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- Genji Monogatari
Oshinabete tataku kuina ni odorokaba
uwa no sora naru tsuki mo koso ire
If every knocking water rail startles you awake, you may let in a moon that is only passing by.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Sumiyoshi no matsu koso mono wa kanashikere
kamiyo no koto o kakete omoeba
The pines at Sumiyoshi are what move me first of all, when I think back on the age of the gods—and on those years of ours.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Arakarishi nami no mayoi ni Sumiyoshi no
kami o ba kakete wasure ya wa suru
After being driven astray by those rough waves, could I ever put the Sumiyoshi god out of mind and forget him?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Miotsukushi kouru shirushi ni koko made mo
meguriaikeru e ni wa fukashi na
As a sign that I have spent myself in longing, we have come round and met even here; the bond between us runs deep as this channel.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kazu narade Naniwa no koto mo kai naki ni
nado miotsukushi omoisomekemu
Being of no account, nothing here at Naniwa comes to anything; why then did I spend myself and begin to love?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tsuyukesa no mukashi ni nitaru tabigoromo
Tamino no shima no na ni wa kakurezu
This travelling robe, as wet with tears as in those old days—the name of Tamino island is no rain-cape that can hide it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Furimidare hima naki sora ni naki hito no
ama kakeruramu yado zo kanashiki
In a sky where snow and sleet fall without a break, the one who has gone must be flying above; and her house is a sad thing to think of.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kiegate ni furu zo kanashiki kakikurashi
waga mi sore to mo omooenu yo ni
Unable to melt away, I go on falling, and that is my sorrow—all darkened over, in a world where I cannot feel myself to be myself.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tayumajiki suji o tanomishi tamakazura
omoi no hoka ni kakehanarenuru
The jewelled vine whose strands I trusted would never slacken has, past all expectation, come away and hangs apart from me.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tamakazura taete mo yamaji yuku michi no
tamuke no kami mo kakete chikawamu
Though the jewelled vine be cut, my feeling will not end; by the wayside gods of the road I travel, I swear it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Naki hito o kouru tamoto no hima naki ni
aretaru noki no shizuku sae sou
My sleeve never dries, longing as it does for the one who is gone; and now the drops from these ruined eaves are added to it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tazunete mo ware koso towame michi mo naku
fukaki yomogi no moto no kokoro o
I shall seek it out; I of all men will go in and ask after it—the unchanged heart at the root of mugwort grown too deep for any path.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Fujinami no uchisugigataku mietsuru wa
matsu koso yado no shirushi narikere
That the wisteria waves seemed too much to pass by—it was the pine, and the waiting, that marked this house out for me.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Toshi o hete matsu shirushi naki waga yado o
hana no tayori ni suginu bakari ka
All these years I waited and nothing came of it; do you pass by my house only because the flowers gave you the occasion?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yuku to ku to sekitomegataki namida o ya
taenu shimizu to hito wa miruramu
Going down and coming back, these tears that cannot be dammed—do people take them for the spring at the barrier that never runs dry?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Wakuraba ni yukiau michi o tanomishi mo
nao kai nashi ya shio naranu umi
Meeting you by chance on the Omi road, I put my hopes in it, and still nothing came of it—a sea that holds neither salt nor shells.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu