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- Shui Wakashu
Tsurezure to omoeba uki ni ouru ashi no hakanaki yo o ba ikaga tanomamu
Brooding on it, I think: how could I rely on a bond as fleeting as the short joints of reeds growing in a gloomy marsh?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Sadame naki hito no kokoro ni kurabureba tada Ukishima wa na nomi narikeri
Compared with a person's ever-changing heart, I find that Ukishima, the Floating Isle, floats in name only.
Shui Wakashu - Minamoto no Shitagō
Hitori nomi toshi hekeru ni mo otoraji o kazu naranu mi no aru wa aru ka wa
It is surely no better than living through the years alone, for can a worthless one like me be said to be here at all?
Shui Wakashu - Kiyohara no Motosuke
Kaze hayami mine no kuzuha no tomosureba ayakariyasuki hito no kokoro ka
As the arrowroot leaves on the peak are always turning in the swift wind, how easily swayed is the heart of that person!
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Hisakata no ame no furu hi o tada hitori yamabe ni oreba umoretarikeri
On a day when the rain falls from the far heavens, staying all alone by the mountains, I feel buried and weighed down.
Shui Wakashu - Otomo no Yakamochi
Ame furite niwa ni tamareru nigorimizu ta ga sumaba ka wa kage no miyubeki
Muddy water pools in my garden after the rain: until someone lives here and lets it clear, how could any reflection, or any bay horse, be seen in it?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yo to tomo ni ame furu yado no niwatazumi sumanu ni kage wa miyuru mono ka wa
In the puddles of this house where the rain is always falling, since the water never clears, how could any reflection be seen? With no one living here, how could a bay horse appear?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Au koto no kakute ya tsui ni yami no yo no omoi mo idenu hito no tame ni wa
Will our meetings cease like this at last and turn to the dark of night, for one who does not even call me to mind?
Shui Wakashu - Grand Empress Dowager
Iwashiro no nonaka ni tateru musubimatsu kokoro mo tokezu mukashi omoeba
Like the knotted pine standing in the fields of Iwashiro, my heart too stays bound and will not loosen, when I think of the past.
Shui Wakashu - Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Kyō ka to mo asu to mo shiranu shiragiku no shirazu ikuyo o fubeki waga mi zo
Like the white chrysanthemum that knows not whether it will fall today or tomorrow, I cannot know how many ages this life of mine will last.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Namidagawa mizu masareba ya shikitae no makura no ukite tomarazaruran
Is it because the river of tears has risen that the pillow floats away, sorrowful, and will not stay?
Shui Wakashu - Minamoto no Masanobu
Yo no naka o tsune naki mono to kikishikado tsuraki koto koso hisashikarikere
I had heard that nothing in this world endures, yet it is your coldness alone that lasts so long.
Shui Wakashu - Azechi no Miyasudokoro
Tsuraki o ba tsune naki mono to omoitsutsu hisashiki koto o tanomi ya wa senu
Think rather that it is coldness that does not last, and why not then trust in what endures?
Shui Wakashu - Emperor Daigo
Ware koso wa nikuku mo arame waga yado no hanami ni dani mo kimi ga kimasanu
I may well be hateful to you, but will you not come even to view the blossoms at my house?
Shui Wakashu - Ise
Iwamigata nani ka wa tsuraki tsurakaraba uramigatera ni kite mo miyo kashi
Like Iwami's tidal flats, what is there to be so bitter about? If you feel bitter, then come, viewing the bay and venting your reproach, and see me for yourself.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Sore naranu koto mo arishi o wasurene to iishi bakari o mimi ni tomeken
I said other things as well, so why did you keep in your ears only my words, "forget me"?
Shui Wakashu - Hon'in no Jijū