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- Manyoshu
Kyō no hi ni ika ni ka shikamu tsukubane ni mukashi no hito no kikemu sono hi mo
How could any day match the joy of today, even the day long ago when people of old came up Mount Tsukuba?
Manyoshu - Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Kakikirashi ame no furu yo o hototogisu nakite yuku nari aware sono tori
On a night when clouds fill the sky and rain is falling, a hototogisu seems to pass by singing. Ah, how dear that bird is!
Manyoshu - Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Tsukubane no susomi no tai ni akita karu imo gari yaramu momichi taorana
To the girl reaping autumn rice in the paddies around the foot of Mount Tsukuba I will send a gift; let me break off some autumn leaves.
Manyoshu - Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Okami ni kumo tachinobori shigure furi nuretōru tomo ware kaerame ya
Clouds rise over the Male God's peak and cold showers fall; though I be soaked to the skin, would I ever go home?
Manyoshu - Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Asu no yoi awazarame ya mo ashihiki no yamabiko toyome yobitate naku mo
Will you not meet her tomorrow evening? Yet you cry out, calling for her, setting the mountain echoes ringing.
Manyoshu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (according to one account)
Kurahashi no yama o takami ka yogomori ni idekuru tsuki no katamachi kataki
Is it because the mountain of Kurahashi is so high? Waiting and waiting for the moon that only rises deep in the night is hard to bear.
Manyoshu - Princess Sami
Amanogawa kiri tachiwataru kyō kyō to waga matsu kimi shi funade surashi mo
Mist spreads over the River of Heaven. The one I have waited for, day after day, must now be setting out in his boat.
Wagimoko wa kushiro ni aranamu hidarite no waga oku no te ni makite inamashi o
I wish my beloved were a bracelet; then I would bind her on my left hand, my dearest hand, and take her with me.
Manyoshu - Furu no Tamuke no Sukune
Toyokuni no kawaru wa wagie himonoko ni itsugari oreba kawaru wa wagie
Kawaru in the land of Toyo is my home; since I live joined with Himono, Kawaru is my home.
Manyoshu - Nukeno Ōobito
Isonokami furu no wasada no ho ni wa idezu kokoro no uchi ni kouru kono koro
Like the rice of the early fields of Furu at Isonokami that has not yet come into ear, I show nothing outwardly, but these days I love in the depths of my heart.
Manyoshu - Nukeno Ōobito
Kaku nomi shi koishi watareba tamakiharu inochi mo ware wa oshikeku mo nashi
Since I go on loving like this, I would not grudge even my very life.
Manyoshu - Nukeno Ōobito
Mimoro no kami no obaseru hatsusegawa mio shi taezu wa ware wasureme ya
As long as the current of the Hatsuse River, worn as a sash by the god of Mimoro, never fails, how could I forget?
Okureite are wa ya koimu harugasumi tanabiku yama o kimi ga koeinaba
Left behind, how I shall long for you once you have crossed the mountain where the spring haze trails.
Okureite are wa ya koimu inamino no akihagi mitsutsu inamu ko yue ni
Left behind, how I shall long for you, dear one, who will go on your way gazing at the autumn bush clover of Inami Plain.
Manyoshu - Lord Abe
Kamunabi no kamiyoseita ni suru sugi no omoi mo sugizu koi no shigeki ni
Like the cedar made into boards to call down the gods of the sacred grove, my longing does not pass away, so dense is my love.
Manyoshu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Tarachine no haha no mikoto no koto ni araba toshi no o nagaku tanome sugimu ya
Had it been my mother's word, would she have left me hoping in vain through the long years?
Manyoshu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro