noun
Archaic poetic term for dawn, especially the dim light when it is hard to distinguish faces. Originally also used for dusk (cf. 黄昏時).
See also: 黄昏時
In classical literature, dawn is often depicted as a time that evokes the pathos of things.
「彼は誰時」という表記は、薄明かりの中で人の顔が見分けにくいことから来ている。
The spelling 彼は誰時 comes from the difficulty of recognizing faces in the dim light.
黄昏時 is the more common term for dusk, while 彼は誰時 is an archaic word for dawn. Both share the idea of dim light when faces are hard to recognize.
From 彼は誰 (ka wa tare, 'who is he?') + 時 (toki, 'time'), referring to the dim light of dawn when it is difficult to recognize people. The reading かわたれどき is a contraction of かはたれどき.