Toshigoto ni saki wa kawaredo ume no hana aware naru ka wa usezu zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年ごとに咲きは変はれど梅の花
あはれなる香は失せずぞありける

Roma-ji: Toshigoto ni saki wa kawaredo ume no hana aware naru ka wa usezu zo arikeru
English Translation: Though year after year
the blossoming is not the same,
these flowers of plum,
the fragrance that moves the heart
has never faded away.
Meaning: Though the blossoms change from year to year, the plum's fragrance, so moving to the heart, has never faded.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1013

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that though the blossoms that bloom change from year to year, the moving fragrance of the plum is never lost. Contrasting the changing appearance of the blossoms with their unchanging scent, it expresses a deep attachment to the plum's fragrance. It shares with 1002 in this book, which sang of the warbler's voice unchanged in the new year, the discovery of something that does not change as the years renew.

First line, "toshigoto ni," means "year after year," sharing the same line with the first lines of 1057 and 1058 in this book, "toshigoto ni."
Second line, "saki wa kawaredo," means "though the blooming changes," with "do" a concessive particle.
Third line, "ume no hana," means "of the plum blossoms."
Fourth line, "aware naru ka wa," means "the fragrance that moves the heart."
Final line, "usezu zo arikeru," means "is never lost," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by "keru," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "keri." It shares with the final line of 1002 in this book, "kawarazarikeri," the discovery of what does not change.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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