紅葉散る山は秋霧晴れせねば
竜田の川の流れをぞ見る
竜田の川の流れをぞ見る
- Roma-ji
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Momiji chiru yama wa akigiri hare seneba tatsuta no kawa no nagare o zo miru
- English Translation
-
On the mountain where
leaves are falling, autumn mist
will not lift, and so
it is Tatsuta River's
flowing current I gaze upon
- Meaning
- Autumn mist will not clear from the mountain where the leaves are falling, so instead I gaze at the current of the Tatsuta River, where the fallen leaves drift.
- Commentary
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Book Four Winter Poems 261
The mountain where the leaves are falling is shut in by autumn mist and cannot be seen, so the poet looks instead at the Tatsuta River, down which the leaves come floating. The wit lies in knowing the mountain's colors not from the trees themselves but from the fallen leaves on the water.
The Tatsuta River is a poetic place famed for autumn leaves, celebrated in such poems as Ariwara no Narihira's in the Kokinshū, which marvels that the river binds its water in deep crimson.
From poem 257 through poem 266 in this book come poems on the sights of early winter, such as showers and colored leaves.
First line, 'momiji chiru', means where the autumn leaves fall, showing the state of the mountain.
Second line, 'yama wa akigiri', means on the mountain, autumn mist, painting a lingering scene of autumn within the winter book.
Third line, 'hare seneba', means since it does not clear, giving the reason the leaves on the mountain cannot be seen.
Fourth line, 'tatsuta no kawa no', is the Tatsuta River, a poetic place in Yamato famed for autumn leaves. Poem 266 in this book also sings of the leaves on the Tatsuta River.
Final line, 'nagare o zo miru', means it is the current I gaze at, zo binding with the attributive miru and stressing that the poet looks at the river instead of the mountain.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Kaminazuki shigure no ame no furu mama ni iroiro ni naru suzukayama kana
- Next Poem
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Ōigawa momiji o wataru ikadashi wa sao ni nishiki o kakete koso mire