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- Kokin Wakashu
Miyako made hibiki kayoeru karakoto wa nami no o sugete zo hikikeru
The koto of Karakoto, whose sound carries all the way to the capital, has the waves strung as its cords, and so it is played.
Kokin Wakashu - The Monk Shinsei
Kokichirasu taki no shiratama hiroiokite yo no uki toki no namida ni zo karu
I will gather up the white jewels the waterfall strips and scatters, and borrow them as tears for the times when the world is hard to bear.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Yukihira
Nukimidaru hito koso arurashi shiratama no ma naku mo chiru ka sode no sebaki ni
Someone must be pulling the cord and scattering the jewels: the white jewels fall without pause, and my sleeves are too narrow to catch them.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Ta ga tame ni hikite saraseru nuno nare ya yo o hete miredo toru hito mo naki
For whom is this cloth drawn out and left to bleach? Though I have watched it through the ages, no one comes to take it in.
Kokin Wakashu - Priest Shōkin
Kiyotaki no seze no shiraito kuritamete yamawakegoromo orite kimashi o
If I could reel in the white threads of the rapids at Kiyotaki, I would weave a robe for pushing through the mountains and wear it.
Kokin Wakashu - Priest Jintai
Tachinuwanu kinu kishi hito mo naki mono o nani yamahime no nuno sarasuramu
No one is left who once wore robes neither cut nor sewn, so why does the mountain goddess still spread her cloth to bleach?
Kokin Wakashu - Ise
Nushi nakute saraseru nuno o tanabata ni waga kokoro to ya kyō wa kasamashi
Shall I lend this cloth, left bleaching with no owner, to the Weaver Maid today as a token of my heart?
Kokin Wakashu - Tachibana no Nagamori
Ochitagitsu taki no minakami toshi tsumori oinikerashi na kuroki suji nashi
At the source of these seething falls, the years must have piled up: they seem to have grown old, for there is not a single strand of black.
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Kaze fukedo tokoro mo saranu shirakumo wa yo o hete otsuru mizu ni zo arikeru
The white cloud that never leaves its place though the wind blows turns out to be water that has been falling through the ages.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Omoi seku kokoro no uchi no taki nare ya otsu to wa miredo oto no kikoenu
Is it the waterfall within a heart that holds back its longing? I see it falling, yet I cannot hear its sound.
Kokin Wakashu - Sanjō no Machi
Sakisomeshi toki yori nochi wa uchihaete yo wa haru nare ya iro no tsune naru
Ever since they first began to bloom, has the world stayed spring all along? Their color never changes.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Karite hosu yamada no ine no kokitarete naki koso watare aki no ukereba
Like the rice from a mountain field, cut and hung to dry, then stripped of its grain, my tears keep falling, and I go on weeping, for autumn is so sorrowful.
Kokin Wakashu - Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Yo no naka wa nani ka tsune naru asukagawa kinō no fuchi zo kyō wa se ni naru
In this world, what is there that stays the same? In the Asuka River, the place that was a deep pool only yesterday has become shallow rapids today.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ikuyo shimo araji waga mi o nazo mo kaku ama no karu mo ni omoi midaruru
I am not one who will live on for many ages, so why is it that my thoughts are tangled like the seaweed the fisherfolk cut from the sea?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kari no kuru mine no asagiri harezu nomi omoi tsukisenu yo no naka no usa
Like the morning mist on the peak where the wild geese arrive, which never lifts, my heart never clears; there is no end to my brooding over the sorrows of this world.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Shikari tote somukarenaku ni koto shi areba mazu nagekarenu ana u yo no naka
Even so, I cannot bring myself to renounce the world; yet whenever something happens, the first thing I do is grieve. Ah, how bitter this world is!
Kokin Wakashu - Ono no Takamura