Haiku 27: The Cat's Child

Here is today's haiku:

猫の子にかして遊ばす手まり哉

And in romaji:

neko no ko ni kashite asobasu temari kana

And English: "A loan for the kitten to play with: New Year's handball."

This is another New Year's haiku by Issa. The hand-ball, te-mari, is a lovely little embroidered ball; you can see pictures of temari balls at Wikipedia. As that article explains, mothers make these embroidered balls for their children as New Year's gift, putting a secret good wish written on a slip of paper inside the ball. In this haiku, Issa has loaned a temari ball to a cat's-child, neko-no-ko, which is Japanese for "kitten."

temari balls

My vocabulary for today:

手
て
"hand"