Oshioyama kami no shirushi o matsu no ha ni chigirishi iro wa kaeru mono ka wa - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

小塩山神のしるしを松の葉に
契りし色はかへるものかは

Roma-ji: Oshioyama kami no shirushi o matsu no ha ni chigirishi iro wa kaeru mono ka wa
English Translation: On Mount Oshio
the god's sign of blessing
in the pine's green leaves—
the color pledged there, could it
ever change? No, never.
Meaning: On Mount Oshio the god pledged the sign of blessing to the needles of the pine—could that pledged color ever change? Never.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1900

Headnote: "On the scene of Mount Oshio painted on a sliding panel of the Saishō Shitennō-in."
This is the second of two poems on Mount Oshio at Ōharano. Could the color the god of Mount Oshio pledged to the pine needles as the sign of blessing ever change? According to the headnote, it accompanied a painting of Mount Oshio on a sliding panel of the Saishō Shitennō-in. The evergreen color of the pine carries the god's unchanging protection.
The author, "Saki no Daisōjō Jien," the former Archbishop, was a son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi and a younger brother of Kujō Kanezane. He served four times as head of the Tendai school and wrote the history Gukanshō.
The Saishō Shitennō-in was a hall built by Retired Emperor Go-Toba at Shirakawa in Kyoto; famous places of the provinces were painted on its sliding panels, and poets composed a poem for each place.
The fourth line in the main text reads "chigirishi iro wa," which does not match "chigirishi haru wa" in the reading line. The main text is followed here.

The first line, "Oshioyama," is the mountain behind the Ōharano Shrine. It takes up "Oshio no yama" in the preceding poem.
The second line, "kami no shirushi o," means "the god's sign of blessing."
The third line, "matsu no ha ni," means "to the needles of the evergreen pine."
The fourth line, "chigirishi iro wa," means "the color that was pledged." The pine's unchanging green is likened to the constancy of the god's pledge.
The last line, "kaeru mono ka wa," means "could it ever change? No, never," a rhetorical question with the particle "ka wa." Where the preceding poem regretted falling crimson leaves, this one tells of a pine that never changes color, so that fading leaves and evergreen pine form a pair.
Author: Jien
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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