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- Kokin Wakashu
Yado chikaku ume no hana ueji ajikinaku
matsu hito no ka ni ayamarekeri
I would not plant plum blossoms near my dwelling; how pointless that would be, for their fragrance would only be mistaken for the scent of the sleeves of the one I wait for.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Uguisu no kasa ni nuu to iu ume no hana
orite kazasamu oi kakuru ya to
I will break off the plum blossoms said to be sewn upon the warbler’s hat and set them in my hair, thinking they may hide my age.
Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Tsune
Yoso ni nomi aware to zo mishi ume no hana
akanu iroka wa orite narikeri
I had felt the deep beauty of the plum blossoms only from afar; the color I never tire of I truly knew only when I broke them off.
Kokin Wakashu - Sosei Hoshi
Kimi narade tare ni ka misemu ume no hana
iro o mo ka o mo shiru hito zo shiru
To whom but you should I show these plum blossoms? Only one who truly knows their color and their fragrance can understand them.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Ume no hana niou harube wa Kurabuyama
yami ni koyuredo shiruku zo arikeru
In spring, when the plum blossoms were in fragrant bloom, though I crossed Mount Kurabu in the darkness of night, I knew clearly that the plum blossoms were there by their scent.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Tsukiyo ni wa sore to mo miezu ume no hana
ka o tazunete zo shirubekarikeru
On a moonlit night, all was washed in white light and I could not tell which were the plum blossoms, so by seeking out their scent I knew which were the plum blossoms.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Haru no yo no yami wa ayanashi ume no hana
iro koso miene ka ya wa kakururu
The darkness of a spring night is truly futile: in the dark the color of the plum blossoms cannot be seen, but how could their fragrance be hidden? It cannot be hidden.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Hito wa isa kokoro mo shirazu furusato wa
hana zo mukashi no ka ni nioikeru
You may speak as you will, for I do not know your heart; yet in this familiar old lodging, it is only the plum blossoms that know my heart well, greeting me with the same fragrance as in former days.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Haru goto ni nagaruru kawa o hana to mite
orarenu mizu ni sode ya nureramu
Each spring, mistaking the plum blossoms reflected in the flowing stream for real flowers, I reach out to pluck them and end up wetting my sleeves in the river’s water.
Kokin Wakashu - Ise
Toshi o hete hana no kagami to naru mizu wa
chirikakaru o ya kumoru to iuramu
Over the years, the water that has become a mirror for the flowers—when blossoms scatter down upon it, would one say that the water mirror has grown clouded?
Kokin Wakashu - Ise
Kuru to aku to mekarenu mono o ume no hana
itsu no hitoma ni utsuroinuramu
Though I would look on the plum blossoms at dusk, and then again at dawn, never letting my eyes leave them, when was it that they faded away while no one was there?
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Ume ga ka o sode ni utsushite todometeba
haru wa sugu tomo katami naramashi
If only I could transfer the plum’s fragrance to my sleeves and keep it; even when spring passes at once, it would become a keepsake of the plum blossoms.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Chiru to mite arubeki mono o ume no hana
utate nioi no sode ni tomareru
Seeing the blossoms fall should have been the end of it, and yet, vexingly, the plum blossoms leave their fragrance lingering on my sleeves.
Kokin Wakashu - Sosei Hoshi
Kotoshi yori haru shirisomuru sakurabana
chiru to iu koto wa narawazaranamu
O cherry blossoms that have first learned what spring is from this year on, do not learn from other trees the thing they call falling.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Yama takami hito mo susamenu sakurabana
itaku na wabi so ware mihayasamu
O cherry blossoms that bloom high on the mountain where no people come to admire you, do not grieve too bitterly; I will hasten to praise you.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yamazakura waga mi ni kureba harugasumi
mine ni mo o ni mo tachikushitsutsu
When I have come on purpose to see the mountain cherry trees, the spring haze rises from peak to slope, standing thick and concealing them from sight.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet