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.
- Meaning
- Though the color of the hahaso trees on Mount Saho is pale, autumn has nevertheless deepened.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed as an autumn poem.
“Hahaso” refers to oak trees such as konara or mizunara, whose leaves turn yellow in autumn. Compared with the red of maple leaves, their color appears faint. The poem contrasts the “paleness” of the leaves with the “depth” of autumn.
Mount Saho is located in present-day Nara.
The poet, Sakanoue no Korenori, was one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
- Author
- Sakanoue no Koreyuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- 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.
- 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?
- 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?
- in the lofty heights above the clouds where I behold these blooming chrysanthemums— they are mistaken, it would seem, for stars set in the heavens.