- Top
- -
- Shui Wakashu
Haru wa oshi hototogisu hata kikamahoshi omoiwazurau shizugokoro kana
I grieve to lose the spring, yet I long to hear the cuckoo too; how troubled, torn between them, is this heart that ought to be at peace!
Shui Wakashu - Kiyohara no Motosuke
Matsukaze no fukamu kagiri wa uchihaete tayubeku mo arazu sakeru fujinami
As long as the wind blows through the pines, the wisteria will bloom on and on in trailing waves, never to fail.
Shui Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Fuji no hana miya no uchi ni wa murasaki no kumo ka to nomi zo ayamatarekeru
Within the palace, the wisteria blossoms are mistaken for nothing other than purple clouds.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kuniaki
Murasaki no kumo to zo miyuru fuji no hana ika naru yado no shirushi naru ran
The wisteria blossoms look like purple clouds; of what house, I wonder, can they be the auspicious sign?
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kintō
Murasaki no iro shi kokereba fuji no hana matsu no midori mo utsuroinikeri
So deep is the purple of the wisteria that even the green of the pine it clings to has taken on its color.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hototogisu kayou kakine no unohana no uki koto are ya kimi ga kimasanu
Like the deutzia at the hedge where the cuckoo comes, is there something that pains you, that you do not come to me?
Shui Wakashu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Unohana no sakeru kakine ni yadori seshi nenu ni akenu to odorokarekeri
Lodging by a hedge where the deutzia bloomed, I was startled, thinking dawn had come before I had even slept.
Shui Wakashu - Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Toshi o hete miyamagakure no hototogisu kiku hito mo naki ne o nomi zo naku
Hidden for years deep in the mountains, the cuckoo does nothing but cry aloud with a voice no one hears, and so do I.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Koe tatete naku to iu tomo hototogisu tamoto wa nureji sorane narikeri
Though you raise your voice and claim to weep, O cuckoo, your sleeves will not be wet, for your cry is false, as false as these roots of thread.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kaku bakari matsu to shiraba ya hototogisu kozue takaku mo nakiwataru kana
Had the cuckoo known how eagerly I waited, would it have flown singing past so high above the treetops?
Shui Wakashu - Kiyohara no Motosuke
Ashihiki no yamahototogisu sato narete tasogaredoki ni nanori su rashi mo
The mountain cuckoo, grown used to the village, seems to be calling out its name in the dusk, when one can no longer tell who is who.
Shui Wakashu - Onakatomi no Sukechika
Furusato no Narashi no oka ni hototogisu kotozute yariki ika ni tsugeki ya
I entrusted a message to the cuckoo on the hill of Narashi in the old capital; how, I wonder, did it deliver it to you?
Shui Wakashu - Ōtomo no Katami
Yomosugara moyuru hotaru o kesa mireba kusa no ha goto ni tsuyu zo okikeru
When I looked this morning where the fireflies had burned all night, dew lay upon every blade of grass.
Shui Wakashu - Monk Kenshu
Tokonatsu no hana o shi mireba uchihaete suguru tsukihi no kazu mo shirarezu
Gazing at the ever-summer flowers, I lose all count of the months and days that go on passing.
Shui Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Shibashi dani kage ni kakurenu toki wa nao unadarenu beki nadeshiko no hana
If it is out of the shade for even a little while, the pink, like a child once lovingly caressed, will surely droop and wilt.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kaishi
Itazura ni oinu beranari Ōaraki no mori no shita naru kusaba naranedo
It seems I am bound to grow old to no purpose, though I am not the grass growing beneath the forest of Ōaraki.
Shui Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune