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- Shin Kokin Wakashu
Au koto o kyō matsu ga e no tamukegusa ikuyo shioruru sode to ka wa shiru
Waiting for today, when at last we might meet, I am like the offerings tied to a pine branch by the shore. Do you know through how many nights my sleeves have wilted with tears? Surely you do not.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Princess Shokushi
Koishisa ni kyō zo tazunuru okuyama no hikage no tsuyu ni sode wa nuretsutsu
Driven by longing, today at last I come in search of you, my sleeves soaked all the while by the dew of the shaded mountain depths.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Masakiyo
Au made no inochi mo gana to omoishi wa kuyashikarikeru waga kokoro kana
I once wished only for a life long enough to last until we met. How I regret that heart of mine now, when I long to live on.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Saigyō
Hitogokoro usuhanazome no karigoromo sate dani arade iro ya kawaran
A lover's heart is thin, like a hunting robe dyed pale blue; will it not even stay that way, but fade and change its color like the cloth?
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sakon, Lady Chamberlain to Retired Emperor Sanjō
Aimite mo kai nakarikeri ubatama no hakanaki yume ni otoru utsutsu wa
Even meeting you brought nothing worth the longing; our meeting in waking life proved lesser even than a fleeting dream of the night.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Okikaze
Nakanaka no monoomoi somete nenuru yo wa hakanaki yume mo e ya wa miekeru
Having met you, I have only begun to brood on love the more; on the nights I lie down to sleep, could I see you even in a fleeting dream? Not once.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Yume to temo hito ni kataru na shiru to ieba tamakura naranu makura dani sezu
Even if it is only a dream, never tell it to anyone. They say pillows know our secrets, so I will not even use a pillow—only your arm.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Ise
Makura dani shiraneba iwaji mishi mama ni kimi kataru na yo haru no yo no yume
Since not even a pillow knows of it, I will say nothing; and you, too, must never tell anyone what you saw—our meeting, fleeting as a dream on a spring night.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Izumi Shikibu
Wasurete mo hito ni kataru na utatane no yume mite nochi mo nagakaraji yo o
Even if you should forget me, never tell anyone of us; for even after this meeting, brief as a dream in a fitful doze, our bond will not last long.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Uma no Naishi
Tsurakarishi ōku no toshi wa wasurarete hitoyo no yume o aware to zo mishi
All the long, bitter years were forgotten of themselves, and I beheld that single night's dream of meeting with a heart deeply moved.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Norinaga
Kesa yori wa itodo omoi o takimashite nageki koritsumu ōsaka no yama
From this morning, when we met at last, I feed the fire of longing all the more, cutting and stacking the firewood of sorrow on Ōsaka, the Mountain of Meeting.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Emperor Takakura
Ashi no ya no shizuhata obi no katamusubi kokoro yasuku mo uchitokuru kana
Like the loosely knotted homespun sash of one who lives in a reed-thatched hut, which comes undone so easily, you have opened your heart to me with such ease.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Toshiyori
Karisome ni fushimi no nobe no kusamakura tsuyu kakariki to hito ni kataru na
We lay for only a fleeting while on a pillow of grass on the plain of Fushimi; never tell anyone that the dew fell upon it.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ika ni sen kuzu no ura fuku akikaze ni shitaba no tsuyu no kakure naki mi o
What am I to do? Like the dew on the lower leaves of arrowroot, laid bare when the autumn wind turns them over, I can no longer hide from the world's eyes.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Sagami
Akegataki futami no ura ni yoru nami no sode nomi nurete okitsu shimabito
The door will not open, and the night will not break; like the waves that draw near on Futami Bay, I come close, yet only my sleeves are soaked, and I stay awake like one who lives on an island far out at sea.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Au koto no akenu yo nagara akenureba ware koso kaere kokoro ya wa yuku
The door to our meeting never opened, and yet the night has broken to dawn; so I must go home, but would my heart go with me? Never.
Shin Kokin Wakashu - Ise