Hatsushigure furu hodo mo naku shimoto yū Katsuragiyama wa irozukinikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

初時雨降るほどもなくしもと結ふ
葛城山は色づきにけり

Roma-ji: Hatsushigure furu hodo mo naku shimoto yū Katsuragiyama wa irozukinikeri
English Translation: The first cold shower
has scarcely fallen, and yet
where they bind the brushwood,
all Mount Katsuragi now
has taken on its color
Meaning: The first cold shower has scarcely fallen, and already Mount Katsuragi has turned to autumn colors.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 353

Headnote: "Composed on the topic of autumn leaves"
Composed on the topic of autumn leaves. Though it is not long since the first cold shower of the season, the poet says, Mount Katsuragi has already colored all over. Drawing on the idea that cold showers dye the leaves, he expresses surprise at how quickly the mountain has colored after so little rain.
The author, "Ninnaji Go-Nyūdō Hosshinnō (Kakushō)," was a son of Emperor Toba. He became the fifth abbot of Ninnaji and was called the Shikondaiji Omuro.
From this poem a run of poems on autumn leaves follows. The final poem of Book Four, 301, also used the words "shimoto yū Katsuragiyama" in singing of the moon in a valley stream.

First line, "hatsushigure": the first cold shower of autumn or winter. Such showers were thought to dye the leaves.
Second line, "furu hodo mo naku": "no sooner has it fallen," stressing how quickly the leaves have colored.
Third line, "shimoto yū": a pillow word for "Katsuragi." The final poem of Book Four, 301, uses the same pillow word.
Fourth line, "Katsuragiyama wa": Mount Katsuragi, on the border of Yamato and Kawachi.
Fifth line, "irozukinikeri": "ni" is the perfective "nu" and "keri" is exclamatory, "it has already colored," closing with surprise.
Author: Prince-Priest Kakushō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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