Kogarashi no kaze ni momijite hito shirezu uki koto no ha no tsumoru koro kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

木枯らしの風にもみぢて人知れず
憂きことの葉のつもる頃かな

Roma-ji: Kogarashi no kaze ni momijite hito shirezu uki koto no ha no tsumoru koro kana
English Translation: Tinged by the wind
of the withering gale, unknown
to anyone at all,
leaves of bitter words pile up
in these days that I live through.
Meaning: Like leaves turned red by the withering wind, bitter words pile up, unknown to anyone, in these days of mine.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1802

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On autumn rain."
A poem expressing brooding through an autumn scene. Like leaves that color and fall in the withering wind, bitter words pile up unknown to anyone in these days. In the scene of fallen leaves heaping up, she lays the bitter words she has received and the sorrows piling in her heart.
The author, "Ono no Komachi," was a poet of the early Heian period. She is counted among the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "kogarashi no," is the strong wind that strips the leaves from late autumn into winter.
The second line, "kaze ni momijite," means "coloring in the wind." The coloring of the leaves is overlaid with a heart that changes hue in sorrow.
The third line, "hito shirezu," means "unknown to others."
In the fourth line, "uki koto no ha no," "koto no ha" is a pivot word meaning both "words" and "leaves."
In the last line, "tsumoru koro kana," "kana" is exclamatory. Laying the heaping leaves over bitter words piling in the heart, it sings of late autumn, following the autumn rain of the preceding poem.
Author: Ono no Komachi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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