Chitose furu matsu no shitaba no irozuku wa ta ga shitagami ni kakete kaesu zo - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

千歳経る松の下葉の色づくは
誰がしたがみにかけて返すぞ

Roma-ji: Chitose furu matsu no shitaba no irozuku wa ta ga shitagami ni kakete kaesu zo
English Translation: That the lower leaves
of the pine of a thousand years
should take on color:
who is it, and upon what,
hangs them to be dyed anew?
Meaning: The lower leaves of a pine that should stay green for a thousand years take on color: who is it, then, and upon what, that hangs them to dye them over again?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 516

Headnote: "Asking again"
The poet asks once more why the lower leaves of a pine, which should keep their green for a thousand years, take on color. Where his earlier question, 513, took up the lower leaves of the bush clover, here he brings forward the lower leaves of the evergreen pine, an even more unreasonable case, and demands an answer. Moving from bush clover to pine and from one autumn to a thousand years, he widens the scale as he presses his question.
The author, written as "Korehira," is Fujiwara no Korehira. A son of Fujiwara no Toshiyuki, he rose to the rank of Consultant.

First line, "chitose furu," means "passing a thousand years," speaking of the pine's long life. It answers the second line of the next poem, 517, "chitose no aki ni," through the word "chitose."
Second line, "matsu no shitaba no," means "the lower leaves of the pine," taking the same form as the fourth line of the earlier question, 513, "hagi no shitaba no," and replacing bush clover with pine.
Third line, "irozuku wa," means "that they take on color," pointing to the wonder of the evergreen pine changing its hue.
Fourth line, "ta ga shitagami ni," is a difficult line without a settled reading, but it is understood as asking who, and upon what, gives the color.
Final line, "kakete kaesu zo," means "hangs them and dyes them anew," with "zo" at the end pressing the question hard.
Author: Fujiwara no Korehira
Source: Shui Wakashu
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