Tatsutahime someshi kozue no chiru ori wa kurenai arau yamakawa no mizu

竜田姫染めし梢の散る折は
紅洗ふ山川の水

Roma-ji: Tatsutahime someshi kozue no chiru ori wa kurenai arau yamakawa no mizu
English Translation: Tatsuta's goddess
dyed the leaves upon the boughs,
and when they scatter,
washing out the crimson dye
is the water of the mountain stream.
Meaning: When the treetop leaves dyed by the goddess Tatsutahime fall, the water of the mountain stream seems to be washing out their crimson.
Commentary: Winter Poems 497

Headnote: "Fallen leaves on the water"
The topic is fallen leaves on the water. When the leaves dyed by Tatsutahime, the goddess of autumn, fall from the treetops, the mountain stream carries them along as if washing out the crimson dye. The leaves floating on the water are likened to dyed cloth being rinsed in a river.
Where in 491 of this book the winter rain dyed the treetops, here Tatsutahime is the dyer, and the poem follows her leaves as far as their falling and floating on the stream.

First line, “Tatsutahime”: Tatsutahime is the goddess who rules autumn and was said to dye the leaves of the trees.
Second line, “someshi kozue no”: shi is the attributive of the past auxiliary ki, the treetops she dyed.
Third line, “chiru ori wa”: when they fall, marking the season of falling leaves.
Fourth line, “kurenai arau”: kurenai is crimson, here the color of the leaves, and the stream is imagined washing it.
Fifth line, “yamakawa no mizu”: the poem ends on a noun, the water of the mountain stream that carries the leaves.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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