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- Shui Wakashu
Naki na nomi Tatsuta no yama no fumoto ni wa yo ni mo arashi no kaze mo fukanan
At the foot of Mount Tatsuta, where only baseless rumors rise, I wish a storm wind would blow, sweeping them away so that no such talk remains in the world.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tamenobu
Naki na nomi Takao no yama to iitatsuru kimi wa Atago no mine ni ya aru ran
You, who go on raising baseless rumors high as Mount Takao: are you then the peak of Atago, my enemy?
Shui Wakashu - Hachijō no Ōikimi
Inishie mo nobori ya shiken Yoshinoyama yama yori takaki yowai naru hito
Did anyone in the old days also climb Mount Yoshino, I wonder, a person whose years stood higher even than the mountain?
Shui Wakashu - Kiyohara no Motosuke
Oihatete yuki no yama o ba itadakedo shimoto miru ni zo mi wa hienikeru
Grown utterly old, I bear a mountain of snow upon my head, yet it is not that which chills me; it is seeing the rod, cold as frost, that turns my body cold.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Miredo akanu Yoshino no kawa no nagarete mo tayuru toki naku yukikaeri mimu
Like the Yoshino River, on which I gaze and never tire, flowing on without a break, I will come and go and see it again and again.
Shui Wakashu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Ikani semu waga mi kudareru inafune no shibashi bakari no inochi taezu wa
What am I to do, I who have sunk in rank like a rice boat drifting downstream, if only my life might last a little while longer?
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kaneie
Sakakiba ni yūshide kakete ta ga yo ni ka kami no mimae ni iwaisomeken
Hanging strips of white mulberry cloth on sakaki leaves, in whose reign, I wonder, did people first begin to worship this way before the gods?
Sakakiba no ka o kaguwashimi tomekureba yaso ujibito zo matoi serikeru
Drawn by the sweet scent of the sakaki leaves, I came seeking it, and found people of many clans gathered together in a circle.
Mitegura ni naramashi mono o subegami no mite ni torarete nazusawamashi o
If only I could become an offering of sacred cloth! Then I would be taken into the gods' hands and could stay close beside them.
Mitegura wa waga ni wa arazu ame ni masu Toyookahime no miya no mitegura
This sacred offering is not mine; it is the offering of the shrine of Toyookahime, who dwells in the heavens.
Ōsaka o kesa koekureba yamabito no chitose tsuke tote kireru tsue nari
As I came over the Ōsaka pass this morning, a mountain dweller cut this staff for me, bidding it add a thousand years to my life.
Yomoyama no hito no takara ni suru yumi o kami no mimae ni kyō tatematsuru
The bow that the people of the mountains all around hold as their treasure, I offer up today before the gods.
Isonokami Furu ya otoko no tachi mogana kumi no o shidete miyaji kayowamu
How I wish I had a sword like that of the man of Furu in Isonokami! With braided cords hanging from it, I would go back and forth along the road to the shrine.
Shirokane no menuki no tachi o sagehakite Nara no miyako o neru ya ta ga ko zo
Wearing at his waist a sword with silver hilt fittings, who is the young man parading so grandly through the capital of Nara?
Waga koma wa hayaku yukanan asahiko ga yae sasu oka no tamazasa no ue ni
May my horse go quickly on, to the hill where the morning sun shines layer upon layer, over the lovely bamboo grass.
Saibari ni koromo wa somen ame furedo utsuroigatashi fukaku somete wa
I will dye my robe with alder; even when the rain falls, the color will hardly fade, if only I dye it deep.