Suginikeru hito o aki shi mo tou kara ni sode wa momiji no iro ni koso nare - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

過ぎにける人を秋しも問ふからに
袖は紅葉の色にこそなれ

Roma-ji: Suginikeru hito o aki shi mo tou kara ni sode wa momiji no iro ni koso nare
English Translation: Because I came to call
in autumn on one who
had already passed,
my sleeves have taken on
the crimson of the leaves
Meaning: Because I came in autumn to call on one who had already passed away, my sleeves have turned the color of crimson leaves.
Commentary: Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1413

Headnote: "Written on a maple leaf, when he came to visit someone and was told the person had died some time ago."
The poet says that because he called in autumn on one already gone, his sleeves turn the color of the autumn leaves. Coming to visit and learning the person had long since died, he grieves that his sleeves are dyed crimson like the leaves by tears of sorrow.
According to the headnote, he came to visit someone and was told the person had died some time ago, and he wrote this on a maple leaf.
The poet, Kaisen, given in the text as "Priest Kaisen," seems to have been a monk of the mid-Heian period, though little is known of his life.

The first line, "Suginikeru," means "who has passed away."
The second line, "hito o aki shi mo," means "that person, and in autumn of all times," with "shimo" emphatic.
The third line, "tou kara ni," means "just because I came to call."
The fourth line, "sode wa momiji no," means "my sleeves, of the autumn leaves," taking up the maple leaf of the headnote.
The last line, "iro ni koso nare," means "turn that color," drawing on the convention that tears of deep grief are crimson, with "koso" closed by the realis "nare."
Author: The Priest Kaisen
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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