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- Kokin Wakashu
Shikishima ya yamato ni wa aranu karakoromo koro mo hezu shite au yoshi mogana
Like a Chinese robe not made in Yamato—would that there were some way for us to meet without letting the days pass by.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Koishi to wa ta ga nazukekemu koto naramu shinu to zo tada ni iu bekarikeru
Who was it that named this feeling "longing"? It should simply have been called "dying."
Kokin Wakashu - Kiyohara no Fukayabu
Miyoshino no ōkawa no he no fujinami no nami ni omowaba waga koime ya wa
Like the waves of wisteria by the great river of Yoshino—if my feelings for you were only ordinary, would I be yearning for you like this?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kaku koimu mono to wa ware mo omoiniki kokoro no ura zo masashikarikeru
I too had known I would love you like this; my heart's own foretelling has proved all too true.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ama no hara fumitodorokashi narukami mo omou naka oba sakuru mono ka wa
Even the thunder god who stamps and roars across the plains of heaven could never tear apart two people who love each other.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Azusayumi hikino no tsuzura sue tsui ni waga omou hito ni koto no shigekemu
As the vines on Hikino, where catalpa bows are drawn, reach ever onward, so in the end will gossip grow thick about the one I love.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Natsubiki no tebiki no ito o kurikaeshi koto shigeku tomo taemu to omou na
Like hand-drawn summer thread wound over and over, though rumors arise again and again, do not think that our bond will ever be broken.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Satobito no koto wa natsuno no shigeku tomo kareyuku kimi ni awazarame ya wa
Though the villagers' gossip grows as thick as summer grass, how could I not go to meet you, even as you drift away from me like withering grass?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kazukazu ni omoi omowazu toigatami mi o shiru ame wa furi zo masareru
I cannot bring myself to ask whether you truly love me or not, and so the rain that tells me what I am worth to you pours down ever harder.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Ōnusa no hikute amata ni narinureba omoedo e koso tanomazarikere
Like the great purification wand that so many hands reach out to pull, you are drawn by so many that, love you as I may, I cannot bring myself to trust you.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ōnusa to na ni koso tatere nagarete mo tsui ni yoru se wa ari chō mono o
They may call me a great purification wand, and the name may stick; yet even a wand set adrift on the river comes at last to a shallows where it rests—and so shall I, with you.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Suma no ama no shio yaku keburi kaze o itami omowanu kata ni tanabikinikeri
The smoke from the salt fires of the Suma fisherfolk, driven by the fierce wind, has trailed away in a direction I never imagined.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tamakazura hau ki amata ni narinureba taenu kokoro no ureshige mo nashi
Like a jeweled vine that has come to climb so many trees, you now have so many loves that even the fact that you have not broken with me brings me no joy.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ta ga sato ni yogare o shite ka hototogisu tada koko ni shimo netaru koe suru
O cuckoo, whose village have you stopped visiting by night, that here, of all places, you sing in a voice as if you were sleeping?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ide hito wa koto nomi zo yoki tsukikusa no utsushigokoro wa iro koto ni shite
Ah, only his words are fine; his true heart, like dye from the dayflower that fades so quickly, has taken on a different color from what he says.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Itsuwari no naki yo nariseba ikabakari hito no koto no ha ureshikaramashi
If only this were a world without lies—how happy your words would make me!
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet