Kono koro no akatsuki tsuyu ni waga yado no hagi no shitaba wa irozukinikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

このころの暁露に我が宿の
萩の下葉は色づきにけり

Roma-ji: Kono koro no akatsuki tsuyu ni waga yado no hagi no shitaba wa irozukinikeri
English Translation: In these recent days,
by the dew that falls at dawn,
at my dwelling here
the lower leaves of bush clover
have taken on their colors.
Meaning: With the dawn dew of these recent days, the lower leaves of the bush clover at my house have turned to autumn colors.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1118

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that the dew falling at dawn these days has colored the lower leaves of the bush clover at his house. In the cold dew of daybreak he feels the deepening of autumn.
A poem of almost the same form appears in Book Ten of the Man'yōshū.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, revered in later ages as the saint of poetry. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. The Shūishū includes many poems from the Man'yōshū and the Hitomaro Collection under his name.

First line, "kono koro no," means "of these recent days."
Second line, "akatsuki tsuyu ni," means "by the dew that settles at dawn," for dew was thought to color the leaves of grasses and trees.
Third line, "waga yado no," means "of my house," the same words as the third lines of 1113 and 1114 in this book.
Fourth line, "hagi no shitaba wa," means "the lower leaves of the bush clover," the same line as the fourth line of the next poem, 1119, and echoing the second line of 1116 in this book, "shitaba ni tsukete."
Final line, "irozukinikeri," means "have taken on their colors," sharing the same line with the final lines of the next poem, 1119, and of 1114 in this book.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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