Kingfisher and Hydrangea

Hiroshige had a remarkable ability to capture fleeting moments, almost as if viewing the world through a high-speed camera, freezing movement at its most dynamic instant. This work is a particularly striking example, capturing the split second when a kingfisher flying over hydrangeas is about to dive. The bird’s seemingly awkward, rigid pose paradoxically heightens the sense of movement, conveying the precise instant in which its motion is momentarily suspended. In contrast, the hydrangeas are rendered without detail or outlines, their simplified forms further accentuating the tension and immediacy of the moment.
The poem by Sakuma Nagatoshi (1686-1748) has been read and translated by John T. Carpenter as:
Ajisai ya
Mizu ni sakenedo
Mizukusashi
Hydrangeas-
Not blooming in water,
But waterly in feeling.