水無月の照る日の影はさしながら
風のみ秋の気色なるかな
風のみ秋の気色なるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Minazuki no teru hi no kage wa sashinagara kaze nomi aki no keshiki naru kana
- English Translation
-
In the Sixth Month still
the light of the blazing sun
shines down as before,
yet the wind alone now bears
the look and air of autumn
- Meaning
- Though the blazing sun of the Sixth Month still beats down, the wind alone already has the feel of autumn.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 153
The blazing sunlight of the Sixth Month is still that of summer, yet the wind alone already feels like autumn. The poem expresses how autumn first arrives through the wind at summer's end, contrasting sunlight and breeze.
As the book nears its end, poems foreshadowing the shift from summer to autumn follow. In poem 155 too, autumn's arrival is sensed in the coolness of the wind at the water's edge.
The author, Tadamichi, is Fujiwara no Tadamichi. A son of Fujiwara no Tadazane, he rose to Regent and Chancellor and was called the Hosshōji Regent. He also excelled in Chinese verse and calligraphy.
First line, 'minazuki no', is the Sixth Month, the last month of summer.
Second line, 'teru hi no kage wa', uses kage in the sense of light: the blazing summer sunlight.
Third line, 'sashinagara', means though it still shines, a concession showing that the sunlight is still that of summer.
Fourth line, 'kaze nomi aki no', means the wind alone autumn's, the particle nomi sharpening the contrast with the sunlight.
Final line, 'keshiki naru kana', means it has the look, with the exclamatory kana.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Tadamichi
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Tamakushige futagamiyama no ko no ma yori izureba akuru natsu no yo no tsuki
- Next Poem
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Natsu no yo no tsuki matsu hodo no tesusabi ni iwa moru shimizu iku musubi shitsu