎 Kobayashi Yatarō ) was a Japanese haiku poet. Issa is one of the "Big Four" of Japanese haiku poetry: Matsuo Bashō , Buson , Shiki , Issa. The poet's name Issa, chosen by him, means something like "a tea" or "a sip of tea" and is to be understood as an expression of his modesty and simplicity.

Life

Born poor, Issa was never able to free herself from her modest circumstances. As a fifteen-year-old he went to Edo ( Tōkyō ) for training as an outcast stepchild . Stays in Kyoto , Osaka and other centers of Japanese culture have been documented before Issa returned to his homeland. At the age of 25 he started writing haikus. Several strokes of fate had a lasting impact on him, including the loss of his wife and several children. Only later was he able to improve his living conditions by taking on a small inheritance.

The Haikus Issas often break through the 5-7-5 verse form, which was frozen after Basho. They are characterized by a deep love for nature, even for the smallest and insignificant beings. He naturally integrates snails, frogs, swallows, sparrows, mice and grasshoppers into his works. The haikus show his respect and esteem for these fellow creatures. In doing so, he leads the haiku from an elitist and highly complex art to a form of expression that is easy to understand and touches the heart.

The contents of his haikus are carried by an incomparable, loving humor that does not even spare oneself. In fine self-irony, he sometimes even compares himself to scarecrows along the way.

He will not get rid of his poverty all his life - so he makes it a theme. Nowhere is the slightest hint of bitterness or sadness to be seen. Happiness, Buddhist frugality and contentment determine Issa's works.

か た つ む り そ ろ そ ろ 登 れ 富士 の 山

"Katatsumuri / sorosoro nobore / fuji no yama"

"The little snail / very slowly it climbs up / on Mount Fuji ."

effect

In his works, JD Salinger recalls the effect of the Haikus from Issa.

こ れ ほ ど と 牡丹 の し か た す る 子 か な

"Kore hodo to / botan no shikata / suru ko kana"

“The peony is so big! / The arms of the child / outstretched "

For Salinger, Issa doesn't force us to do anything, we have to get involved in experiences. A basic idea of ​​the author about the catcher in the rye .

Arkadi and Boris Strugatzki took their title Die Schnecke am Hang from the Fuji-Haiku quoted above. “Yes, little snail / Climb Mount Fuji / But very slowly.” Unwillingness, even if the goal seems to be unattainable, also speaks for the Strugatzki brothers from the snail allegory.

Works in German translation

• Kobayashi Issa: I killed a fly. Edited by Elena Moreno Sobrino, German translation by A. Gerhard, illustrated by ElgA. Calambac Publishing House. Saarbrücken 2016, ISBN 978-3-943117-89-9 .

literature

• Issa: The last days of my father. Translated from Japanese, afterword and notes by GS Dombrady. Dieterich'sche publishing bookstore. Mainz 1985, ISBN 978-3-87162-003-4 .
• Makoto Ueda: Dew on the grass: the life and poetry of Kobayashi Issa. Brill, Leiden 2004, ISBN 90-04-13723-8 .
• Shōzō Miyawaki, Horst Hammitzsch (ed.): Kobayashi Issa: Haiku . Ostasien-Verlag, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-89036-401-2 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Kobayashi Issa in the catalog of the German National Library
• Issa's Haiku Home Page
• Bosque de Bambú, camino del haiku - Issa ( Memento of October 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• 10,000 haiku from Issa

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Kobayashi is the family name, Issa the first name.