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- Ise Monogatari
Somuku tote kumo ni wa noranu mono naredo
yo no uki koto zo yoso ni naru chō
Even if one turns away from the world and becomes a nun, it is not as though one mounts the clouds and flies away. Yet they say that the painful things of this world grow distant.
Nenuru yo no yume o hakaname madoromeba
iya hakana ni mo narimasaru kana
The dream of the night when I slept with you fades away so quickly. When I return and doze again, I fall into an even more fleeting dreamlike feeling.
Yo o umi no ama to shi hito o miru kara ni
mekuwase yo to mo tanomaruru kana
Seeing you, I take you for one who has grown weary of the world and become a nun. Merely at the sight of you, I find myself hoping that you will give me a sign with your eyes.
Shiratsuyu wa kenaba kenanamu kiezu tote
tama ni nukubeki hito mo araji
The white dewdrops that seem ready to vanish—if they must disappear, let them disappear. Even if they do not fade away, there will be no one to string them as jewels.
Chihayaburu kamiyo mo kikazu Tatsutagawa
karakurenai ni mizu kukuru to wa
Even in the age of the gods such a thing was never heard: at the Tatsuta River the water itself seems tied and dyed with deep crimson.
Tsurezure no nagame ni masaru namidagawa
sode nomi hijite au yoshi mo nashi
As I dwell in lonely reflection upon you, my tears flow like a river. My sleeves are soaked, and yet there is no way to meet you.
Asami koso sode wa hizurame namidagawa
mi sae nagaru to kikaba tanomamu
Because your feeling is shallow, it must be only your sleeves that grow wet in this river of tears. If I were to hear that even your whole self was carried away by those tears, then I might rely upon your love.
Kazukazu ni omoi omowazu toigatami
mi o shiru ame wa furi zo masareru
In many ways I wonder whether you think of me or do not think of me, yet I cannot ask. And so the rain that knows my fortune or misfortune falls more and more heavily.
Kaze fukeba towa ni nami kosu iwa nare ya
waga koromode no kawaku toki naki
When the wind blows, is it like a rock that the waves endlessly wash over? My sleeves are always wet with tears and never have a time to dry.
Yoi goto ni kawazu no amata naku ta ni wa
mizu koso masare ame wa furanedo
Each evening, in the rice fields where many frogs cry out, the water increases even though no rain falls—perhaps from the frogs’ tears.
Hana yori mo hito koso ada ni narinikere
izure o saki ni koimu to ka mishi
More than the blossoms, people themselves have proven more fleeting. Who could have thought we would lose a beloved person before the flowers and then long for them?
Omoiamari idenishi tama no aru naramu
yo fukaku mieba tamamusubi seyo
Because my longing for you is so deep, perhaps my soul has left my body and gone to you. If you see it in a dream late at night, please perform the charm to bind my soul and hold it there.
Inishie wa ari mo ya shikemu ima zo shiru
mada minu hito o kouru mono to wa
Perhaps such a thing existed long ago, but only now have I come to know it: that one may fall in love with someone whom one has never even met.
Shitahimo no shirushi to suru mo tokenaku ni
kataru ga goto wa koizu zo arubeki
They say that when someone is loved, the cord of the under-robe comes loose as a sign. Yet my cord has not come undone, so you surely cannot be loving me as you claim.
Koishi to wa sara ni mo iwaji shitahimo no
tokemu o hito wa sore to shiranamu
I will no longer say that I long for you. When the cord of your under-robe comes undone, let that be how you know the feeling I hold for you.
Suma no ama no shio yaku keburi kaze o itami
omowanu kata e tanabikinikeri
On the shore of Suma, the smoke from the fisherfolk burning salt is driven by the strong wind and drifts away in a direction it never intended.