Kikusha wrote some very interesting works: poems in Chinese that were followed with a hokku, in the style of
Manyôshû chôka (long courtly-style verse) that were concluded with
hanka ("envoy" verses).
I am not sure this is right. I've followed the interpretation in Isobe Masaru's 磯辺勝
Edo haiga kikō: Buson no hanami, Issa no shōgatsu 江戶俳画紀行 - 蕪村の花見、一茶の正月 (央公論新社, 2008).
題髑髏図
借問誰家子
紅顔墜露前
懐余這箇物
風動薄茅辺
花の骨ながら犬さへ喰へぬかな
Topic: Skull Picture
May I ask, what family’s child was this?
Still young, fallen frail as the dew.
I ponder on these things that remain
Wayside weeds and grasses, blown by the wind.
withered miscanthus may be called “flower bones”
but they are not
for dogs to gnaw
The picture comes from the
Kikusha Commemoration Society's site.
