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- Gosen Wakashu
Ashitazu no sawabe ni toshi wa henuredomo kokoro wa kumo no ue ni nomi koso
Like a crane among the reeds, I have passed my years by the marsh, and yet my heart is always far above the clouds, with you in the palace.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Morosuke
Ashitazu no kumoi ni kakaru kokoro araba yo o hete sawa ni sumazu zo aramashi
If the crane among the reeds truly had a heart set on the clouds, it would not have gone on living by the marsh for all these years.
Gosen Wakashu - Princess Kinshi
Matsuyama ni tsuraki nagara mo nami kosamu koto wa sasuga ni kanashiki mono o
That you should change your heart, as waves might cross the Pine Hill of Sue, is hateful to me, and yet it is still a thing of sorrow.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tokihira
Yoi no ma ni haya nagusameyo isonokami furinishi toko mo uchiharau beku
While it is still evening, comfort me quickly, so that even the bed grown old and dusty, like ancient Isonokami, may be swept clean.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Nakahira
Watatsumi to arenishi toko o imasara ni harawaba sode ya awa to ukinan
This bed has grown as wild as the sea with my tears. If you were to sweep it now, after all this time, would my sleeves not float away like foam?
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Shio no ma ni asari suru ama mo ono ga yoyo kai ari to koso omou beranare
Even the fishers who forage between the tides seem to feel their own lives have worth, just as there are shells to be found.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Haseo
Ajikinaku nado ka matsuyama nami kosamu koto oba sara ni omoihanaruru
How futile it is. Why should you so completely put from your mind such things as waves crossing the Pine Hill of Sue?
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tokihira
Kishi mo naku shio shi michinaba matsuyama o shita nite nami wa kosamu to zo omou
If the tide were to rise until no shore remained, then, I think, the waves would pass over the Pine Hill, leaving it far below.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Yo to tomo ni nageki koritsumu mi ni shi areba nazo yamamori no aru kai mo naki
All my days I cut and pile up my grief like firewood, so why is it that this charm, like a guardian of the mountain, is of no use at all?
Gosen Wakashu - Imaki, Daughter of Fujiwara no Korehira
Hito shirenu waga monoomoi no namida oba sode ni tsukete zo misu bekarikeru
The tears I shed in my secret brooding—I should have pinned them to my sleeve, to the messenger named Sleeve, and let you see them.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yama no ha ni kakaru omoi no taezaraba kumoi nagara mo aware to omowan
If this longing of mine, clinging like clouds upon the mountain's rim, does not fade, then even from as far away as the clouds, I will go on thinking of you with love.
Gosen Wakashu - Sister of Fujiwara no Matada
Nakinagasu namida no itodo soinureba hakanaki mizu mo sode nurashikeri
My flowing tears have swelled all the more, so that even this slight water—your bare "I have seen it"—has soaked my sleeves.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Morouji
Yume no goto hakanaki mono wa nakarikeri nani tote hito ni au to mitsuran
There is nothing as fleeting as a dream, I now know. Why, then, did I dream that I had met her?
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Tanomu
Omoine no yonayona yume ni au koto o tada katatoki no utsutsu to mo gana
Night after night I sleep thinking of you and meet you in my dreams. If only, for just a moment, it could be real.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Toki no ma no utsutsu o shinobu kokoro koso hakanaki yume ni masarazarikere
A heart that longs for a mere moment of waking truth—that, surely, is no better than a fleeting dream.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tamatsushima fukaki irie o kogu fune no ukitaru koi mo ware wa suru kana
Like a boat rowing through the deep inlet of Tamatsushima, I am lost in a love that floats, uncertain and unsettled.
Gosen Wakashu - Ōtomo no Kuronushi