Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

[text and poems] Kamo naku* ya (translates to) A duck calls softly; kaze fukishiwamu* (translates to) a breeze starts ripples moving mizu no omo (translates to) over the water (trans. Marks in Bogel) The Amsterdam cat. below remarks that the cat. of Museo Chiossone (1978, cat. no. 5) says that the poem is a haiku by Sugisaka Hyakumei (b. 1784).* Bogel transcribes the word as "naki" however "naku" is preferable. The word fukishimu is close to the word fukishiwamu which means to play the flute quietly or intently. A synthesis of more literal translations, such as that provided in the Amsterdam cat., can read:A duck cries- the blustering wind ripples the surface of the waterThe Japanese links the "crinkling" or "rippling" to the wind, perhaps to give the sense of the wind blowing this way and that, stirring the water in the process, rather than the sense of blowing onto the wind in one direction to cause the rippling. "Softly" does not appear in Japanese as it does in the Marks translation; the duck's call is evocative of the chill and loneliness although Marks points out that the Japanese does not find the duck's call abrasive. Kamo, duck, is a season word (kigo) of autumn.* transliteration changed from that given by Marks in Bogel

Signature: Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Artist's seal | Fukuju