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- Manyoshu
Ōkimi no miyuki no manima wagimoko ga tamakura makazu tsuki zo henikeru
Following our sovereign on his royal progress, never pillowing my head on my dear wife's arm, I have let a whole month slip away.
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Miketsukuni shima no ama narashi makumano no obune ni norite oki e kogu miyu
They must be the fisherfolk of Shima, the land that supplies the royal table: I see them rowing out to sea in little boats built at Kumano.
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Inishie yu hito no iikeru oihito no otsu to iu mizu zo na ni ou taki no se
This is the water people have spoken of since ancient times, that makes the aged young again: the rapids of the falls, worthy of their name.
Manyoshu - Ōtomo no Azumahito
Tadokawa no taki o kiyomi ka inishie yu miyatsukaekemu tagi no no no e ni
Is it because the rapids of the Tado River are so pure that since ancient times people have come to serve at a palace here on the fields of Tagi?
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Seki naku wa kaeri ni dani mo uchiyukite imo ga tamakura makite nemashi o
If there were no barrier here, I would hurry home, if only for the sake of going back, and sleep pillowed on my beloved's arm.
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Ima tsukuru kuni no miyako wa yamakawa no sayakeki mireba ube shirasurashi
The capital of Kuni now being built: when I see how clear and bright its hills and rivers are, I understand why our sovereign rules from here.
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Furusato wa tōku mo arazu hitoeyama koyuru ga kara ni omoi zo waga seshi
My old home is not far at all, and yet just by crossing a single ridge of hills, how I fell into longing.
Manyoshu - Takaoka no Kawachi
Waga seko to futari shi oraba yama takami sato ni wa tsuki wa terazu tomo yoshi
If only you and I can be here together, my friend, then though the hills are high and the moon does not shine upon the village, it is well.
Manyoshu - Takaoka no Kawachi
Hisakata no ame wa furishike omou ko ga yado ni koyoi wa akashite yukamu
Let the rain fall and fall. Tonight I will stay at the house of the one I hold dear until the dawn breaks, and only then go home.
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Waga yado no kimi matsu no ki ni furu yuki no yuki ni wa yukaji machi ni shi matamu
Like the snow that falls on the pine in my garden, the tree whose name means "waiting for you," I will not go to you; I will only wait, and wait on.
Hitotsu matsu ikuyo ka henuru fuku kaze no oto no kiyoki wa toshi fukami kamo
This solitary pine: how many ages has it lived through? Is the sound of the wind blowing through it so pure because it has grown so deep in years?
Manyoshu - Prince Ichihara
Tamakiharu inochi wa shirazu matsu ga e o musubu kokoro wa nagaku to zo omou
How long a life may last, no one can know. Yet as I tie the branches of the pine, my heart is set on this: that life may be long.
Manyoshu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Kurenai ni fukaku shimi ni shi kokoro kamo nara no miyako ni toshi no henubeki
Is it because my heart has been dyed as deep as crimson? It seems I will let the years go by here in the capital of Nara.
Yo no naka o tsune naki mono to ima zo shiru nara no miyako no utsurou mireba
Now at last I know that this world is a thing that does not endure, as I watch the capital of Nara fade and change.
Iwatsuna no mata ochikaeri aoniyoshi nara no miyako o mata mo mimu kamo
Like the vine that creeps over the rocks, might I grow young once more and see again the fair capital of Nara?
Tachikawari furuki miyako to narinureba michi no shibakusa nagaku oinikeri
The times have changed and this has become an old capital, and so the grass along the roads has grown long.
Manyoshu - Tanabe no Sakimaro