Of the four seasons, autumn is the one the Hyakunin Isshu loves best: sixteen poems are classified under "autumn." Sleeves soaked in dew, the Tatsuta River dyed with crimson leaves, an autumn dusk seen from outside a lonely hut, the sound of cloth being beaten in the village of Yoshino — the season the Heian poets treasured for its mono no aware, the gentle sadness of passing things, is gathered into these sixteen poems. Here they are grouped by what they look at, each with its meaning and background, and the song we made from it.
Poems that have become songs link from their row to the song page — meaning, the story behind the poem, bilingual lyrics, and the music video.
| No. | Poem | Poet | Meaning | Kimariji |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aki no ta no kariho no io no toma o arami waga koromode wa tsuyu ni nuretsutsu♪ Listen: “Aki no Ta” | Emperor Tenji | Keeping watch in a makeshift hut beside the autumn rice field, the thatch is woven so coarsely that my… | aki no |
| 5 | Okuyama ni momiji fumiwake naku shika no koe kiku toki zo aki wa kanashiki♪ Listen: “Okuyama ni” | Sarumaru no Dayū | Deep in the remote mountains, when I hear a deer crying as it treads through the fallen maple leaves, that is… | oku |
| 17 | Chihayaburu kamiyo mo kikazu Tatsutagawa karakurenai ni mizu kukuru to wa♪ Listen: “Chihayaburu” | Ariwara no Narihira | Not even in the age of the gods was such a thing heard of — the Tatsuta River scattering autumn leaves and… | chiha |
| 22 | Fuku kara ni aki no kusaki no shiorureba mube yamakaze o arashi to iuran♪ Listen: “Fuku kara ni” | Fun'ya no Yasuhide | The moment it blows, the autumn grasses and trees wither. No wonder the wind sweeping down from the mountain… | fu |
| 23 | Tsuki mireba chiji ni mono koso kanashikere waga mi hitotsu no aki ni wa aranedo♪ Listen: “Tsuki Mireba” | Ōe no Chisato | Gazing at the moon, a thousand sorrows fill my heart — though autumn did not come for me alone. | tsuki |
| 29 | 心あてに 折らばや折らむ 初霜の 置きまどはせる 白菊の花 Coming soon | Ōshikōchi no Mitsune | If I am to pick one, let me pick by guesswork — the white chrysanthemum, now indistinguishable under the… | kokoro a |
| 32 | 山川に 風のかけたる しがらみは 流れもあへぬ 紅葉なりけり Coming soon | Harumichi no Tsuraki | The weir the wind has built across the mountain stream — it turns out to be autumn leaves, gathered where… | yamaga |
| 37 | Shiratsuyu ni kaze no fukishiku aki no no wa tsuranuki tomenu tama zo chirikeru♪ Listen: “Shiratsuyu ni” | Fun'ya no Asayasu | In the autumn field, where the wind keeps sweeping over the white dew, it looks as if unstrung jewels are… | shira |
| 47 | Yaemugura shigereru yado no sabishiki ni hito koso miene aki wa kinikeri♪ Listen: “Yaemugura” | Priest Egyō | Around this lonely house, overgrown with layer upon layer of weeds, no one comes to visit — and yet autumn… | yae |
| 69 | 嵐吹く 三室の山の もみぢ葉は 竜田の川の 錦なりけり Coming soon | Priest Nōin | The autumn leaves of Mount Mimuro, scattered by the storm, have dyed the surface of the Tatsuta River like a… | arashi |
| 70 | Sabishisa ni yado o tachiidete nagamureba izuko mo onaji aki no yūgure♪ Listen: “Sabishisa ni” | Ryōzen Hōshi | Unable to bear the loneliness, I stepped out of my hut and looked around — everywhere was wrapped in the same… | sa |
| 71 | Yū sareba kadota no inaba otozurete ashi no maroya ni akikaze zo fuku♪ Listen: “Yū Sareba” | Dainagon Tsunenobu (Minamoto no Tsunenobu) | When evening comes, the autumn wind visits my humble reed-thatched hut, rustling the rice leaves in the field… | yū |
| 79 | Akikaze ni tanabiku kumo no taema yori moreizuru tsuki no kage no sayakesa♪ Listen: “Akikaze ni” | Sakyō no Daibu Akisuke (Fujiwara no Akisuke) | Through a gap in the clouds trailing on the autumn wind, the moonlight streams out — how clear and bright it… | aki ka |
| 87 | 村雨の 露もまだひぬ 槇の葉に 霧立ちのぼる 秋の夕暮れ Coming soon | Priest Jakuren | The dew of a passing shower has not yet dried on the leaves of the black pines, and already the mist is… | mu |
| 91 | きりぎりす 鳴くや霜夜の さむしろに 衣かたしき ひとりかも寝む Coming soon | Go-Kyōgoku Sesshō (Fujiwara no Yoshitsune) | On this cold, frosty night, while the crickets cry, must I sleep alone on a straw mat with only one sleeve of… | kiri |
| 94 | み吉野の 山の秋風 さ夜更けて ふるさと寒く 衣打つなり Coming soon | Sangi Masatsune (Fujiwara no Masatsune) | The autumn wind blows through the mountains of Yoshino, and as the night deepens, the sound of cloth being… | miyo |
Sixteen poems are classified under "autumn" — far more than spring (6), summer (4), or winter (6), making it by far the largest season. If you also count poems in the love and miscellaneous categories that are set in autumn, such as No. 3 "Ashibiki no" and No. 21 "Ima kon to," the number of poems with an autumn setting rises to 22.
Among the autumn poems, four: No. 5 "Okuyama ni" (Sarumaru no Dayū), No. 17 "Chihayaburu" (Ariwara no Narihira), No. 32 "Yamagawa ni" (Harumichi no Tsuraki), and No. 69 "Arashi fuku" (Priest Nōin). Nos. 17 and 69 both sing of the Tatsuta River, the most famous place in Japan for autumn colour. Beyond these, No. 24 "Kono tabi wa" (Sugawara no Michizane), classified as a travel poem, is another celebrated leaf poem — it offers the crimson leaves of Mount Tamuke to the gods as brocade.
Two: No. 70 "Sabishisa ni" (Ryōzen Hōshi) and No. 87 "Murasame no" (Priest Jakuren) both close their lower verse with aki no yūgure, "autumn dusk." Each paints only the scene and says nothing of feeling — the classic examples of a style that trusts the lingering afterglow of an image to speak for the heart.
The imperial anthologies customarily gave spring and autumn two volumes each, so there were simply more autumn poems to choose from. On top of that, the compiler Fujiwara no Teika had a particular love for poems of autumn, whose loneliness and lingering resonance matched his own taste.