Ujiyama no momiji o mizu wa Nagatsuki no sugiyuku hio mo shirazu zo aramashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

宇治山の紅葉を見ずは長月の
過ぎゆくひをも知らずぞあらまし

Roma-ji: Ujiyama no momiji o mizu wa Nagatsuki no sugiyuku hio mo shirazu zo aramashi
English Translation: Had I not been shown
the autumn leaves of Mount Uji,
I would not have known
the days of the Long Month
were slipping by so swiftly
Meaning: Had I not seen the autumn leaves of Mount Uji, I would never have known the days of the ninth month were slipping away.
Commentary: Book Seven Autumn Poems III 440

Headnote: "When, on the last day of the ninth month, someone sent autumn leaves with ice fish attached."
The poet says that without seeing the autumn leaves of Mount Uji, she would not have noticed the days of the ninth month slipping by. Her sense of being told by the gift of leaves that autumn is ending is offered as thanks to the giver.
According to the headnote, it was composed when, on the last day of the ninth month, someone sent autumn leaves from Mount Uji with ice fish from the Uji River attached. By punning "hio" on "hi o," the days, and "hio," ice fish, it weaves both gifts, the leaves and the fish, into the poem. It is one of the poems on the end of autumn that follow from 438 of this book.
The poet, written in kana as "Chikane ga musume," was the daughter of a man named Chikane. Little is known of her.

The first line, "Ujiyama no," means "of the mountain at Uji in Yamashiro."
In the second line, "zu wa" means "if one had not": "had I not seen the leaves."
The third line, "Nagatsuki no," means "of the ninth month."
In the fourth line, "hio" is a pivot word meaning both "hi o," the days, and "hio," the ice fish, young sweetfish caught in the Uji River.
In the last line, "mashi" is the counterfactual auxiliary, answering "zu wa" in the second line: "I would not have known." The particle "zo" and the attributive "mashi" form a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Daughter of Chikane
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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