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- Manyoshu
Waga sode ni furitsuru yuki mo nagareyukite imo ga tamoto ni iyukifurenu ka
Might the snow that fell on my sleeve drift away and go to touch the sleeve of my beloved?
Awayuki wa kyō wa na furi so shirotae no sode maki hosamu hito mo aranaku ni
O soft snow, do not fall today—there is no one to pillow on my white sleeves or dry them.
Hanahada mo furanu yuki yue kochitaku mo amatsu misora wa kumorainitsutsu
For snow that hardly falls at all, the heavens are so extravagantly clouded over.
Waga seko o ima ka ima ka to idemireba awayuki fureri niwa mo hodoro ni
Waiting for my love, wondering "Now? Now?", I went out to look—soft snow had fallen, lightly covering the garden.
Ashihiki no yama ni shiroki wa waga yado ni kinō no yūbe furishi yuki ka mo
What shows white on the mountains—could it be the snow that fell at my home yesterday evening?
Taga sono no ume no hana zo mo hisakata no kiyoki tsukuyo ni kokoda chirikuru
Whose garden's plum blossoms are these, scattering down so thickly on this clear moonlit night?
Ume no hana mazu saku eda o taoriteba tsuto to nazukete yosoetemu ka mo
If I break off the first branch of plum to bloom and call it a gift, will people link it to you?
Taga sono no ume ni ka arikemu kokodaku mo sakite aru ka mo mi ga hoshi made ni
Whose garden's plum could it be? It is blooming in such profusion that I long to see it.
Kite mibeki hito mo aranaku ni wagie naru ume no hatsuhana chirinu tomo yoshi
Since there is no one to come and see them, let the first plum blossoms at my home scatter if they will.
Yuki samumi saki ni wa sakanu ume no hana yoshi kono koro wa kakute mo aru gane
O plum blossoms that will not fully bloom in the cold of the snow—well then, stay like this for now.
Imo ga tame hotsue no ume o taoru to wa shizue no tsuyu ni nurenikeru ka mo
Reaching to break the plum on the upper branches for my beloved, I got soaked by the dew of the lower branches.
Yata no no no asaji irozuku arachiyama mine no awayuki samuku fururashi
The short grass on the fields of Yata is turning color—on the peaks of Mount Arachi, soft snow must be falling cold.
Sayo fukeba idekomu tsuki o takayama no mine no shirakumo kakusuramu ka mo
Will the white clouds on the peaks of the high mountains hide the moon that is to rise as the night grows late?
Furu yuki no sora ni kenubeku kouredomo au yoshi nashi ni tsuki zo henikeru
I long for you until I feel I might vanish like snow melting in the sky—yet with no way to meet, the months have gone by.
Manyoshu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Awayuki wa chie ni furishike koishiku no kenagaki ware wa mitsutsu shinowamu
O soft snow, fall and pile up a thousandfold! I, whose days of longing have been so long, will gaze on it and think of my beloved.
Manyoshu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Sakideteru ume no shizue ni oku tsuyu no kenubeku imo ni kouru kono koro
Like the dew on the lower branches of the plum that has burst into shining bloom, I long for my beloved these days until I feel I might vanish.