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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
紀貫之
人はいさ
心も知らず
ふるさとは
花ぞ昔の
香に匂ひける
はなそむか
しのかにに
ほひける
ひとは
- Poem 35
- 人はいさ
心も知らず
ふるさとは
花ぞ昔の 香に匂ひける
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki (868–945)
Source: Kokin Wakashū, Spring
- English Verse Translation
- The village of my youth is gone, New faces meet my gaze; But still the blossoms at thy gate,
Whose perfume scents the ways, Recall my childhood's days.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- I cannot know what is in your heart. But here in the old village, the plum blossoms still carry the same fragrance as before.
- Commentary
- According to the Kokin Wakashū's headnote, Ki no Tsurayuki, visiting after a long absence the inn where he always used to stay on pilgrimages to Hase, was gently reproached by the innkeeper, who said, "This inn has stood unchanged all this time, you know." In response, Tsurayuki is said to have broken off a nearby plum blossom and composed this poem on the spot. The innkeeper's gender is not recorded.
- About the Poet
- Ki no Tsurayuki wrote the kana preface to the Kokin Wakashū as well as the Tosa Nikki. The Tosa Nikki is a travel diary he wrote while returning to the capital after finishing his term as a provincial governor. Written in kana from a woman's point of view, it had a major influence on later generations of women writers.
- Ki no Tsurayuki'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)
Your heart may have changed,
but this plum blossom's scent
welcomed me back just like you once did.
- 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).