Inishie no aoi to hito wa togamu tomo nao sono kami no kyō zo wasurenu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いにしへのあふひと人はとがむとも
なほそのかみの今日ぞ忘れぬ

Roma-ji: Inishie no aoi to hito wa togamu tomo nao sono kami no kyō zo wasurenu
English Translation: "Hollyhock of old,
day of meeting long gone by,"
though people may blame,
still this day of that god's time
I have never once forgotten.
Meaning: Though people may reproach me, calling it a withered hollyhock, a day of meeting long past, still I have never forgotten this very day of long ago, the day of the god.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1254

Headnote: "Sent on the day of the Miare rite, with a withered hollyhock, to a woman with whom he had once been intimate."
This is the seventh poem of the sequence of exchanges among members of the court. Though people may reproach me that it is a withered hollyhock, a day of meeting long past, he says, I have not forgotten this day of long ago. According to the headnote, it was sent with a withered hollyhock on the day of the Miare rite to a woman with whom he had once exchanged vows.
The author, "Sanekata, Lord of the Court," is Fujiwara no Sanekata. A grandson of the Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Morotada and son of Fujiwara no Sadatoki, he went from middle captain of the Left Palace Guards to Governor of Mutsu, traveled to his post, and died there. He is one of the Thirty-Six Later Immortal Poets.
The Miare rite, also written "Mi-are," welcomed the god of Kamo before the Kamo Festival. Because shrine buildings, headdresses, and ox carriages were decorated with hollyhock leaves at the Kamo Festival, it was also called the Hollyhock Festival.
The woman answers in the next poem, 1255.

The first line, "inishie no," means "of long ago," pointing to the past when the two had exchanged vows.
In the second line, "aoi to hito wa," "aoi" is a pivot word meaning both the "hollyhock" of the Kamo Festival and "au hi," a day of lovers' meeting. The withered hollyhock is made the remnant of a meeting day gone by.
The third line, "togamu tomo," is a concessive supposition: "even if people reproach me."
In the fourth line, "nao sono kami no," "sono kami" is a pivot word meaning both "in those days" and the "god" of Kamo.
The last line, "kyō zo wasurenu," closes in the attributive form "wasurenu" in answer to "zo." Laying the day of their former meeting over this festival day, he declares that his feelings have not changed.
Author: Fujiwara no Sanekata
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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