Haru aki mo shiranu tokiwa no yamazato wa sumu hito sae ya omogawari senu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春秋も知らぬ常磐の山里は
住む人さへや面変はりせぬ

Roma-ji: Haru aki mo shiranu tokiwa no yamazato wa sumu hito sae ya omogawari senu
English Translation: Knowing no spring or autumn,
in the ever-green
mountain village there—
do even those who dwell there
never alter in their looks?
Meaning: In the evergreen mountain village that knows neither spring nor autumn, do even the people who live there never change in their looks?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1617

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is a single poem on an evergreen mountain village, moving from the mountain that knows no season in the preceding poem to a mountain village that knows no change of seasons. In an evergreen mountain village that knows neither spring nor autumn, the poet wonders whether even its people never change in their looks. The headnote gives the topic as unknown and records nothing of the circumstances.
The author, "Ariwara no Motokata," was a son of Ariwara no Muneyana and a grandson of Narihira. He wrote the opening poem of the Kokinshū.

The first line, "haru aki mo," means "spring and autumn alike," naming them as the chief signs of changing seasons.
The second line, "shiranu tokiwa no," means "of the evergreen that knows them not." "Tokiwa" means the unchanging green that lasts forever. Like "toki shiranu" in the first line of the preceding poem, "shiranu" marks the absence of seasonal change.
The third line, "yamazato wa," sets up as the topic a mountain village surrounded by evergreen trees.
In the fourth line, "sumu hito sae ya," "sae" adds, meaning "not only the village but even its people." "Ya" is an interrogative particle.
The last line, "omogawari senu," closes the kakari-musubi of "ya" with the negative "nu." It is a witty question that extends the changelessness of the trees to the faces of those who live there.
Author: Ariwara no Motokata
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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