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- Gosen Wakashu
Nageki sae haru o shiru koso wabishikere moyu to wa hito ni mienu mono kara
How hard it is that even my sorrow, like the trees, should know the spring and swell; yet that it burns within me is something that person cannot see.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Moewataru nageki wa haru no saga nareba ōkata ni koso aware to mo mire
Sorrow that spreads, burning and budding everywhere, is simply the nature of spring, so I can only regard it with ordinary pity, as something common to all.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Aoyagi no ito tsurenaku mo nariyuku ka ika naru suji ni omoiyoramashi
Like the green willow's threads, are you growing ever colder toward me? By what thread, what path, should I draw my heart near to you?
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Morotada
Yamazato ni chiri namashikaba sakurabana niou sakari mo shirarezaramashi
Had you scattered unseen in the mountain village, O cherry blossoms, no one would ever have known the radiant height of your bloom.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Morotada
Nioi koki hana no ka mote zo shirarekeru uete miruran hito no kokoro wa
Through the rich fragrance of the blossoms it has come to be known: the heart of the one who planted them and gazes upon them.
Gosen Wakashu - Emon no Miyasudokoro
Toki shi mo are hana no sakari ni tsurakereba omowanu yama ni iri ya shinamashi
Of all times, now, at the height of the blossoms, you are so cruel to me—shall I go off into some unlooked-for mountains and leave the world behind?
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Asatada
Waga tame ni omowanu yama no oto ni nomi hana sakariyuku haru o uramimu
That you would go into some unlooked-for mountains for my sake is only a rumor I hear; in this spring of flowers in full bloom, as you drift away from me, it is spring I shall resent.
Gosen Wakashu - Shōni
Haru no ike no tamamo ni asobu niodori no ashi no itonaki koi mo suru kana
Like the grebe at play among the fair waterweeds of the spring pond, its feet never resting beneath the water, so I too am caught in a love that gives me no rest.
Gosen Wakashu - Miyaji no Takakaze
Yamakaze no hana no ka kadou fumoto ni wa haru no kasumi zo hodashi nari keru
At the foot of the mountain, where the mountain wind steals the blossoms' fragrance and carries it down, the spring haze, I realize, is the tether that keeps the flowers from sight.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Okikaze
Harusame no yo ni furinitaru kokoro ni mo nao atarashiku hana o koso omoe
Even in a heart grown old in the world, as the spring rain falls and falls, the flowers are still cherished as something fresh and new.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Harugasumi tachite kumoi ni nariyuku wa kari no kokoro no kawaru naru beshi
That you rise like the spring haze and become someone far off in the clouds must be because your fleeting heart has changed, like the geese that fly away.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Nerarenu o shiite waga nuru haru no yo no yume o utsutsu ni nasu yoshi mogana
Unable to sleep, I force myself to sleep on this spring night; if only there were some way to turn my dream into reality.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Waga yado no sakura no iro wa usuku tomo hana no sakari wa kite mo oranamu
Though the cherry color from my house is pale, at the height of the blossoms, wear it and come to break off the flowers.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Toshi o hete hana no tayori ni koto towaba itodo ada naru na o ya tachinan
If, after all these years, I were to write to you using the flowers as my pretext, would it only spread my name all the more as a fickle man?
Gosen Wakashu - Kanramu Ou
Waga yado no hana ni na naki so yobukodori yobu kai arite kimi mo konaku ni
Do not sing among the blossoms of my house, O calling bird, for your calling does no good: you do not bring my friend to me.
Gosen Wakashu - Harumichi no Toshi
Furinu tote itaku na wabi so harusame no tada ni yamu beki mono nara naku ni
Do not grieve so deeply just because you have grown old; like the spring rain, you are not something meant simply to stop and be done.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki