いろもかもおなじむかしにさくらめど
年ふる人ぞあらたまりける
年ふる人ぞあらたまりける
- Roma-ji
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Iro mo ka mo onaji mukashi ni sakuramedo
toshi furu hito zo aratamarikeru - English Translation
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In color and scent,
just as in the days of old,
bloom the cherry flowers;
yet the one who lives through years
has changed and grown anew.
- Meaning
- The cherry blossoms bloom in color and scent just as in the days of old, yet the person who lives through the years has changed.
- Commentary
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Spring Songs, Book One
A poem composed in lament at having grown old beneath the beautiful cherry blossoms.
The cherry blossoms remain as they were in the past, yet the one who beholds them loses color and scent and comes to old age.
It likely draws on the line from Chinese poetry: “Year after year the flowers are the same; year after year the people are not.”
- Author
- Ki no Tomonori
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Miwataseba yanagi sakura o kokimazete
miyako zo haru no nishiki narikeru - Next Poem
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Tare shi ka motomete oritsuru harugasumi
tachikakusuramu yama no sakura o