Chiyo hetaru matsu ni wa aredo inishie no koe no samusa wa kawarazarikeri - Tosa Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

千代へたる松にはあれどいにしへの
聲の寒さはかはらざりけり

Roma-ji: Chiyo hetaru matsu ni wa aredo inishie no koe no samusa wa kawarazarikeri
English Translation: Though these are pine trees
that have stood a thousand years,
the chill in their voice,
the sound of the wind of old,
has not changed at all, it seems
Meaning: These pines have stood a thousand years, yet the cold voice of the wind in their boughs is just as it was long ago.
Commentary: 48 The Ninth Day of the Second Month: Nagisa-no-in and a Mother's Lament

On the ninth day of the second month, impatient, they began towing the boat upstream before dawn, but the water was low and they could only creep forward little by little. At a place called the fork of the Wada anchorage, when people begged for rice and fish, they gave some. As they went on towing the boat upstream, they passed a place called Nagisa-no-in. Seen with the past in mind it was a charming spot; on the hill behind stood pine trees, and in the inner garden plum blossoms were in bloom.
Nagisa-no-in was the site of a villa of Prince Koretaka, in present-day Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture. Prince Koretaka was the eldest son of Emperor Montoku and was on close terms with Ariwara no Narihira and others. Ariwara no Narihira was a poet of the early Heian period and one of the Six Poetic Immortals.
As the party recalled Narihira's "Yo no naka ni taete sakura no sakazaraba haru no kokoro wa nodokekaramashi," a person of present-day refinement composed this poem as one suited to the place.
Then a certain person composed "Kimi koite yo o furu yado no ume no hana mukashi no ka ni zo nao nioikeru," and the party went on upriver, rejoicing as the capital drew near.

The first line, "Chiyo hetaru," means "that have passed a thousand years," referring to the age of the pines on the hill behind Nagisa-no-in. The second line, "matsu ni wa aredo," continues concessively: "though they are pines." The third line, "inishie no," means "of long ago."
The fourth line, "koe no samusa wa," means "the chill of the sound of the wind blowing through the pines." The final line, "kawarazarikeri," closes with the exclamatory auxiliary "keri": it has not changed.
Though the pines have aged over long years, the chill sound of the wind in them is just as it was: the poem contrasts the past and present of Nagisa-no-in, entrusting its longing for Narihira's age to the unchanging voice of the pine wind.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Tosa Nikki
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