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- Kokin Wakashu
Wakare o ba yama no sakura ni makasetemu tomemu tomeji wa hana no manimani
I will leave our parting to the mountain cherries. Whether you are held back or allowed to go shall depend on the blossoms alone.
Kokin Wakashu - Priest Yūsen
Yamakaze ni sakura fukimaki midarenamu hana no magire ni tachitomaru beku
Let the mountain wind whirl up the cherry blossoms and scatter them in a wild flurry, so that, lost amid the falling flowers, those leaving will stop and stay.
Kokin Wakashu - Henjō
Koto naraba kimi tomaru beku niowanamu kaesu wa hana no uki ni ya wa aranu
If they must bloom anyway, let the blossoms glow so beautifully that you will stay. To let you go home—would that not be a grief for the flowers as well?
Kokin Wakashu - Priest Yūsen
Akazu shite wakaruru namida taki ni sou mizu masaru to ya shimo wa miru ramu
The tears I shed as we part, still longing for more of your company, pour into the waterfall. Do the people downstream see the water rising and wonder why?
Kokin Wakashu - Priest Kengei
Akihagi no hana o ba ame ni nurasedomo kimi o ba mashite oshi to koso omoe
It is a pity to let the rain soak the autumn bush clover blossoms, yet it is you, far more than the flowers, whom I grieve to part from.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Oshimu ramu hito no kokoro o shiranu ma ni aki no shigure to mi zo furinikeru
All the while I did not know that you grieved to see me go, I have grown old, like the autumn showers that keep on falling.
Kokin Wakashu - Kanramu Ou
Wakaruredo ureshiku mo aru ka koyoi yori aiminu saki ni nani o koimashi
Though we must part, how glad I am! Before this night, before we met, what was there in the world for me to long for?
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Akazu shite wakaruru sode no shiratama o kimi ga katami to tsutsumite zo yuku
Parting from you before I have had my fill, I gather the white jewels of tears fallen on my sleeve and carry them away, wrapped up as a keepsake of you.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kagirinaku omou namida ni sobochinuru sode wa kawakaji awamu hi made ni
My sleeve, drenched with tears of a longing that knows no bounds, will surely never dry until the day we meet again.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kakikurashi koto wa furanamu harusame ni nureginu kisete kimi o todomemu
Spring rain, darken the whole sky and pour down, if you must fall at all. Then I will dress my love in rain-soaked robes and, blaming the rain, keep him here with me.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Shiite yuku hito o todomemu sakurabana izure o michi to madou made chire
I want to stop the one who insists on leaving. Cherry blossoms, fall so thickly that he cannot tell which path is the road!
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Musubu te no shizuku ni nigoru yama no i no akade mo hito ni wakarenuru kana
Like a shallow mountain spring that clouds with the drops falling from my cupped hands before I can drink my fill, I have parted from you before I could have my fill of your company.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Shita no obi no michi wa katagata wakaru tomo yukimegurite mo awamu to zo omou
Like the ends of an undersash that part and wind around only to be tied together again, our roads may divide in different directions, but I am determined that, going round and round, we shall meet once more.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Ama no hara furisake mireba kasuga naru mikasa no yama ni ideshi tsuki kamo
When I lift my eyes and gaze far across the open sky, the moon has risen. It is the very same moon, I realize, that once rose over Mount Mikasa at Kasuga, back in my homeland.
Kokin Wakashu - Abe no Nakamaro
Wata no hara yasoshima kakete kogiidenu to hito ni wa tsugeyo ama no tsuribune
Tell the one I left in the capital that I have rowed out across the broad sea, bound for its countless islands. Carry that word for me, you little fishing boats.
Kokin Wakashu - Ono no Takamura
Miyako idete kyō mika no hara izumigawa kawakaze samushi koromo kaseyama
I left the capital and today I look out on Mika Plain. Crossing the Izumi River, the wind off the water is bitterly cold. Lend me a robe, Mount Kase!
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet