Aki no iro wa kareno nagara mo aru mono o yo no hakanasa ya asajiu no tsuyu

秋の色は枯野ながらもあるものを
世のはかなさや浅茅生の露

Roma-ji: Aki no iro wa kareno nagara mo aru mono o yo no hakanasa ya asajiu no tsuyu
English Translation: The colors of fall
linger on, even in fields
withered as they are;
the transience of the world,
the dew upon the reed grass.
Meaning: The colors of autumn linger on even in the withered fields, yet the fleetingness of the world is like the dew on the sparse reed grass.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 767

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The colors of autumn remain even when the fields have withered, but the fleetingness of the world is like dew on the sparse reed grass, gone in a moment. Setting the autumn color that lingers in withered fields against the dew that vanishes at once, the poet stresses the transience of human life.

First line, “aki no iro wa”: the colors of autumn; a line of six syllables.
Second line, “kareno nagara mo”: even in fields withered as they are.
Third line, “aru mono o”: mono o is concessive, though it remains.
Fourth line, “yo no hakanasa ya”: ya is exclamatory; 'yo no hakanasa,' as in the second line of 756, takes up the theme of the sequence.
Fifth line, “asajiu no tsuyu”: ending on a noun, dew on the sparse reed grass as a figure for transience.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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