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- Shin Kokin Wakashu
Nakanaka ni kie wa kienade uzumibi no ikite kai naki yo ni mo aru kana
Better, surely, to go out altogether—yet like embers buried in ash, I neither die nor burn, but live on in this world to no purpose.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Yoen
Hikazu furu yukige ni masaru sumigama no keburi mo samushi ōhara no sato
As the snowy skies go on day after day, the smoke from the charcoal kilns rises all the thicker—and even it looks cold over the village of Ōhara.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Princess Shokushi
Onozukara iwanu o shitau hito ya aru to yasurau hodo ni toshi no kurenuru
Wondering whether someone might come to miss me of their own accord, without my saying a word, I hesitated—and the year has drawn to its close.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Saigyō
Kaerite wa mi ni sou mono to shirinagara kureyuku toshi o nani shitauran
I know full well that the passing year, far from leaving me, only clings the closer as added age—so why do I grieve to see it go?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Jōsaimon'in no Hyōe
Hedateyuku yoyo no omokage kakikurashi yuki to furinuru toshi no kure kana
The faces of bygone years grow ever more distant, blurred and darkened, and like the snow they have fallen and grown old—so ends the year.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Shunzei's Daughter
Atarashiki toshi ya waga mi o tomekuran hima yuku koma ni michi o makasete
Will the new year come seeking me out, leaving its road to the swift horse that flashes past a crack in the wall—time that runs so fast?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Takasue
Nagekitsutsu kotoshi mo kurenu tsuyu no inochi ikeru bakari o omoide ni shite
Grieving all the while, I have seen this year too come to its end—with nothing to remember it by but the fact that my dewdrop life still goes on.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Shun'e
Omoiyare yasoji no toshi no kure nareba ikabakari ka wa mono wa kanashiki
Only imagine: this is the end of the year in which I have reached eighty—how deeply everything fills me with sorrow!
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Kojiju
Mukashi omou niwa ni ukigi o tsumiokite mishi yo ni mo ninu toshi no kure kana
In the garden that brings back the past, I stack up driftwood, sorrow's wood—how unlike the year's ends of the world I once knew this one is!
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Saigyō
Isonokami furuno no ozasa shimo o hete hitoyo bakari ni nokoru toshi kana
The bamboo grass on Furu moor at Isonokami has weathered night after night of frost, and now only a single night—a single joint—of the year remains.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Toshi no akete ukiyo no yume no samu beku wa kuru tomo kyō wa itowazaramashi
If the dawning of the new year could wake me from the dream of this sorrowful world, then even though the year ends today, I would not resent it.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Jien
Asagoto no akai no mizu ni toshi kurete waga yo no hodo no kumarenuru kana
Drawing water from the sacred well each morning, I have seen the year come to its end—and with each draught, the measure of my own remaining life has been drawn away.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Ryūshō
Isogarenu toshi no kure koso aware nare mukashi wa yoso ni kikishi haru ka wa
How deeply moving is this year's end, when I feel no urge to hurry and prepare—in the old days, did I ever hear of the coming spring as if it had nothing to do with me?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sanjō Sanefusa
Kazoureba toshi no nokori mo nakarikeri oinuru bakari kanashiki wa nashi
When I count, I find there is nothing left of the year at all—and nothing is as sorrowful as growing old.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Izumi Shikibu
Ishibashiru hatsuse no kawa no namimakura hayaku mo toshi no kurenikeru kana
Pillowed on the waves of the Hatsuse River as it rushes over the rocks, I find the year has come to its end as swiftly as that current runs.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanesada
Yuku toshi o oshima no ama no nuregoromo kasanete sode ni nami ya kakuran
Grieving for the departing year like the fisher folk of Oshima in their soaking robes—must I, as the years pile up, let waves of tears splash layer upon layer over my sleeves?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Ariie