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- Genji Monogatari
Urabito no shio kumu sode ni kurabe mi yo
namiji hedatsuru yoru no koromo o
Compare it with the sleeve of the shore man drawing brine—this night robe of mine, with the whole sea-road between us.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ukime karu Ise o no ama o omoiyare
moshio taru chō Suma no ura nite
From that shore of Suma where they say the sleeves drip brine, think of the woman of Ise cutting weed and bitterness together.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Iseshima ya shiohi no kata ni asarite mo
iu kai naki wa waga mi narikeri
Gathering on the tidal flats of Ise when the sea draws back, the one who comes up with nothing worth speaking of is myself.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Isebito no nami no ue kogu obune ni mo
ukime wa karade noramashi mono o
I would have got into the little boat the Ise people row across the waves, if only there had been no bitter weed to cut.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ama ga tsumu nageki no naka ni shiotarete
itsu made Suma no ura ni nagamemu
Among the driftwood the fisherfolk heap up—grief upon grief—how long shall I sit soaked and gazing on this shore of Suma?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Aremasaru noki no shinobu o nagametsutsu
shigeku mo tsuyu no kakaru sode kana
Gazing at the fern on eaves that fall further into ruin, how thickly the dew comes down on these sleeves of mine.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Koiwabite naku ne ni magau uranami wa
omou kata yori kaze ya fukuramu
These shore waves I cannot tell from the sound of one weeping with longing—is it because the wind blows from the quarter where my heart is?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Hatsukari wa koishiki hito no tsura nare ya
tabi no sora tobu koe no kanashiki
Are these first wild geese a line of the people I long for? Their voices crossing the traveller's sky sound so sad.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kakitsurane mukashi no koto zo omooyuru
kari wa sono yo no tomo naranedomo
Ranged in their line they bring back the way things were, though the geese were never companions of ours in those days.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kokoro kara tokoyo o sutete naku kari o
kumo no yoso ni mo omoikeru kana
The geese that left the eternal land of their own accord and cry as they fly—how remote, like clouds, I once thought them.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tokoyo idete tabi no sora naru kari ga ne mo
tsura ni okurenu hodo zo nagusamu
Even geese that have left the eternal land for a traveller's sky take comfort so long as they do not fall out of the line.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Miru hodo zo shibashi nagusamu meguriawamu
tsuki no miyako wa haruka naredomo
While I look at it I am comforted a little, though the moon's city, where we are to meet again, lies far away.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ushi to nomi hitoe ni mono wa omooede
hidari migi ni mo nururu sode kana
I do not feel it simply as a bitter thing, and so both my sleeves, the one and the other, are wet.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Koto no ne ni hikitomeraruru tsunadenawa
tayutau kokoro kimi shirurame ya
Like a towing rope held back by the sound of a koto, my heart wavers—do you know anything of it?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kokoro arite hikite no tsuna no tayutawaba
uchisugimashi ya Suma no uranami
If the rope in your hands really wavered from a feeling heart, would you have gone past the waves of Suma at all?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yamagatsu no io ni takeru shibashiba mo
kototoi konamu kouru satobito
As often as the brushwood burns in these mountain huts, so often would I have the people of home I long for come and call.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu