紅葉
The autumn season has come again… the days are getting shorter, the wind is becoming colder and the leaves of the trees are already starting to fade and fall.
Autumn, with spring, is one of the two most important seasons in the imperial waka anthologies. In both the Kokinshû and Shinkokinshû, they are getting two books each, in opposition to Winter and Summer who only have one.
Just like for the other seasons, there are several topics that were specifically circumscribed to it. The moon, the deer, the chrysanthemum, the dew, the pine crickets ; to cite only a few. It’s a season that is deeply associated with sadness, impermanence and melancholic thoughts ; but it’s interesting to know that it wasn’t always the case. In his book Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons, Haruo Shirane explains that autumn was originally seen as colorful and bright (明, homophonous with 秋), and it was also the harvest time of the 五穀［ごこく］. It’s during the 天平 ［てんぴょう］era [729-749] that it slowly started to lose its positive meaning, with the inspiration of Chinese poetry where fall was a much darker time.
In the Kokinshû, we can definitely see how autumn became a time of sadness, but the waka are also talking about the beauty of the colored leaves who are compared, in several poems, to a brocade. The chrysanthemum is also a flower with a positive association to a long life, immortality. I love the KKS 270 where Ki no Tomonori talks about putting in the hair chrysanthemums covered by dew (a metaphor for the chrysanthemum wine that was believed to have a life-prolonging power).
The word もみじ appears very often and emphasizes the fact that autumn was still seen as a very colorful season. In his book, Shirane-sensei explains that this word was originally written 黄葉, with the first kanji meaning “yellow”. In the 万葉集, these leaves were described as yellow but by the time of the 古今集, they were written as crimson ; Shirane-sensei explains that there is a parallel to be made with the color of the cherry blossoms.
I’ve also read that during the banquets of the Nara period [710-784/794], the aristocrats were adorning their hair with branches of yellow leaves 
How beautiful is that ? I often wonder what it would be like to live in a world like this. Can you imagine doing that kind of thing every day, in the daily life of an average city… to go for a walk while wearing a beautiful kimono (with the right seasonal colours), with colored leaves or flowers in your hair ? 
Anyways, autumn is definitely a very beautiful and elegant season in the waka anthologies, but also in 浮世絵. I am very moved by the melancholy of it, the lonely deer making his call in the forest, the crying insect in the cold, the silent moon watching us from afar ; the sadness of the withering leaves, remembering us our own impending death.
百人一首 005 - 猿丸大夫 ［さるまるのだゆう］ [?]
奥山に紅葉ふみわけ鳴く鹿の声きく時ぞ秋は悲しき
As I’m walking through
the red orange fiery leaves
in the remote mountain,
I hear it - the deer, calling… crying.
For him and me, autumn is sad…
古今集 184 - 詠み人知らず
木の間よりもりくる月の影見れば心づくしの秋はきにけり
When I see the moonlight
seeping through the branches,
I suddenly get it -
autumn has come, that season
full of anxiety, and sorrow.
古今集 199 - 詠み人知らず
秋の夜は露こそことに寒からし草むらごとに虫の侘ぶれば
How cold the dew
must be ! for all the insects
to complain like that ;
so vulnerable in the grass,
in the depths of autumn night.
古今集 205 - 詠み人知らず
ひぐらしの鳴く山里の夕暮れは風より外にとふ人も無し
When the night falls
at the little mountain village,
cicadas are singing -
no one, except for the wind,
is coming to see me.
古今集 264 - 詠み人知らず
散らねども予ねてぞ惜しきもみぢ葉は今は限の色と見つれば
The burning maple leaves
have still not fall, but I’m already
feeling regret over them -
these colours are their last
before their demise.
古今集 286 - 詠み人知らず
秋風にあへずちりぬるもみぢ葉の行方さだめぬ我ぞかなしき
The red orange leaves
have all fallen, unable to endure
the autumn wind -
the journey ahead them
is uncertain, just like mine…
新古今集 535 - 曾禰好忠 ［そねのよしただ］
人は来ず風に木の葉は散りはてて夜な夜な虫は声よわるなり
Not a single person
coming to see me - under the wind,
the leaves have all fallen.
The insect’s voice is fading,
I can hear it - night after night…
- Harvest Witch’s Cottage - Jessica Woulfe
- Autumn Guardian - Wesley Gardner
- 紅葉の季節 - Enze Fu
- 会うのが怖い、会わないのも怖い - Enze Fu
- Schneeweisschen - Florian Herold
Notes
百人一首 005
The reason why I put the [?] is because there is not a 100% certainty that this is really the author of the poem. In the Kokinshû, this same waka is at the 215th place and is attributed to an anonymous author.
奥山に ［おくやまに］ : in the remote mountain, the depths of the mountains.
ふみわけ : ren’yôkei of fumiwaku ［踏み分く］ which basically means here “to walk / make a way among the fallen leaves”. I’ve read that it’s possible to interpret the poem in two ways : either it’s the stag that is walking among the leaves, or the poet. Both ways are interesting to me.
鳴く : always interesting to remember that it can means “to cry” and “to make an (animal) sound”.
I strongly recommend to read the translation of the UVirginia website, it’s gorgeous. I just love the two last lines, I repeated them so many times in my head. On the other hand the 5th line of my translation is clearly lacking in strength, but when I tried something else it was too strong : “Unbearable ! that autumn sadness…”.
古今集 184
木の間 ［このま］ : the empty space between the trees.
より : through.
もりくる : I believe it is 漏り来る, where 漏り comes from 漏る which means “to leak/to seep through” for the light ; it can also be used for water and sound.
見れば : izenkei of miru + ba : “when I see…”.
心づくし ［こころづくし］ : a noun that basically means “anxiety/trouble”.
きにけり : ren’yôkei of the verb 来 + ren’yôkei of the auxiliary verb nu meaning that the action has been completed + shûshikei of the auxiliary verb keri for a meaning of exclamation/surprise when the writer suddenly realises something.
古今集 199
こそ : a particle putting a strong emphasis on one thing.
寒からし < 寒し［さむし］ : cold. This one is hard, I had to really take my time to understand it. So first of all samushi is a ku-adjective. I’ve read in Shirane’s Grammar that these adjectives have two stems : the ku and the kari stems. The kari conjugation can be followed by auxiliary verbs (助動詞). We have here the rentaikei of samushi in the kari column, which is samukaru. On top of that, we have the izenkei of the auxiliary verb rashi, which is still rashi. But why isn’t it samukarurashi then ? Because there is an euphonic change (音便) that makes the ru disappearing.
Basically the rashi auxiliary verb has a meaning of “supposition based on evidence”. “Based on this objective evidence, I speculate that the cause of that is…”.
草むら［くさむら］: basically the grass or just a cluster of grass.
ごと : each, every.
侘ぶれば < 侘ぶ［わぶ］ : interesting to see some of the multiple definitions of this verb : to find difficult to endure, to feel helpless and lonely, to complain… We have here the izenkei + ba ; “because…”.
古今集 205
ひぐらし ［蜩］ : the evening cicada (Tanna japonensis).
夕暮れ ［ゆうぐれ］ : evening, twilight, nightfall.
より : except for.
外［ほか］ : when the writer wants to exclude something from a group (here, no one is coming except the wind).
とふ［問ふ / 訪ふ］ : to visit, to ask about.
も : it probably just means “even”, in the sense of “not even a single person”.
古今集 264
散らねども : mizenkei of chiru + izenkei of the negative zu + concessive particle domo.
予ねて ［かねて］ : already, in advance.
惜しき : rentaikei of the shiku-adjective をし : hard to leave behind, causing attachment.
限り ［かぎり］ : end, limit, last.
見つれば : I believe it is the ren’yôkei of miru + the izenkei of the auxiliary verb tsu + the suffix ba indicating the cause I think.
古今集 286
あへず : mizenkei of 敢ふ : to endure, to resist, to support + negative auxiliary verb zu.
ちりぬる : ren’yôkei of 散る + rentaikei of the perfective auxiliary verb nu.
行方 ［ゆくえ］ : destination, future, fate, the journey ahead.
さだめぬ : mizenkei of 定む (to decide, to set, ) + rentaikei of the negative auxiliary verb zu.
新古今集 535
来ず ［こず］ : mizenkei of 来 + negative zu.
散りはてて ［散り果てて］ : ren’yôkei of 散る + ren’yôkei of 果つ ; I think the last て is just a conjunctive particle.
よわる : to become weaker.
なり : I think it’s just the shûshikei of the copular auxiliary verb nari for making an assertation / declaration ; “to be”.
My brain is so tired right now Please tell me if I made any mistake. Despite reading them several times I always have my heart racing before clicking on “Reply” for these posts because I want a perfect one without any error
Of course there are many, many other poems that I could have chosen ; perhaps I will make a second autumn post, I’m still not sure about that.