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- Gosen Wakashu
Uguisu no naku naru koe wa mukashi nite waga mi hitotsu no arazu mo aru kana
The warbler's voice I seem to hear is just as it was long ago; it is only I who am no longer what I once was.
Gosen Wakashu - Mother of Fujiwara no Akitada
Hisashikare ada ni chiru na to sakurabana kame ni saseredo utsuroi ni keri
Last long, I told them, do not scatter in vain—and I set the cherry blossoms in a vase that shares its name with the long-lived tortoise, yet still they faded.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Chiyo fu beki kame ni saseredo sakurabana tomaran koto wa tsune ni ya wa aranu
Though you placed them in a vase that shares its name with the thousand-year tortoise, has it ever been the way of cherry blossoms to stay?
Gosen Wakashu - Nakatsukasa
Chirinu beki hana no kagiri wa oshinabete izure to mo naku oshiki haru kana
All the flowers that must one day fall, every one of them without distinction, are dear to me—how I regret this passing spring.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kakigoshi ni chirikuru hana o miru yori wa nekome ni kaze no fuki mo kosanan
Rather than watch the blossoms drift over the fence to me, I wish the wind would blow the whole tree across, roots and all.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Haru no hi no nagaki omoi wa wasureji o hito no kokoro ni aki ya tatsuramu
I will never forget this longing of mine, long as a day in spring—yet has autumn risen in your heart, and with it, weariness of me?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yoso nite mo hana miru goto ni ne o zo naku waga mi ni utoki haru no tsurasa ni
Even from afar, each time I see the blossoms I weep aloud, pained by a spring that holds itself apart from me.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kaze o dani machite zo hana no chirinamashi kokorozukara ni utsurou ga usa
If only the blossoms would at least wait for the wind before they fall; that they fade of their own accord is what pains me so.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Waga yado ni sumire no hana no ōkareba kiyadoru hito ya aru to matsu kana
Since violets bloom in such abundance at my house, I wait, wondering if someone might come and stay the night.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yama takami kasumi o wakete chiru hana o yuki to ya yoso no hito wa miruran
Because the mountain is so high, do people far away see the blossoms that scatter down through the haze as falling snow?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Fuku kaze no sasou mono to wa shirinagara chirinuru hana no shiite koishiki
I know it is the blowing wind that lures them away, and yet I cannot help but long for the blossoms that have fallen.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Uchihaete haru wa sabakari nodokeki o hana no kokoro ya nani isoguran
Spring stretches on so long and calm, yet what are the blossoms thinking of, that they hurry so to fall?
Gosen Wakashu - Kiyohara no Fukayabu
Waga yado no nageki wa haru mo shiranaku ni nani ni ka hana o kurabete mo mimu
At my house, the tree of grief knows nothing of spring and bears no blossoms—so with what could I possibly compare these flowers?
Gosen Wakashu - Kowakagimi
Haru no hi no kage sou ike no kagami ni wa yanagi no mayu zo mazu wa miekeru
In the mirror of the pond, bright with the light of the spring sun, the first thing I see is the willow's slender eyebrows.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kaku nagara chirade yo o ya wa tsukushitenu hana no tokiwa mo ari to miru beku
Will you not stay just as you are, never scattering, to the end of your days—so that we might see that flowers, too, can be forever unchanging?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kazasedomo oi mo kakurenu kono haru zo hana no omote wa fusetsu beranaru
Though I wear these flowers in my hair, my old age is not hidden—this spring, it seems, the blossoms themselves will hang their faces in shame.
Gosen Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune