Momijiba o sa koso arashi no harau rame kono yamamoto mo ame to furu nari

English Translation

The autumn leaves there—
surely the storm sweeps them off,
as its name would say;
here too at the mountain's foot
they fall as though they were rain

Meaning

Surely the storm is sweeping away the autumn leaves at Arashiyama, as its name suggests; here too, at the foot of this mountain, they fall like rain.

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems II 543

Headnote: "In reply to someone who, while I was staying some days at Minase around the Ninth Month, sent word that the autumn leaves of Arashiyama were falling along with their tears."
This is the twenty-first poem of the autumn-leaves sequence. To someone who wrote that Arashiyama's leaves were falling with their tears, the author replies that the storm must be sweeping the leaves there, and here too at the mountain's foot they fall like rain. According to the headnote, it is a reply sent while staying at Minase around the Ninth Month.
The author was a son of Fujiwara no Sanemune who later rose to Chancellor and founded the Saionji house.
The scene is around the Ninth Month, at Minase where the author was staying and near Arashiyama where the correspondent was. Minase in Settsu Province was the site of Retired Emperor Go-Toba's detached palace.
The direct occasion was a message from someone, received while the author was staying some days at Minase, saying that Arashiyama's leaves were falling along with their tears; this poem is the reply.

The first line takes up the Arashiyama leaves mentioned in the message and gives the object of "harau."
In the second line, "sa koso" means "surely" and is bound to "rame" in the third line. "Arashi" is a pivot word joining the place name Arashiyama with the "storm" that scatters leaves, taking up "the mountain of storms" in the message.
In the third line, "rame" is the realis of the conjectural "ramu," resolving "koso": "surely the storm is sweeping the leaves there," imagining the correspondent's place. The poem breaks here.
In the fourth line, "kono yamamoto" is the foot of the mountain at Minase where the author is, and "mo" means "here too, as there."
In the last line, "nari" is the auxiliary of inference from sound: the leaves can be heard falling like rain. Picking up the "tears" of the message, "falling like rain" also carries the sense that here too tears fall like rain. As a reply, it answers the correspondent's "mountain of storms," "autumn leaves," and "tears" with "arashi," "momijiba," and "rain." Like 528 it plays on the storm in Arashiyama, and like 529 it likens falling leaves to rain.

Author

Fujiwara no Kintsune

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other