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- Kokin Wakashu
Kazukazu ni ware o wasurenu mono naraba yama no kasumi o aware to wa miyo
If you truly will not forget me, then look upon the haze over the mountains with tender feeling.
Kokin Wakashu - The Fifth Princess of Kan'in
Koe o dani kikade wakaruru tama yori mo naki toko ni nemu kimi zo kanashiki
More than for my own soul, leaving this world without even hearing your voice, I grieve for you, who will sleep alone in the bed where I will be no more.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Momijiba o kaze ni makasete miru yori mo hakanaki mono wa inochi narikeri
More fleeting than autumn leaves I watch being scattered at the wind's will is human life itself.
Kokin Wakashu - Oe no Chisato
Tsuyu o nado ada naru mono to omoikemu waga mi mo kusa ni okanu bakari o
Why did I ever think of the dew as fleeting? My own body differs from it only in that it does not rest upon the grass.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Koremoto
Tsui ni yuku michi to wa kanete kikishikado kinō kyō to wa omowazarishi o
I had long heard that this is the road we all must take in the end, yet I never thought it would be so soon—yesterday, today.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Karisome no yukikaiji to zo omoikoshi ima wa kagiri no kadode narikeri
I set out thinking it would be only a brief journey there and back, but now it has become my final departure.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Shigeharu
Waga ue ni tsuyu zo oku naru ama no gawa towataru fune no kai no shizuku ka
Dew seems to be falling upon me. Could it be drops shaken from the oar of a boat crossing the ford of the River of Heaven?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Omou dochi matoi seru yo wa karanishiki tatamaku oshiki mono ni zo arikeru
On a night when close friends sit together in a circle, rising to leave is as hard to bear as cutting a length of fine Chinese brocade.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ureshiki o nani ni tsutsumamu karakoromo tamoto yutaka ni tate to iwamashi o
In what shall I wrap this joy? If only I had asked for my Chinese robe to be made with wide, ample sleeves.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kagiri naki kimi ga tame ni to oru hana wa toki shimo wakanu mono ni zo arikeru
The flowers I break off for you, whose glory knows no limit, turn out to bloom regardless of the season.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Murasaki no hitomoto yue ni musashino no kusa wa minagara aware to zo miru
Because a single stem of gromwell grows there, I look upon every grass of Musashi Plain with tender affection.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Murasaki no iro koki toki wa me mo haru ni no naru kusaki zo wakarezarikeru
When the purple runs deep, as far as the eye can see, the grasses and trees of the field, swelling with buds, cannot be told apart, and all seem dear.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Iro nashi to hito ya miruramu mukashi yori fukaki kokoro ni someteshi mono o
Others may think it has no color, yet I have long dyed it with a heart of the deepest hue.
Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Yoshiari
Hi no hikari yabu shi wakaneba isonokami furinishi sato ni hana mo sakikeri
Because the sunlight shines on thickets without distinction, even in the old village of Furu in Isonokami, flowers have bloomed.
Kokin Wakashu - Furu no Imamichi
Ōhara ya oshio no yama mo kyō koso wa kamiyo no koto mo omoiizurame
Surely today, of all days, Mount Oshio in Ōhara is remembering the things of the age of the gods.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Amatsukaze kumo no kayoiji fukitojiyo otome no sugata shibashi todomemu
O winds of heaven, blow the pathways through the clouds shut, so that I may keep the forms of these heavenly maidens here a little longer.
Kokin Wakashu - Henjō