Utsurowanu na ni nagaretaru kawatake no izure no yo ni ka aki o shiru beki - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

移ろはぬ名に流れたる川竹の
いづれの世にかあきを知るべき

Roma-ji: Utsurowanu na ni nagaretaru kawatake no izure no yo ni ka aki o shiru beki
English Translation: The river bamboo
renowned for its never-fading
color, as it flows—
in what age would it ever
come to know autumn's weariness
Meaning: The river bamboo, famed for never changing its color—in what age could it ever come to know autumn, or grow weary of you?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems IV 1272

Headnote: "When a woman friend with whom she always corresponded had not written for a long while, around the Tenth Month they exchanged the old poem with the words 'adabito no omou to iishi koto no ha,' and she wrote this on a bamboo leaf and sent it."
The poet asks in what age the river bamboo, famed for never fading, could come to know autumn. Entrusting her constancy to the evergreen bamboo and joining "aki," autumn, with "aki," weariness, she says she could never grow tired of her friend.
According to the headnote, she and a woman friend who always corresponded had fallen out of touch, and around the Tenth Month they exchanged the old poem with the words "adabito no omou to iishi koto no ha," after which she wrote this on a bamboo leaf and sent it. The next poem also contains "iishi koto no ha wa" and sings of words scattered by the autumn wind.
The poet is anonymous and the name is not known.

The first line, "Utsurowanu," means "never fading in color."
The second line, "na ni nagaretaru," means "renowned," with "nagare," flowing, an associated word with the river of the third line.
The third line, "kawatake no," means "of the river bamboo," held to keep its color, answering the bamboo leaf of the headnote.
The fourth line, "izure no yo ni ka," means "in what age," with "ka" a rhetorical binding particle. "Yo," age, echoes "yo," the joint of a bamboo stem.
The last line, "aki o shiru beki," is a pivot word on "aki," both autumn and weariness: could it know autumn, or tire? Never. The "ka" of the fourth line is closed by the attributive "beki."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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