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- Kokin Wakashu
Toshi no uchi ni haru wa kinikeri hitotose o
kozo to ya iwamu kotoshi to ya iwamu
Before the New Year has even begun, spring has already arrived. With the turning of the seasons, should the year that has just passed be called last year, because winter has ended, or should it be called this year, since the New Year has not yet come?
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata
Sode hijite musubishi mizu no kōreru o
haru tatsu kyō no kaze ya tokuran
The water I once scooped up, soaking my sleeves without my knowing in the heat of summer, lay frozen through the cold season—might today’s warm wind, on the day spring begins, be melting that ice away?
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Harugasumi tateru ya izuko Miyoshino no
Yoshino no yama ni yuki wa furitsutsu
Spring has begun, and yet where can the rising haze of spring be found? Here in fair Yoshino, on the slopes of Mount Yoshino, the snow still falls, and there is not yet the faintest sign of spring.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yuki no uchi ni haru wa kinikeri uguisu no
kōreru namida ima ya tokuramu
Though the snow is still falling, spring has already arrived. The bush warbler’s tears, frozen throughout the winter—might they now be melting at last?
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Takako
Ume ga e ni kiiru uguisu haru kakete
nakedomo imada yuki wa furitsutsu
The bush warbler perches on branches where the plum has blossomed, calling out as it waits for spring to come; and yet, though it calls, there is still no sign of spring, and the snow continues to fall lightly.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Haru tateba hana to ya miramu shirayuki no
kakareru eda ni uguisu zo naku
Now that spring has come, does the bush warbler cry, thinking the white snow that has fallen upon the plum branches to be flowers?
Kokin Wakashu - Sosei Hoshi
Kokorozashi fukaku someteshi orikereba
kieaenu yuki no hana to miyuramu
Because I set my heart so deeply upon them when I broke off the branch, the snow that could not quite melt away may be seen as flowers.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Haru no hi no hikari ni ataru ware naredo
kashira no yuki to naru zo wabishiki
Though I stand in the light of the spring sun, it is wretched to me that snow should fall upon my head and turn my hair white.
Kokin Wakashu - Funya no Yasuhide
Kasumi tachi ko no me mo haru no yuki fureba
hana naki sato mo hana zo chirikeru
When haze rises and the buds on the trees show spring, if snow should fall, even this village where no flowers yet bloom has flowers falling down in the spring’s pale snow.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Haru ya toki hana ya osoki to kikiwakamu
uguisu dani mo nakazu mo aru kana
Though it is spring, I would ask whether spring has come too soon or the flowers are too slow to bloom; I would judge by hearing, yet even the bush warbler does not sing at all.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kotomichi
Haru kinu to hito wa iedomo uguisu no
nakanu kagiri wa araji to zo omou
People say that spring has already come, yet so long as the bush warbler does not sing to herald it, I think it is not yet spring.
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Tanikaze ni tokuru kōri no hima goto ni
uchiizuru nami ya haru no hatsuhana
Could the waves that flow out from between the melting ice, stirred by the wind in the valley, be the very first flowers of spring?
Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Toshiyuki
Hana no ka o kaze no tayori ni taguete zo
uguisu sasou shirube ni wa yaru
I entrust the blooming plum’s fragrance to the wind as a messenger, sending it as a guide to lure the bush warbler out.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Uguisu no tani yori izuru koe nakuba
haru kuru koto o tare ka shiramashi
If the bush warbler did not come forth from the valley with its cry, who would ever know that spring has come?
Kokin Wakashu - Oe no Chisato
Haru tatedo hana mo niowanu yamazato wa
mono ukaru ne ni uguisu zo naku
Though spring has come, in this mountain village where even the flowers give no scent, the bush warbler sings with a voice that sounds weary.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Muneyoshi
Nobe chikaku ieishi sereba uguisu no
naku naru koe wa asana asana kiku
Living near the fields, I hear the bush warbler’s cry each morning, morning by morning.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet