On going on a pilgrimage with something on one’s mind.
いなりざかのぼるのみかはわぎもこをほのみてのちもくるしかりけり
inarizaka
noboru nomi ka wa
wagimoko o
honomite nochi mo
kurushikarikeri | Inari’s hill
Shall I simply climb?
My darling
I did faintly glimpse, but after
There was only pain. |
Fuji[wara] no Tamehiro
藤為広
いもがかみうつをざさののはなれごまたはれにけらしあはぬ思へば
imo ga kami
utsu ozasano no
hanaregoma
tawarenikerashi
awanu omoeba | My darling’s hair
Whips, on the dwarf-bamboo plains
A wayward mount—
Fallen, it seems,
Thinking we will fail to meet… |
真野之浦乃 与騰乃継橋 情由毛 思哉妹之 伊目尓之所見
真野の浦の淀の継橋心も思へや妹が夢にし見ゆる
mano no ura no
yodo no tugipasi
kokoro yu mo
omope ya imo ga
yume ni si miyuru | Across the bay of Mano
Over the pools lies a many-pillared bridge—
Does she so cover my heart?
That love for my darling
Brings her to my dreams… |
Topic unknown.
うつくしと思ひしいもを夢に見ておきてさぐるになきぞかなしき
utukusi to
omoFisi imo wo
yume ni mite
okite saguru ni
naki zo kanasiki | How fair
I did think my darling,
Seeing her in my dreams, and
On waking, reaching, to find
Nothing is so sad. |
Anonymous
桃染めの浅らの衣浅らかに思ひて妹に逢はむものかも
momosome no
asara no koromo
asaraka ni
omopite imo ni
apamu mono kamo | Peach dyed,
Pale is this robe, but
With shallow
Passions, my darling,
Would I meet with you? |
Anonymous
妹に恋ひ寐ねぬ朝明にをし鳥のこゆかく渡る妹が使か
imo ni kopi
inenu asake ni
woshidori no
koyu kaku wataru
imo ga tukapi ka | Loving my darling
On a sleepless morning
The mandarins
Back and forth do go—
Her messengers, perhaps? |
[One of] Four poems composed by the Riverside Courtier on seeing the coffin of a lady in the pine groves of Himeshima in Wadō 4 [712].
妹もわれも清の河の川岸の妹が悔ゆべき心は持たじ
imo mo ware mo
kiyomi no kapa no
kapagisi no
imo ga kuyubeki
kokoro pa matazi | Both my darling and I, too,
On Kiyomi River
Bank:
For my darling’s regretful
Heart, I failed to wait, alas… |
A miscellaneous winter poem.
我が袖に霰た走る巻き隠し消たずてあらむ妹が見むため
wa ga sode ni
arare tapasiru
makikakusi
kedazute aramu
imo ga mimu tame | Upon my sleeves
The hailstones strike;
I’ll wrap them and hide them away
That they not melt, and
Show them to my darling. |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Envoy
石見の海打歌の山の木の間より我が振る袖を妹見つらむか
ipami no umi
ututa no yama no
ko no ma yori
wa ga puru sode wo
imo mituramu ka | By the sea at Iwami,
On Utsuta Mountain
From between the trees
I wave my sleeves –
Will my darling glimpse them, I wonder? |
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
[One of] two poems sent by Prince Yuhara to a maiden.
目には見て手には取らえぬ月の内の楓のごとき妹をいかにせむ
me ni pa mite
te ni pa toraenu
tuki no uti no
katura no gotoki
imo wo ika ni semu | You fill my gaze, yet
My hand can never reach you
As the moon’s
Silver trees
O, darling, what am I to do? |
'Simply moving and elegant'