By what way, I wonder,
did the autumn take itself
off and go from us,
when the shade of the crimson
leaves is so hard to pass by

Meaning

By what way did autumn take itself off, when the shade of the crimson leaves in this hill village is so hard to pass by?

Commentary

Part Three: Agemaki

　The third of the five, spoken by the Commander of the Gate Guards, another son of Yugiri. He praises the colour at Uji and says how hard it is to leave. The party went on in high spirits, while Niou alone was fretting at being unable to reach the sisters.

　"By what way did autumn go" personifies the season and asks, in the face of such beauty, by which road it can have left. Sugiushi is to find it hard to pass by, said of a place one is reluctant to leave. Keeping to the form of a poem in praise of a scene, it also sets off the frustration of Niou that follows.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Even the foot of the tree I saw once, that time, when the flowers were at their height—even that place is desolate in autumn
It is the cherry that brings it home to us all: blossom at its best and crimson leaf alike belong to a world that does not stay
On the wall of rock of a hill village where he I knew is no more, how long and constant of heart the creeping vine has spread out
Now that autumn ends and the loneliness increases at the foot of the tree, do not blow past and be gone, wind in the pines on the peak

By what way, I wonder, did the autumn take itself off and go from us, when the shade of the crimson leaves is so hard to pass by

By what way, I wonder,
did the autumn take itself
off and go from us,
when the shade of the crimson
leaves is so hard to pass by