Aki no no no chigusa no iro ni utsuroeba hana zo kaerite tsuyu o somekeru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の野の千草の色にうつろへば
花ぞかへりて露を染めける

Roma-ji: Aki no no no chigusa no iro ni utsuroeba hana zo kaerite tsuyu o somekeru
English Translation: Since it shifts and takes
the colors of the thousand
grasses of the autumn fields,
it is the flowers, after all,
that dye the dew itself
Meaning: Because the dew on the autumn fields takes on the colors of all the many grasses, it is the flowers, contrary to what we think, that dye the dew.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 262

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Dew on the Flowers of the Fields'"
Composed on the topic "Dew on the Flowers of the Fields." Because the dew on the autumn fields reflects the color of each grass and flower and seems to change into the countless colors of the grasses, it is not the dew that dyes the flowers but the flowers that dye the dew. It is an intellectual poem that reverses the ancient image of dew dyeing plants.
The author, "the Ninnaji Prince-Priest (Shukaku)," was the second son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa. He took holy orders, entered Ninnaji and became its abbot. Devoted to poetry, he had many poets compose hundred-poem sequences.
As in Fujiwara no Toshiyuki's Kokin poem, "The white dew has but one color, so how does it dye the autumn leaves in a thousand hues?", dew dyeing plants is an image long sung of. This poem reverses it, saying the flowers dye the dew.

First line, "aki no no no": modifies "chigusa" in the second line.
Second line, "chigusa no iro ni": "into the colors of the countless grasses," the same line as in 250 of this book.
Third line, "utsuroeba": "utsurou" means to change color; with "ba" in the realized condition, "since the dew takes on and shifts with the colors of the flowers."
Fourth line, "hana zo kaerite": "kaerite" means "on the contrary." "Zo" links with "keru" in the last line, overturning the commonplace that dew dyes the flowers.
Fifth line, "tsuyu o somekeru": "keru," the attributive of "keri" expressing realization, closes with "zo." The next poem, 263, also treats dew, and dew poems continue from here through 267.
Author: Cloistered Prince Shukaku
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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