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- Kokin Wakashu
Hito kouru koto o omoni to ninaimote ōgo naki koso wabishikarikere
I shoulder my love as a heavy burden, yet what is truly wretched is having no carrying pole, no chance to meet.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yoi no ma ni idete irinuru mikazuki no warete mono omou koro ni mo aru kana
Like the crescent moon that rises in the early evening and soon sets, looking as if split in two, these are days when my heart is broken with brooding.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Soe ni tote to sureba kakari kaku sureba ana iishirazu ōsa kirusa ni
And so, if I do this, it turns out that way; if I do that, it turns out this way. Oh, there are no words for it, everything always at cross-purposes.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yo no naka no uki tabi goto ni mi o nageba fukaki tani koso asaku nariname
If we threw ourselves into the ravine every time the world made us miserable, even the deepest valley would soon be filled up shallow.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yo no naka wa ika ni kurushi to omouramu kokora no hito ni uramirarureba
How hard it must be for the world itself, I wonder, being resented by so very many people.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata
Nani o shite mi no itazura ni oinuramu toshi no omowamu koto zo yasashiki
What have I been doing, that I have grown old to no purpose? When I think what the years themselves must think of me, I am ashamed.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Mi wa sutetsu kokoro o dani mo haburasaji tsui ni wa ikaga naru to shirubeku
I have already cast away my body; at least I will not let my heart go astray, so that I may see how it all turns out in the end.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Okikaze
Shirayuki no tomo ni waga mi wa furinuredo kokoro wa kienu mono ni zo arikeru
Along with the falling white snow, I have grown old, yet my heart, I find, is something that does not melt away like the snow.
Kokin Wakashu - Oe no Chisato
Ume no hana sakite no nochi no mi nareba ya sukimono to nomi hito no iuramu
Is it because I am the fruit that follows the plum blossoms that people keep calling me "sukimono," something sour, a lover of love?
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Wabishira ni mashira na naki so ashihiki no yama no kai aru kyō ni ya wa aranu
Monkeys, do not cry so forlornly. Is today not a day worth celebrating here in the mountain gorge, graced by His Majesty's visit?
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Yo o itoi ko no moto goto ni tachiyorite utsubushizome no asa no kinu nari
Weary of the world, I stop beneath every tree and lie face down, and so my robe of hemp is dyed with "utsubushi," the gall-nut gray of lying prone.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Atarashiki toshi no hajime ni kaku shi koso chitose o kanete tanoshiki o tsume
At the start of the new year, in just this way, looking ahead a thousand years, let joy upon joy be heaped up.
Shimoto yū kazuraki yama ni furu yuki no ma naku toki naku omōyuru kana
Like the snow that falls on Mount Katsuragi, you come to mind without a pause, at every hour.
Ōmi yori asa tachi kureba uneno no ni tazu zo naku naru akenu kono yo wa
Leaving Ōmi at first light, I reach the moor of Uneno and hear the cranes calling. So the night has broken.
Mizuguki no oka no yakata ni imo to are to nete no asake no shimo no furi wa mo
My wife and I lay together in a lodge on the hill, and at dawn, how thickly the frost had fallen!
Shihatsu yama uchiidete mireba kasayui no shima kogikakuru tananashi obune
Crossing Mount Shihatsu and coming out to the open view, I see a little boat without side-boards rowing out of sight behind the isle of Kasayui.