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- Manyoshu
Kawa no ue no itsumo no hana no itsumo itsumo kimase waga seko tokijikeme ya mo
Like the flowers of the itsumo waterweed by the river, come to me always, always, my love—how could any time be the wrong time?
Harusame no yamazu furufuru aga kouru hito no me sura o aimisenaku ni
The spring rain keeps falling and falling without end, and it does not let me see so much as the face of the one I love.
Wagimoko ni koitsutsu oreba harusame no sore mo shiru goto yamazu furitsutsu
As I sit longing for my beloved, the spring rain, as if it knew, keeps falling without end.
Aiomowanu imo o ya motona suga no ne no nagaki haruhi o omoikurasamu
Must I spend this long spring day, long as the sedge roots, thinking in vain of a girl who does not love me?
Haru sareba mazu naku tori no uguisu no koto sakidachishi kimi o shi matamu
Like the bush warbler, the first bird to sing when spring comes, you were the first to speak of your love—so it is you I will wait for.
Aiomowazu aruramu ko yue tama no o no nagaki haruhi o omoikurasaku
For the sake of a girl who surely does not love me, I spend this long spring day, long as a jewel string, lost in thoughts of her.
Tabi ni shite tsumagoi surashi hototogisu kamunabiyama ni sayo fukete naku
On a journey, it seems, longing for its mate—the hototogisu sings on the sacred mountain as the night grows late.
Hototogisu na ga hatsukoe wa ware ni mo ga satsuki no tama ni majiete nukamu
O hototogisu, if only your first song of the year were mine! I would thread it on a cord together with the jewels of the Fifth Month.
Asagasumi tanabiku nobe ni ashihiki no yamahototogisu itsu ka kinakamu
Over the fields where the morning haze trails, when will the mountain hototogisu come and sing?
Asagiri no yaeyama koete yobukodori naki ya na ga kuru yado mo aranaku ni
Crossing the many-layered mountains in the morning mist, do you come crying, calling bird—though you have no lodging here?
Hototogisu naku koe kiku ya unohana no sakichiru oka ni kuzu hiku otome
Do you hear the song of the hototogisu, you maidens pulling kudzu vines on the hill where the deutzia blossoms bloom and scatter?
Tsukuyo yomi naku hototogisu mimaku hori ware kusa toreri mimu hito mo ga mo
Because the moonlit night is so fine, I have cleared away the grass, longing to see the hototogisu as it sings. If only there were someone to watch it with me.
Fujinami no chiramaku oshimi hototogisu imaki no oka o nakite koyu nari
Grieving that the wisteria must scatter, the hototogisu seems to cross over the hill of Imaki, singing as it goes.
Asagiri no yaeyama koete hototogisu unohanabe kara nakite koekinu
Crossing the many-layered mountains in the morning mist, the hototogisu has come this way, singing, by way of the deutzia blossoms.
Kodakaku wa katsute ki ueji hototogisu kinaki toyomete koi masarashimu
I will never plant trees that grow tall—for the hototogisu would come and fill them with its echoing song, and make my longing worse.
Aigataki kimi ni aeru yo hototogisu adashitoki yu wa ima koso nakame
On this night when at last I meet you, so hard to meet—O hototogisu, now above all other times, sing!