Inishie no kuchiki no sakura haru goto ni aware mukashi to omou kai nashi

いにしへの朽木の桜春ごとに
あはれ昔と思ふかひなし

Roma-ji: Inishie no kuchiki no sakura haru goto ni aware mukashi to omou kai nashi
English Translation: The cherry tree
that has rotted from of old,
every single spring
"Ah, the days gone by," I think,
and the thinking is in vain.
Meaning: Each spring, looking at the old cherry tree rotting away, I think, "Ah, the days gone by," but such thoughts are in vain.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 706

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: illegible in the source as displayed
Seeing an old, decaying cherry, the poet thinks each spring of the days gone by, but the past does not return and such thoughts are in vain. From the blossoms that bloom and fall in the preceding poem, it turns to an aged tree and longing for time past.

Line 1 means "from long ago."
Line 2 means "the rotting cherry tree," taking up "cherry blossoms" in the preceding poem.
Line 3 means "every spring."
Line 4 means "'ah, the past,'" taking up aware from the last lines of the two preceding poems.
Line 5 means "it is no use to think."
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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