Issa Kobayashi (1763-1828) was one of Japan’s great masters of Haiku.   Issa’s Ku are known for his humanity and love of weaker living things.  His Ku expressed frank emotions around his daily life, even though his life was a perpetual struggle, of his yarning for love, status and financial stability and the acceptance of society. He was a prolific author of Ku, said to have written over 20,000 in his lifetime.
Some of Ku by Issa (一茶の句)
やせ蛙負けるな一茶ここにあり
Skinny lil’ frog
Don’t be discouraged
Here I am to support you

雀の子そこどけそこどけお馬が通る
Hey Sparrow chicks
Move over, out of the way
Big horse is coming

（When he lost his only child）
露の世と知りながらさりながら
This dewdrop of the world
Is a dewdrop world, that I know
…and yet…. Yet….

Contribution Ku for Issa-Day from “House of Issa Haiku Contest”
一茶忌にみなきて鳴けよ夕蛙
Issa-ki ni mina kite nake-yo yu-kaeru

It’s the Issa-Day
you should gather and cry
all the frogs At dusk

句になればゴキブリも好き蠅も好き
Ku ni nareba gokiburi-mo suki Hae-mo suki

Should it be a Ku
Love the cockroaches
Even the flies