Poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, from One Hundred Poems by…
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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:<br> <br>Must I sleep alone <br>through the long autumn nights, <br>long like the dragging tail <br>of the mountain pheasant <br>separated from his dove? <br><br>—translation by Joshua Mostow<br> <br>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.
