しらつゆも時雨もいたくもる山は
下葉のこらず色づきにけり
下葉のこらず色づきにけり
- Roma-ji
-
Shiratsuyu mo shigure mo itaku Moruyama wa
shitaba nokorazu irozukinikeri - English Translation
-
where white dew falls
and even showers pass through—
upon that mountain,
not a single lower leaf remains
but all are turned to autumn hues.
- Meaning
- On the mountain where not only white dew but even autumn showers pass through, even the lower leaves have all changed their colors without exception.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed near Mount Moru.
In those times, it was believed that dew and rain caused leaves to change color. Playing on the name “Moru” (to leak or pass through), the poem suggests that dew and rain seep down from the upper leaves to the lower ones, coloring them all. Thus, even the leaves below have turned without exception.
“Itaku” means “greatly” or “intensely.”
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- 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?
- because autumn dew settles in many differing ways, upon the hills the leaves upon the trees are turned into a thousand varied hues.
- though rain may fall and even dew should not pass through— on Mount Kasatori, how has it come to be, I wonder, that the leaves are dyed with autumn?
- within the sacred fence of the awe-inspiring gods, even the trailing kudzu cannot withstand the autumn— its leaves too have changed their hue.