classic waka stream

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  • Shin Kokin Wakashu

Ōsaka ya kozue no hana o fuku kara ni arashi zo kasumu seki no sugimura

At Osaka, no sooner does the wind take the blossom from the branch-tips than the storm itself goes hazy about the cedars by the barrier.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Kunaikyo

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Yama takami mine no arashi ni chiru hana no tsuki ni amagiru akegata no sora

So high are the hills that the flowers, falling in the storm off the ridge, cloud the moon itself in the sky at daybreak.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Nijoin no Sanuki

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Yama takami iwane no sakura chiru toki wa ama no hagoromo nazuru to zo miru

So high are the hills that when the cherries fall about the rocks I seem to see the robe of a heavenly being brushing across the stone.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Retired Emperor Sutoku

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Chirimagau hana no yosome wa Yoshinoyama arashi ni sawagu mine no shirakumo

Seen from far off, the blossom falling in confusion on Yoshino is white cloud on the ridge, tossed about by the storm.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Yorisuke

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Miyoshino no takane no sakura chirinikeri arashi mo shiroki haru no akebono

The cherries on the high ridge of Yoshino have fallen: at daybreak in spring even the storm wind is white.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Go-Toba In

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Sakurairo no niwa no harukaze ato mo nashi towaba zo hito no yuki to dani mimu

The garden is the colour of cherry, and the spring wind blows across it with no footprint anywhere; if someone came, he might at least take it for snow.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Teika

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Kyō dani mo niwa o sakari to utsuru hana kiezu wa ari tomo yuki ka to mo miyo

Today at least, look at these flowers, at their height now on the garden ground, and call them snow, though snow is what they will not melt like.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Go-Toba In

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Sasowarenu hito no tame to ya nokorikemu asu yori saki no hana no shirayuki

Was it kept, then, for the one who was not invited? This white snow of blossom, fallen before tomorrow came.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Yoshitsune

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Yae niou nokiba no sakura utsuroinu kaze yori saki ni tou hito mogana

The double cherry at my eaves, that bloomed so richly, has begun to fade; if only someone would come before the wind.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Princess Shokushi

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Tsuraki kana utsurou made ni yaezakura toedomo iwade suguru kokoro wa

How unkind of you: to have let the double cherry fade without ever saying come, though you thought of asking.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Prince Koreakira

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Sakurabana yume ka utsutsu ka shirakumo no taete tsune naki mine no harukaze

Were the cherries a dream, or waking? The white clouds have gone, nothing holds, and the spring wind is on the peak.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Ietaka

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Uramizu ya ukiyo o hana no itoitsutsu sasou kaze araba to omoikeru o ba

Surely it bears the wind no grudge: the flower, weary of this wretched world, had been hoping for a wind to carry it off.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - The Daughter of Fujiwara no Shunzei

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Hakanasa o hoka ni mo iwaji sakurabana sakite wa chirinu aware yo no naka

I shall look for no other image of frailty: the cherry opens and is gone. Such, alas, is the world.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanesada

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Nagamubeki nokori no haru o kazoureba hana to tomo ni mo chiru namida kana

When I count over the springs still left me to look at, I find my tears falling with the blossom.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - The Monk Shune

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Hana mo mata wakaremu haru wa omoiide yo sakichiru tabi no kokorozukushi o

Flowers, when the spring comes that parts us, remember this too: all the care I have spent on you, each time you opened and fell.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Inpumon-in no Taifu

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Chiru hana no wasuregatami no mine no kumo so o dani nokose haru no yamakaze

The cloud on the ridge is what keeps the fallen blossom from being forgotten: leave me at least that much, spring wind off the mountain.

Shin Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Yoshihira

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