Chidori naku saho no kawagiri tachinurashi yama no konoha mo iro kawariyuku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

千鳥鳴く佐保の川霧立ちぬらし
山の木の葉も色変はりゆく

Roma-ji: Chidori naku saho no kawagiri tachinurashi yama no konoha mo iro kawariyuku
English Translation: Where the plovers cry,
river mists over Saho
must have risen now,
for the leaves upon the hills
are changing in their colors.
Meaning: River mists must have risen over the Saho, where plovers cry, for the leaves on the hills are turning color.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 186

Headnote: "For a folding screen at the house of Sadakuni, Commander of the Right"
River mists seem to have risen over the Saho River, where plovers cry, and with them the leaves on the hills are turning color. Through the idea that river mist dyes the leaves, the poem depicts the deepening of autumn in a scene of river and hills. According to the headnote, it accompanied a folding screen at the house of Fujiwara no Sadakuni, Commander of the Right.
The author, written as Tadamine, is Mibu no Tadamine. One of the compilers of the Kokinshū, he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and was the father of Mibu no Tadami.

First line, "chidori naku," means "where plovers cry," and modifies "Saho." The Saho River was famous for its plovers.
Second line, "saho no kawagiri," refers to the mist rising on the Saho River in Yamato. The words "saho no kawagiri" also appear in 193 of this book, where the mist hides the autumn leaves from someone who has come to see them.
Third line, "tachinurashi," means "must have risen," with "rashi" as an auxiliary of inference based on evidence. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "yama no konoha mo," means "the leaves on the hills too." From here, many poems on autumn leaves follow.
Final line, "iro kawariyuku," means "are changing color," giving the grounds for the inference in the third line. The leaves that in 138 of this book were imagined to be changing even before the showers are here actually coloring.
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Nagatsuki no kokonoka goto ni tsumu kiku no hana mo kai naku oinikeru kana
Next Poem: Kaze samumi waga karakoromo utsu toki zo hagi no shitaba mo iro masarikeru