みかき守

衛士の焚く火の

夜は燃え

昼は消えつつ

物をこそ思へ  

おおなかとみのよしのぶあそん

みかきもり

えじのたくひの

よるはもえ

ひるはきえつつ

ものをこそおもえ

Onakatomi no Yoshinobu

Like the Guards’ fires

At the Imperial Gate,

Burning all night,

Extinguished at day,

That is how it feels to me. 

Hokusai

Onakatomi no Yoshinobu (921 - 991), also called Onakatomi no Yoshinobu Ason, was a middle Heian waka poet and nobleman. His granddaughter was the famous Lady Ise (poem 19). He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, who compiled the Gosenshu.

作者略伝と語釈

The attribution of this poem to Yoshinobu is disputed.

The controversy about the meaning centers around hiru ha kie. With kie as a contraction of kie-iru it is supposed to mean ‘to be overcome with grief’. Others think that the poet hides his love during the day, or that he then diverts himself otherwise.

On the woodcut the guards, early in the morning, are relaxing and the fire is going out, while the poet sits alone with a servant. Where is the woman he loves? The guards shown above, eji, are the carriage guards who accompany the emperor on his trips. So there may be a hidden meaning in Hokusai’s interpretation and/or the poem.