To tell others that
It is a rumor
Will not do.
When your own heart asks
How will you respond?

Gosen Wakashū

Tags: wisdom anthology japanese-poetry waka

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Everyone calls him Blockhead
No one sings his praises
Or takes him to heart...

That is the kind of person
I want to be

Kenji Miyazawa

Tags: kindness poetry hero compassionate good-guys japanese-poetry

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Pine trees rise through cloud
soar up into the blue skies,
bush clover spangled with dewdrops
sways in the autumn breeze;
As I dip cold, pure water
at the edge of the stream,
a solitary white crane
comes lolloping my way.

Baisao

Tags: nature-s-beauty japanese-poetry

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This rootless shifting east and west
I can't suppress a smile myself
but how else can I make
the whole world my home.
If any of my old friends
come around asking
say I'm down at the river
by the Second Fushimi Bridge.

Baisao

Tags: rootlessness japanese-poetry

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