夏の夜は

まだ宵ながら

明けぬるを

雲のいづこに

月やどるらむ 

Hokusai

きよはらのふかやぶ

なつのよは

まだよひながら

あけぬるを

くものいずこに

つきやどるらん

Kiyohara no Fukayabu

On this summer night

With the evening still young

Though the dawn seems nigh,

Where among the clouds

Is the moon then dwelling?

Kiyohara no Fukayabu (dates unknown), is the grandfather of Kiyowara no Motosuke (poem 42) and the great-grandfather of Sei Shonagon (poem 62). The Kokinshu has 17 of his poems.

作者略伝と語釈

In the woodcut the boat on the left - like the smaller one on the right - is a floating restaurant or geisha house on the Sumida river in Edo, and appears to have been an existing boat, the ‘Shimpan Kawa-ichi Maru’ (Newly Issued First River Boat). In the small boat in front men are preparing food and washing dishes.

Is it the light on the boats that is making the night seem bright? Not likely, as all lamp light tends to increase the contrast between light and dark. Or is it the full moon around summer solstice (solstice moon) which seems to us larger than usual and appears very low on the horizon, so that even hidden behind clouds it shines with a much brighter glow, as the lamp on the boat glows from behind a shade? The solstice moon could simply be hidden behind a hill, eliciting the question where it is among the clouds (not being high up there), especially as seen from the low surface of a river. In summer the moon remains low in the sky. The dark period of the night would sure be short. Hokusai’s print may be the result of this experience and his interpretation of this poem.

Solstice moon