Tatsutayama aki yuku hito no sode o mi yo kigi no kozue wa shigurezari keri

English Translation

On Mount Tatsuta,
see the sleeves of those who go
through autumn's hills;
it was not the passing showers
that dyed the treetops red.

Meaning

Look at the sleeves of those who cross Mount Tatsuta in autumn: it was not the autumn showers that dyed the treetops red.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 984

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the topic 'Traveling a mountain road in autumn' at a contest pairing Chinese poems with Japanese poems."
This is the fifth of a sequence of poems on dreams and sleeves on the road. Look at the sleeves of travelers crossing Mount Tatsuta in autumn, the speaker says; it was not the showers that dyed the treetops, but the travelers' tears, the sorrow of a road through the autumn leaves. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Traveling a mountain road in autumn" at a contest pairing Chinese and Japanese poems.
The author, Jien, was a son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi. He served four times as Tendai Abbot and wrote the history Gukanshō.
The scene is an autumn mountain crossing, at Mount Tatsuta in Yamato Province.
The direct occasion is composing on the topic "Traveling a mountain road in autumn" at a contest pairing Chinese poems with Japanese poems.

The first line, "tatsutayama," is a famous place in Yamato, sung of as a mountain renowned for autumn leaves.
The second line, "aki yuku hito no," means "of those who travel in autumn." It works the topic "Traveling a mountain road in autumn" directly into the poem.
The third line, "sode o mi yo," means "look at their sleeves." Closing in the imperative, the poem breaks after this third line. Following the preceding poem, a traveler's sleeve is sung of again.
The fourth line, "kigi no kozue wa," means "the treetops." It points to the reddened treetops of Mount Tatsuta.
The last line, "shigurezari keri," means "were not dyed by the showers after all." Autumn leaves were held to be colored by the cold showers, but here it is not the showers that dyed the treetops, rather the crimson tears that wet the travelers' sleeves, turning reason on the common belief. It closes with the realizing "keri." Following the preceding poem, which asks the tears about the moon on the sleeve, this poem shows sleeves dyed with tears, closing the poems on sleeves on the road.

Author

Jien

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other