Mi ni shimite aware shirasuru kaze yori mo tsuki ni zo aki no iro wa arikeru

身にしみてあはれ知らする風よりも
月にぞ秋の色はありける

Roma-ji: Mi ni shimite aware shirasuru kaze yori mo tsuki ni zo aki no iro wa arikeru
English Translation: More than the wind does,
piercing me, that makes me know
the sorrow of things,
it is in the moon, I find,
that autumn's true colors lie.
Meaning: More than the wind that pierces me and makes me feel the sadness of things, it is the moon, I find, that holds the true color of autumn.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 342

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed many poems on the moon"
This is the sixth poem in the moon series. The wind that pierces the body and makes one feel the sadness of autumn is fine, but it is in the moon that the true character of autumn shows most clearly. Comparing wind and moon, the two great emblems of autumn, the poet decides that the essence of the season lies in the moon.
This book began with 254 and 255, poems knowing autumn by the wind. Here the wind and the moon are compared and the moon is preferred, so that a single poem traces the book's movement from wind to moon.

First line, “mi ni shimite”: piercing the body, at once the chill of the autumn wind and the aware that sinks into the heart.
Second line, “aware shirasuru”: making one know the quiet feeling of autumn.
Third line, “kaze yori mo”: more than such a wind, the point of comparison.
Fourth line, “tsuki ni zo aki no”: zo strongly singles out the moon and forms a kakari-musubi with keru in the last line.
Fifth line, “iro wa arikeru”: iro means charm or atmosphere; the attributive keru answers zo, expressing the realization that autumn's charm lies in the moon.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Yomogi wakete aretaru niwa no tsuki mireba mukashi sumiken hito zo koishiki
Next Poem: Mushi no ne ni kareyuku nobe no kusamura ni aware o soete sumeru tsukikage