the Tatsuta River
weaves and spreads brocade—
in the godless month
with showers of passing rain
as warp and weft entwined
- Meaning
- The Tatsuta River weaves and spreads brocade, using the passing rains of the Tenth Month as warp and weft.
- Commentary
-
Book Six Winter Poems
The autumn leaves are likened to brocade. In earlier times, it was believed that dew or cold rain dyed the leaves red and yellow. Thus, the showers that fall from late autumn into early winter are imagined as the threads that weave this vivid fabric.
“Kaminazuki” refers to the Tenth Month.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- in the evening moonlight on Mount Ogura a deer cries— within its calling voice has autumn come to its end and faded away there
- had I known the way I would have gone to seek it— scattering maple leaves as offerings along the path autumn has already gone
- in a mountain village winter deepens the loneliness— for when I think on it no people come, and even the grasses wither away
- in the vast open sky the moonlight falls so pure— that the water below which held its shining image was the first of all to freeze