Aki no tsuyu wa utsushi ni arikeri mizudori no aoba no yama no irozuku mireba

秋の露は移しにありけり水鳥の
青葉の山の色づく見れば

Roma-ji: Aki no tsuyu wa utsushi ni arikeri mizudori no aoba no yama no irozuku mireba
English Translation: So the autumn dew
is the dye that stains the leaves,
like the waterfowl's hue,
the mountain green with leaves:
as I see it change its color
Meaning: So the autumn dew is a dye that stains the leaves; I see it now, as the mountain green with leaves turns to autumn colors.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1543

Headnote: "A poem by Prince Mihara"
Seeing the mountain once thick with green leaves change color, the poet realizes that autumn dew is the dye that stains the leaves. Based on the belief of the time that dew colored the leaves, the poem expresses the surprise of discovery.
The author, Prince Mihara, was a son of Prince Toneri and a member of the imperial family in the Nara period.

The first line, with an extra syllable, names the dew that settles on autumn plants.
In the second line, "utsushi" means something that transfers color, a dye; with the exclamatory "keri," it voices the surprise of realization, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "mizudori no," is a pillow word for "blue-green," from the color of a duck's feathers. 1451 of this book likewise lays the blue-green of "a waterfowl's, a wild duck's plumage" over the color of the mountains.
The fourth line names the mountain thick with green leaves.
The final line, "seeing it change color," gives by inversion the grounds for the realization of the second line.
Author: Prince Mihara
Source: Manyoshu
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