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- Kagero Nikki
Hototogisu mata tou beku mo katarawade kaeru yamaji no kogurakarikemu
The cuckoo went off without a word of coming again; and the road home through the hills must have been dark under all those trees.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Tou koe wa itsu to nakeredo hototogisu akete kuyashiki mono o koso omoe
There is no fixed hour at which a voice comes asking; but the cuckoo, when day breaks and nothing opens, finds only cause for regret.
Ikani semu ike no mizunami sawagite wa kokoro no uchi no matsu ni kakaraba
What is to be done, if the water of the pond rises and breaks and catches at the pine within the heart — at the waiting there?
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Sasagani no izuko to mo naku fuku kaze wa kakute amata ni nari zo surashi mo
The spider's thread, in a wind that blows from nowhere one can name, seems to have been drawn out this way into strand after strand.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Ima sara ni ikanaru koma ka natsuku beki susamenu kusa to nogare senu mi o
What horse, at this late day, would ever come to me? I am the grass no horse will touch, and a self that cannot get away from it.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Shirotae no koromo wa kami ni yuzuritemu hedatenu naka ni kaeshi nasu beku
This white robe I shall make over to the goddess, that she may turn it — and turn us back to a bond with nothing between.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Karagoromo nareni shi tsuma o uchikaeshi waga shitagai ni nasu yoshi mo gana
This Chinese robe, whose hem I have worn soft with the years: if only I could turn it, and make of that hem the under panel of my own.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Natsugoromo tatsu ya to zo miru chihayaburu kami o hitoe ni tanomu mi nareba
A summer robe, and I see it being cut; for I am one who trusts the mighty gods with a single heart, as this robe is single-layered.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Taezu yuku waga nakagawa no mizu masari ochi naru hito zo koishikarikeru
My Nakagawa, my mid-river that flows on without a break, runs high with rain; and the one who is far off is dear to me.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Awanu se o koishi to omowaba omou dochi hemu nakagawa ni ware o sumase yo
If the shallows where we do not meet are dear to you, then let me live beside that Nakagawa where those who love pass and repass.
Nagekitsutsu akashi kuraseba hototogisu kono u no hana no kage ni nakitsutsu
Sighing, I pass the nights and days; and the cuckoo goes on crying in the shadow of these white deutzia flowers.
Kage ni shimo nadoka nakuramu u no hana no eda ni shinobu no kokoro to zo kiku
Why should it cry there of all places, in the shade? I have always heard that the deutzia's branch has a heart that hides things well.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Toshitsuki no meguri kuruma no wa ni narite omoeba kakaru ori mo arikeri
The years and months come round, and have become the wheel of a carriage; and looking back, I find there have been such moments as this.
Shimogare no kusa no yukari zo aware naru koma gaerite mo natsuketeshi gana
The kinship of grass withered by frost is what moves me; and when it greens again, as they say the horse returns, I would tame that horse.
Sasa wakeba are koso masame kusagare no koma natsuku beki mori no shita ka wa
If one pushes through the bamboo grass, the wildness will only increase. Is this a grove beneath which a horse could ever be tamed?
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kazuraki ya kamiyo no shirushi fukakaraba tada hitokoto ni uchi mo tokenamu
Katsuragi: if the sign that has come down from the age of the gods runs deep, let a single word be enough to open you to me.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna