Yamaoroshi ni uratsutai suru momiji kana ikaga wa subeki Suma no sekimori - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山おろしに浦伝ひする紅葉かな
いかがはすべき須磨の関守

Roma-ji: Yamaoroshi ni uratsutai suru momiji kana ikaga wa subeki Suma no sekimori
English Translation: On the mountain wind
along the shore they travel,
the autumn leaves:
what can he do about it,
the barrier guard of Suma?
Meaning: On the wind blowing down from the mountains, the autumn leaves travel along the shore. What is the barrier guard of Suma to do?
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 361

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Falling Leaves on the Road Through the Barrier' at the courtiers' poetry contest at the Hōjūji Palace in the second year of Kaō"
Blown on the wind sweeping down from the mountains, the autumn leaves scatter along the shore past the barrier, and what, the poet asks, is the barrier guard of Suma to do? It is a witty conceit that imagines the guard's dismay: he can stop any traveler, yet has no way to halt the leaves crossing along the shore on the wind.
The author, "Udaijin," Minister of the Right, is Fujiwara no Sanesada, son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kin'yoshi, who later rose to Minister of the Left. He was called the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left, and a poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Composed on the topic "Falling Leaves on the Road Through the Barrier" at the courtiers' poetry contest held in the second year of Kaō (1170) at the Hōjūji Palace of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. It is the first of a run of five poems, 361 through 365, on this topic, which sing of barriers in many places: Suma, Kiyomigata, Ōsaka and Shirakawa.
Ever since Minamoto no Kanemasa's Kin'yō Wakashū poem, "At the cries of plovers crossing to Awaji Island, how many nights has he woken, the barrier guard of Suma?", the guard of Suma had been a beloved poetic phrase.

First line, "yamaoroshi ni": a hypermetric line of six syllables. "Yamaoroshi" is the wind blowing down from the mountains, which carries the leaves.
Second line, "uratsutai suru": "uratsutai" is to travel along the shore, personifying the leaves as travelers.
Third line, "momiji kana": "kana" is exclamatory, and the poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "ikaga wa subeki": "what is he to do?", asking in dismay.
Fifth line, "Suma no sekimori": the poem ends on a noun. Suma is a place in Settsu where there was a barrier, and "sekimori" is its guard. It answers "Kiyomigata seki" in the next poem, 362, both singing of barriers.
Author: Fujiwara no Sanesada
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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