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- Manyoshu
Chidori naku miyoshinogawa no kawaoto no yamu toki nashi ni omōyuru kimi
Like the sound of the fair Yoshino River, where the plovers cry, which never falls silent, you are never for a moment absent from my thoughts.
Manyoshu - Kurumamochi no Chitose
Akane sasu hi narabenaku ni aga koi wa yoshino no kawa no kiri ni tachitsutsu
Not many days have passed since I set out, and yet this love of mine keeps rising, rising, as the mist over the Yoshino River.
Manyoshu - Kurumamochi no Chitose
Okitsushima ariso no tamamo shiohi michi ikakuri yukaba omōemu kamo
The lovely seaweed on the rugged shore of the island in the offing—when the ebbing tide flows back in and hides it from view, how I shall long for it then.
Manyoshu - Yamabe no Akahito
Waka no ura ni shio michikureba kata o nami ashibe o sashite tazu nakiwataru
When the tide comes flowing into Waka Bay and the tidal flats are gone, the cranes fly crying across the sky toward the reed-covered shore.
Manyoshu - Yamabe no Akahito
Yorozuyo ni mitomo akame ya miyoshino no tagitsu kōchi no ōmiyadokoro
Even if I were to gaze on it for ten thousand ages, how could I ever tire of it—this palace ground in the river bend of fair Yoshino, where the rapids rush.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Minahito no inochi mo ware mo miyoshino no taki no tokiwa no tsune naranu kamo
The lives of all people, and my own life too—might they not stay forever unchanging, like the everlasting rocks amid the rapids of fair Yoshino?
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Miyoshino no kisayama no ma no konure ni wa kokoda mo sawaku tori no koe kamo
In fair Yoshino, among the folds of Mount Kisa, how the birds clamour in the treetops, so many voices raised together!
Manyoshu - Yamabe no Akahito
Nubatama no yo no fukeyukeba hisagi ouru kiyoki kawara ni chidori shiba naku
As the jet-black night grows deeper, on the pure riverbed where the hisagi trees grow, the plovers cry again and again.
Manyoshu - Yamabe no Akahito
Ashihiki no yama ni mo no ni mo mikaribito satsuya tabasami sawakite ari miyu
On the mountains and in the fields alike, the royal huntsmen can be seen bustling about, hunting arrows clasped in their hands.
Manyoshu - Yamabe no Akahito
Aranora ni sato wa aredomo ōkimi no shikimasu toki wa miyako to narinu
Though it was only a village on the wild moorland, now that our Great Sovereign reigns here, it has become a capital.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Amaotome tananashi obune kogizurashi tabi no yadori ni kaji no oto kikoyu
The fisher girls must be rowing out in their little plankless boats: here at our lodging on the journey, I can hear the sound of their oars.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Shiranami no chie ni kiyosuru suminoe no kishi no hanyū ni nioite yukana
At Suminoe, where the white waves come rolling in a thousand folds, let me tint my robe with the clay along the shore before I go.
Manyoshu - Kurumamochi no Chitose
Asanagi ni kaji no oto kikoyu miketsukuni nojima no ama no fune ni shi aru rashi
In the morning calm I hear the sound of oars: it must be the boats of the fishers of Nojima, in the land that supplies the sovereign's table.
Manyoshu - Yamabe no Akahito
Tamamo karu amaotomedomo mi ni yukamu funakaji mo gamo nami takaku tomo
If only I had a boat and oars to go and see the fisher girls out there gathering jewel-weed—however high the waves might rise.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Yukimeguri mitomo akame ya nakisumi no funase no hama ni shikiru shiranami
However I wander about and gaze, how could I ever tire of them—the white waves breaking on and on along the beach of the harbour at Nakisumi.
Manyoshu - Kasa no Kanamura
Okitsunami henami shizukemi isari suto fujie no ura ni fune zo sawakeru
The waves out at sea and the waves along the shore are calm, and so, to go out fishing, the boats bustle all about Fujie Bay.
Manyoshu - Yamabe no Akahito