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- Gosen Wakashu
Isonokami Furu no yamabe no sakurabana uekemu toki o shiru hito zo naki
O cherry blossoms on the slopes of Mount Furu at Isonokami, grown so old—there is no one left who knows when you were planted.
Gosen Wakashu - Henjō
Yamamori wa iwaba iwanamu Takasago no onoe no sakura orite kazasamu
Let the mountain warden scold me if he likes; I shall break off the cherry blossoms on the high peak and wear them in my hair.
Gosen Wakashu - Sosei
Sakurabana iro wa hitoshiki eda naredo katami ni mireba nagusamanaku ni
These cherry blossoms are just as lovely on the branch you sent, yet when I look at them as a keepsake of you, they bring me no comfort.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Minu hito no katami gatera wa orazariki mi ni nazuraeru hana ni shi araneba
I did not break off that branch to serve as a keepsake of someone you cannot see; these are not flowers that could be likened to me.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Fuku kaze o Narashi no yama no sakurabana nodokeku zo miru chiraji to omoeba
The cherry blossoms of Mount Narashi, whose very name means taming the blowing wind, I can gaze upon with an easy heart, for surely they will not scatter.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Sakurabana kyō yoku mitemu kuretake no hitoyo no hodo ni chiri mo koso sure
Let me look well at the cherry blossoms today, for within a single night, as brief as a joint of bamboo, they may all scatter.
Gosen Wakashu - Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Sakurabana niou to mo naku haru kureba nado ka nageki no shigeri nomi suru
Though no cherry blossoms bloom in radiance for me, why is it that when spring comes my sorrows only grow thicker, like the trees?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kyō sakura shizuku ni waga mi iza nuremu kagome ni sasou kaze no konu ma ni
Come, today let me drench myself in the dew from the cherry blossoms, before the wind arrives to carry them off, fragrance and all.
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Tōru
Sakurabana nushi o wasurenu mono naraba fukikomu kaze ni kotozute wa seyo
O cherry blossoms, if you have not forgotten your master, send word to me on the wind that blows my way.
Gosen Wakashu - Sugawara no Michizane
Aoyagi no ito yorihaete oru hata o izure no yama no uguisu ka kiru
The cloth woven from green willow branches twisted into threads and stretched out long—which mountain's warbler will put it on?
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Ai omowade utsurou iro o miru mono o hana ni shirarenu nagame suru kana
The blossoms do not return my love, yet I watch their color fade, gazing in brooding thought that the flowers will never know of.
Gosen Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Kaeru kari kumoji ni madou koe su nari kasumi fukitoke konome harukaze
I hear the voices of the geese flying home, lost on their path through the clouds. Blow the haze away, spring wind that swells the buds on the trees.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Saki sakazu ware ni na tsuge so sakurabana hitozute ni ya wa kikan to omoishi
Whether they have bloomed or not, do not tell me of those cherry blossoms. Did I ever think I would hear of them only from others?
Gosen Wakashu - Taishō no Miyasudokoro
Haru kureba kogakure ōki yūzukuyo obotsukanashi mo hanakage ni shite
When spring comes, the evening moon, so often hidden among the trees, grows faint and uncertain in the shadow of the blossoms.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tachiwataru kasumi nomi ka wa yama takami miyuru sakura no iro mo hitotsu o
Is it only the spreading haze? No—because the mountain is so high, the cherry blossoms seen there are all one color with it.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ōzora ni ōu bakari no sode mogana haru saku hana o kaze ni makaseji
If only I had a sleeve wide enough to cover the whole sky; then I would never leave the flowers of spring to the mercy of the wind.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet