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Hyakunin Isshu #35
Sunday, 8 November 2009 08:34 What goes on inside
human hearts cannot be known,
but in my home town
the plum blossoms still give off
the same perfume as of old.
Hito wa isa
kokoro mo shirazu
furusato wa
hana zo mukashi no
ka ni nioi keru
human hearts cannot be known,
but in my home town
the plum blossoms still give off
the same perfume as of old.
—7 November 2009
Original by Ki no Tsurayuki, who has just "flower" but in his headnote when he included it in the Kokinshu (as I:42), it says he recited it with a spray of plum blossoms, so plum in translation it is. For an alternate opening I have "I cannot tell | what is inside people's hearts," which may be closer to the original but sounds less graceful to my ear. Modernized original:Hito wa isa
kokoro mo shirazu
furusato wa
hana zo mukashi no
ka ni nioi keru