I love the series! Couple questions on this Issa work. Was this originally a hokku beginning a renku, or an interior verse (hiraku?) of a renku? The culminating kana clues in as a hokku, but the sentence-like quality gestures toward hiraku.
Also, is the allusion to Tada Yakushi temple considered a utamakura, or a haimakura, or…? Would it have associative, allusive qualities to a reader of Issa’s time?
Thanks, Adam. Good question.
From searches:
—The verse was written in the 2nd month (mid‐April) of 1817, some three months after the death of Issa’s friend/patron Natsume Seibi. It’s recorded in his diary. The poem is thought possibly to be a requiem or reflection on Seibi’s hermitage near the temple, rather than the hokku of a renga (unless someone has a ref to a renga?). The “you” would seem hard to link into a renga? Lanoue doesn’t treat this verse any differently from the thousands of other verses of Issa that he has translated. From Ueda’s “Dew on the Grass” it seems clear that the bulk of the verses in Issa’s published works were freestanding verses.
—Local biographical site pages about Issa’s Tokyo-area connections identify Tada Yakushi and a small hermitage (Seibi’s) next to it where Issa attended gatherings; his diary entries record memorial services and other visits tied to that place. “Tada” in Edo and the shrine/temple sites connected with that name, and its grove, are documented in e.g., Tada Shrine history and related pages about Tada Yakushi remains.
—The circumstances (and several references by him) suggests that this place had a strong associations for Issa, and for his and other circles of haiku poets at the time. Renga sessions were held chez Seibi. But I don’t have evidence that this Tada is a classic utamakura well known in the literature. It’s apparently not in any canonical list. We could say that Tada is ‘utamakura-like’
That’s the best I can do at this distance. David Lanoue would know much more.
It’s been quite a bit of work over the past few years to piece together bit by bit. I am quite likely to be missing a few bits …
Verses this coming week are essentially a single theme and usually can be expressed as a single continuous sentence, although some have two elements in them. This one has a cutting-word that comes at the end of the sentence.
君なくて誠に多太の木立哉 kimi nakute makoto ni tada no kodachi kana — Issa
君 kimi you (an affectionate “you”) なくて nakute without / not having 誠に makoto ni truly / indeed 多太 tada: Tada, a temple; plus a play or double meaning in that its homophone tada (ただ) means ‘merely’ or ‘ordinary’ の no: possessive particle “of” 木立 kodachi grove / copse of trees 哉 kana an exclamatory ending, a cutting-word here expressing realisation and a sigh
A haiku to be read aloud. The nub of this seems to be a gentle play on (1) Tada (多太), a temple (Tada Yakushi) that Issa had often visited with his now deceased friend Natsume Seibi, whose hermitage, where they had renga sessions , was near the temple; and (2) its homophone “tada” (ただ) meaning “merely, ordinary”. It’s not easy to convey both in an English rendering. This poses a translation problem. The poem names a real place in the writing, while simultaneously invoking “merely, just a” through the sound of it. Emotional resonance embodied in a placename.
Literal: without you truly Tada’s grove…(-ah!…) Interpretation trying to include the homophone “tada”: without you in truth Tada’s grove is just a grove (-ah!…) or in plain English: Truly the grove at Tada’s just a bunch of trees without you…
Or: omitting the place name, even though it is an evocative place central to Issa’s associations:
without you— the grove is just a grove — tr. Lanoue.
This focuses on the meaning that is more universally relatable and highlights the emotional force of the verse. It leaves out the ‘makoto’ in the original, the sincerity that Issa feels, and which amplifies the subsequent heard ‘tada’: ‘only’ an everyday grove, just a bunch of trees. A compromise.
In Issa’s verse there’s no formal cut until “kana.” If you like, you could in English insert a comma after “without you” to give a semantic pause before a smooth shift. This verse has, in essence, a 二句一章 (nikku ichishō) pattern: two semantic units but remaining grammatically continuous as one sentence, one integrated whole, with a perceived shift in perspective.
There is no contrasting juxtaposition of two images. Although I guess you could say that in the reader’s mind there is an echo of the grove “with you” to compare with the grove “without you.” The verse builds towards a single ending; an awareness, a sigh, an exhalation. It doesn’t seal the verse; it releases it. It prompts a reader or listener to return and contemplate.
The sentence renders as a single statement, that doesn’t leave space for ambiguities in the reader’s mind. But not an assertive one; it’s about how Issa really feels, not telling the reader how to feel. The verse leaves the sense of absence. Many a reader might mentally insert some other place, some other dear friend of their own. Laconic, detached, outwardly restrained—yet how emotionally weighted it is! And though full of heart, and by no means comic, it nevertheless has Issa’s gentle ironic good humour. —–
Other versions:
Without you, in truth Too many and too wide Are the groves. —tr. Blyth Blyth is said to have read 多太 (Tada) as the adjective 多大 (tadai, “very great”). The dictionary does give among meanings for 多 “many, frequent, much;” and for 太 as “plump, thick, big around”
DeepL: How desolate this grove of Tada trees is without you How truly vast is this grove without you How truly desolate is this grove without you Without you, truly, what a desolate grove
Issa does have another similar verse: 君なくて誠に多太の桜哉 kimi nakute makoto ni tada no sakura kana (with the same 多太 for Tada / tada)
without you– the cherry blossoms just blossoms —tr. Lanoue
Lanoue presents the verse for anglophone haiku readers with the em-dash as being cut after ‘without you’.
Googling place names in England with a double meaning, or a homophone meaning, is fun if you want five minutes distraction. From Nonsuch Palace (a King Henry VIII extravagance demolished two centuries later … think Ozymandias…) to the village of Wyre Piddle that carries special meaning for those afflicted with prostatitis. But no haiku.
I love the series! Couple questions on this Issa work. Was this originally a hokku beginning a renku, or an interior verse (hiraku?) of a renku? The culminating kana clues in as a hokku, but the sentence-like quality gestures toward hiraku.
Also, is the allusion to Tada Yakushi temple considered a utamakura, or a haimakura, or…? Would it have associative, allusive qualities to a reader of Issa’s time?
Thanks, Adam. Good question.
From searches:
—The verse was written in the 2nd month (mid‐April) of 1817, some three months after the death of Issa’s friend/patron Natsume Seibi. It’s recorded in his diary. The poem is thought possibly to be a requiem or reflection on Seibi’s hermitage near the temple, rather than the hokku of a renga (unless someone has a ref to a renga?). The “you” would seem hard to link into a renga? Lanoue doesn’t treat this verse any differently from the thousands of other verses of Issa that he has translated. From Ueda’s “Dew on the Grass” it seems clear that the bulk of the verses in Issa’s published works were freestanding verses.
—Local biographical site pages about Issa’s Tokyo-area connections identify Tada Yakushi and a small hermitage (Seibi’s) next to it where Issa attended gatherings; his diary entries record memorial services and other visits tied to that place. “Tada” in Edo and the shrine/temple sites connected with that name, and its grove, are documented in e.g., Tada Shrine history and related pages about Tada Yakushi remains.
—The circumstances (and several references by him) suggests that this place had a strong associations for Issa, and for his and other circles of haiku poets at the time. Renga sessions were held chez Seibi. But I don’t have evidence that this Tada is a classic utamakura well known in the literature. It’s apparently not in any canonical list. We could say that Tada is ‘utamakura-like’
That’s the best I can do at this distance. David Lanoue would know much more.
It’s been quite a bit of work over the past few years to piece together bit by bit. I am quite likely to be missing a few bits …
Verses this coming week are essentially a single theme and usually can be expressed as a single continuous sentence, although some have two elements in them. This one has a cutting-word that comes at the end of the sentence.
君なくて誠に多太の木立哉
kimi nakute makoto ni tada no kodachi kana
— Issa
君 kimi you (an affectionate “you”)
なくて nakute without / not having
誠に makoto ni truly / indeed
多太 tada: Tada, a temple; plus a play or double meaning in that its homophone tada (ただ) means ‘merely’ or ‘ordinary’
の no: possessive particle “of”
木立 kodachi grove / copse of trees
哉 kana an exclamatory ending, a cutting-word here expressing realisation and a sigh
A haiku to be read aloud. The nub of this seems to be a gentle play on (1) Tada (多太), a temple (Tada Yakushi) that Issa had often visited with his now deceased friend Natsume Seibi, whose hermitage, where they had renga sessions , was near the temple; and (2) its homophone “tada” (ただ) meaning “merely, ordinary”. It’s not easy to convey both in an English rendering. This poses a translation problem. The poem names a real place in the writing, while simultaneously invoking “merely, just a” through the sound of it. Emotional resonance embodied in a placename.
Literal:
without you truly Tada’s grove…(-ah!…)
Interpretation trying to include the homophone “tada”:
without you in truth Tada’s grove is just a grove (-ah!…)
or in plain English:
Truly the grove at Tada’s just a bunch of trees without you…
Or: omitting the place name, even though it is an evocative place central to Issa’s associations:
without you—
the grove
is just a grove
— tr. Lanoue.
This focuses on the meaning that is more universally relatable and highlights the emotional force of the verse. It leaves out the ‘makoto’ in the original, the sincerity that Issa feels, and which amplifies the subsequent heard ‘tada’: ‘only’ an everyday grove, just a bunch of trees. A compromise.
In Issa’s verse there’s no formal cut until “kana.” If you like, you could in English insert a comma after “without you” to give a semantic pause before a smooth shift. This verse has, in essence, a 二句一章 (nikku ichishō) pattern: two semantic units but remaining grammatically continuous as one sentence, one integrated whole, with a perceived shift in perspective.
There is no contrasting juxtaposition of two images. Although I guess you could say that in the reader’s mind there is an echo of the grove “with you” to compare with the grove “without you.” The verse builds towards a single ending; an awareness, a sigh, an exhalation. It doesn’t seal the verse; it releases it. It prompts a reader or listener to return and contemplate.
The sentence renders as a single statement, that doesn’t leave space for ambiguities in the reader’s mind. But not an assertive one; it’s about how Issa really feels, not telling the reader how to feel. The verse leaves the sense of absence. Many a reader might mentally insert some other place, some other dear friend of their own. Laconic, detached, outwardly restrained—yet how emotionally weighted it is! And though full of heart, and by no means comic, it nevertheless has Issa’s gentle ironic good humour.
—–
Other versions:
Without you, in truth
Too many and too wide
Are the groves.
—tr. Blyth
Blyth is said to have read 多太 (Tada) as the adjective 多大 (tadai, “very great”). The dictionary does give among meanings for 多 “many, frequent, much;” and for 太 as “plump, thick, big around”
DeepL:
How desolate this grove of Tada trees is without you
How truly vast is this grove without you
How truly desolate is this grove without you
Without you, truly, what a desolate grove
Issa does have another similar verse:
君なくて誠に多太の桜哉
kimi nakute makoto ni tada no sakura kana
(with the same 多太 for Tada / tada)
without you–
the cherry blossoms
just blossoms
—tr. Lanoue
Lanoue presents the verse for anglophone haiku readers with the em-dash as being cut after ‘without you’.
Googling place names in England with a double meaning, or a homophone meaning, is fun if you want five minutes distraction. From Nonsuch Palace (a King Henry VIII extravagance demolished two centuries later … think Ozymandias…) to the village of Wyre Piddle that carries special meaning for those afflicted with prostatitis. But no haiku.