Mount Fuji seen from Goten-yama to Shinagawa on the Road of Tokaido. Month of March. (Revised Version).

I do not understand this picture.
Have two monks flown in on their crimson carpet
Over the pale blue sea and wooden roof tops
From distant snow capped Fuji,
Or are they simply taking their ease on the yellow hump of a hill
And are unaware of their extraordinary surroundings?
And who are these people strolling along the coast road
That leads from Goten - yama to Shinagawa,
Those small stockaded towns sketched with simple brush strokes
Under a misty patina of vernal woodlands?
Are they ordinary country folk trudging to the market,
Or is there some joyous festival in an unseen Shinto temple
Lost among the hills?
The women appear to be dressed in their finest attire
Whatever the burdens they carry on aching shoulders,
But the fat bald man leaning clumsily from his veranda
Seems to have staggered straight out of bed,
And the tall young woman he appears to be addressing
Shows only a polite interest in his words.
I do not think the bald man has much love for heavy work,
Or Zen Buddhists or the ancient Shinto religion,
I suspect that a comfortable life is all he has time for,
That and no trouble from the local Daimyo.

I look a little closer into the picture.

Perhaps the fat man`s house is a sleazy inn,
And the two old monks are not really monks at all,
Just a couple of codgers enjoying the springtime weather
While the young folk wander by on their daily errands.
I think the artist must have been in a holiday mood
When he chose his palate to create this delightful picture,
A picture I could keep displayed on my kitchen door
For a year and a day, not just the month of March.
But it is the pink candyfloss blossoms on tall skeletal trees
That first caught my attention,
Dazzling my tired eyes with a scintillating riot of colour
As I lazily turned the page.
Is such frivolity suitable for the treacherous Month of March?
Well yes, now is the time to dream the death of winter.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter.
March 9th. - 18th. - 24th. - 25th.2019.
March 7th. 2020.
The Hokusai illustration for March from my Japanese Calendar.