Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder in Japanese Calligraphy

蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder

蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら is a parent's sentence at dusk. The child is out at the game of catching dragonflies, and how far did he get today, I wonder. The Japanese has no my, no little, no son and no death; it stops where any parent stops, with the child not yet home. Since 1816 the line has been read as Chiyojo's verse for her dead child, and it is the verse Issa wrote her name under in the year his own daughter died. It is not in the two collections printed in her lifetime, and the Japanese references hold the story as legend. The grief is real, and the poem leaves it in the silence after the question. The English is Timothy L. Jackowski's, made for Takase Studios.

My little dragonfly hunter I wonder where he is off to today	tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara	蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら
Chiyojo	chiyojo	千代女

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder (蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder 蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara Vertical Cursive VC6B

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder (蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder 蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara Vertical Design VD6B

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder 蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara Vertical Design VD6C

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder (蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder 蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara Vertical Semi-Cursive VS6C

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder 蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara Vertical Semi-Cursive VS6D

More about 蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 蜻蛉釣り今日はどこまで行ったやら.

About the Designs

Each design is Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's hand-brushed calligraphy of the word or phrase on this page, delivered as a PDF you can print. Every PDF includes the line art, so a tattoo artist or a craftsperson can work from the outline as well as the brushed image.

Licensing

Your purchase includes a personal-use license: use the design as a tattoo reference, frame it, engrave it, print it for yourself, or make it into a gift. For more information see Licensing, which also covers commercial-use options that may be purchased separately.

Delivery

Your PDF is available for download the moment your order completes, and a copy is attached to your emailed receipt.

If you need your design again later, ask us for it and we will send it.

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder (tonbo-tsuri kyō wa doko made itta yara)

Haiku by Chiyojo on a traditional Japanese Scroll by Master Eri Takase.

View Scroll ›

Chiyojo - My little dragonfly hunter, where has he gone today, I wonder as a hand-brushed scroll

Master Takase personally brushes your scroll when you order, and it bears her red seal and her signature. The scroll has real silk borders and layered Japanese paper, so it hangs straight, and it arrives ready to display.