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One of the great classics of poetry books. I always enjoy reading this book.

Japanese poetry is short. That requires even more perfection perhaps. No notes are required to explain something from Japanese culture. The themes are universal.

Here are some examples:

When I went out
In the spring meadows
To gather violets,
I enjoyed myself
So much that I stayed all night.
--Akahito (734 to 748 CE)

I think of the days
Before I met her
When I seemed to have
No troubles at all.
--Fujiwara No Atsutada (Died around 961. "The Fujiwara family, or rather clan, still extant and powerful today, is one of the most extraordinary which has ever existed. For centuries they have provided Japan with administrators, regents, Shoguns, poets, generals, painters, philosophers, and abbots.")

As I watch the moon
Shining on pain's myriad paths,
I know I am not
Alone involved in Autumn.
--Oe No Chisato (c. 825. This is one of the "most famous poems in Japanese literature.")

In the empty mountains
The leaves of the bamboo grass
Rustle in the wind.
I think of a girl
Who is not here.
--Hitomaro (c. 700. "He is generally considered the leading Japanese poet.")

Will he always love me?
I cannot read his heart.
This morning my thoughts
Are as disordered
As my black hair.
--Lady Horikawa (c. 1150.)

Do not smile to yourself
Like a green mountain
With a cloud drifting across it.
People will know we are in love.
--Sakanoe (c. 700.)