Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 24
kono tabi wanusa mo toriaezuTamukeyamamomiji no nishikikami no mani mani
???????????????????????????
on my present journeyI couldn't bring sacred streamersto Offering Hillso perhaps this brocade of autumn leavesis to the gods' liking...
Sugawara no Michizane (845-903)
[Brocade of colored leaves at Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto - photo Ad Blankestijn]
A poem about the beauty of the autumn leaves at Offering Hill - a beauty typical for this place and its kami. It is a characteristic Kokinshu poem containing a witticism based on a pun between a placename (Tamukeyama) and the conceit of autumn leaves as brocade.
In the Kokinshu this poem is accompanied by a headnote which says: "Composed at Tamukeyama, when the Suzaku Retired Emperor made a trip to Nara." The Retired Emperor Suzaku was Emperor Uda (867-931; reigned 887-897); the trip in question, an elaborate excursion to Nara and Sumiyoshi, was made in 898.   "Tabi" in the first line is a pivot word that refers both to "this time" and "at this trip," so I have translated it as "on my present journey." 
"Nusa" in line 2 refers to a wooden wand used in Shinto rituals which is decorated with many shide (zig-zagging paper streamers). They are usually white, but can also be gold, silver, or a mixture of several colors - as here where they are so to speak made of the autumn colors.  
[A nusa with white shide in the Kenkun Shrine in ...