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- Manyoshu
Chidori naku saho no kawato no se o hiromi uchihashi watasu na ga ku to omoeba
Where the plovers cry at the crossing of the Saho River, the shoals are wide, so I lay a plank bridge across, thinking that you will come.
Manyoshu - Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Akagoma no koyuru umase no shime yuishi imo ga kokoro wa utagai mo nashi
Like the fence a chestnut horse would leap over, I have tied my marker firmly around you, and I have no doubt of your heart at all.
Manyoshu - Emperor Shōmu
Azusayumi tsumabiku yooto no tōto ni mo kimi ga miyuki o kikaku shi yoshi mo
Like the distant twang of a catalpa bowstring plucked at night, even to hear from afar of your royal outing brings me joy.
Manyoshu - Princess Unakami
Uchihisasu miya ni yuku ko o makanashimi tomureba kurushi yareba sube nashi
So dear to me is the girl who goes to serve at the sunlit court that to keep her back would pain her, and to let her go leaves me helpless.
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Sukunamaro
Naniwagata shiohi no nagori aku made ni hito no miru ko o ware shi tomoshi mo
As one gazes one's fill at the pools the ebbing tide leaves on the flats of Naniwa, so others gaze at her to their hearts' content, and how I envy them.
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Sukunamaro
Shikitae no tamakura makazu aida okite toshi zo henikeru awanaku omoeba
Without once pillowing my head on her arm, kept apart from her, a whole year has gone by, when I think how long we have not met.
Manyoshu - Prince Aki
Ō no umi no shiohi no kata no katamoi ni omoi ya yukamu michi no nagate o
Like the flats laid bare by the ebbing tide in the sea of Ō, am I to go on with a one-sided love along this long, long road?
Manyoshu - Prince Kadobe
Koto kiyoku ita mo na ii so hitohi dani kimi i shi naku wa aekataki kamo
Please do not speak to me in such clean, decisive words; even a single day without you is more than I can bear.
Manyoshu - Princess Takata
Hitogoto o shigemi kochitami awazu ariki kokoro aru goto na omoi waga seko
It was only because people's gossip was so thick and tiresome that I did not meet you; do not think my heart has turned elsewhere, my love.
Manyoshu - Princess Takata
Waga seko shi togemu to iwaba hitogoto wa shigeku ari tomo idete awamashi o
If only you would say you mean to see our love through, I would go out and meet you, however thick the gossip might be.
Manyoshu - Princess Takata
Waga seko ni mata wa awaji ka to omoeba ka kesa no wakare no sube nakaritsuru
Was it because I feared I might never meet you again that this morning's parting was so unbearably hard?
Manyoshu - Princess Takata
Kono yo ni wa hitogoto shigeshi komu yo ni mo awamu waga seko ima narazu tomo
In this world the gossip is too thick; let us meet in the world to come, my love, even if it cannot be now.
Manyoshu - Princess Takata
Tsune yamazu kayoishi kimi ga tsukai kozu ima wa awaji to tayutainu rashi
Your messengers, who once came to me without fail, come no more; it seems your heart has wavered, thinking you will not meet me now.
Manyoshu - Princess Takata
Okureite koitsutsu arazu wa ki no kuni no imose no yama ni aramashi mono o
Rather than stay behind longing for you, I wish I had been one of the Imo and Se mountains of Kii, standing side by side as wife and husband.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Waga seko ga ato fumi motome oiyukaba ki no sekimori i todometemu kamo
If I were to follow my husband, seeking out his footprints along the road, would the guard at the barrier of Kii stop me?
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Amakumo no yoso ni mishi yori wagimoko ni kokoro mo mi sae yorinishi mono o
Ever since I glimpsed her from afar, distant as the clouds of heaven, my heart and even my body have been drawn wholly to my beloved.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura