Matsu ni hau masa no ha kazura chirinikeri toyama no aki wa kaze susaburan

English Translation

The creeping vines that
climb along the pine trees have
shed their leaves and gone;
in the autumn of near hills
must the wind be raging now?

Meaning

The vines climbing the pines have shed their leaves; in the autumn of the nearby hills, the wind must be raging.

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems II 538

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the sixteenth poem of the autumn-leaves sequence. Seeing that the leaves of the vine climbing the pine have fallen, the poet infers that the wind must be raging in the autumn of the nearby hills. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author's lay name was Satō Norikiyo; a guardsman of the North Office under Retired Emperor Toba, he took vows at twenty-three and traveled the provinces composing poems. His personal collection is the Sankashū.
The scene is late autumn as leaves fall, on the low hills near a village.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "matsu ni hau," means "creeping up the pine," showing a vine twined around the evergreen pine.
The second line, "masa no ha kazura," is a climbing vine whose leaves color and fall in autumn.
In the third line, "ni" is the continuative of the perfective "nu" and "keri" exclamatory, expressing the realization that the vine's leaves have fallen. The poem breaks here.
In the fourth line, "toyama" are the hills near a village, as opposed to the deep mountains.
In the last line, "susabu" means to rage unchecked, and "ran" is the conclusive of the conjectural "ramu." The pine, which never changes, remains; only the vine's leaves have fallen, and from this the poet infers the violence of the autumn wind on the hills. Where 536 imagined even evergreens shifting into autumn color, here the pine stays unchanged while only the vine twined on it scatters, viewing the relation of evergreen and autumn leaves from another angle.

Author

Saigyō

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other