Best 10 love lyrics of Tanka poetry by famous Japanese poets

Literatures and poems / Tanka

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Classic 5-7-5-7-7 Tanka love lyrics in Japanese and English

Though the poetry dealing with various themes, Tanka poems of romance is especially popular. Because in any age, the feelings of love for others are the same, and we easily feel sympathy for the poems. I’ll show you famous 10 love Tanka poems throughout the Japanese poem history.

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Kakinomoto Hitomaro (662-710)

<Japanese>

足引きの山鳥の尾のしだり尾のながながし夜をひとりかもねむ

Ashibiki no/ Yamadori no o no/ Shidari o no/ Naganagashi yo wo/ Hitori kamo nen

<English>

Like a long

And hang down

Tail of a copper pheasant,

I sleep alone

At long long night.

Ono no Komachi (825-900)

<Japanese>

思ひつつ寝ればや人の見えづらむ夢と知りせば覚めざらましを

Omoi tsutsu/ Nu re baya hito no/ Mie zu ram/ Yume to shiri seba/ Same zara mashi wo

<English>

Thinking about you,

I slept and saw you

In the dream.

If I had known it’d have been dream,

I wouldn’t have wake up.

Emperor Yozei (869-949)

<Japanese>

筑波嶺の峰より落つる男女川恋ぞつもりて淵となりぬる

Tsukubane no/ Mine yori otsuru/ Minanogawa/ Koi zo tsumori te/ Fuchi to nari nuru

<English>

From the peak

Of Mt. Tsukuba

Minanogawa River flow down.

Love accumulates

And becomes a pool.

Fujiwara Yoshitaka (954-974)

<Japanese>

君がため惜しからざりし命さへ長くもがなと思ひぬるかな

Kimi ga tame/ Oshi kara zarishi/ Inochi sae/ Nagakumo gana to/ Omoi nuru kana

<English>

To meet you

I didn’t thought

Even my life was precious.

But I hope now

To have a long life.

Akazome-emon (956-1041)

<Japanese>

やすらはで寝なましものを小夜更けてかたぶくまでの月を見しかな

Yasura wade/ Ne namashi mono wo/ Sayo fuke te/ Katabuku made no/ Tsuki wo mishi kana

<English>

If I had known you hadn’t have come,

I would have sleep already.

But it became late at night,

I see the moon

Which goes down.

Mibu no Tadami (?-?)

<Japanese>

恋すてふわが名はまだき立ちにけり人知れずこそ思ひそめしか

Koisu cho/ Waga na wa mada ki/ Tachi ni keri/ Hito shirezu koso/ Omoi someshi ka

<English>

I fall in love,

The rumor already

Goes around.

Though I began to

Give my heart to her secretly.

Higuchi Ichiyo (1872-1896)

<Japanese>

よそながらかげだに見んと幾度か君が門をば過ぎてけるかな

Yoso nagara/ Kage dani min to/ Iku tabi ka/ Kimi ga mon wo ba/ Sugite keru kana

<English>

Casually,

To see just your shadow,

I passed through

Your house’s gate

Several times.

Yosano Akiko (1878-1942)

<Japanese>

小百合さく小草がなかに君まてば野末にほいて虹あらはれぬ

Sayuri saku/ Ogusa ga naka ni/ Kimi mate ba/ Nozue nioi te/ Niji araware nu

<English>

I wait for you

In the grassland

Where small lilies bloom.

On the corners of the field,

The rainbow shows up.

Yamakawa Tomiko (1879-1909)

<Japanese>

それとなく紅き花みな友にゆづりそむきて泣きて忘れ草つむ

Soreto naku/ Akaki hana mina/ Tomo ni Yuzuri/ Somuki te naki te/ Wasure gusa tsumu

<English>

Indirectly,

I gave all red flowers

To my friend.

I turned up my back on them,

Weeped and picked up forgetting grass

*”my friend” is Yosano Akiko

*forgetting grass in Japanese is Hemerocallis fulva var

Kitahara Hakushu (1885-1942)

<Japanese>

ヒヤシンス薄紫に咲きにけりはじめて心顫ひそめし日

Hiyashinsu/ Usumurasaki ni/ Saki ni keri/ Hajimete kokoro/ Furuisome shi hi

<English>

A Hyacinth,

The pale purple colored

Flower bloomed.

It was the first day

She shaked my heart.