Tokiwa naru matsu no midori ni kamisabite momiji zo aki wa ake no tamagaki

常盤なる松の緑に神さびて
紅葉ぞ秋は朱の玉垣

Roma-ji: Tokiwa naru matsu no midori ni kamisabite momiji zo aki wa ake no tamagaki
English Translation: In the evergreen
of the pine trees, standing old,
holy in its age,
in the autumn it's the leaves
that make the vermilion fence.
Meaning: Amid the unchanging green of the pines, the shrine stands hallowed with age, and in autumn it is the red leaves that form its vermilion fence.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 482

Headnote: "On the autumn leaves at a shrine deep in Shinobu when I travelled to the east"
The headnote tells us this was composed on the autumn leaves of a shrine in the depths of Shinobu in Mutsu Province, when the poet travelled to the eastern provinces. Surrounded by the evergreen pines, the shrine stands hallowed with age, and in autumn the red leaves encircle it like the vermilion fence of a shrine. Through the contrast of the green of the pines and the red of the leaves, the poem portrays the holiness of the shrine.
Pairing the unchanging green of the pines with the vermilion of leaves that color only in autumn, it sets side by side in one poem what does not change and what passes. It is a poem on autumn leaves seen on a journey, linked with the travel moon poems from 411.

First line, “tokiwa naru”: evergreen, unchanging, modifying matsu in the second line.
Second line, “matsu no midori ni”: in the green of the evergreen pines.
Third line, “kamisabite”: kamisabu is to grow hallowed with age, the air of the shrine.
Fourth line, “momiji zo aki wa”: the autumn leaves indeed, in autumn, with zo strongly singling out the leaves.
Fifth line, “ake no tamagaki”: ending on a noun, the vermilion fence around a shrine; the word that should answer zo is left out, and the leaves are likened to the fence.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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