Today we move on to Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827). Of the four great Japanese haijin, much as I respect Basho and Buson and admire Shiki, I enjoy Issa. He is the most easily understood of the four, and the most human.
As you will see in the biographical sketch, Issa had his share of misery and more. His mother died when he was a baby and Henderson tells us his stepmother was “of the fairy-tale variety.” When his father died, his stepmother and half brother kept him from his inheritance for thirteen years. Later, his wife of ten years and all five of their children died. He remarried and divorced. He suffered a stroke and lost his ability to speak for a time. He remarried again, and his only surviving child was born after his death.