Hatsuseyama kyō o kagiri to nagametsutsu iriai no kane ni aki zo kurenuru

初瀬山今日を限りと眺めつつ
入相の鐘に秋ぞ暮れぬる

Roma-ji: Hatsuseyama kyō o kagiri to nagametsutsu iriai no kane ni aki zo kurenuru
English Translation: On Mount Hatsuse,
thinking that today must be
the last, I gaze on,
and with the tolling evening bell
autumn has come to its close.
Meaning: Gazing at Mount Hatsuse, thinking that today is the last day, I hear the evening bell—and with it, autumn has come to its end.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 311

Headnote: "On an occasion when I had people compose on the spirit of the last day of the ninth month"
This poem was composed by the poet when he had others compose on the theme of the last day of the ninth month, the final day of autumn. Gazing at Mount Hatsuse thinking that today autumn ends, he hears the evening bell, and with its sound autumn has come to a close; the poem ends the autumn section.
The Ruijū text ends the headnote with "composed on the occasion." According to the source's note, line 2 read kyō kagiri to in the original and the editor emended it to kyō o kagiri to following a marginal gloss and the Ruijū and Teika texts; this edition follows that emendation. The Teika text differs in line 3. Mount Hatsuse is home to Hase-dera, and the sound of its bell is often sung.

Line 1 names Mount Hatsuse at Hatsuse in Yamato, where Hase-dera stands.
Line 2 means "taking today as the last," presenting the "last day of the ninth month" of the theme. It takes up the "today" of 304 and 305.
Line 3: tsutsu marks continuation, "as I go on gazing, lost in thought."
Line 4, "with the evening bell," is hypermetric and refers to the bell struck at temples at sunset. In poem 176 of Book Two, near the end of the summer section, the close of a summer day was likewise known by the evening bell, so the ends of summer and of autumn are both announced by the same bell.
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with nuru, the attributive of the perfective nu. Whereas the opening poem of this section, 180, began from the end of summer, "summer came to its close," this closing poem ends with "autumn has come to its close," so the opening and the close answer each other in the word "close."
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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