Aki tatsu to hito wa tsugenedo shirarekeri miyama no suso no kaze no keshiki ni

秋立つと人は告げねど知られけり
深山の裾の風のけしきに

Roma-ji: Aki tatsu to hito wa tsugenedo shirarekeri miyama no suso no kaze no keshiki ni
English Translation: Though none came to say
autumn has arrived, I knew,
by the way the wind,
at the foot of the deep hills,
moved and showed itself to me.
Meaning: No one came to tell me that autumn had begun, yet I knew it all the same, from the look and feel of the wind at the foot of the deep mountains.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 255

Headnote: "First autumn for one dwelling in the mountains"
The topic is the first touch of autumn for one who lives in the mountains. No one comes to the mountain dwelling to announce the start of autumn, yet the poet knows it of himself from the way the wind moves at the foot of the deep hills. The quiet of a life cut off from others and a heart alert to changes in nature are both expressed.
The idea of noticing autumn through the wind recalls Fujiwara no Toshiyuki's famous poem in the Kokin Wakashū, in which autumn cannot be clearly seen yet is startlingly felt in the sound of the wind, and this poem follows that tradition. Like the preceding poem, it knows autumn by the wind, bringing the earlier phrase kaze ni aki shiru close to the life of a recluse with no one to bring news.

First line, “aki tatsu to”: that autumn has begun, the opening of autumn by the calendar. The same phrase opens the next poem.
Second line, “hito wa tsugenedo”: nedo joins the perfective form of the negative zu with the concessive do, though no one tells me; the loneliness of the mountain life shows through.
Third line, “shirarekeri”: re is the spontaneous auxiliary ru, it came to be known of itself, and keri expresses realization; the poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, “miyama no suso no”: the foot of the deep mountains, where the poet lives.
Fifth line, “kaze no keshiki ni”: by the look of the wind, an inversion that gives afterward the reason for what was stated in the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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