since the very day
the autumn wind began to blow,
on Mount Otowa
even the treetops on the peak
have taken on autumn hues.
- Meaning
- Since the day the autumn wind began to blow, even the treetops on the peak of Mount Otowa have begun to change their colors.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed on a pilgrimage to Ishiyama Temple, upon seeing the autumn leaves of Mount Otowa along the way.
Hearing the sound of the wind and feeling autumn in it, the poet, seeing the colored leaves on Mount Otowa, deepens the sense that autumn has come. The “sound” (oto) of Mount Otowa is also associated with the sound of the blowing wind.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- in the god-haunted hills of Kannabi, the maple leaves— I shall not set my heart upon them, for they fade away and change their hues in time.
- though from the selfsame branch the leaves begin to change their hues— it is from the west that autumn first arrives, and thus the turning colors come to be.
- though white dew bears but a single hue—how is it that in autumn the leaves upon the trees are dyed into a thousand differing shades?
- though autumn night dew rests there as but dew alone— could it instead be the tears of passing wild geese that stain the fields with their hue?