Momijiba no chirade shigure no hikazu heba ika bakari naru iro ni wa aramashi

紅葉葉の散らで時雨の日数経ば
いかばかりなる色にはあらまし

Roma-ji: Momijiba no chirade shigure no hikazu heba ika bakari naru iro ni wa aramashi
English Translation: If the autumn leaves,
never falling, could but last
through the showering days,
how much deeper would they be,
those colors they would attain?
Meaning: If the autumn leaves never fell, but went on through day after day of showers, how deep, I wonder, would their color have grown?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 479

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The deep color of autumn leaves"
This poem continues the topic of the deep color of autumn leaves. If the autumn leaves did not fall but went on through day after day of showers, how deep would their color have grown under the dyeing rain? Imagining leaves that never fall and keep on being dyed, the poem expresses the depth of their color through a supposition against fact.
Where the preceding poem said the color of the leaves has a limit, this one supposes what would happen if they never fell and kept receiving the showers, imagining a color beyond the limit. The limited color and the imagined color deepening without end form a pair across the two poems.

First line, “momijiba no”: of the colored leaves.
Second line, “chirade shigure no”: de is a negative conjunctive particle, without falling, the showers'.
Third line, “hikazu heba”: if they passed many days, a supposition with ba on the conjectural form.
Fourth line, “ika bakari naru”: of how great a depth, asking the measure of the color.
Fifth line, “iro ni wa aramashi”: mashi expresses supposition contrary to fact, answering the third line, what color would they have become.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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