初時雨降るほどもなく佐保山の
梢あまねくうつろひにけり
梢あまねくうつろひにけり
- Roma-ji
-
Hatsushigure furu hodo mo naku Sahoyama no kozue amaneku utsuroinikeri
- English Translation
-
The first showers
had scarcely begun to fall,
yet on Mount Saho
the treetops, every one of them,
have changed their colors through and through
- Meaning
- The first winter showers have scarcely fallen, yet the treetops of Mount Saho have all changed color, every one of them.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Winter Poems 444
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that although the first showers have scarcely fallen, the treetops of Mount Saho have changed color all over. Drawing on the belief of the time that showers dye the leaves, the poem conveys surprise that so brief a shower has colored the whole mountain.
Where the preceding poem imagined, on hearing the first showers, the coloring of mountains not yet seen, this poem sings of a particular mountain, Saho, already colored, moving from imagination to an actual scene.
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, "Hatsushigure," is the first shower of winter, the same word that opens the preceding poem.
The second line, "furu hodo mo naku," means "they had scarcely fallen," stressing how brief the showers have been.
The third line, "Sahoyama no," refers to a mountain northeast of Nara, a famous poetic place for autumn leaves, and the mountain of Sahohime, the goddess of autumn.
The fourth line, "kozue amaneku," means "the treetops, all of them, everywhere."
In the last line, "utsurou" means to change color, and "nikeri" expresses completion and exclamation: "they have changed color through and through."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Hatsushigure fureba yamabe zo omōyuru izure no kata ka mazu momizuran
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Kannazuki furimi furazumi sadamenaki shigure zo fuyu no hajime narikeru