秋深み紅葉落ち敷く網代木は
氷魚のよるさへ赤く見えけり
氷魚のよるさへ赤く見えけり
- Roma-ji
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Aki fukami momiji ochishiku ajirogi wa hio no yoru sae akaku miekeri
- English Translation
-
In deepening autumn
the weir posts strewn with fallen
crimson leaves:
even by night when ice fish gather
they show themselves aflame
- Meaning
- Autumn is deep, and the stakes of the fish weir, strewn with fallen crimson leaves, look red even at night when the ice fish gather.
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 137
Headnote: "Composed for a sliding-door painting of the Ichijō Regent depicting autumn leaves gathered thickly against a fish weir"
The author is listed here as an unnumbered poet, but the Shikashu attributes the poem to Fujiwara no Korenari. It was written for a sliding-door painting in the residence of the Ichijō Regent, Fujiwara no Koretada, depicting autumn leaves crowded against a fish weir.
A weir is a trap of bamboo and wood set in a river to catch ice fish, and here crimson leaves gather against it so thickly that it looks red even at night. The contrasts of pale fish and red leaves, of night's darkness and the leaves' color, are vivid and fit a painted screen.
The first line, "aki fukami," means "since autumn is deep," the same opening as 126 in this book.
The second line, "momiji ochishiku," means "crimson leaves falling and spreading."
The third line, "ajirogi wa," is the stakes of a fish weir, a familiar sight on rivers like the Uji in winter.
In the fourth line, "hio no yoru sae," yoru is a pivot word joining "the ice fish gather" and "night," implying even in the dark.
The last line, "akaku miekeri," closes with the exclamation "how red it looks," stressing the crimson of the leaves.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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