From the day it blew,
the autumn wind began to stir—
since that time, never
is there a day I do not stand
by the banks of Heaven’s River.
- Meaning
- From the day the autumn wind first began to blow, there has not been a single day when I do not stand by the banks of the Heavenly River, waiting for you.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
This poem takes as its theme the Tanabata tale, in which Hikoboshi comes once a year to meet Orihime across the Heavenly River. It expresses the feelings of Orihime, who waits from the day the autumn wind begins to blow until the next Tanabata, nearly a full year.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- My beloved’s robe— its hem turned back by the wind; how strangely it blows, the first wind of autumn that comes upon us now.
- Only yesterday we planted the tender rice— yet before I knew, the rice leaves sway in the fields, and autumn winds begin to blow.
- By Heaven’s River, you who keep the ferry there— if he crosses once, then hide away the oar, I pray, and do not let him return.
- Across Heaven’s River with crimson leaves for a bridge— is it for this that the Weaver Maid waits for autumn above all seasons to meet?