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- Kokin Wakashu
Otowayama oto ni kikitsutsu Ōsaka no seki no konata ni toshi o furu kana
As the name of Mount Otowa suggests, I only hear rumors of you, and on this side of the Osaka Barrier, whose name speaks of meeting, I pass the years without ever meeting you.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata
Tachikaeri aware to zo omou yoso ni te mo hito ni kokoro o okitsu shiranami
Like white waves from the offing that come and go, again and again I think of you with tender longing; though we are far apart, I have left my heart with you.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata
Yo no naka wa kaku koso arikere fuku kaze no me ni minu hito mo koishikarikeri
So this is what love between man and woman is like: someone I have never seen, invisible as the blowing wind, has become dear to my heart.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Mizu mo arazu mi mo senu hito no koishiku wa ayanaku kyō ya nagamekurasamu
Because I long for one whom I neither failed to see nor truly saw, must I, for no reason at all, spend this whole day gazing lost in thought?
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Shiru shiranu nani ka ayanaku wakite iwamu omoi nomi koso shirube narikere
Why do you draw distinctions, for no reason, between knowing and not knowing? It is only the fire of longing that serves as love's guide.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kasugano no yukima o wakete oiidekuru kusa no hatsuka ni mieshi kimi wa mo
Like the young grass that pushes up through the gaps in the snow on Kasuga Plain, you appeared to me only for a fleeting moment. Ah, you!
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Yamazakura kasumi no ma yori honoka ni mo miteshi hito koso koishikarikere
Like mountain cherries glimpsed faintly through a break in the spring haze, the one I saw only for a moment is the one I long for.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Tayori ni mo aranu omoi no ayashiki wa kokoro o hito ni tsukuru narikeri
How strange it is that my longing, which is no messenger at all, carries my heart away and delivers it to you.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata
Hatsukari no hatsuka ni koe o kikishi yori nakazora ni nomi mono o omou kana
Ever since I faintly heard your voice, as one faintly hears the first wild geese of autumn, my heart has hung restless in midair, and I do nothing but brood.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Au koto wa kumoi haruka ni narukami no oto ni kikitsutsu koiwataru kana
Meeting you has become as remote as the far-off clouds, and like the thunder that rolls there, I only hear of you by report as I go on loving you.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Kataito o konata kanata ni yorikakete awazu wa nani o tama no o ni semu
Just as single strands must be twisted together from this side and that, if we two never meet, what could I use as the thread that holds my life?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yūgure wa kumo no hatate ni mono zo omou amatsu sora naru hito o kou tote
When dusk falls, I gaze toward the far edge of the clouds, lost in thought, because I love someone as distant as the sky above.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Karikomo no omoi midarete ware kou to imo shirurame ya hito shi tsugezu wa
My thoughts are tangled like cut rushes as I love her, but could she know it? Not unless someone were to tell her.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsure mo naki hito o ya netaku shiratsuyu no oku to wa nageki nu to wa shinobamu
Galling as it is, must I go on for someone so cold, rising to sigh as the white dew settles and lying down only to yearn?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Chihayaburu Kamo no yashiro no yūdasuki hitohi mo kimi o kakenu hi wa nashi
Just as the priests of the Kamo Shrine never fail to put on their sacred sashes, there is not a single day when I do not hold you in my heart.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Waga koi wa munashiki sora ni michinurashi omoiyaredomo yuku kata mo nashi
My love, it seems, has filled the whole empty sky; though I try to send my thoughts away, there is nowhere left for them to go.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet