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- Shika Wakashu
Omoiyare kokoro no mizu no asakereba kakinagasu beki koto no ha mo nashi
Please understand: the water of my heart is so shallow that I have no words to set flowing with my brush.
Karisome no ukiyo no yami o kakiwakete urayamashiku mo izuru tsuki kana
Pushing through the darkness of this fleeting, sorrowful world, the moon comes out — how I envy it!
Shika Wakashu - Oe no Masafusa
Kaeru kari nishi e yukiseba tamazusa ni omou koto o ba kakitsuketemashi
If only the geese flying home were bound for the west, I would write down all that is in my heart and send it with them.
Mi o sutsuru hito wa makoto ni sutsuru ka wa sutenu hito koso sutsuru narikere
Do those who renounce the world truly throw themselves away? No — it is those who do not renounce it who are throwing themselves away.
Shika Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsukubayama fukaku ureshi to omou kana Hamana no hashi ni watasu kokoro o
As deep as Mount Tsukuba, so deep is my joy at the heart you send across to me, like the bridge spanning Hamana.
Shika Wakashu - Kyōgoku Kanpaku-ke no Higo
Toshi o hete hoshi o itadaku kurokami no hito yori shimo ni narinikeru kana
For years I have toiled from before dawn till the stars came out, yet my black hair has turned to frost before others', and my rank has fallen below theirs.
Shika Wakashu - Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Kumo no ue wa tsuki koso saya ni saewatare mada todokōru mono ya nani nari
Above the clouds the moon shines bright and clear — so what is it that is still held back and stalled?
Shika Wakashu - Tsumori no Kunimoto
Todokōru koto wa nakeredo Sumiyoshi no matsu kokoro ni ya hisashikaruramu
Nothing is being held back; it is only that your heart waits like the pines of Sumiyoshi, perhaps, that makes the time seem so long.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Akisue
Shirakawa no nagare o tanomu kokoro o ba tare ka wa sora ni kumite shiru beki
Who could ever know, by mere guesswork, the heart that relies on the flowing stream of Shirakawa, as if drawing up its water?
Momotose no hana ni yadorite sugushiteki kono yo wa chō no yume ni zarikeru
For a hundred years I lived lodged among the blossoms; this world, I now see, was only a butterfly's dream.
Shika Wakashu - Oe no Masafusa
Hisakata no Ama no Kaguyama izuru hi mo waga kata ni koso hikari sasurame
Even the sun rising over heavenly Mount Kagu must surely be shining its light toward me.
Shika Wakashu - Retired Emperor Sutoku
Ko no moto ni kakiatsumetsuru koto no ha o Hahaso no mori no katami to wa miyo
These leaves of words that I, her child, have gathered beneath the tree — look on them as keepsakes of the oak woods of Hahaso, of my mother.
Omoikane sonata no sora o nagamureba tada yama no ha ni kakaru shirakumo
Unable to bear my longing, I gaze at the sky where you are, and see only white clouds hanging on the mountain ridge.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tadamichi
Wata no hara kogiidete mireba hisakata no kumoi ni magau okitsu shiranami
Rowing out onto the wide sea and gazing far, I see the white waves of the open sea, indistinguishable from the clouds in the distant sky.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tadamichi
Uchimurete Takakurayama ni tsumu mono wa arata naki yo no tomikusa no hana
What the people gather together on Mount Takakura are the flowers of rice, blooming in a reign where not a single field lies waste.
Itakura no yamada ni tsumeru ine o mite osamareru yo no hodo o shiru kana
Seeing the rice stacked high in the mountain fields of Itakura, I know how well the realm is governed.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Akisuke