Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
Japanese poetry
Ogura Hyakunin Isshu
Traditionally credited to Fujiwara no Teika, this collection selects one waka by each of one hundred poets, from the early imperial court to the beginning of the Kamakura period. A request for poem cards recorded in Teika’s diary in 1235 is associated with its origins. Later prints, commentaries and the game of uta-karuta brought the poems to new audiences.
These are waka in the five-phrase tanka form, conventionally arranged as 5–7–5–7–7 Japanese sound units (morae). They are not haiku. The five lines here show those phrases; an English translation need not reproduce their sound count. Seasons follow the classical calendar rather than exact modern Gregorian dates.
- 秋の田の — Emperor Tenji
- 春過ぎて — Empress Jitō
- 足引きの — Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- 田子の浦に — Yamabe no Akahito
- 奥山に — Sarumaru Dayū
- かさゝぎの — Ōtomo no Yakamochi
- 天の原 — Abe no Nakamaro
- わが庵は — Kisen Hōshi
- 花の色は — Ono no Komachi
- これや此の — Semimaru
- わたの原 — Ono no Takamura
- 天つ風 — Henjō
- 筑波嶺の — Retired Emperor Yōzei
- 陸奥の — Minamoto no Tōru
- 君がため — Emperor Kōkō
- 立別れ — Ariwara no Yukihira
- ちはやぶる — Ariwara no Narihira
- 住の江の — Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
- 難波潟 — Ise
- 侘びぬれば — Prince Motoyoshi
- 今来むと — Sosei Hōshi
- 吹くからに — Fun’ya no Yasuhide
- 月見れば — Ōe no Chisato
- 此の度は — Sugawara no Michizane
- 名にしおはば — Fujiwara no Sadakata
- 小倉山 — Fujiwara no Tadahira
- みかの原 — Fujiwara no Kanesuke
- 山里は — Minamoto no Muneyuki
- 心あてに — Ōshikōchi no Mitsune
- 有明の — Mibu no Tadamine
- 朝ぼらけ — Sakanoue no Korenori
- 山がはに — Harumichi no Tsuraki
- 久方の — Ki no Tomonori
- 誰をかも — Fujiwara no Okikaze
- 人はいさ — Ki no Tsurayuki
- 夏の夜は — Kiyohara no Fukayabu
- 白露に — Fun’ya no Asayasu
- 忘らるる — Ukon
- 浅茅生の — Minamoto no Hitoshi
- 忍ぶれど — Taira no Kanemori
- 戀すてふ — Mibu no Tadami
- 契りきな — Kiyohara no Motosuke
- 逢ひみての — Fujiwara no Atsutada
- 逢ふことの — Fujiwara no Asatada
- 哀れとも — Fujiwara no Koremasa
- 由良の戸を — Sone no Yoshitada
- 八重葎 — Egyō Hōshi
- 風をいたみ — Minamoto no Shigeyuki
- 御垣守 — Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu
- 君がため — Fujiwara no Yoshitaka
- かくとだに — Fujiwara no Sanekata
- 明けぬれば — Fujiwara no Michinobu
- 嘆きつつ — The mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
- 忘れじの — Takashina no Kishi
- 瀧の音は — Fujiwara no Kintō
- あらざらむ — Izumi Shikibu
- 廻り逢ひて — Murasaki Shikibu
- 有馬山 — Daini no Sanmi
- やすらはで — Akazome Emon
- 大江山 — Koshikibu no Naishi
- 古への — Ise no Taifu
- 夜をこめて — Sei Shōnagon
- 今はただ — Fujiwara no Michimasa
- 朝ぼらけ — Fujiwara no Sadayori
- 恨み侘び — Sagami
- 諸共に — Gyōson
- 春の夜の — Suō no Naishi
- 心にも — Retired Emperor Sanjō
- 嵐ふく — Nōin Hōshi
- 寂しさに — Ryōzen Hōshi
- 夕されば — Minamoto no Tsunenobu
- 音に聞く — Princess Yūshi’s Kii
- 高砂の — Ōe no Masafusa
- うかりける — Minamoto no Toshiyori
- 契りおきし — Fujiwara no Mototoshi
- わたの原 — Fujiwara no Tadamichi
- 瀬を早み — Retired Emperor Sutoku
- 淡路島 — Minamoto no Kanemasa
- 秋風に — Fujiwara no Akisuke
- ながからむ — Taikenmon’in no Horikawa
- ほととぎす — Fujiwara no Sanesada
- 思ひわび — Dōin Hōshi
- 世の中よ — Fujiwara no Shunzei
- ながらへば — Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
- 夜もすがら — Shun’e Hōshi
- 嘆けとて — Saigyō Hōshi
- 村雨の — Jakuren Hōshi
- 難波江の — Kōkamon’in no Bettō
- 玉の緒よ — Princess Shikishi
- 見せばやな — Inpumon’in no Taifu
- きりぎりす — Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
- わが袖は — Nijōin no Sanuki
- 世の中は — Minamoto no Sanetomo
- みよし野の — Asukai Masatsune
- おほけなく — Jien
- 花さそふ — Fujiwara no Kintsune
- 来ぬ人を — Fujiwara no Teika
- 風そよぐ — Fujiwara no Ietaka
- 人もをし — Retired Emperor Go-Toba
- 百敷や — Retired Emperor Juntoku
Japanese text and historical kana follow the linked Wikisource transcription. Classical poems can have variant spellings and wording in different anthologies. The source anthology reference identifies the version represented in this collection, not necessarily its earliest surviving text. English prose translations and reading notes are original interpretations; some wordplay permits more than one reading.