classic waka stream

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  • Kokin Wakashu

Kimi shinobu kusa ni yatsururu furusato wa
matsumushi no ne zo kanashikarikeru

In this abandoned home, overgrown with grasses that recall you, the cry of the pine-cricket sounds all the more sorrowful as I think of you.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Aki no no ni michi mo madoinu matsumushi no
koe suru kata ni yado ya karamashi

In the autumn fields I have lost my way; perhaps I should go toward the sound of the cricket and seek a place to stay.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Aki no no ni hito matsumushi no koe su nari
ware ka to yukite iza toburawamu

In the autumn fields I hear the voice of a waiting cricket—might it be waiting for me? Come, I will go and visit.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Momijiba no chirite tsumoreru waga yado ni
tare o matsumushi kokora nakuramu

At my dwelling where fallen crimson leaves lie piled, for whom does the cricket cry so often, as if waiting?

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Higurashi no nakitsuru nabe ni hi wa kurenu
to omou wa yama no kage ni zo arikeru

As the evening cicadas began to cry, I thought the day had already ended—but it was only that we had entered the mountain’s shadow.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Higurashi no naku yamazato no yūgure wa
kaze yori hoka ni tou hito mo nashi

In a mountain village where the evening cicadas cry, at dusk no one comes to visit—only the wind passes through.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Matsu hito ni aranu mono kara hatsukari no
kesa naku koe no mezurashiki kana

Though it is not from the one I await, the cry of the first wild goose heard this morning is deeply moving.

Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata

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Akikaze ni hatsukari ga ne zo kikoyu naru
ta ga tamazusa o kakete kitsuramu

On the autumn wind I hear the cry of the first wild goose—whose message does it carry as it comes?

Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori

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Waga kado ni inaōsedori no naku nabe ni
kesa fuku kaze ni kari wa kinikeri

At my gate, as the inaose-bird cries, the wild geese have arrived upon the wind that blows this morning.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Ito haya mo nakinuru kari ka shiratsuyu no
irodoru kigi mo momiji aenaku ni

How early the wild goose cries, though the trees, still tinted by white dew, have not yet fully turned to autumn colors.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Harugasumi kasumite inishi kari ga ne wa
ima zo naku naru akigiri no ue ni

The wild geese that once flew away into the spring haze are now crying above the autumn mist.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Yo o samumi koromo kari ga ne naku nabe ni
hagi no shitaba mo utsuroinikeri

As the nights grow cold enough to need another robe, and the cries of wild geese are heard, even the lower leaves of the bush clover have begun to change and wither.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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Akikaze ni koe o ho ni agete kuru fune wa
ama no to wataru kari ni zo arikeru

On the autumn wind, with their cries lifted like sails, what seems like a ship advancing is in fact wild geese crossing the strait of the heavens.

Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sugane

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Uki koto o omoitsuranete kari ga ne no
naki koso watare aki no yonayona

As I string together my sorrowful thoughts one by one, the cries of wild geese pass across the sky, night after night.

Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune

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Yamazato wa aki koso koto ni wabishikere
shika no naku ne ni me o samashitsutsu

In a mountain village, autumn is especially lonely; again and again I am awakened from sleep by the cry of a stag.

Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine

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Okuyama ni momiji fumiwake naku shika no
koe kiku toki zo aki wa kanashiki

In the deep mountains, when I hear the cry of a stag treading through the fallen leaves, it is then that autumn feels most sorrowful.

Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet

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