国くに破やぶれて山さん河があり

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.

• 戦せん乱らんの後あとも、国くに破やぶれて山さん河がありというように、山やまや川かわは変か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.

• 彼かれは失しっ脚きゃくしたが、国くに破やぶれて山さん河があり、自し然ぜんは何なにも変かわらない。

  He fell from power, but as the proverb says, a country may fall yet its mountains and rivers remain; nature is unchanged.