君と我いもせの山も秋来れば
色変はりぬるものにぞありける
色変はりぬるものにぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi to ware Imose no yama mo aki kureba iro kawarinuru mono ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
You and I, like
the twin peaks of Imose,
when autumn arrives
have proved to be a thing
whose colors change after all
- Meaning
- Even the mountains of Imose, named for the bond between you and me, turn out to be things whose colors change when autumn comes.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Autumn Poems III 380
Headnote: "Between siblings—what could have happened?"
The poet says that even the mountains of Imose, whose name speaks of the bond between you and me, turn out to change color when autumn comes. Through hills that change color in autumn, it laments a relationship that has changed.
According to the headnote, it was composed when something—what, one wonders—had happened between siblings. The name of the Imose mountains is overlaid with the bond between brother and sister. Following the poems before it on autumn leaves in the hills, it becomes a lament for the changes of the human heart.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Kimi to ware," means "you and I," pointing to the two siblings.
In the second line, "imose" is a pivot word meaning brother and sister, or husband and wife, and "Imoseyama" in the province of Kii.
In the third line, "aki," autumn, echoes "aki," to grow weary of someone.
The fourth line, "iro kawarinuru," means "whose color has changed," overlaying the autumn leaves of the hills with the change between the two.
The last line, "mono ni zo arikeru," means "it turns out to be such a thing," with "zo" and the attributive "keru" forming a kakarimusubi pattern.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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