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- Kokin Wakashu
Miminashi no yama no kuchinashi eteshi kana omoi no iro no shitazome ni semu
I wish I could get gardenia, the "mouthless" flower, from Mount Miminashi, "Mount Earless," to use as the ground dye for the scarlet color of my love.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ashihiki no yamada no sohozu onore sae ware o hoshi chō urewashiki koto
You scarecrow of the mountain paddies, even you say you want me. How very dismaying.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Fuji no ne no naranu omoi ni moeba moe kami dani katanu munashi keburi o
If you must burn with a love that cannot be, like the fires of Fuji's peak, then burn. It is only empty smoke that not even the gods will quench.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Menoto
Aimimaku hoshi wa kazu naku arinagara hito ni tsukinami mayoi koso sure
My longing to see you is as countless as the stars, yet with no way to reach you, like a night without a moon, I only wander in confusion.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Arimasa
Hito ni awamu tsuki no naki ni wa omoi okite mune hashiribi ni kokoro yake ori
On moonless nights, when I have no way to meet him, I lie awake as the fire of longing smolders like embers; my breast crackles with leaping sparks, and my heart is burning.
Kokin Wakashu - Ono no Komachi
Harugasumi tanabiku nobe no wakana ni mo narimiteshi kana hito mo tsumu ya to
I wish I could become one of the young greens in the fields where the spring haze trails, thinking that then you too might come and pick me.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Okikaze
Omoedomo nao utomarenu harugasumi kakaranu yama mo araji to omoeba
Much as I care for you, I still find you hateful, spring haze, for I suspect there is not a mountain you do not wrap yourself around.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Haru no no no shigeki kusaba no tsumagoi ni tobitatsu kiji no hororo to zo naku
Longing for his mate, a pheasant bursts up from the dense grasses of the spring fields, crying "hororo."
Kokin Wakashu - Taira no Sadabumi
Aki no no ni tsuma naki shika no toshi o hete nazo waga koi no kaiyo to zo naku
In the autumn fields, a stag without a mate cries year after year, "Why is my love in vain?" calling out "kaiyo," to no avail.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Yoshihito
Semi no ha no hitoe ni usuki natsugoromo nareba yorinamu mono ni ya wa aranu
A summer robe of a single layer, thin as a cicada's wing, softens with wear and creases, does it not? So too a cold-hearted lover, grown familiar, may yet draw close.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Kakurenu no shita yori ouru nenunawa no nenu na wa tateji kuru na itoi so
Like the water shield, "nenunawa," growing up from the depths of a hidden marsh, I will not let rumor say we never lie together, so do not spurn me when I come to you.
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Koto naraba omowazu to ya wa iihatenu nazo yo no naka no tamadasuki naru
If it comes to the same thing, why not just say outright that you do not love me? Why must our bond be like a sash, now tied, now slipped off?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Omou chō hito no kokoro no kuma goto ni tachikakuretsutsu miru yoshi mogana
If only I had a way to hide in every corner of the heart of the one who says they love me, and see for myself what is really there.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Omoedomo omowazu to nomi iu nareba ina ya omowaji omou kai nashi
I love you, yet I hear you keep saying I do not. Very well, then, I will not love you. There is no use in loving.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ware o nomi omou to iwaba arubeki o ide ya kokoro wa ōnusa ni shite
If you said you loved only me, all would be well, but alas, your heart is like the great purification wand that many hands pull toward themselves.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ware o omou hito o omowanu mukui ni ya waga omou hito no ware o omowanu
Is it retribution for not loving the one who loves me that the one I love does not love me?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet