Momijiba no chiriyuku kata o tazunureba aki mo arashi no koe nomi zo suru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅葉葉の散りゆく方を尋ぬれば
秋も嵐の声のみぞする

Roma-ji: Momijiba no chiriyuku kata o tazunureba aki mo arashi no koe nomi zo suru
English Translation: The autumn leaves,
when I seek out the way
that they have scattered,
autumn too is gone, and there
is only the voice of the storm
Meaning: When I seek out where the autumn leaves have scattered, autumn too is gone, and there is only the voice of the storm.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 381

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'The Last Day of the Ninth Month' when he called for a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed by Retired Emperor Sutoku on the topic of the last day of the ninth month when he called for a hundred-poem sequence. When he seeks out where the autumn leaves have gone, the emperor says, autumn too has gone along with them, and only the voice of the storm is heard. Overlaying the leaves' destination with autumn's, he hears the departing autumn in the sound of the storm.
The author, "Sutokuin Gyosei," is Emperor Sutoku, the seventy-fifth emperor and son of Emperor Toba, who was exiled to Sanuki after his defeat in the Hōgen Disturbance. He conceived the Kyūan Hyakushu and had Fujiwara no Akisuke compile the Shika Wakashū. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
"Kugatsujin," the end of the ninth month, is the last day of the ninth lunar month, the final day of autumn. From this poem to the book's final poem, 386, poems regretting the end of autumn follow.

First line, "momijiba no": naming what he seeks.
Second line, "chiriyuku kata o": "kata" is the direction, where they have gone.
Third line, "tazunureba": "tazunu" is to seek out, and "ba" means "when."
Fourth line, "aki mo arashi no": "mo," "not only the leaves but autumn too," overlaying where the leaves went with where autumn went. As in 370 and 371 of this book, the storm is what carries off the leaves.
Fifth line, "koe nomi zo suru": "zo" closes with the attributive "suru," showing that after both leaves and autumn have gone, only the sound of the storm remains.
Author: Retired Emperor Sutoku
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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