classic waka stream

  • Top
  • -
  • Genji Monogatari

Yo o umi ni kokora shiojimu mi to narite
nao kono kishi o e koso hanarene

Weary of the world, I have become one soaked in brine these many years on this shore, and still I cannot get free of this bank.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Miyako ideshi haru no nageki ni otorame ya
toshi furu ura o wakarenuru aki

Could it fall short of the grief of that spring when I left the capital—this autumn, parting from a shore grown old with years?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Watatsuumi ni shizumi urabure hiru no ko no
ashi tatazarishi toshi wa henikeri

Sunk in the great sea and brought low, like the leech-child who could not stand on his legs, I have let the years pass.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Miyabashira meguriaikeru toki shi areba
wakareshi haru no urami nokosu na

Since there are times of meeting again, as the gods met circling the shrine pillar, do not hold on to the grudge of the spring we parted.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Nagekitsutsu Akashi no ura ni asagiri no
tatsu ya to hito o omoiyaru kana

Does the morning mist rise over Akashi bay, where you pass your nights in grief? So my thoughts go out to you.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Suma no ura ni kokoro o yoseshi funabito no
yagate kutaseru sode o misebaya

I would show you the sleeve of the boat-woman who gave her heart at the shore of Suma, and has let it rot away with tears since.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Kaerite wa kagoto ya semashi yosetarishi
nagori ni sode no higatakarishi o

Turning back, shall I be the one to complain? After you came near and went, my own sleeve was slow enough to dry.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Kanete yori hedatenu naka to narawanedo
wakare wa oshiki mono ni zo arikeru

We never grew used to being close, with nothing held back between us; and still the parting is hard to bear.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Uchitsuke no wakare o oshimu kagoto nite
omowamu kata ni shitai ya wa senu

Grief at parting from someone so newly met is your pretext—is it not the one you long for that you would follow?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Itsushika mo sode uchikakemu otomego ga
yo o hete nazuru iwa no oisaki

How soon may I lay my sleeve over her—the rock the heavenly maiden strokes as the ages pass—and all the years before her.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Hitori shite nazuru wa sode no hodo naki ni
ōru bakari no kage o shi zo matsu

Raising her by myself, my sleeve is too narrow to cover her; I wait for a shade broad enough to cover her wholly.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Omoudochi nabiku kata ni wa arazu tomo
ware zo keburi ni sakidachinamashi

Though I am not in the quarter the two who love each other drift toward, I shall go first, and be smoke.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Tare ni yori yo o umi yama ni yukimeguri
taenu namida ni ukishizumu mi zo

For whose sake did I wander this wretched world by sea and hill, a body rising and sinking in tears that never end?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Miru ya toki zo to mo naki kage ni ite
nani no ayame mo ika ni wakuramu

Living like seaweed in a shade that knows no season, how is she to tell this day from any other, on this day of irises?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Kazu naranu mishimagakure ni naku tazu o
kyō mo ika ni to tou hito zo naki

The crane crying from behind an island of no account—even today there is no one to ask how she fares.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Kuina dani odorokasazu wa ika ni shite
aretaru yado ni tsuki o iremashi

If the water rail had not knocked and startled me, how could I have let the moon into so ruined a house?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail