たがための錦なればか秋霧の
佐保の山辺をたち隠すらむ
佐保の山辺をたち隠すらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Ta ga tame no nishiki nareba ka akigiri no
Saho no yamabe o tachikakusuramu - English Translation
-
for whose sake is it
this brocade, that autumn mist
should rise and veil it—
hiding from sight the mountain slopes
of Saho all in its embrace?
- Meaning
- For whose sake is it that the autumn mist rises and hides the slopes of Mount Saho, as if concealing a brocade?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed upon seeing mist rising over Mount Saho during a journey in the province of Yamato.
Wishing to behold the autumn leaves of Mount Saho, the poet instead finds them hidden by mist. He imagines that Saho-hime, the goddess of spring who presides over dyeing and weaving, has woven the leaves into a brocade and concealed it for someone. The autumn leaves are thus likened to a brocade woven by the goddess.
Mount Saho is located in present-day Nara.
- Author
- Ki no Tomonori
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- when rain falls upon Mount Kasatori, the leaves of autumn blaze bright— even the sleeves of those who pass are lit with their reflected glow.
- though not yet fallen, already they are to be regretted— these autumn leaves, for I behold their hues as those that are but for this single time.
- on Mount Saho, though the hahaso leaves are pale in hue, yet all the same autumn has grown ever deeper— so it has come to be.
- if well and firmly planted, will it not bloom again when autumn returns? though flowers may fall and scatter, how could the root itself wither?