Don't Forget: Our New Shadowing with Yumi Video Series!
It's free but Makoto+ members can download bonus content here. Shadow (repeat immediately after or say with Yumi) 49 useful phrases for the morning. Improve your pronunciation, listening, and vocabulary all at once. More coming soon...
And now, today's Sunday Haiku:
Today's haiku is by 小林 一茶【こばやし いっさ】.
Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) is considered to be one of the four great masters of haiku in addition to Basho, Buson, and Shiki. He rivals Basho in popularity. He wrote over 20,000 haiku. issa means "one (cup of) tea."
Makoto+ Shogun or Lifetime members, click here for today's haiku with sound and almost 100 other haiku lessons. (Not yet a member, let's fix that!)
Haiku lesson
Let's get right to it.
雪とけて 村いっぱいの こどもかな。
VOCABULARY
- 雪 snow
- とけて melted and [the snow has thawed; if the haiku only had 雪, the season would be winter, but since the snow has thawed, the season is spring. The thawing further makes us feel a release from the inconvenience of snow.]
- 村 village
- いっぱいの full of (children)
- こども children
- かな how; alas; what!
The snow has melted away. During the winter, the heavy snow made it difficult to be outside, but now the children can play with glee. The village, it seems, is filled with children in place of the snow.
The cold and silent snow is replaced with the warm and loud shouts of playing children.
If you are a Makoto+ Shogun or lifetime member, click here to see this lesson with audio. [Sorry, the Samurai level doesn't have access to past haiku lessons.]
