Furusato ni kaeru to mite ya Tatsutahime momiji no nishiki sora ni kisuran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

古里に帰ると見てや竜田姫
紅葉の錦空に着すらん

Roma-ji: Furusato ni kaeru to mite ya Tatsutahime momiji no nishiki sora ni kisuran
English Translation: Seeing him going home
to the village of his birth,
does Tatsuta's maid
drape the brocade of autumn leaves
upon him from the sky?
Meaning: Seeing that he is returning to his home village, does Tatsutahime, goddess of autumn, drape a brocade of autumn leaves upon the traveler from the sky?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1129

Headnote: "For a screen painted with a traveler passing beneath the autumn leaves"
The poet wonders whether Tatsutahime, the goddess of autumn, seeing the traveler returning home, drapes a brocade of autumn leaves upon him from the sky. The headnote shows it was written for a screen painted with a traveler passing beneath the autumn leaves. Playing on the saying that one who has risen in the world returns home "clad in brocade," it likens the leaves falling on the traveler to brocade draped on him by Tatsutahime.
The author is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu, of a family of Shinto priests, who served as chief priest of the Ise Shrine and, as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, took part in compiling the Gosenshū. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "furusato ni," means "to his home village," standing beside the second line of the next poem, 1130, "furusato nare ya," in singing of home.
Second line, "kaeru to mite ya," means "is it because she sees he is returning," with "ya" a questioning binding particle answered by "ran" in the final line.
Third line, "Tatsutahime," is the goddess who governs autumn.
Fourth line, "momiji no nishiki," likens the many-colored autumn leaves to brocade, sharing the same image with the third and fourth lines of the next poem, 1130, "momijiba no nishiki o."
Final line, "sora ni kisuran," means "does she drape it on him from the sky," with "kisu" meaning to clothe someone and "ran," the attributive form of the auxiliary of present conjecture, resolving the "ya" of the second line.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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