もみぢばの流れざりせば竜田河
水の秋をば誰か知らまし
水の秋をば誰か知らまし
- Roma-ji
-
Momijiba no nagarezariseba Tatsutagawa
mizu no aki o ba tare ka shiramashi - English Translation
-
if the autumn leaves
had not flowed drifting along
the Tatsuta River—
who then would ever know
that autumn had reached its waters
- Meaning
- If the autumn leaves had not flowed along it, who would ever know that autumn had come to the waters of the Tatsuta River?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)
Composed at the banks of the Tatsuta River.
Though the water itself shows little change through the seasons, the flowing autumn leaves reveal that autumn has come even to the river.
- Author
- Sakanoue no Koreyuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- as autumn passes on beyond the sacred Kannabi mountain of the gods— upon the Tatsuta River it makes offerings of leaves
- upon the white waves autumn leaves drift and float— as I gaze at them they seem a fisher’s boat set adrift upon the sea
- on mountain streams the wind has cast a barrier— a woven fence of leaves; they cannot drift away, these autumn leaves caught fast
- when the wind blows forth the falling autumn leaves drop— the water so clear; even those yet unfallen are seen deep upon the bottom