Momijiba no chirikuru mireba Nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki no katsura narurashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅葉葉の散りくる見れば長月の
有明の月の桂なるらし

Roma-ji: Momijiba no chirikuru mireba Nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki no katsura narurashi
English Translation: When I see the leaves
come scattering down like this,
they must be, it seems,
from the laurel on the moon
of the Long Month's dawn
Meaning: When I see the autumn leaves come scattering down, they must be from the laurel on the dawn moon of the ninth month.
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 401

Headnote: "On seeing autumn leaves fall on a moonlit night."
Seeing the leaves fall on a moonlit night, the poet surmises that they must be leaves of the laurel growing on the dawn moon of the ninth month. It likens the leaves fluttering down through the moonlight to leaves fallen from the moon.
According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing the leaves fall on a moonlit night. It draws on the Chinese legend that a laurel tree grows on the moon. Mibu no Tadamine's poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "hisakata no tsuki no katsura mo aki wa nao momiji sureba ya terimasaruramu," also sings of the autumn coloring of the moon's laurel. After the poems on chrysanthemums that begin with 397 of this book, poems on autumn leaves begin again.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Momijiba no," means "the colored leaves."
The second line, "chirikuru mireba," means "when I see them scattering down."
The third line, "Nagatsuki no," means "of the ninth month."
The fourth line, "ariake no tsuki no," means "of the moon that lingers in the dawn sky." 441 of this book also sings of the same "Nagatsuki no ariake no tsuki."
In the last line, "katsura" is the tree said to grow on the moon, and "rashi" is an auxiliary of grounded inference: "they must be laurel leaves."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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