Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers in Japanese Calligraphy

世の中は地獄の上の花見哉 yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers

This world is flower-viewing on the roof of hell.

In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers	yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana	世の中は地獄の上の花見哉
Issa	issa	一茶

世の中は地獄の上の花見哉 (yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana): this world is flower-viewing on the roof of hell. 世の中は sets up the human world as the subject of a definition; 地獄の上の is on top of hell, its roof or its lid; 花見 is the spring outing under the cherry trees, with food and drink; 哉 closes the definition as an exclamation. The Japanese has no we and no walk: it is a copula, and the poem is a sentence that defines us. Issa made it the hell verse of a six-realm set, and so gave hell a flower-viewing in this world. Japanese readers from 1908 to 1936 heard the Pure Land preacher in it, the world impermanent and damned and partying anyway; the critic Takayasu Gekkō in 1916 heard what keeps it from being only a sermon: in his tears there is laughter, in his laughter tears. The English follows R. H. Blyth's, from A History of Haiku of 1963.

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers (世の中は地獄の上の花見哉) in Block style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers 世の中は地獄の上の花見哉 yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana Vertical Block VB5C

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers (世の中は地獄の上の花見哉) in Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers 世の中は地獄の上の花見哉 yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana Vertical Cursive VC5B

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers (世の中は地獄の上の花見哉) in Design style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers 世の中は地獄の上の花見哉 yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana Vertical Design VD4B

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers (世の中は地獄の上の花見哉) in Semi-Cursive style Japanese calligraphy by Eri Takase

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers 世の中は地獄の上の花見哉 yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana Vertical Semi-Cursive VS3C

Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers 世の中は地獄の上の花見哉 yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana Vertical Semi-Cursive VS5C

More about 世の中は地獄の上の花見哉

Issa wrote the verse early in 1812 as the hell entry of a set on the six realms of rebirth, composed turn by turn with the priest-poet 鶴老, and entered it in his books 株番 and 七番日記, the diary placing it in the second month of that year (13 March to 11 April 1812).

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 世の中は地獄の上の花見哉.

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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Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers (yo no naka wa jigoku no ue no hanami kana)

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

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Issa - In this world of ours, We walk above hell, Gazing at flowers 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.