classic waka stream

雁がねの寒く鳴きしゆ水茎の
岡の葛葉は色づきにけり
Roma-ji

Karigane no samuku nakishi yu mizukuki no oka no kuzuha wa irozukinikeri

English Translation
Ever since the geese
cried so coldly overhead,
water-stalk, the hill—
on the hill the kudzu leaves
have turned color, as I see.
Meaning
Ever since the wild geese cried so coldly, the kudzu leaves on the hill have turned color.
Commentary
Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2208

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Autumn Leaves"
This poem sings of the kudzu leaves on the hill turning color since the geese cried so coldly. Taking the geese's arrival as a turning point of the season, it senses the deepening of autumn in the coloring of the kudzu leaves thereafter. Like 2193 it sings of "mizukuki no oka," and 2212 also begins "karigane no samuku nakishi yu," so the same upper lines recur.

The first line, "of the wild geese," names the birds.
In the second line, "samuku nakishi yu," "yu" marks the starting point: since they cried coldly.
The third line, "mizukuki no," is a pillow word attached to "hill."
The fourth line, "the kudzu leaves of the hill," names what turns.
In the last line, "irozukinikeri," "keri" expresses realization.
Source
Manyoshu
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