Hatsukari no hakaze no samuku naru mama ni saho no yamabe wa irozukinikeri

初雁の羽風の寒くなるままに
佐保の山辺は色づきにけり

Roma-ji: Hatsukari no hakaze no samuku naru mama ni saho no yamabe wa irozukinikeri
English Translation: As the wind from wings
of the first geese of the year
grows colder still,
on the hills of Saho now
the leaves have taken on their hue.
Meaning: As the wind from the wings of the first geese grows colder, the hills of Saho have taken on autumn color.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 298

Headnote: "Autumn leaves at famous places"
As the wind from the wings of the first geese grows colder, the hills of Saho, famed for autumn leaves, have taken on their color. Linking the arrival of geese and the turning of the leaves, two harbingers of autumn's deepening, the poet portrays the passage of the season.
Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle.

Line 1 means "of the first geese of the year," taking up the first geese of 232.
Line 2 means "the wind of their wings grows cold"; hakaze is the same word as "the wind of the geese's wings" in 227.
Line 3 means "as it becomes."
Line 4 names the area around Mount Saho in Yamato, sung, like Mount Saho in 295, as a famous place for autumn leaves. This poem and the next are composed on the topic "Autumn leaves at famous places."
Line 5: keri expresses realization. The same last line recurs in the next poem, 299, and in 301 and 302, singing again and again of the deepening leaves.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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