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- Kokin Wakashu
Before the year turns, spring has already arrived; one passing year— shall I call it last year, or this year, I wonder?
Before the New Year has even begun, spring has already arrived. With the turning of the seasons, should the year that has just passed be called last year, because winter has ended, or should it be called this year, since the New Year has not yet come?
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Motokata
With sleeves soaked through, the water once I cupped now froze; now, on this spring day, is today’s gentle wind melting that ice away?
The water I once scooped up, soaking my sleeves without my knowing in the heat of summer, lay frozen through the cold season—might today’s warm wind, on the day spring begins, be melting that ice away?
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Spring haze rising— where can it be found at all? Here in fair Yoshino, on Yoshino’s mountain slopes, snow is still falling.
Spring has begun, and yet where can the rising haze of spring be found? Here in fair Yoshino, on the slopes of Mount Yoshino, the snow still falls, and there is not yet the faintest sign of spring.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
While snow still falls, spring has already arrived; the bush warbler’s tears, once frozen in the cold— are they melting now?
Though the snow is still falling, spring has already arrived. The bush warbler’s tears, frozen throughout the winter—might they now be melting at last?
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Takako
On plum-blossomed boughs, a bush warbler comes to rest; calling for the spring— yet still, though it calls and calls, the snow keeps falling down.
The bush warbler perches on branches where the plum has blossomed, calling out as it waits for spring to come; and yet, though it calls, there is still no sign of spring, and the snow continues to fall lightly.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
When spring has come, will it be seen as flowers? On white snow clinging to the branches, the bush warbler cries.
Now that spring has come, does the bush warbler cry, thinking the white snow that has fallen upon the plum branches to be flowers?
Kokin Wakashu - Sosei Hoshi
With deep intent I stained my heart at that time; so it may be seen as flowers of snow that could not fade away.
Because I set my heart so deeply upon them when I broke off the branch, the snow that could not quite melt away may be seen as flowers.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Though I stand here in the light of spring’s own sun, still upon my head the snow falls down, and this is wretched to me.
Though I stand in the light of the spring sun, it is wretched to me that snow should fall upon my head and turn my hair white.
Kokin Wakashu - Funya no Yasuhide
When haze arises, and buds on the trees are spring, if the snow should fall, even this village with no flowers has flowers falling down.
When haze rises and the buds on the trees show spring, if snow should fall, even this village where no flowers yet bloom has flowers falling down in the spring’s pale snow.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Is it spring, I ask, or are the flowers too slow to come? I would know by hearing— yet even the bush warbler does not sing at all.
Though it is spring, I would ask whether spring has come too soon or the flowers are too slow to bloom; I would judge by hearing, yet even the bush warbler does not sing at all.
Kokin Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kotomichi
People say, “spring has come,” yet, unless the bush warbler sings, I think it has not— so long as it does not sing, spring is not yet here.
People say that spring has already come, yet so long as the bush warbler does not sing to herald it, I think it is not yet spring.
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
In the valley wind, between gaps where ice melts, from each small opening waves come flowing out—are these spring’s very first flowers?
Could the waves that flow out from between the melting ice, stirred by the wind in the valley, be the very first flowers of spring?
Kokin Wakashu - Minamoto no Toshiyuki
The scent of flowers, entrusting it to the wind, I send it along— a guide that hastens to lead the bush warbler forth.
I entrust the blooming plum’s fragrance to the wind as a messenger, sending it as a guide to lure the bush warbler out.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
If from the valley no voice of the bush warbler were to come forth, who then would ever know that spring has come at all?
If the bush warbler did not come forth from the valley with its cry, who would ever know that spring has come?
Kokin Wakashu - Oe no Chisato
Though spring has come, in the mountain village where even flowers give no scent, with a weary-sounding cry the bush warbler sings.
Though spring has come, in this mountain village where even the flowers give no scent, the bush warbler sings with a voice that sounds weary.
Kokin Wakashu - Ariwara no Muneyoshi
Living near the fields, each morning, morning by morning, the bush warbler’s cry as it sings can be heard— so I listen, dawn by dawn.
Living near the fields, I hear the bush warbler’s cry each morning, morning by morning.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet