Sakinikeri kuchinashi iro no ominaeshi iwanedo shirushi aki no keshiki wa - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

咲きにけりくちなし色の女郎花
言はねどしるし秋の気色は

Roma-ji: Sakinikeri kuchinashi iro no ominaeshi iwanedo shirushi aki no keshiki wa
English Translation: Now it is in bloom,
in the gardenia's yellow,
the maiden flower;
though it says nothing, it's clear:
the look of autumn now
Meaning: The maiden flower has bloomed in gardenia yellow. Like the gardenia, whose name means mouthless, it says nothing, yet the look of autumn is plain to see.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 169

The maiden flower has bloomed the yellow of gardenia dye, and though it says nothing, the look of autumn is unmistakable. It is a witty poem that plays on kuchinashi, the gardenia whose name also means 'mouthless'.
Where the preceding poem, 168, makes the maiden flower the sign of autumn, this one says the look of autumn is clear even without words, and the two form a pair of poems that know autumn through the maiden flower.
From poem 168 through poem 173 in this book come poems that recognize the arrival of autumn in the maiden flower, the wind over the rice leaves and the scenes of mountain villages.

First line, 'sakinikeri', means it has bloomed, the perfective nu and exclamatory keri expressing sudden realization. The poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, 'kuchinashi iro no', is a pivot word in which kuchinashi is both the gardenia used for yellow dye and 'mouthless', linked to 'though it says nothing' in the fourth line.
Third line, 'ominaeshi', is the autumn flower with small yellow blossoms, the gardenia color naming its yellow.
Fourth line, 'iwanedo shirushi', means though it does not speak, it is plain, shirushi being an adjective meaning clear. The poem also breaks after the fourth line, and the final line is inverted.
Final line, 'aki no keshiki wa', means the look of autumn, naming at last what is plain in the fourth line.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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