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- Manyoshu
Waga yado no ume sakitari to tsugeyaraba ko to iu ni nitari chirinu tomo yoshi
If I sent you word that the plum in my garden has bloomed, it would be as good as telling you to come; so let the blossoms scatter, I do not mind.
Haru sareba oori ni oori uguisu no naku waga shima zo yamazu kayowase
When spring comes, the branches bend low, heavy with blossoms, and the warbler sings: such is my garden. Come to visit me, again and again, without fail.
Arakajime kimi kimasamu to shiramaseba kado ni yado ni mo tama shikamashi o
Had I known beforehand that you would come, I would have spread jewels at my gate and throughout my house.
Manyoshu - Prince Kadobe
Ototsui mo kinō mo kyō mo mitsuredomo asu sae mimaku hoshiki kimi kamo
The day before yesterday, yesterday, and today I have seen you, and yet you are one I long to see even tomorrow.
Manyoshu - Tachibana no Fuminari
Tama shikite matamashi yori wa takesokani kitaru koyoi shi tanoshiku omōyu
Rather than spreading jewels and waiting, this night when you came so unexpectedly seems to me far more joyful.
Manyoshu - Prince Enoi
Unahara no tōki watari o miyabio no asobu o mimu to nazusai zo koshi
Over the distant crossing of the wide sea, wishing to see you men of refinement at your revels, I have come here, tossed about by the waves.
Yūtatami tamuke no yama o kyō koete izure no nobe ni iori semu ware
Today I crossed the mountain where travelers make offerings of folded mulberry cloth; on which moorland, I wonder, shall I build my lodging hut tonight?
Manyoshu - Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Ōsaki no kami no obama wa sebakedomo momofunabito mo sugu to iwanaku ni
The little beach of the god at Ōsaki is narrow, and yet no one says that even the boatmen of a hundred ships pass it by.
Nagato naru okitsu karishima okumaete aga mou kimi wa chitose ni mo gamo
Like Karishima lying offshore from Nagato, deep in my heart I hold you, my lord; may you live a thousand years.
Manyoshu - Kose no Tsushima
Okumaete ware o omoeru waga seko wa chitose iotose arikosenu kamo
You who hold me deep within your heart, my dear friend, would that you might live on for a thousand years, and five hundred more.
Manyoshu - Tachibana no Moroe
Momoshiki no ōmiyabito wa kyō mo kamo itoma o nami to sato ni idezu aramu
Will the courtiers of the palace, I wonder, again today say they have no leisure, and not come out to the village?
Manyoshu - The Palace Attendant of Toshima
Tachibana no moto ni michi fumu yachimata ni mono o zo omou hito ni shiraezu
Like the many-forked crossroads where the paths are trodden beneath the orange tree, I am lost in brooding, unknown to anyone.
Manyoshu - The Palace Attendant of Toshima
Masurao no takamatoyama ni semetareba sato ni orikeru muzasabi zo kore
Because the brave men drove it hard on Mount Takamato, down to the village it came: this is a flying squirrel.
Manyoshu - Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Kawaguchi no nobe ni iorite yo no fureba imo ga tamoto shi omōyuru kamo
Lodging in the fields of Kawaguchi as night follows night, how I find myself thinking of my beloved's sleeves.
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Imo ni koi aga no matsubara miwataseba shiohi no kata ni tazu naki wataru
Longing for my beloved, I look out across the pine grove of Aga, and over the mudflats bared by the ebbing tide, cranes fly crying.
Manyoshu - Emperor Shōmu
Okurenishi hito o omowaku shide no saki yū torishidete sakiku to zo omou
Thinking of the one left behind, at Cape Shide I take the sacred mulberry cloth and hang it down, praying that all may be well.
Manyoshu - Tajihi no Yanushi