Poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, from One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets Explained by an Old Nurse

百人一首　うはかゑとき　柿本人麻呂

1835–36

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎

(Japanese, 1760–1849)

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Medium

color woodblock print

Measurements

25.8 x 37.8 cm (10 3/16 x 14 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore 1930.190

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Location

Not on view

Description

Katsushika Hokusai designed this print series from the perspective of a confused nurse attempting to illustrate classical poetry but missing the subtle allusions. This interpretation creates what would have been considered a comical disconnect between poem and image. The poem, by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (about 660–739), reads as follows:

Must I sleep alone
through the long autumn nights,
long like the dragging tail
of the mountain pheasant
separated from his dove?

—translation by Joshua Mostow

Hitomaro wrote of an emotionally tiring night. The nurse thought instead of the physically exhausting work of fishermen dragging a net upstream. Smoke billows across the scene, directing our attention to a figure, perhaps the nurse, in the distant house.