Toshi goto ni kumoji madowanu karigane wa kokorozukara ya aki o shiruran - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年ごとに雲路まどはぬ雁がねは
心づからや秋を知るらん

Roma-ji: Toshi goto ni kumoji madowanu karigane wa kokorozukara ya aki o shiruran
English Translation: Year after year
never straying on cloud paths,
the wild geese come—
is it from their own hearts
that they know autumn has come
Meaning: Year after year the wild geese never lose their way along the paths of the clouds; do they know of their own hearts that autumn has come?
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 365

Headnote: "On hearing someone say the wild geese had come."
The poet wonders whether the wild geese, which every year come without losing their way along the paths of the clouds, know of their own accord, taught by no one, that autumn has come. It expresses wonder at geese that arrive without ever mistaking the season.
According to the headnote, it was composed on hearing someone say that the geese had arrived. Where in 358 of this book a person is told by the geese that autumn has come, this poem muses on the geese knowing autumn for themselves.
The poet, called "Mitsune," is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. He was one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū and served as a junior official of Kai and a senior clerk of Izumi, among other posts. Though of low rank, he was ranked alongside Ki no Tsurayuki and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. His "kokoro ate ni oraba ya oramu hatsushimo no" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

The first line, "Toshi goto ni," means "year after year."
The second line, "kumoji madowanu," means "never straying on the paths through the clouds."
The third line, "karigane wa," means "the wild geese."
In the fourth line, "kokorozukara" means "of their own hearts, of their own accord," and "ya" is an interrogative particle.
In the last line, "ran" is an auxiliary of conjecture forming a kakarimusubi pattern with "ya" in the fourth line: "do they know it is autumn?"
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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