Years ago, when my daughter was a toddler, no evening could end without a rhyme.....
One misty, moisty morning
When rainy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man
Dressed all in leather.
Dressed all in leather,
From his boots to his chin,
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do?
How do you do?
And, how do you do, again!
And then she would say, "Do it again, daddy."
The story of Hanako is just that sort of pleasurable nonsense. The age estimates were based on scale rings, like the annual rings in the trunk of a tree, but since that time it has been learned that many growth lines can appear in a carp's scales in a single year. I have read very stingy estimates of her actual age, but prefer the notion that one can ever know for sure. It is too pleasurable a tale to be marred by truth and science.
So, tell it again, tell it again. And tell it again, do.