though grasses and trees
all change their hues with the season,
the wide sea remains—
in the blossoms of its waves
no sign of autumn is found.

Meaning

Though grasses and trees change their colors, in the blossoms of the sea’s waves there is no sign of autumn.

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)

Composed for a poetry contest at the residence of Prince Koretada.

While grasses and trees take on withered autumn colors, the sea remains unchanged throughout the year. The whitecaps are likened to blossoms, yet unlike flowers on land, they show no sign of autumn.

Comparing waves to flowers was a common poetic device of the time.

"Watatsumi" refers here to the sea itself.

Author

Funya no Asayasu

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

the village lies in ruin, its people grown old with years— is it such a place? both garden and its hedges seem but an autumn field now.
as soon as it blows forth the grasses and trees of autumn wither straight away— no wonder then that mountain winds are called by the name of storm.
on the evergreen mount where leaves never turn to crimson, must it be the wind whose sound alone tells of autumn as it passes ever on?
with mist rising high the wild geese cry as they pass— on Kataoka’s plain in the morning’s early light the leaves must now be turned red.

though grasses and trees all change their hues with the season, the wide sea remains— in the blossoms of its waves no sign of autumn is found.

though grasses and trees
all change their hues with the season,
the wide sea remains—
in the blossoms of its waves
no sign of autumn is found.