Akikaze no yomo no yama yori onogashishi fuku ni chirinuru momiji kanashi na - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋風の四方の山よりおのがしし
ふくにちりぬる紅葉悲しな

Roma-ji: Akikaze no yomo no yama yori onogashishi fuku ni chirinuru momiji kanashi na
English Translation: From the mountains round,
each in its own way it comes,
the wind of autumn,
and as it blows, the maple leaves
scatter—oh, how sad it is!
Meaning: The autumn wind blows from the mountains all around, each gust in its own way, and the leaves scattered by it are so sad.
Commentary: Book Seven Names of Things 431

Headnote: "Shijūkunichi (the forty-ninth day)"
The poet says that the autumn wind blows from the mountains on every side, each gust in its own way, and the leaves it scatters are so sad. Within the late-autumn pathos of regret for falling leaves, the name "shijūkunichi" given in the headnote is hidden in the run of sounds "shishi fuku ni chi" from the third to the fourth line. The topic, the forty-ninth day, is the memorial rite held forty-nine days after a death, and it accords with the poem's grief over falling leaves. This closing poem sings of autumn leaves scattered by the wind against the spring warbler and red plum of 354 at the head of the book, so the head and close answer each other with spring and autumn. The headnote names the thing hidden in the poem.
The author, written as Sukemi, is Fujiwara no Sukemi. A son of Fujiwara no Hirotsune, he was a mid-Heian poet known as Tōroku. He excelled at poems hiding the names of things, and his personal collection is the Tōrokushū.

First line, "akikaze no," means "the autumn wind."
Second line, "yomo no yama yori," means "from the mountains on every side."
Third line, "onogashishi," means "each in its own way." Its final "shishi" forms the head of the name "shijūkunichi," spanning the upper and lower verses.
Fourth line, "fuku ni chirinuru," means "scattered as it blows," hiding the name "shijūkunichi" together with "shishi" in the third line. It echoes the fallen, decaying leaves of 417 in this book through the pathos of scattering leaves.
Final line, "momiji kanashi na," means "how sad the autumn leaves," with "na" an exclamatory particle.
Author: Fujiwara no Sukemi
Source: Shui Wakashu
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