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- Gosen Wakashu
Kazu naranu mi ni oku yoi no shiratama wa hikari miesasu mono ni zo arikeru
The white gems that settle in the evening on one of no account like me are things whose light is glimpsed only for a moment and then is gone.
Gosen Wakashu - Musashi
Naniwagata migiwa no ashi no oi ga yo ni uramite zo furu hito no kokoro o
Like the reeds at the water's edge on Naniwa Bay, aging node by node, I pass my declining years resenting your heart.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Wasuru to wa uramizaranan hashitaka no tokaeru yama no shii wa momijizu
Do not reproach me, saying I have forgotten you; on the mountain where the sparrow hawk changes its plumage, the evergreen oaks never turn red.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ochikochi no hitome mare naru yamazato ni iei sen to wa omoiki ya kimi
Did you ever imagine that you would make your home in a mountain village where, from near or far, scarcely anyone ever comes?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Mi o ushi to hito shirenu yo o tazunekoshi kumo no yae tatsu yama ni ya wa aranu
Weary of myself, I came in search of a life unknown to others—is this not the very mountain where the clouds rise layer upon layer?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Asanake ni yo no uki koto o shinobitsutsu nagame seshi ma ni toshi wa henikeri
Morning and evening I bore the sorrows of the world in silence, and while I sat lost in brooding thought, the years slipped by.
Gosen Wakashu - Tosa
Haru ya koshi aki ya yukiken obotsukana kage no kuchiki to yo o sugusu mi wa
Has spring come, or has autumn gone? I cannot tell, I who pass my days in this world like a rotting tree left in the shade.
Gosen Wakashu - Kan'in
Yo no naka wa uki mono nare ya hitogoto no to ni mo kaku ni mo kikoegurushiki
Is this world such a sorrowful place? The things people say reach me this way and that, and are painful to hear.
Gosen Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Musashino wa sode hitsu bakari wakeshikado wakamurasaki wa tazunewabiniki
I made my way through Musashi Plain until my sleeves were soaked, yet the young murasaki I sought, I could never find.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ōaraki no mori no kusa to ya narinikemu kari ni dani kite tou hito no naki
Have I become a weed in the forest of Ōaraki? For no one comes to visit, not even in passing, not even to cut the grass.
Gosen Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Aware chō koto koso tsune no kuchi no ha ni kakaru ya hito o omou naruran
The word "aware," how dear, is always on the edge of my lips—and is that not because I am thinking of you?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Fuku kaze no shita no chiri ni mo aranaku ni samo tachiyasuki waga nakina kana
Though I am not the dust beneath the blowing wind, how easily it rises—this baseless rumor attached to my name!
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Furusato no saho no kawamizu kyō mo nao kakute ause wa ureshikarikeri
O waters of the Saho River in the old capital—even today, to come upon such a ford where we can meet brings me such joy.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu
Waga yado o itsu narashite ka nara no ha o narashigao ni wa ori ni okosuru
When did you ever grow so familiar with my house, that you send someone with such familiar airs to break off the oak leaves?
Gosen Wakashu - Toshiko
Nara no ha no hamori no kami no mashikeru o shirade zo orishi tatari nasaru na
I never knew that a god dwelt there to guard the oak leaves, and so I broke them off—please, do not lay a curse on me.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Nakahira
Kaerite wa koe ya tagawamu fuetake no tsuraki hitoyo no katami to omoeba
If I gave it back, would its voice be different? For I think of this bamboo flute as a keepsake of that one cruel night.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet