Shiratsuyu wa ue yori oku o ika nareba hagi no shitaba no mazu momizuran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

白露は上より置くをいかなれば
萩の下葉のまづもみづらん

Roma-ji: Shiratsuyu wa ue yori oku o ika nareba hagi no shitaba no mazu momizuran
English Translation: The white dew, they say,
settles from above, and yet
why is it, I ask,
that the lower leaves of bush clover
are the first to turn to red?
Meaning: The white dew settles from above, so why is it that the lower leaves of the bush clover are the first to take on autumn color?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 513

Headnote: "Put as a question to Mitsune and Tadamine"
The poet asks why the bush clover colors first in its lower leaves, though the white dew settles from above. Drawing on the belief that dew tints the leaves of plants and trees, he takes up a natural sight that defies reason and asks the poets for an answer. The headnote shows that the question was put to Ōshikōchi no Mitsune and Mibu no Tadamine. From here to 523, poems in which Korehira asks and Mitsune and Tadamine answer continue, forming a sequence of witty play over the puzzles of nature and words. Following the four preceding poems that ask which is superior, the poems of questioning continue.
The author, written as "Sanjō Korehira," is Fujiwara no Korehira. "Jō" appears to be a miscopying of "gi," indicating Korehira the Consultant. A son of Fujiwara no Toshiyuki, he rose to the rank of Consultant.

First line, "shiratsuyu wa," means "the white dew."
Second line, "ue yori oku o," means "though it settles from above," with "o" a concessive particle.
Third line, "ika nareba," means "for what reason," expressing a question that answers the auxiliary of conjecture "ran" in the final line.
Fourth line, "hagi no shitaba no," means "the lower leaves of the bush clover." The word "shitaba" is handed down through the exchange, in the fourth line of the next poem, 514, "shitaba ya ue ni," the second line of 516, "matsu no shitaba no," and the final line of 517, "shitaba narikeri."
Final line, "mazu momizuran," means "are the first to turn color," with "ran" an auxiliary conjecturing the cause.
Author: Fujiwara no Korehira
Source: Shui Wakashu
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