Iku ki to mo e koso miwakane akiyama no momiji no nishiki yoso ni tatereba - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

幾木ともえこそ見分かね秋山の
紅葉の錦よそに立てれば

Roma-ji: Iku ki to mo e koso miwakane akiyama no momiji no nishiki yoso ni tatereba
English Translation: How many the trees
I cannot begin to tell,
for the brocade
of the autumn hills' leaves
stands far off from where I am
Meaning: I cannot tell how many trees there are, for the brocade of the autumn mountain's leaves stands far away.
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 387

Headnote: "When several of us, on the way along the shore, each composed poems on the autumn leaves of the hills."
The poet says that because the brocade of the autumn mountain's leaves stands far off, one cannot tell how many trees there are. It shows the whole mountain become a single brocade, so that tree cannot be told from tree.
According to the headnote, it was composed when the poet and others, on their way along the shore, each composed poems on the leaves of the hills. Where the preceding poem saw the leaves of Mount Tatsuta near at hand as brocade, this one gazes from afar at the brocade of a mountain's leaves.
The poet, called "Tadamine," is Mibu no Tadamine. He was one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū and served as a clerk of the Right Gate Guards, among other posts. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, and his "ariake no tsurenaku mieshi wakare yori" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. His son was Mibu no Tadami.

The first line, "Iku ki to mo," means "how many trees."
In the second line, "e" with a negative expresses impossibility, and "koso" with the realis "ne" forms a kakarimusubi pattern: "I simply cannot tell them apart." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "akiyama no," means "of the autumn mountain."
The fourth line, "momiji no nishiki," likens the autumn leaves to brocade, taking up "nishiki" from the last line of the preceding poem.
The last line, "yoso ni tatereba," means "since it stands far off," in inversion with the second line, giving afterward the reason they cannot be told apart.
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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