Kokinshu #42
Monday, 27 December 2010 06:42![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammer When he arrived, after long absence, at the house of the person with whom he habitually lodged when he made pilgrimages to Hatsuse, the person sent out word that "this inn" was always open to him. [Tsurayuki] then broke off a flower of the plum that stood there and recited this.
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 nioikeru
---L.
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.
—7 November 2009
Original by Ki no Tsurayuki. I've posted this poem before as Hyakunin Isshu #35. Hatsuse near Nara was the home of Hase temple. The original is just "blossom," but given headnote, plum in translation it is. As an aside, many translations fail to bring out the sarcasm of Tsurayuki's host.hito wa isa
kokoro mo shirazu
furusato wa
hana zo mukashi no
ka ni nioikeru
---L.