Momiji senu tokiwa no yama ni sumu shika wa onore nakite ya aki o shiruran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅葉せぬ常磐の山に住む鹿は
おのれ鳴きてや秋を知るらん

Roma-ji: Momiji senu tokiwa no yama ni sumu shika wa onore nakite ya aki o shiruran
English Translation: On Tokiwa's mountain,
where the leaves will never turn,
does the deer that lives
there come to know the autumn
by the crying of its own voice?
Meaning: Does the deer that lives on Mount Tokiwa, whose leaves never turn, come to know autumn by its own crying?
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 190

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The deer living on Mount Tokiwa, whose leaves never turn, cannot know autumn from the colors of the mountain, so the poet wonders whether it learns of autumn's arrival through its own cries. It is a witty poem that treats the deer's cry, calling for a mate in autumn, as its means of knowing the season.
Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu was a poet of the mid-Heian period from the Ōnakatomi family, who served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine. As one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber he took part in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "momiji senu," is the same first line as the preceding poem, and the two form a pair.
Second line, "tokiwa no yama ni," takes up "tokiwa no yama wa" from the preceding poem, setting the scene on the same mountain.
Third line, "sumu shika wa," refers to the deer living on the mountain. Whereas the preceding poem has the mountain know autumn by an outside sound, the wind, this one has the deer know it by its own voice, pairing outer sound and inner voice.
Fourth line, "onore nakite ya," means "by crying itself," with the questioning particle "ya," which is resolved by "ran" in the final line.
Final line, "aki o shiruran," means "does it know autumn," with "ran," the attributive of the present conjectural auxiliary. The next poem, 191, also sings of deer crying with the autumn wind.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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