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?
- Meaning
- On the evergreen mountain where leaves never turn, must it be through the sound of the wind that autumn is known?
- Commentary
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Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed when an autumn poetry contest was held.
Though autumn is usually marked by the changing colors of leaves, on Mount Tokiwa—whose name suggests evergreen constancy—the season cannot be seen. Instead, the poet imagines that autumn is perceived only through the sound of the wind.
- Author
- Ki no Yoshimochi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- in the godless month though the drizzling rains have yet to fall from the sky, already the sacred grove of Kannabi shifts its hues.