Izure o ka wakite shinoban aki no no ni utsurowan tote iro kawaru kusa - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いづれをかわきてしのばん秋の野に
うつろはんとて色変はる草

Roma-ji: Izure o ka wakite shinoban aki no no ni utsurowan tote iro kawaru kusa
English Translation: Which one of them all
should I single out to love—
in the autumn fields,
on the point of fading now,
the grasses changing color
Meaning: Which of them should I single out to love—the grasses in the autumn fields that change their color as they begin to fade?
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 371

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet asks which of the grasses in the autumn fields, changing color as they begin to fade, should be singled out for love. Every grass is lovely in its changed color, and the heart cannot choose among them.
It closes the poems, beginning with 368, on the changing colors of the grasses of the autumn fields. Taking up "iro kawaruran" from the preceding poem, it sets the grasses that change color in its last line.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

In the first line, "ka" is an interrogative particle: "which of them."
In the second line, "wakite" means "especially," and "shinobu" means to admire: "should I especially love?" The "ka" of the first line and the attributive "n" form a kakarimusubi pattern, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "aki no no ni," means "in the autumn fields," the same words as the first line of 370 of this book.
In the fourth line, "utsurou" means to fade, to decline: "about to fade."
The last line, "iro kawaru kusa," ends on a noun; taking up "iro kawaruran," the last line of the preceding poem, it closes by showing the color-changing grasses themselves.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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