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- Gosen Wakashu
Toshi o hete tanomu kai nashi tokiwa naru matsu no kozue mo iro kawariyuku
All these years of trusting have been in vain; even the tips of the ever-green pine are changing their color.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hedatekeru hito no kokoro no ukihashi o ayauki made mo fumimitsuru kana
I have trodden the floating bridge of a heart that kept its distance from me, all the way to the perilous point—and read the letter it hid.
Gosen Wakashu - Daughter of the Shijō Miyasudokoro
Tamakushige futatose awanu kimi ga mi o akenagara ya wa aramu to omoishi
For two years, like the lid of a jeweled comb box, we have not met—did I ever think that you would remain still in the crimson robe of the fifth rank? Never.
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Kintada
Akenagara toshi furu koto wa tamakushige mi no itazura ni nareba narikeri
That I pass the years still in crimson, like a jeweled comb box left open, is only because I myself have come to nothing.
Gosen Wakashu - Ono no Yoshifuru
Tanomarenu ukiyo no naka o nagekitsutsu hikage ni ouru mi o ika ni sen
Lamenting this sorrowful world on which no one can rely, what am I to do with myself, growing like a weed in the shade where no sunlight falls?
Gosen Wakashu - Ariwara no Narihira
Ausaka no yūtsuke ni naku tori no ne o kikitogamezu zo yukisuginikeru
At the Ōsaka Barrier the cock, the barrier bird, was crying, yet you paid no heed to its voice and passed on by.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
Miyama yori hibiki kikoyuru higurashi no koe o koishimi ima mo kenubeshi
I long so for the voice of the evening cicada echoing from the deep mountains that I feel I might fade away even now.
Gosen Wakashu - Senji
Higurashi no koe o koishimi kenubeku wa miyama tōri ni haya mo kine kashi
If you long so for the evening cicada's voice that you might fade away, then come back quickly by way of the deep mountains.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tokihira
Chikawareshi kamo no kawara ni koma tomete shibashi mizu kae kage o dani mimu
Here on the bank of the Kamo River, where you once swore your vows, rein in your horse and let it drink a while, so that I may at least see your form.
Gosen Wakashu - Daughter of Ariwara no Muneyana
Waga norishi koto o ushi to ya kieniken kusaba ni kakaru tsuyu no inochi wa
Was it because I rode it that it found life too sad to bear and faded away—that life as fleeting as dew clinging to the blades of grass?
Gosen Wakashu - Kan'in
Kakute nomi yamubeki mono ka chihayaburu kamo no yashiro no yorozuyo o mimu
Should it all simply end like this? No—I will see the Kamo Shrine, home of the mighty gods, through ten thousand ages.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sadakata
Mikoshioka ikuso no yoyo ni toshi o hete kyō no miyuki o machite mitsuran
Mikoshi Hill, Hill of the Palanquin—through how many ages have you passed your years, waiting to behold the royal progress of today?
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Nakahira
Izure o ka ame to mo wakamu yamabushi no otsuru namida mo furi ni koso fure
Which of these could anyone tell apart as rain? The tears the mountain monk lets fall are pouring down and down as well.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Omoi ni wa kiyuru mono zo to shirinagara kesa shimo okite nani ni kitsuran
Knowing well that frost melts away in the fire of longing, why did I rise this very morning, as the frost was settling, and come back home?
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Okikaze
Mezurashi ya mukashi nagara no yama no i wa shizumeru kage zo kuchihatenikeru
How rare a sight after so long! The mountain spring of Nagara is just as it was of old, but the reflection sunk in its waters has utterly decayed.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ujikawa no nami ni minareshi kimi maseba ware mo ajiro ni yorinubeki kana
Since you are here, so long at home among the waves of the Uji River, I too, I think, will be drawn to the fishing weir like the little fish.
Gosen Wakashu - Ōe no Okitoshi