Miyako ni wa mada aoba nite mishikadomo momiji chirishiku Shirakawa no seki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

都にはまだ青葉にて見しかども
紅葉散りしく白川の関

Roma-ji: Miyako ni wa mada aoba nite mishikadomo momiji chirishiku Shirakawa no seki
English Translation: In the capital
still green in leaf I saw them,
and yet here they lie,
the autumn leaves spread all around
the barrier of Shirakawa
Meaning: In the capital I saw them still green, yet here at the Shirakawa barrier the autumn leaves lie scattered all around.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 365

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "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"
When the poet left the capital the leaves were still green, yet at the Shirakawa barrier, reached after a long journey, the autumn leaves already lie scattered all over the ground. Through the change of color from green leaves to fallen ones, he conveys both the distance from the capital and the length of the months spent on the road.
The author, "Saki no Ukyō Gon-no-Daibu Yorimasa," was the son of Hyōgo no Kami Minamoto no Nakamasa. Through the Hōgen and Heiji disturbances he rose to the Junior Third Rank and was called Gen-Sanmi. In the fourth year of Jishō (1180) he raised troops with Prince Mochihito to overthrow the Taira, and took his own life after defeat at Uji.
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 fifth of a run of five poems, 361 through 365, on this topic, which sing of barriers in many places: Suma, Kiyomigata, Ōsaka and Shirakawa.
This poem takes as its foundation the monk Nōin's Goshūi Wakashū poem, "I left the capital together with the spring haze, yet the autumn wind blows at the Shirakawa barrier," replacing Nōin's haze and autumn wind with green leaves and autumn leaves.

First line, "miyako ni wa": naming the place of departure, a line that draws on Nōin's "miyako o ba."
Second line, "mada aoba nite": "still in green leaf," contrasting in color with "momiji" in the fourth line.
Third line, "mishikadomo": "shi" is the attributive of the past "ki," and "domo" is concessive, "though I saw them so."
Fourth line, "momiji chirishiku": "chirishiku" is to fall and cover the ground, sharing the verb with "chirishikeba" in the preceding poem, 364.
Fifth line, "Shirakawa no seki": ending on a noun, the same last line as the preceding poem, 364. It presents at last the contrast of near and far between the capital and the barrier, closing the run on "Falling Leaves on the Road Through the Barrier."
Author: Minamoto no Yorimasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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