いくらとも見えぬ紅葉の錦かな
誰ふたむらの山と言ひけむ
誰ふたむらの山と言ひけむ
- Roma-ji
-
Ikura to mo mienu momiji no nishiki kana tare Futamura no yama to iikemu
- English Translation
-
Countless beyond measure,
how vast this brocade
of crimson leaves!
Who was it that named this
Futamura, "Two Bolts" Mountain?
- Meaning
- What a brocade of autumn leaves, too vast to measure! Who could have named this Futamura, "the Mountain of Two Bolts"?
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 131
Headnote: "Composed on seeing the autumn leaves of Mount Futamura in Mikawa while coming up to the capital from Musashi"
The author is listed here as an unnumbered poet, but the Shikashu attributes the poem to Tachibana no Yoshimoto. He composed it on seeing the autumn leaves of Mount Futamura in Mikawa while traveling up to the capital from Musashi.
Likening the leaves covering the mountain to brocade, he delights in the place name, asking why a mountain with countless bolts of brocade should be called Futamura, "two bolts." The richness of the foliage seen on the journey is wittily conveyed through a pun on a place name.
The first line, "ikura to mo," means "however much," showing the great amount.
The second line, "mienu momiji no," means "of autumn leaves beyond reckoning."
The third line, "nishiki kana," likens the leaves to brocade, and with the exclamatory kana the poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "tare Futamura no," futamura is a pivot word joining the place name Mount Futamura in Mikawa and "two bolts" of cloth, an associated word with brocade.
The last line, "yama to iikemu," asks "who called it a mountain?" answering tare in the fourth line.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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