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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
藤原興風
誰をかも
知る人にせむ
高砂の
松も昔の
友ならなくに
まつもむか
しのともな
らなくに
たれ
- Poem 34
- 誰をかも
知る人にせむ
高砂の
松も昔の 友ならなくに
Author: Fujiwara no Okikaze (dates unknown)
Source: Kokin Wakashū, Miscellaneous
- English Verse Translation
- Gone are my old familiar friends, The men I used to know; Yet still on Takasago beach
The same old pine trees-grow, That I knew long ago.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- Who can I call a true friend now? Even the old pine of Takasago knew the friends of long ago no longer.
- Commentary
- With its unchanging green and dignified form, the pine has long been a symbol of longevity. Takasago (in present-day Takasago City, Hyōgo Prefecture) has been known since ancient times as a famous place for pines. A long life is properly a thing to celebrate, but the longer one lives, the more one experiences the loss of friends who once understood one's heart. This poem expresses that loneliness of old age. In the Heian period, forty was considered the threshold of old age, but the poet is said to have composed this poem at the age of seventy-four.
- About the Poet
- Fujiwara no Okikaze held no high rank, but he was highly regarded as a poet, and left behind a personal poetry collection called the Okikaze Shū. He was also known as a master of the koto.
- Fujiwara no Okikaze's Chart of the Heart
-
A chart and a modern-language reflection of the poet's inner feelings.
The Poet's Feelings (A Personal Interpretation)
I look up at the unchanging pine,
but it cannot speak of the old days with me.Only time keeps flowing on,
and my old friend's face grows more distant.
- Poem Illustration
-
This image is based on an illustration from William N. Porter's A Hundred Verses from Old Japan, his 1909 English translation of the Hyakunin Isshu published in England, colorized and reworked using Adobe Firefly (generative AI).