Kokinshu #361

(for the same screen)

    Mist must have risen
from the river at Saho
    where the plovers cry:
even the colors of leaves
on the mountain trees grow deeper.

—7-10 February 2013

Original by [Mibu no Tadamine]. Attribution from Tadamine's collected poems, plus a variant text (with "change" instead of "grow") also collected in the Shuishu. For Saho, see #265; the river that flows by the hill is noted for its plover, though it's not clear whether the association predates this poem. For why "even," see 256. The poem is appropriate for the occasion because the chi of chidori, "plover," is written with the kanji meaning "one thousand," as in the number of years wished for. Implied verb: the growing is "deeper."


chidori naku
saho no kawagiri
tachinurashi
yama no ko no ha mo
iro masariyuku

---L.