Aki no no ni midarete sakeru hana no iro no chigusa ni mono o omou koro kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の野に乱れて咲ける花の色の
千草に物を思ふころかな

Roma-ji: Aki no no ni midarete sakeru hana no iro no chigusa ni mono o omou koro kana
English Translation: Like the many hues
of the flowers that bloom in
the autumn fields in disarray,
in a thousand ways I brood
through these days of longing.
Meaning: Like the many colors of the flowers blooming wildly in the autumn fields, my thoughts of love are scattered in a thousand ways these days.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 583

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that, just as the flowers blooming in disarray in the autumn fields come in many colors, he too is troubled by love in a thousand ways. The splendid scene of the autumn fields in the upper verse serves as a preface, and the heart disordered by love is overlaid on the many-colored flowers. The beauty of the scene and the disorder of the heart resonate in contrast. Around this point in the book, poems that bring in autumn images follow one after another.
Ki no Tsurayuki was a poet of the early Heian period, the son of Ki no Mochiyuki. He was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū and wrote its Japanese preface. He served as Governor of Tosa and is also known as the author of the Tosa Diary. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "aki no no ni": a field where autumn flowers bloom.
Second line, "midarete sakeru": keru is the attributive of the continuative auxiliary ri, "blooming in disarray." Midare also suggests a heart disordered by love.
Third line, "hana no iro no": the first three lines form a preface, leading from the variety of flower colors to chigusa in the fourth line. The line has six syllables, one more than the norm.
Fourth line, "chigusa ni mono o": chigusa means many kinds of grasses, variety, here "in many ways."
Fifth line, "omou koro kana": mono o omou is to brood over love, and kana is exclamatory. Like "mono omou koro ni mo aru kana" in 566 of this book, it closes with a sigh over days spent brooding.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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