expression
the land outlasts the king; a country may fall but its mountains and rivers remain
Proverb from a poem by Du Fu. Expresses that while human institutions like kingdoms may perish, nature endures. Often used to reflect on the transience of power or the resilience of the natural world.
戦乱の後も、国破れて山河ありというように、山や川は変わらずそこにあった。
Even after the war, as the saying goes, 'the land outlasts the king,' the mountains and rivers remained unchanged.
彼は失脚したが、国破れて山河あり、自然は何も変わらない。
He fell from power, but as the proverb says, a country may fall yet its mountains and rivers remain; nature is unchanged.
From a poem by the Tang dynasty Chinese poet Du Fu (杜甫). The phrase entered Japanese as a classical proverb and is used in literary and reflective contexts.