かささぎの

渡せる橋に

置く霜の

白きを見れば

夜ぞふけにける

ちゅうなごんやかもち

かささぎの

わたせるはしに

おくしもの

しろきをみれば

よぞふけにける

Chunagon Yakamochi

When I see that bridge

Spanned by flights of magpies

In my feeling making it

As white as hoar-frost,

Then the night is at its end. 

Hokusai

Chunagon Yakamochi, or Otomo no Yakamochi (c. 718 - 785). He is said to have been the final editor of the Manyoshu, and he belongs to the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Chunagon means counsellor.

作者略伝と語釈

Two men on a junk are watching a flight of magpies, referring to the’Magpies' Bridge’, a bridge or stairway in the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, mentioned in the poem, but which is also a metaphor for the Milky Way in a legend coming from China, where the magpie is a symbol of happiness.

“There was a bridge or passageway in the Imperial Palace at Kyoto called the Magpies’ Bridge, but there is also an allusion here to the old legend about the Weaver and the Herdsman. It is said, that the Weaver (the star Vega) was a maiden, who dwelt on one side of the River of the Milky Way, and who was employed in making clothes for the Gods. But one day the Sun took pity upon her, and gave her in marriage to the Herdboy (the star Aquila*), who lived on the other side of the river. But as the result of this was that the supply of clothes fell short, she was only permitted to visit her husband once a year, viz. on the seventh night of the seventh month; and on this night, it is said, the magpies in a dense flock form a bridge for her across the river. The hoar frost forms just before day breaks.”

(A Hundred Verses from Old Japan, William Porter)

(* actually it is the star Altair in the constellation Aquila)

The Tanabata festival celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) and is still held (in  summer) in many places in Japan and streets are decorated with colourful streamers.

The name of the festival, 七夕 (the night of sevens) is pronounced tanabata in Japan and qi xi in China.

Hokusai shows us Chinese boats, referring to the Chinese origin of the legend.

Tanabata

The Milky Way between Altair and Vega