打ちつけに物ぞ悲しき木の葉散る
秋の初めを今日ぞと思へば
秋の初めを今日ぞと思へば
- Roma-ji
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Uchitsuke ni mono zo kanashiki ko no ha chiru aki no hajime o kyō zo to omoeba
- English Translation
-
All at once it is
that I am filled with sadness—
the leaves will scatter,
this beginning of autumn,
when I think that it is today
- Meaning
- All at once a sadness comes over me, when I think that today is the beginning of autumn, the season when the leaves fall.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems I 218
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that when he thinks today is the beginning of autumn, the season of falling leaves, a sudden sadness comes over him. Thinking ahead to the leaves that have not yet fallen, he feels sorrow in the season of autumn itself.
Following the preceding poem on the coolness of the wind on the first day of autumn, this poem turns to the sadness the heart feels on that same day.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Uchitsuke ni," means "all at once, abruptly." Like "niwaka ni mo" in the first line of the preceding poem, 217, it expresses a sudden sense of autumn's arrival.
The second line, "mono zo kanashiki," means "how sad it is," with the particle "zo" and the attributive "kanashiki" forming a kakarimusubi pattern. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "ko no ha chiru," means "where leaves fall," modifying the "autumn" that follows and presenting autumn as the season of falling leaves.
The fourth line, "aki no hajime o," means "the beginning of autumn," referring to the first day of the season.
The last line, "kyō zo to omoeba," means "when I think it is today," with "ba" giving a definite condition. Standing in inversion with the second line, it supplies the reason for the sadness afterward.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Niwaka ni mo kaze no suzushiku narinuru ka aki tatsu hi to wa mube mo iikeri
- Next Poem
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Tanomekoshi kimi wa tsurenashi akikaze wa kyō yori fukinu waga mi kanashi mo