Momijiba o nusa to tamukete chirashitsutsu aki to tomo ni ya yukamu to suran - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅葉葉を幣と手向けて散らしつつ
秋とともにや行かむとすらん

Roma-ji: Momijiba o nusa to tamukete chirashitsutsu aki to tomo ni ya yukamu to suran
English Translation: Offering autumn leaves
as gifts to the gods of the road,
scattering them on,
is it with the autumn
that you mean to go away
Meaning: Scattering crimson leaves as offerings to the gods of the road, do you mean to go away together with the departing autumn?
Commentary: Book Nineteen Parting Poems 1338

Headnote: "Sent with an offering to someone attending the Nishi-Shijō Ise Princess when she went down on the last day of the Ninth Month."
The poet asks whether the traveler, scattering autumn leaves as an offering, means to go along with the autumn. To an attendant of the Ise Princess setting out on the last day of the Ninth Month, the final day of autumn, she imagines the journey as going hand in hand with the departing season, scattering leaves as offerings.
According to the headnote, when the Nishi-Shijō Ise Princess went down to Ise on the last day of the Ninth Month, the poet sent an offering to one of her attendants. The Nishi-Shijō Ise Princess seems to be Princess Masako, a daughter of Emperor Daigo. Following the preceding poem, it too treats autumn leaves as an offering.
The poet, Taifu, seems to have been a lady-in-waiting and poet of the mid-Heian period, though little is known of her life.

The first line, "Momijiba o," means "autumn leaves," taking up the leaves of the preceding poem.
The second line, "nusa to tamukete," means "offering them to the road gods."
The third line, "chirashitsutsu," means "scattering them as you go," with "tsutsu" continuation.
The fourth line, "aki to tomo ni ya," means "together with autumn," with "ya" an interrogative binding particle. The last day of the Ninth Month is the day autumn ends.
The last line, "yukamu to suran," means "do you mean to go," closing the "ya" with the attributive "ran."
Author: Taifu
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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