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- Shin Kokin Wakashu
Tsukushi ni mo murasaki ouru nobe wa aredo nakina kanashibu hito zo kikoenu
Even in Tsukushi there are meadows where the purple-root grows, yet I hear of no one who grieves over the false charge laid against me.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sugawara no Michizane
Karukaya no sekimori ni nomi mietsuru wa hito mo yurusanu michibe narikeri
The karukaya grass looked to me like nothing but barrier guards, and now I see it is because this is a roadside where no one is allowed to pass.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sugawara no Michizane
Umi narazu tataeru mizu no soko made ni kiyoki kokoro wa tsuki zo terasamu
Just as it shines down to the bottom of brimming water, deep though it is no sea, the moon will surely light up the purity of my heart.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sugawara no Michizane
Hikoboshi no yukiai o matsu kasasagi no towataru hashi o ware ni kasanamu
I wish the magpies would lend me the bridge they lay across the strait for the Herdboy Star, who waits to meet his love.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sugawara no Michizane
Nagaregi to tatsu shiranami to yaku shio to izure ka karaki watatsumi no soko
The drifting timber, the rising white waves, the salt they burn from brine—which of them is the most bitter, down in the depths of the sea?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sugawara no Michizane
Sazanami no Hira yamakaze no umi fukeba tsuri suru ama no sode kaeru miyu
When the wind from Mount Hira blows across the lake, I see the sleeves of the fishers at their lines fluttering in it.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Shiranami no yosuru nagisa ni yo o tsukusu ama no ko nareba yado mo sadamezu
I am a fisher's child who lives out her life on the shore where white waves break, and so I have no fixed dwelling.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Fune no uchi nami no ue ni zo oinikeru ama no shiwaza mo itoma na no yo ya
In a boat, upon the waves, I have grown old. Even the fisher's labors belong to a world that allows no rest.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Sasurauru mi wa sadametaru kata mo nashi ukitaru fune no nami ni makasete
For one who wanders there is no fixed destination; like a boat afloat, I leave myself, in my sorrow, to the waves.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Oe no Masafusa
Ika ni semu mi o ukifune no ni o omomi tsui no tomari ya izuko naru ramu
What am I to do? My wretched self is a floating boat heavy with its load; where will its final harbor be?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Zōga
Ashigamo no sawagu irie no mizu no e no yo ni sumigataki waga mi narikeri
Like the water of the inlet where ducks among the reeds clamor, which can hardly settle clear, I find myself hardly able to live in this world.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Ashigamo no hakaze ni nabiku ukikusa no sadame naki yo o tare ka tanomamu
This world is as unsettled as floating weeds that bend in the breeze of the reed-bed ducks' wings; who could ever put trust in it?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Oinikeru nagisa no matsu no fukamidori shizumeru kage o yoso ni ya wa miru
The deep green of the aged pine on the shore, its reflection sunk beneath the water—how could I look on it as something apart from me?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Shitagō
Ashihiki no yamashita mizu ni kage mireba mayu shirotae ni ware oinikeri
When I look at my reflection in the stream at the mountain's foot, my eyebrows have turned as white as bleached cloth; I have grown old.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Nōin
Nare miteshi hana no tamoto o uchikaeshi nori no koromo o tachi zo kaetsuru
You have turned inside out the flower-bright sleeves I was so used to seeing, and cut them anew into the robe of the Law.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Michinaga
Sono kami no tama no kazura o uchikaeshi ima wa koromo no ura o tanomamu
Returning the jeweled headdress you gave me long ago, I will now put my trust in the jewel sewn inside the lining of my robe, the teaching of the Buddha.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Senshi