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- Kokin Wakashu
Wasuraruru mi o ujibashi no naka taete hito mo kayowanu toshi zo henikeru
I have been forgotten, and it is bitter. Like the Uji Bridge broken in the middle, our bond has broken, and with no one crossing to me, the years have gone by.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Au koto o nagara no hashi no nagaraete koiwataru ma ni toshi zo henikeru
Never able to meet you, I have lingered on like the long-standing Nagara Bridge, and while I have gone on loving you, the years have passed.
Kokin Wakashu - Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Uki nagara kenuru awa to mo narinanamu nagarete to dani tanomarenu mi wa
Let me vanish like foam floating on the water, still in my sorrow, for I cannot even hope that if I live on, things will someday change.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Nagarete wa imose no yama no naka ni otsuru yoshino no kawa no yoshiya yo no naka
Flowing on and on, the Yoshino River falls between the mountains named for husband and wife. As its name suggests, so be it: such are the ways of men and women.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Naku namida ame to furanamu watarigawa mizu masarinaba kaeri kuru gani
Tears that I weep, fall as rain. If the waters of the river the dead must cross rise high enough, my sister may not be able to cross and may come back to this world.
Kokin Wakashu - Ono no Takamura
Chi no namida ochite zo tagitsu Shirakawa wa kimi ga yo made no na ni koso arikere
Tears of blood fall and rush in torrents. The White River, it seems, bore that name only as long as you were alive.
Kokin Wakashu - Sosei
Utsusemi wa kara o mitsutsu mo nagusametsu Fukakusa no yama kemuri dani tate
People of this world have found comfort in gazing even at the lifeless body. Hill of Fukakusa, let at least your smoke rise so that we may see it.
Kokin Wakashu - Shōen
Fukakusa no nobe no sakura shi kokoro araba kotoshi bakari wa sumizome ni sake
Cherry blossoms on the fields of Fukakusa, if you have a heart, then this year at least, bloom in the ink-black color of mourning.
Kokin Wakashu - Kamitsukeno no Mineo
Nete mo miyu nede mo mie keri ōkata wa utsusemi no yo zo yume ni wa arikeru
I see him when I sleep, and I see him even when awake. So, after all, it is this fleeting world itself that is the dream.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Yume to koso iu bekarikere yo no naka ni utsutsu aru mono to omoikeru kana
I should have called this world a dream. How I once believed there was such a thing as reality in this world.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Nuru ga uchi ni miru o nomi ya wa yume to iwamu hakanaki yo o mo utsutsu to wa mizu
Should I call only what I see while sleeping a dream? No—this fleeting world, too, I cannot regard as real.
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Se o sekeba fuchi to narite mo yodomikeri wakare o todomuru shigarami zo naki
If you dam a shallow stream, the water will pool and linger, even as it turns to a deep pool. But there is no weir that can hold back the parting of death.
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Sakidatanu kui no yachitabi kanashiki wa nagaruru mizu no kaerikonu nari
Regret never comes beforehand, and it grieves us a thousand times over, for, like water that has flowed away, the one who is gone never returns.
Kokin Wakashu - Kan'in
Asu shiranu waga mi to omoedo kurenu ma no kyō wa hito koso kanashikarikere
I know that I too may not live to see tomorrow, yet for today, while the sun has not yet set, it is the one who has gone that fills me with sorrow.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Toki shimo are aki ya wa hito no wakaru beki aru o miru dani koishiki mono o
Of all times, must a person part from us in autumn? Even when I see those still living, it is the season that fills me with longing.
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Kannazuki shigure ni nururu momijiba wa tada wabibito no tamoto narikeri
The crimson leaves drenched by the showers of the Godless Month are nothing but the sleeves of one sunk in grief.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune