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- Kokin Wakashu
E zo shiranu ima kokoromiyo inochi araba ware ya wasururu hito ya towanu to
I cannot tell how it will be. Try it and see, if we both live: will I be the one to forget, or will you be the one who stops coming?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kumoi ni mo kayou kokoro no okureneba wakaru to hito ni miyu bakari nari
My heart, which can travel even to the far reaches of the sky, will never fall behind you; so our parting is only how it appears in the eyes of others.
Kokin Wakashu - Kiyohara no Fukayabu
Shirakumo no konata kanata ni tachi wakare kokoro o nusa to kudaku tabi kana
Like white clouds rising and drifting apart, this way and that, we go our separate ways; on this journey my heart is shredded into pieces, like the paper offerings strewn for the gods of the road.
Kokin Wakashu - Yoshimine no Hideoka
Shirakumo no yae ni kasanaru ochi nite mo omowamu hito ni kokoro hedatsu na
Even when you are far away, beyond white clouds piled layer upon layer, do not let your heart grow distant from those who think of you.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Wakare chō koto wa iro ni mo aranaku ni kokoro ni shimite wabishikaru ramu
This thing we call parting is not a dye or a color, and yet why does it soak so deeply into my heart and leave me so desolate?
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Kaeruyama nani zo wa arite aru kai wa kite mo tomaranu na ni koso arikere
Why does Mount Kaeru, the "Mountain of Return," stand there at all? Its only worth, I see now, lies in a name that means you come back, yet do not stay.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Yoso ni nomi koi ya wataramu Shirayama no yuki mirubeku mo aranu waga mi wa
Must I go on longing for you only from afar? For I am one who can never hope to see the snows of Shirayama, where you are going.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Otowayama kodakaku nakite hototogisu kimi ga wakare o oshimu beranari
On Mount Otowa, calling high among the treetops, the cuckoo too seems to grieve over your departure.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Morotomo ni nakite todomeyo kirigirisu aki no wakare wa oshiku ya wa aranu
Cry together with us, cricket, and keep him from leaving! Is not this parting at autumn's end something you too must grieve?
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kanemochi
Akigiri no tomo ni tachiidete wakarenaba harenu omoi ni koi ya wataramu
If you set out and leave me, rising together with the autumn mist, must I go on longing for you, my thoughts never clearing, like mist that never lifts?
Kokin Wakashu - Taira no Motonori
Inochi dani kokoro ni kanau mono naraba nani ka wakare no kanashikaramashi
If only life itself, at the very least, would go as my heart wishes, why should parting from you bring me any sorrow at all?
Kokin Wakashu - Shirome
Hitoyari no michi naranaku ni ōkata wa iki ushi to iite iza kaerinamu
This is no journey someone ordered me to take. So why not simply say, "It is too hard to go," and all turn back home together?
Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Sane
Shitawarete kinishi kokoro no mi ni shi areba kaeru sama ni wa michi mo shirarezu
I came all this way led by a heart that yearned after you; so now, as I try to turn back, I cannot even tell which way the road goes.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kanemochi
Katsu koete wakare mo yuku ka Ōsaka wa hitodanome naru na ni koso arikere
Even as we cross it, must we go on to part? Ōsaka, "the Slope of Meeting"—I see now it is only a name that raises hopes in vain.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Kimi ga yuku Koshi no Shirayama shiranedomo yuki no manimani ato wa tazunemu
I do not know Shirayama in Koshi, where you are going, and yet I will follow wherever the snow leads and seek out your footprints.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Yūgure no magaki wa yama to mienanamu yoru wa koeji to yadori torubeku
At this twilight hour, let my low brushwood fence look like a mountain, so that my guest, unwilling to cross it in the dark, will decide to stay the night.
Kokin Wakashu - Henjō