“So much I have learned:
the blossom that fades away,
its color unseen,
is the flower in the heart
of one who lives in this world.”

—  Ono no Komachi

Source: Helen Craig McCullough's translations, Kokin Wakashū: The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry (1985), p. 174

Original

Iro miede utsurou mono wa yo no naka no hito no kokoro no hana ni zo arikeru

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Ono no Komachi 15
Japanese poet 825–900

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