The waka poem by Fujiwara no Michinobu Ason, “Akenureba kururu mono to wa shirinagara, Nao urameshiki asaborake kana” (As day breaks and even though I know that night will fall again, still I feel so bitter about the light of dawn) is a poem composed on the sad feelings of parting between a man and woman on the morning after liaisons describing how, even when day breaks and he knows that night will come and they will meet again, he still dislikes the coming of dawn. The slope which the palanquin hurries down has been interpreted as Emonzaka which continues from Nihonzutsumi to the Great Gate of Yoshiwara, yet there is no sign of the “Mikaeri yanagi (Looking-back willow tree)” that should stand at the entrance. There were three ways to the Yoshiwara: the first was to take a boat from the Yanagibashi area, go up the Sumida river, alight at Sanyabori moat and go from there to Nihonzutsumi, the route for wealthy customers with the time and means. The second was to go around the back of Senso-ji Temple through Umamichi and come out onto Nihonzutsumi. However, the picture depicted here by Hokusai, from the wide scene in the distance of paddyfields and the footpaths crossing it, is likely to be the third route which cuts across the paddyfields near the Yoshiwara, the most economical way to get to the Yoshiwara. The palanquin bearers and all run alike, and as the red lantern suggests, they are hurrying along a dark road. It is said that head clerks and other males from merchant families in the prime of life would shut shop, finish the bookkeeping and then rush to the Yoshiwara to get there before closing time. They would be taken by palanquin to the courtesans they were acquainted with, and would return again the next morning before the hour for their shops to open. Despite being customers in a rush, for courtesans of the Yoshiwara these “Otana-mono” (tradesmen) were loyal and good customers. Taking the meaning from the poem, daybreak is near, men are also shown lifting their harvested produce on shouldering poles ready to set out to peddle.