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- Shika Wakashu
Asanaasana shika no shigaramu hagi ga e no sueba no tsuyu no arigata no yo ya
Like the dew on the leaf tips of bush clover that the deer tangle with every morning, how hard it is to go on living in this world!
Shika Wakashu - Zōki
Hanasusuki manekaba koko ni tomarinamu izure no nobe mo tsui no sumika zo
If the plumed pampas grass beckons, I will stay right here; whatever field it may be, it will be my final resting place.
Yoso ni mishi obana ga sue no shiratsuyu wa aru ka naki ka no waga mi narikeri
The white dew on the tips of the pampas plumes, which I once watched as something apart from me, was my own self, so faint it hardly seems to exist.
Kaku shitsutsu ima wa to naramu toki ni koso kuyashiki koto no kai mo nakarame
Going on like this day after day, when the final moment comes at last, there will be no use in regretting it then.
Shika Wakashu - Retired Emperor Kazan
Yūgure wa mono zo kanashiki kane no oto o asu mo kiku beki mi to shi shiraneba
Evening fills everything with sadness, for I cannot know whether I shall be here to hear the sound of this bell again tomorrow.
Shika Wakashu - Izumi Shikibu
Uguisu no naku ni namida no otsuru kana mata mo ya haru ni awamu to suramu
When the warbler sings, my tears fall; shall I ever live to meet the spring again?
Minahito no mukashigatari ni nariyuku o itsu made yoso ni kikamu to suramu
Everyone I knew is turning into a tale of the past; how long can I go on hearing of it as though it had nothing to do with me?
Kono yo dani tsuki matsu hodo wa kurushiki ni aware ikanaru yami ni madowamu
Even in this world the darkness while we wait for the moon is hard to bear; alas, in what darkness shall I wander after death?
Obotsukana mada minu michi o shide no yama yuki fumiwakete koemu to suramu
How uncertain it is! Shall I cross the Mountain of Death on a road I have never seen, treading my way through the snow?
Shika Wakashu - Ryōzen
Kawaramu to inoru inochi wa oshikarade satemo wakaremu koto zo kanashiki
The life I pray to give in exchange for yours is nothing I hold dear — but that we must part this way is what grieves me.
Shika Wakashu - Akazome Emon
Kono yo ni wa mata mo au maji ume no hana chirijiri naramu koto zo kanashiki
We shall not meet again in this world; like the plum blossoms, we will be scattered apart, and that is what grieves me.
Shika Wakashu - Gyōson
Kono mi o ba munashiki mono to shirinureba tsumi emu koto mo araji to zo omou
Now that I know this self is empty and without substance, I think there can be no sin for me to incur.
Shika Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Waga omou koto no shigesa ni kurabureba Shinoda no mori no chie wa kazu ka wa
Set beside the countless cares that crowd my heart, can the thousand branches of the forest of Shinoda even be counted as many?
Shika Wakashu - Zōki
Ajiro ni wa shizumu mikuzu mo nakarikeri Uji no watari ni ware ya sumamashi
At the fishing weirs not even the debris sinks; shall I, then, make my home somewhere near Uji?
Ōhara ya mada sumigama mo narawaneba waga yado nomi zo keburi taetaru
Here in Ohara I have not yet learned to work a charcoal kiln, and so mine is the only dwelling with no smoke rising.
Shika Wakashu - Ryōzen
Namidagawa sono minakami o tazunureba yo no ukime yori izuru narikeri
When I traced the River of Tears back to its source, I found it springs from the bitter trials of this world.