Momiji seba akaku narinan ogurayama aki matsu hodo no na ni koso arikere - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅葉せばあかくなりなんをぐら山
秋待つほどの名にこそありけれ

Roma-ji: Momiji seba akaku narinan ogurayama aki matsu hodo no na ni koso arikere
English Translation: When the leaves turn red
it will glow so bright, the hill
of dim Ogura;
only while we wait for fall
does it bear that darkened name.
Meaning: When its leaves turn, Mount Ogura will grow red and bright; its name, meaning dim and dark, belongs only to the time of waiting for autumn.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 135

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Mount Ogura bears a name meaning dim and dark, but when its leaves turn in autumn it will grow red and bright, so its name is fitting only while it waits for autumn. Using pivot words in the name "Ogura" and the word "akaku," the poem looks ahead, at the end of summer, to the autumn foliage to come.

First line, "momiji seba," means "if its leaves turn," with "ba" marking a hypothetical condition.
Second line, "akaku narinan," is a pivot word in which "akaku" means both "red" and "bright." "Nan" is an auxiliary of emphasis and conjecture.
Third line, "ogurayama," is Mount Ogura in Yamashiro, with "ogura" evoking "dimly dark." Like 128 of this book, it draws on the darkness in the name of Mount Ogura. Whereas 128 sang of Mount Ogura dark as its name, this poem imagines it made bright by autumn leaves, reversing dark and light.
Fourth line, "aki matsu hodo no," means "of the time of waiting for autumn." Singing of waiting for autumn near the end of the summer book, it foreshadows the change of season.
Final line, "na ni koso arikere," means "it was but a name," with "koso" resolved by the realis form "kere."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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