<div class="description">
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 a comical disconnect between poem and image. The poem reads:<br><br><em>The wild hill pheasants<br>Drag their feet and drag their tails,<br>Splendid though they be,<br>Through this long, long weary night,<br>Like me, laying here alone. <br><br></em>Considered a god among poets, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (about 660–739) 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.</div>
<div class="fn value">
Katsushika Hokusai</div>
1835
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