also: くもかすみ
clouds and haze
Literal description of a landscape filled with clouds and mist; often used in poetic or literary descriptions.
The mountains were wrapped in clouds and haze.
Figurative use likening a large, dense crowd to clouds and haze; often appears in the set phrase 雲霞のごとく (like a swarm).
See also: 雲霞のごとく
like the wind; out of sight
Only with reading くもかすみ
Adverbial use with the reading くもかすみ, meaning to flee or disappear swiftly; derived from the image of vanishing into clouds and mist. Very rare and literary.
See also: 雲を霞と
The enemy army surged forward like a swarm.
He fled like the wind.
Standard kanji spelling for the reading うんか, used for both literal and figurative swarm senses.
Alternate reading used only in the adverbial sense 'like the wind'; rare and mostly found in classical or literary contexts.
Compound of 雲 (cloud) and 霞 (haze). The figurative sense of a swarm comes from the image of countless people moving like clouds and mist. The adverbial reading くもかすみ is the kun'yomi form of the same characters.