Tatsutayama arashi ya mine ni yowaruran wataranu mizu mo nishiki taekeri

English Translation

On Mount Tatsuta
has the storm grown weak upon
the summit's high peak?
though no one crosses the stream
its brocade has broken off

Meaning

On Mount Tatsuta, has the storm grown weak upon the peak? Though no one has crossed the river, its brocade of leaves has broken off.

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems II 530

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the eighth poem of the autumn-leaves sequence. Perhaps the storm on Mount Tatsuta has weakened at the peak, for the brocade of leaves on the river has broken off though no one has crossed it. The headnote, continued from the preceding poem, gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author was a daughter of Minamoto no Moromitsu and a lady-in-waiting and poet in the service of Retired Emperor Go-Toba. Recognized young for her talent, she was active in the retired emperor's poetic circle, but died early.
The scene is late autumn as the leaves fall, at Mount Tatsuta and the river flowing at its foot.
The direct occasion is not recorded.
It takes as its source an anonymous poem in the second book of autumn poems of the Kokinshū: "Autumn leaves flow in disarray on the Tatsuta River; if I cross, the brocade will break in the middle."

The first line, "Tatsutayama," is the famed place of autumn leaves, set as the mountain above the Tatsuta River of the source poem.
In the second line, the interrogative "ya" is bound to "ran" in the third line.
In the third line, "ran," the attributive of the conjectural "ramu," guesses at an unseen place: "has the storm weakened on the peak?" The poem breaks here.
The fourth line, "wataranu mizu mo," means "even water no one has crossed," reversing the source's "if I cross."
In the last line, "nishiki" likens the leaves flowing on the river to brocade, and "keri" is exclamatory. Where the source said the brocade would break if someone crossed, this allusive variation says it has broken though no one crossed, attributing the cause to the storm weakening at the peak so that leaves no longer fall. The unseen storm is inferred from the break in the leaves on the water. Taking up the pairing of storm and leaves in 528, it pairs with 532, which infers instead that a storm is blowing because even the river's waves are dyed, contrasting a storm's weakening and its blowing.

Author

Kunaikyo

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other