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- Shui Wakashu
Kaku bakari koishiki mono to shiramaseba yoso ni mirubeku arikeru mono o
Had I known that longing could be this painful, I should have stayed a stranger and only watched you from afar.
Shui Wakashu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Namidagawa nodoka ni dani mo nagarenan koishiki hito no kage ya miyuru to
River of tears, at least flow gently—so that the face of the one I love might be mirrored in you.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Namidagawa otsuru minakami hayakereba seki zo kanetsuru sode no shigarami
So swiftly does the river of tears fall from its source that the weir of my sleeve cannot hold it back.
Shui Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Namidagawa soko no mikuzu to narihatete koishiki seze ni nagare koso sure
I have become mere rubbish sunk on the bed of the river of tears, swept along at every turn of longing.
Shui Wakashu - Minamoto no Shitagō
Hito shirezu otsuru namida no tsumoritsutsu kazu kaku bakari narinikeru kana
My tears, falling where no one knows, have piled up until they have become this much—enough to write numbers on the water.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Korenari
Katsu mitsutsu kage hanareyuku mizu no omo ni kaku kazu naranu mi o ika ni sen
Even as I watch, your figure drifts away like a reflection on the water; what am I to do with myself, counting for so little, like numbers written on its surface?
Shui Wakashu - Princess Kishi
Saoshika no tsume dani hijinu yamagawa no asamashiki made towanu kimi kana
Like a mountain stream so shallow it does not even wet a stag's hooves, you are shallow past belief—you never come to see me.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Asamashi ya ko no shitakage no iwashimizu ikuso no hito no kage o mitsuran
How appalling! That shallow spring among the rocks in the shade of the trees—how many people's faces must it have mirrored?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yuku mizu no awa naraba koso kiekaeri hito no fuchise o nagarete mo mime
If only I were a bubble on the flowing stream—vanishing and rising again, I could drift through the deeps and shallows of your heart and see them for myself.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsu no kuni no Horie no fukaku omou tomo ware wa Naniwa no nani to dani mizu
Though you may love me as deeply as the Horie canal in the land of Tsu, I, like the name of Naniwa, think nothing of you at all.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsu no kuni no Ikuta no ike no ikutabi ka tsuraki kokoro o ware ni misuran
Like the name of Ikuta Pond in the land of Tsu, how many times will you show me your cold heart?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tsu no kuni no Naniwa watari ni tsukuru naru koya to iwanan yukite mirubeku
Near Naniwa in the land of Tsu, they say, a hut is built—if only you would say "come," like its name, so that I might go and see you.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Tabibito no kaya kari ōi tsukuru chō maroya wa hito o omoiwasururu
Like the round hut travelers are said to build, thatching it with reeds they have cut—would I, of all people, ever forget the one I love?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Naniwabito ashibi taku ya wa susutaredo ono ga tsuma koso tokomezura nare
The houses where the people of Naniwa burn reeds are black with soot, but my own wife is always fresh and dear to me.
Shui Wakashu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Sumiyoshi no kishi ni oitaru wasuregusa mizu ya aramashi koi wa shinu tomo
The forgetting grass grows on the shore of Sumiyoshi—shall I keep from looking at it, even if I should die of love?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yaoka yuku hama no masago to waga koi to izure masareri okitsu shimamori
Which is greater—the sands of a beach so long it would take eight hundred days to walk, or my love? Tell me, guardian of the island offshore.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet