秋の野の錦のごとも見ゆるかな
色なき露は染めじと思ふに
色なき露は染めじと思ふに
- Roma-ji
-
Aki no no no nishiki no goto mo miyuru kana iro naki tsuyu wa someji to omou ni
- English Translation
-
The autumn fields
look as though they were brocade,
and yet I believe
the dew that has no color
could never dye them so
- Meaning
- The autumn fields look like brocade, and yet I think the colorless dew could never have dyed them.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Autumn Poems III 369
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that the autumn fields look many-colored like brocade, though the colorless dew surely could not have dyed them. Drawing on the idea that dew is what colors the grasses, it wonders how colorless dew can give rise to color.
It shares its conception with Fujiwara no Toshiyuki's poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "shiratsuyu no iro wa hitotsu o ikani shite aki no konoha o chiji ni somuramu." Taking up "iro koto ni" from the preceding poem, it sings of the richness of color in the autumn fields.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Aki no no no," means "the autumn fields." The next poem also opens with "aki no no ni," singing of dew changing the color of the grasses.
The second line, "nishiki no goto mo," means "even like brocade," likening the many-colored grasses to brocade.
In the third line, "kana" is an exclamatory particle: "how they appear!" The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "iro naki tsuyu wa," means "the colorless dew."
In the last line, "ji" is the auxiliary of negative conjecture: "though I think it would not dye them."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Isonokami Furuno no kusa mo aki wa nao iro koto ni koso aratamarikere
- Next Poem
-
Aki no no ni ikanaru tsuyu no okitsumeba chiji no kusaba no iro kawaruran