苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then

This world of suffering; and if the cherry blooms, so it has bloomed.

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then (苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Vertical Block VB6C

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then (苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Vertical Cursive VC6B

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Vertical Cursive VC7B

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then (苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて) in Jiun style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Vertical Jiun VD5B

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Vertical Jiun VD5C

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Vertical Jiun VD5D

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then (苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote Vertical Semi-Cursive VS5C

More about 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて

苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて holds pain and beauty in a single breath. 娑婆 is the Buddhist word for this world, from the Sanskrit sahā, the land to be endured, and 苦の娑婆 was Kobayashi Issa's stock phrase for it. とて at the end is a shrug, even granting that. Both readings, the bitter and the accepting, sit inside that one particle, and the verse does not say which.

The English is R. H. Blyth's, from his Haiku, vol. 1 (1949), p. 177.

The verse is first written in Issa's verse journal for 1819, the 八番日記, among the verses of the tenth month and in a plainer form, and the cherry form on this scroll is the one he brushed over a seated figure he liked to draw as himself, on silk, signed 人も一茶.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとて.

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.

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Japanese Scroll of Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then (ku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote) — Calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then苦の娑婆や桜が咲けば咲いたとてku no shaba ya sakura ga sakeba saita tote

Original art by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

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Issa - A world of grief and pain, Flowers bloom, Even then 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 woven damask borders and layered Japanese paper. It is designed to last generations and arrives ready to display.