Criticism
David Lanoue maintained in 2005 that 'our image of Issa is a consciously designed literary construct...earthy, compassionate, child-and-animal loving, unconcerned about appearances or public rituals or wordly power'. While not necessarily misleading, 'his carefully crafted self-portraits...transcend autobiography'.
It has been suggested that 'Issa is often very much like Thoreau'.
Read more about this topic: Kobayashi Issa