- Top
- -
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
Waga sode ni ato fumitsuke yo hamachidori au koto katashi mite mo shinoban
Plover of the shore, leave your tracks upon my sleeve. Meeting is as hard to come by as the tidal flats are bare, so I will cherish my love just by gazing at them.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Fuyu no yo no namida ni kōru waga sode no kokoro tokezu mo miyuru kimi kana
On this winter night my sleeve is frozen with tears, and like its ice that will not thaw, your heart, too, seems never to soften toward me.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Shimogōri kokoro mo tokenu fuyu no ike ni yo fukete zo naku oshi no hitokoe
On the winter pond frozen to its heart with frost and ice, late in the night a mandarin duck cries out once; so my heart, too, does not thaw, and I weep alone.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Motozane
Namidagawa mi mo uku bakari nagaruredo kienu wa hito no omoi narikeri
The river of my tears runs so high that it could float me away, yet what it cannot quench is the fire of my longing for you.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Motozane
Ika ni sen Kumeji no hashi no nakazora ni watashi mo hatenu mi to ya narinan
What am I to do? Like the stone bridge of Kumeji, left hanging in midair and never completed, must I become one whose love is never carried through?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Tare zo kono Miwa no hibara mo shiranaku ni kokoro no suki no ware o tazunuru
Who is this, I wonder, who does not even know the cypress groves of Miwa, yet comes seeking me with a heart as fond as the cedar seeds she sends?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Waga koi wa iwanu bakari zo Naniwa naru ashi no shinoya no shita ni koso take
It is only that I do not speak of my love. Like the fire kindled low in a reed-thatched hut at Naniwa, it burns on deep within me.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Koben
Waga koi wa ariso no umi no kaze o itami shikiri ni yosuru nami no ma mo nashi
My love is like the sea along a rugged shore: the wind blows so hard that the waves crash in again and again, with no pause between them.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Ise
Suma no ura ni ama no koritsumu moshiogi no karaku mo shita ni moewataru kana
Like the salt-kiln firewood the fisherfolk of Suma cut and pile, I go on burning bitterly, deep beneath the surface.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kiyotada
Aru kai mo nagisa ni yosuru shiranami no ma naku monoomou waga mi narikeri
Like the white waves rolling onto a shore bare of shells, with nothing to make life worth living, I brood without a pause; such, I find, is my life.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Kageakira
Ashihiki no yamashita tagitsu iwanami no kokoro kudakete hito zo koishiki
Like the waves that dash against the rocks as the stream rushes at the foot of the mountains, my heart is broken into pieces, and I long for you.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Ashihiki no yamashita shigeki natsukusa no fukaku mo kimi o omou koro kana
As the summer grasses grow thick and deep at the foot of the mountains, so deeply do I think of you these days.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Oshika fusu natsuno no kusa no michi o nami shigeki koiji ni madou koro kana
As there is no path through the summer grasses where the stag lies down, I wander lost these days along love's overgrown road.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Kayaribi no sayo fukegata no shitakogare kurushi ya waga mi hito shirezu nomi
Like a smudge fire smoldering low as the night deepens, I burn in secret. How it pains me, this self of mine, always unknown to anyone.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sone no Yoshitada
Yura no to o wataru funabito kaji o tae yukue mo shiranu koi no michi kamo
Like a boatman crossing the strait of Yura who has lost his oar and drifts with no knowing where, such is the road of love, whose end I cannot see.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sone no Yoshitada
Oikaze ni yae no shioji o yuku fune no honoka ni dani mo aimiteshigana
Like a boat sailing with a following wind over the endless sea lanes, glimpsed faintly as it recedes, I long to meet you, if only for a fleeting moment.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Morotoki