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- Kokin Wakashu
Nushi ya tare toedo shiratama iwanaku ni saraba nabete ya aware to omowamu
I ask whose it is, but the white jewel, as if it did not know, gives no answer. Then shall I feel tenderly toward all the dancers alike?
Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Tōru
Tamadare no kogame ya izura koyorogi no iso no nami wake oki ni idenikeri
Where has that little jar gone? Parting the waves of the Koyorogi shore, it seems to have sailed out into the open sea.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
Katachi koso miyamagakure no kuchiki nare kokoro wa hana ni nasaba narinamu
My appearance may be that of a rotting log hidden deep in the mountains, but if I wished it, my heart could still become a flower.
Kokin Wakashu - Priest Kengei
Semi no ha no yoru no koromo wa usukeredo utsurika koku mo nioinuru kana
The night robe was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet how richly the fragrance it passed to me still lingers.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Osoku izuru tsuki ni mo aru kana ashihiki no yama no anata mo oshimu beranari
How late the moon is in rising! It seems that on the far side of the mountains, too, people are reluctant to let it go.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Waga kokoro nagusamekanetsu sarashina ya obasuteyama ni teru tsuki o mite
I could find no comfort for my heart, gazing at the moon shining over Mount Obasute in Sarashina.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ōkata wa tsuki o mo medeji kore zo kono tsumoreba hito no oi to naru mono
As a rule, I will not cherish even the moon, for this is the very thing that, piling up, becomes a person's old age.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Katsu miredo utoku mo aru kana tsukikage no itaranu sato mo araji to omoeba
Even as I look at it, the moon seems somehow distant to me, when I think there is no village its light does not reach.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Futatsu naki mono to omoishi o minasoko ni yama no ha narade izuru tsukikage
I had thought there was no second one, yet here in the depths of the water, not from the rim of the mountains, a moon's light is rising.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Ama no gawa kumo no mio nite hayakereba hikari todomezu tsuki zo nagaruru
In the River of Heaven the clouds form its current, and so swiftly does it flow that the moon is carried away, its light never pausing.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Akazu shite tsuki no kakururu yamamoto wa anata omote zo koishikarikeru
Here at the foot of the mountain, where the moon hides before I have gazed my fill, how I long for the far side beyond.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Akanaku ni madaki mo tsuki no kakururu ka yama no ha nigete irezu mo aranamu
I have not yet had my fill, and must the moon hide so soon? If only the rim of the mountains would flee and refuse to let it in.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Ōzora o teriyuku tsuki shi kiyokereba kumo kakusedomo hikari kenaku ni
The moon that shines across the great sky is so pure that, even if clouds conceal it, its light does not fade.
Kokin Wakashu - Nun Keishin
Isonokami furukara ono no motogashiwa moto no kokoro wa wasurarenaku ni
Like the old oak of the old fields of Furu in Isonokami, which keeps its leaves from long ago, the heart I had long ago is something I cannot forget.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Inishie no nonaka no shimizu nurukeredo moto no kokoro o shiru hito zo kumu
The clear spring in the fields of old has grown lukewarm, yet those who know its original heart still come to draw from it.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Inishie no shizu no odamaki iyashiki mo yoki mo sakari wa arishi mono nari
Like the spools of thread for the humble cloth of old, both the lowly and the noble once had their time of glory.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet