紅葉の錦

Japanese[edit]

Literally “a brocade of turned leaves”.

紅葉(もみじ)の錦(にしき) • (momiji no nishiki) ^{←もみぢのにしき (momidi no nisiki)^?}

autumn leaves forming a beautiful brocade
- 905–914, Kokin Wakashū (book 9, poem 420, also Hyakunin Isshu, poem 24)
  このたびは幣(ぬさ)も取(と)りあへず手(た)向(むけ)山(やま)紅葉(もみぢ)のにしき神(かみ)のまにまに
  kono tabi wa nusa mo toriaezu tamuke-yama momiji no nishiki kami no mani-mani
  This time, for the journey I was unable to prepare offerings. Gods of Mount Tamuke, may the brocade of autumn leaves serve as a gift for you to enjoy.^[1]
(figurative) a beautifully-woven clothing
- c. 1005–07, Shūi Wakashū (book 3, poem 232)
  あさまだき嵐(あらし)の山(やま)のさむければ紅葉(もみぢ)の錦(にしき)きぬ人(ひと)ぞなき
  asa madaki Arashi-no-yama no samukereba momiji no nishiki kinu hito zo naki
  So cold is Mount Arashi before morning comes that there is none who does not wear his maple-leaf brocade.^[2]

^ Robert Borgen (1994) Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court, illustrated, reprint edition, University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 262
^ P.G. O'Neill (2014) Collected Writings of P.G. O'Neill (Collected Writings of Modern Western Scholars on Japan), reprint edition, volume 4, Routledge, →ISBN, page 198