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- Yamato Monogatari
Minahito no sono ka ni mezuru fujibakama kimi nomi tame to taoritaru kyō
The thoroughwort that all the world delights in for its scent — today I have broken off a spray for you, and for you alone.
Oru hito no kokoro ni kayou fujibakama mube iro koto ni nioitarikeri
The heart of the one who broke it off has passed into this thoroughwort; no wonder its colour glows as no other's does.
Ta ga misogi yūtsuke tori ka karakoromo Tatsuta no yama ni orihaete naku
Whose purification is this streamered cock, that on Tatsuta — where the Chinese robe is cut — goes on and on with its crying?
Tatsutagawa iwane o sashite yuku mizu no yukue mo shiranu waga goto ya naku
Like the water of the Tatsuta running down to the rock's root, not knowing where it goes — is it crying, then, as I do?
Asakayama kage sae miyuru yama no i no asaku wa hito o omou mono ka wa
Asaka mountain shows its very shape in the shallow mountain well. And shallowly — is that how one loves another?
Waga kokoro nagusamekanetsu Sarashina ya Obasuteyama ni teru tsuki o mite
My heart is past all comforting, at Sarashina, watching the moon shine on the mountain where the old woman was left.
Fune mo inu makaji mo mieji kyō yori wa ukiyo no naka o ikade wataramu
The boat has gone, and there are no oars to be seen. From today, how am I to cross this floating, wretched world?
Ware mo shika nakite zo hito ni koirareshi ima koso yoso ni koe o nomi kike
I too cried out so — like the deer — and was desired for it once. Now, from the far side of a wall, I only hear the voice.
Kumotori no aya no iro o mo omooezu hito o aimide toshi no henureba
The colours of the cloud-and-bird damask will not come into my mind, for the years have gone by without my setting eyes on you.
Akihagi o irodoru kaze no fukinureba hito no kokoro mo utagawarekeri
The wind that colours the autumn bush clover has blown; and with it comes a doubt about a person's heart.
Aki no no o irodoru kaze wa fukinu tomo kokoro wa kareji kusaba naraneba
Though the wind that colours the autumn fields may blow, my heart will not wither and will not turn away, not being a blade of grass.
Ōnusa ni narinuru hito no kanashiki wa yoruse to mo naku shika zo nakunaru
The sorrow of one who has become a great purification wand is that, with no shoal to rest at, he goes weeping so.
Nagaru tomo nani to ka miemu te ni torite hikikemu hito zo nusa to shiruramu
Though it goes floating down, what would anyone take it for? Only the one who took it in her hand and drew it knows it for a wand.
Omoi araba mugura no yado ni ne mo shinamu hijikimono ni wa sode o shitsutsu mo
If there is love in you, let us lie down in a house grown over with weeds, and spread our own sleeves for bedding.
Ōhara ya Oshio no yama mo kyō koso wa kamiyo no koto o omoiizurame
Ōhara, and the mountain of Oshio too, must surely be remembering today the things of the age of the gods.
Wasuregusa ouru nobe to wa miruramedo ko wa shinobu nari nochi mo tanoman
You may see in it a field where the grass of forgetting grows. But this is the grass of longing; and I shall go on trusting you.