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- Shika Wakashu
Furusato no hana no nioi ya masaruramu shizugokoro naku kaeru kari kana
Are the blossoms of their homeland lovelier still? With restless hearts, the wild geese hurry back north.
Nakanaka ni chiru o miji to ya omouramu hana no sakari ni kaeru karigane
Do they think it better not to see the blossoms fall? Even at the height of the flowers, the wild geese are heading home.
Sakurabana chirasade chiyo mo miteshigana akanu kokoro wa satemo ari ya to
I would gaze on the cherry blossoms, unscattered, for a thousand years, just to see whether this heart that never tires of them would still be the same.
Shika Wakashu - Minamoto no Shitagō
Sakurabana kaze ni shi chiranu mono naraba omou koto naki haru ni zo aramashi
If cherry blossoms did not scatter in the wind, spring would be a season without a single care.
Shika Wakashu - Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Sakurabana chirishiku niwa o harawaneba kiesenu yuki to narinikeru kana
Since I never swept the garden strewn with cherry blossoms, it has become a snow that never melts.
Haku hito mo naki furusato no niwa no omo wa hana chirite koso mirubekarikere
The ground of this old garden, where no one sweeps anymore, is truly worth seeing only once the blossoms have fallen upon it.
Shika Wakashu - Minamoto no Toshiyori
Sakura saku ko no shitamizu wa asakeredo chirishiku hana no fuchi to koso nare
The stream beneath the blooming cherries is shallow, yet with petals strewn upon it, it becomes a deep pool.
Chiru hana mo aware to mizu ya isonokami furihatsuru made oshimu kokoro o
Will the falling blossoms not look with pity on this heart, which has mourned them year after year until it has grown old?
Waga yado no sakura naredomo chiru toki wa kokoro ni e koso makasezarikere
Though it is the cherry of my own house, when it comes time to scatter, it will not yield to my wishes.
Shika Wakashu - Retired Emperor Kazan
Mi ni kaete oshimu ni tomaru hana naraba kyō ya waga yo no kagiri naramashi
If blossoms would stay for the price of my own life spent in mourning them, today would surely be the last day of my life.
Shika Wakashu - Minamoto no Toshiyori
Niwa mo se ni tsumoreru yuki to mienagara kaoru zo hana no shirushi narikeru
It looks like snow piled high across the garden, yet it is the fragrance that shows, after all, that these are flowers.
Chiru hana ni sekitomeraruru yamakawa no fukaku mo haru no narinikeru kana
Like the mountain stream dammed by falling blossoms and grown deep, spring too has deepened to its fullness.
Shika Wakashu - Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Hitoe dani akanu nioi o itodoshiku yae kasanareru yamabuki no hana
Even with a single layer of petals its beauty never tires the eye; how much more so this kerria in bloom, its petals layered eightfold.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Nagato
Yae sakeru kai koso nakere yamabuki no chiraba hitoe mo araji to omoeba
There is no point in the kerria blooming eightfold, for once its petals fall, not even a single layer will remain.
Shika Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Konu hito o machikaneyama no yobukodori onaji kokoro ni aware to zo kiku
On Machikane Hill, whose name means weary of waiting, the calling bird cries for one who does not come; sharing its heart, I listen with deep feeling.
Shika Wakashu - Kyōgoku Kanpaku-ke no Higo
Sakishi yori chirihatsuru made mishi hodo ni hana no moto nite hatsuka henikeri
Watching from the time it bloomed until it had wholly fallen, I find I have spent twenty days beneath the flower.
Shika Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tadamichi