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- Kagero Nikki
Kazuraki no kumode wa izuko yatsuhashi no fumi mitekeri to tanomu kai naku
Where are they, the spider-legged bridges of Katsuragi? At Yatsuhashi I trod — I sent, and it was seen — and to no purpose at all.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kayou beki michi ni mo aranu yatsuhashi no fumi miteki tote nani tanomuramu
Yatsuhashi is no road that anyone travels; and though you say you trod it and that it was seen, what is it you count upon?
Nani ka sono kayowamu michi no katakaramu fumi hajimetaru ato o tanomeba
Why should that road be hard to travel? I have set out on it, I have begun to write; and it is those first tracks I count upon.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Tazunuramu kai ya nakaramu ōzora no kumoji wa kayou ato haka mo araji
Whatever you seek will be sought in vain; for on the cloud-paths of the open sky there is no trace, no mark of anyone's passing.
Ōzora mo kumo no kakehashi nakuba koso kayou hakanaki nageki o mo seme
If the open sky had no bridge of cloud across it — then, and only then, might one grieve the frail grief of one who cannot cross.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Fumi miredo kumo no kakehashi ayaushi to omoi shirazu mo tanomu naru kana
You tread it, you read it, and still, not knowing how perilous a bridge of cloud can be, you go on counting upon it.
Nao oramu kokoro tanomoshi ashitazu no kumoji orikuru tsubasa ya wa naki
Still I would cross, and that heart of mine is a stout one. Has the reed-crane no wings with which to come down along the cloud-paths?
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Katashikishi toshi wa furedomo sagoromo no namida ni shimuru toki wa nakariki
Year after year I have lain on one spread sleeve alone; but never once has there been a time when tears soaked through the robe.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Waga naka wa soba no nuru ka to omou made miki to bakari mo keshikibamu kana
Between us it has come to this — enough, I think, to wet the beech tree: that even in the two words "I saw it" a coldness shows.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Amagumo no yama no harukeki matsu nareba soba nuru iro wa tokiwa narikeri
Being a far pine on a mountain wrapped in the clouds of heaven, the color that wets beside it is evergreen, and does not change.
Ito semete omou kokoro o toshi no uchi ni haru kuru koto mo shirasete shi gana
This heart of mine, that presses so — I would have you know it may yet clear, as spring itself comes on within the old year.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kai nakute toshi kurehatsuru mono naraba haru ni mo awanu mi to mo koso nare
If the year is to end, and end for nothing, I shall become one who does not even meet the spring — nor meet with you at all.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Ware naranu hito matsu naraba matsu to iwade itaku na koshi so oki tsu shiranami
If you are a pine that waits for someone not me, then do not say you wait; and do not break so hard across, white waves off the shore.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Koshi mo sezu kosazu mo arazu namiyose no hama wa kaketsutsu toshi o koso fure
Not crossing, and not not crossing either: the shore where the waves come in has gone on being broken over, year after year.
Samo koso wa nami no kokoro wa tsurakarame toshi sae koyuru matsu mo arikeri
No doubt the heart of the wave is hard indeed; and yet there has been a pine that waited on, even across the year's end.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Chitose furu matsu mo koso are hodo mo naku koete wa kaeru hodo ya tōkarazu
There are pines that live a thousand years; and a crossing that goes over and comes back in no time — is that distance so great?