Omoiidete kitsuru mo shiruku momijiba no iro wa mukashi ni kawarazarikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひ出でて来つるもしるく紅葉葉の
色は昔に変はらざりけり

Roma-ji: Omoiidete kitsuru mo shiruku momijiba no iro wa mukashi ni kawarazarikeri
English Translation: Remembering it,
I have come, and not in vain—
the autumn leaves
have kept their color unchanged
from what they were of old
Meaning: I came because I remembered, and not in vain—the color of the autumn leaves is just as it was long ago.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems IV 1301

Headnote: "Around the Tenth Month, when various people went on an outing near the Northern Hills because it had been such a delightful place."
The poet says that coming here in remembrance proved worthwhile, for the leaves' color has not changed from long ago. Visiting again the Northern Hills that had once delighted him, he rejoices to find the autumn leaves colored just as before.
According to the headnote, around the Tenth Month, people went on an outing near the Northern Hills because it had been a delightful place, and he composed this then. The next poem is Sakanoue no Korenori's from the same occasion, and the two are set side by side.
The poet, "Lord Kanesuke," is Fujiwara no Kanesuke. A son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, he rose to Middle Counselor. Because his mansion stood on the bank of the Kamo River he was called the Embankment Middle Counselor, and he was the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, he is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Mika no hara wakite nagaruru Izumigawa."

The first line, "Omoiidete," means "remembering."
The second line, "kitsuru mo shiruku," means "coming here was not in vain."
The third line, "momijiba no," means "of the autumn leaves." The third line of the next poem uses the same word, "momijiba o."
The fourth line, "iro wa mukashi ni," means "their color, from of old."
The last line, "kawarazarikeri," means "has not changed, I see," with "keri" for realization. It shares its words with "kawarazarikere" in the last line of 1283 of this book, which sings of an unchanging heart where this sings of unchanging leaves.
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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