あしびきの

山鳥の尾の

しだり尾の

長々し夜を

ひとりかも寝む

Hokusai

かきのもとのひとまろ

あしびきの

やまどりのおの

しだりおの

ながながしよお

ひとりかもねん

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

The walking trail

Of the copper pheasant's tail

Drooped like a hanging branch.

Through this long-dragging night

Must I sleep alone?

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (c. 662 - 710) was a poet and aristocrat of the late Asuka period under empress Jito (poem 2). His work was collected after his death. Later he was venerated as the saint of poetry. He was the most prominent of the poets included in the Manyoshu, 万葉集.

作者略伝と語釈

The male copper pheasant, Syrmaticus soemmeringii or Yamadori, has colours ranging from deep red to coppery purplish chestnut, and has a long tail.

Yamadori

Traditionally the long-tailed pheasant was thought to part from its mate at night, a belief we also find in The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.

On Hokusai’s woodcut fishermen are haling in a drag-net, referring to the hiki or biki (to drag) in the text (hikiami being a drag-net). Also nagashi has a fishing equivalent in nagashiami (drift-net). Hence probably Hokusai’s reference to fishing. The smouldering fire leaves a long trail.