Kaminabi no mimuro no kozue ika naran nabete no yama mo shigure suru koro

English Translation

The treetops that crown
Kaminabi's Mimuro—
how must they look now,
when common hills everywhere
are touched by passing showers?

Meaning

How must the treetops of Mimuro in Kaminabi look now, when even the ordinary hills everywhere are swept by autumn showers?

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems II 525

Headnote: "Composed as an autumn poem."
This is the third poem of the autumn-leaves sequence. Since even ordinary hills are swept by showers now, the poet wonders how splendid the treetops of Mimuro in Kaminabi, famed for autumn leaves, must be. According to the headnote, it was composed as an autumn poem.
The author was a lady-in-waiting and poet in the service of Princess Akiko, Hachijō-in, a daughter of Emperor Toba.
The scene is autumn with passing showers, among the hills near the author and at distant Mimuro in Kaminabi, a poetic place in Yamato Province famed for autumn leaves.
The direct occasion was composing an autumn poem, though the setting and year are not recorded.

In the first line, "kaminabi" means a place where a deity dwells, here the area of Mount Mimuro in Yamato.
The second line, "mimuro no kozue," is the treetops of Mount Mimuro, calling to mind the trees of that famed spot.
In the third line, "ran" is the conclusive of the conjectural "ramu": "how must they be?"—guessing at an unseen place. The poem breaks here.
In the fourth line, "nabete" means ordinary, and "mo" implies "even hills that are not famous."
The last line, "shigure suru koro," means "the season of showers," giving by inversion the grounds for the conjecture. Drawing on the notion that showers dye the leaves, the poet reasons that if ordinary hills color in the showers, famed Mimuro must be splendid. The next poem, 526, also sings of showers, and 527 counters the notion that showers redden the leaves by noting that pines stay green though wet with rain.

Author

Hachijoin no Takakura

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other