- Top
- -
- Kokin Wakashu
Asajiu no ono no shinohara shinobu to mo hito shirurame ya iu hito nashi ni
Like the bamboo grass on the reedy moor of Ono, I love in secret; but could the one I love know it, when there is no one to tell her?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hito shirenu omoi ya nazo to ashigaki no machikakeredomo au yoshi no naki
What is this love that no one knows? You are as near as the other side of a fence of reeds, yet there is no way for us to meet.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Omou to mo kou to mo awamu mono nare ya yuu te mo tayuku tokuru shitahimo
However much I yearn and love, can we ever meet? No; and yet my under-sash keeps coming undone until my hands grow tired of tying it.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ide ware o hito na togame so ōbune no yuta no tayuta ni mono omou koro zo
Come now, do not blame me, any of you; like a great ship rocking to and fro, my heart sways unsettled in these days of brooding over love.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ise no umi ni tsuri suru ama no uke nare ya kokoro hitotsu o sadamekanetsuru
Am I the float of a fisherman angling in the sea of Ise, that I cannot keep even my own single heart steady?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ise no umi no ama no tsurinawa uchihaete kurushi to nomi ya omoiwataramu
Like the long fishing line stretched out and hauled in by the fishermen of the sea of Ise, must I go on and on thinking only of how painful love is?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Namidagawa nani minakami o tazunekemu mono omou toki no waga mi narikeri
Why did I go searching for the source of the river of tears? It was none other than myself, when I brood over love.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tane shi areba iwa ni mo matsu wa oinikeri koi o shi koiba awazarame ya wa
So long as there is a seed, a pine will grow even on bare rock; if I love with all my heart, how could we fail to meet?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Asana asana tatsu kawagiri no sora ni nomi ukite omoi no aru yo narikeri
Like the river mist that rises every morning and floats in the sky, my heart drifts restless and weighed with sorrow; such, I have found, is love.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Wasuraruru toki shi nakereba ashitazu no omoi midarete ne o nomi zo naku
Since there is never a moment when I can forget you, like the cranes among the reeds, my heart is in turmoil and I can only cry aloud.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Karakoromo himo yūgure ni naru toki wa kaesugaesu zo hito wa koishiki
When the day draws toward evening, as one ties the cord of a Chinese robe, again and again, as one turns a robe inside out, I long for you.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yoiyoi ni makura sadamemu kata mo nashi ika ni neshi yo ka yume ni miekemu
Night after night I cannot decide which way to set my pillow; how was I lying on the night when you appeared to me in a dream?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Koishiki ni inochi o kauru mono naraba shini wa yasuku zo arubekarikeru
If I could give up my life in exchange for this longing, dying would have been an easy thing.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hito no mi mo narawashi mono o awazu shite iza kokoromimu koi ya shinuru to
They say the body grows used to anything; so, without meeting you, let me try and see whether one really dies of love.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Shinobureba kurushiki mono o hito shirezu omou chō koto tare ni kataramu
Though it is painful to keep it hidden, to whom could I ever tell that I love you in secret?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Komu yo ni mo haya narinanamu me no mae ni tsurenaki hito o mukashi to omowamu
I wish the next life would come quickly, so that I could think of the cold one before my eyes as someone from long ago.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet