大井川散る紅葉葉に埋もれて
戸無瀬の滝は音のみぞする
戸無瀬の滝は音のみぞする
- Roma-ji
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Ōigawa chiru momijiba ni uzumorete tonase no taki wa oto nomi zo suru
- English Translation
-
On the Ōi River,
buried under scattering
leaves of autumn red,
the falls of Tonase now
give forth only their sound
- Meaning
- On the Ōi River, the falls of Tonase lie buried under the scattering autumn leaves, and only their sound can be heard.
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 253
On the Ōi River, the falls of Tonase are buried under the falling leaves, so that they cannot be seen and only the sound of water is heard. The poem vividly conveys a fall of leaves so thick that it hides a waterfall, leaving only its sound.
Like poem 248 in this book, it is built on the conceit of leaves hiding water whose presence is revealed only by sound. With this poem the sequence on autumn leaves ends, and Tonase is sung again in the book's last poem, 256, as autumn's harbor.
From poem 243 through poem 253 in this book come poems on autumn leaves, from trees just beginning to turn to leaves scattering until they fill rivers and waterfalls.
First line, 'ōigawa', is the river famous for autumn leaves; poems 245 and 248 in this book open with the same line.
Second line, 'chiru momijiba ni', means by the falling autumn leaves.
Third line, 'uzumorete', means buried, the falls hidden under the leaves.
Fourth line, 'tonase no taki wa', names the Tonase Falls, upstream on the Ōi River near Arashiyama. Tonase also appears in the book's last poem, 256.
Final line, 'oto nomi zo suru', is a binding in which zo closes on the attributive suru, stressing that only the sound remains. Like 'the sound at the weir' in poem 248 in this book, it uses the sound of water to show the abundance of leaves.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ogurayama mine no arashi no fuku kara ni tani no kakehashi momiji shinikeri
- Next Poem
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Asu yori wa yomo no yamabe no akigiri no omokage ni nomi tatamu to suramu