- Top
- -
- Gosen Wakashu
Wakareji wa kokoro mo yukazu karakoromo kireba namida zo saki ni tachikeru
My heart is unwilling on the road of parting—when I put on this Chinese robe, my tears rise up before anything else.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Soete yaru ōgi no kaze shi kokoro araba waga omou hito no te o na hanare so
O breeze of this fan I send along with you—if you have a heart, never leave the hand of the one I love.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kimi o nomi Shinobu no sato e yuku mono o Aizu no yama no harukeki ya nazo
You go to Shinobu, the village of longing, where I long for you alone—so why must Aizu, the mountain of meeting, be so far away?
Gosen Wakashu - Daughter of Fujiwara no Shigemoto
Toshi o hete aimiru hito no wakare ni wa oshiki mono koso inochi narikere
At parting from one I have known through many years, I find that what I hold most precious is life itself—so that we may meet again.
Gosen Wakashu - Ono no Yoshifuru
Yukusaki o shiranu namida no kanashiki wa tada me no mae ni otsuru narikeri
What is sad about these tears, shed not knowing what lies ahead, is that they simply fall right there before my eyes.
Gosen Wakashu - Minamoto no Watasu
Wasuru na to iu ni nagaruru Namidagawa ukina o susugu se to mo naranan
At your words, "Do not forget me," my tears flow like a river—may that River of Tears become a shallows to wash away your bitter name.
Gosen Wakashu - Wife of Taira no Takatō
Ware o nomi omoitsuruga no ura naraba Kaeru no yama wa madowazaramashi
If it is the bay of Tsuruga, where you think of me alone, then you would never lose your way on Mount Kaeru, the mountain of return.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kimi o nomi Itsuhata to omoi koshi nareba yukiki no michi wa harukekaraji o
Since it is for you alone, thinking "some day again," that I came to Koshi by way of Itsuhata, the road there and back will surely not be far.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Aki fukaku tabi yuku hito no tamuke ni wa momiji ni masaru nusa nakarikeri
For one who sets out on a journey as autumn deepens, there is no offering to the gods of the road finer than these crimson leaves.
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Momijiba o nusa to tamukete chirashitsutsu aki to tomo ni ya yukamu to suran
Scattering crimson leaves as offerings to the gods of the road, do you mean to go away together with the departing autumn?
Gosen Wakashu - Taifu
Machiwabite koishiku naraba tazunu beku ato naki mizu no ue narade yuke
So that if I grow weary of waiting and come to miss you, I can follow and seek you out, take any road but the surface of the water, which leaves no trace.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Komu to iite wakaruru dani mo aru mono o shirarenu kesa no mashite wabishisa
Even parting with the words "I will come again" is hard to bear—how much lonelier this morning, when you left without letting me know.
Gosen Wakashu - Fujiwara no Tokihira
Saraba yo to wakareshi toki ni iwamaseba ware mo namida ni obohorenamashi
Had I said "Farewell, then" at the moment we parted, I too would surely have drowned in my tears.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Harugasumi hakanaku tachite wakaru tomo kaze yori hoka ni tare ka tou beki
Though we part as fleetingly as spring haze rises and drifts away, who but the wind will ever come to call on me?
Gosen Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Me ni mienu kaze ni kokoro o taguetsutsu yaraba kasumi no wakare koso seme
If I send my heart along with the invisible wind, then I will part from you as the haze does, drifting away with the breeze.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise
Kimi ga yo wa Tsuru no kōri ni aete kine sadame naki yo no utagai mo naku
May your life borrow the long years of the crane from the district of Tsuru, and may you come back to us, beyond all doubt in this uncertain world.
Gosen Wakashu - Ise