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- Genji Monogatari
Sasagani no furumai shiruki yūgure ni
hiruma sugose to iu ga ayanasa
On an evening when the spider's signs are this plain, being told to let the daylight pass first makes no sense at all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Au koto no yo o shi hedatenu naka naraba
hiruma mo nani ka mabayukaramashi
If we were close enough that not a single night passed between our meetings, what would there be in the daylight to be ashamed of?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tsurenaki o urami mo hatenu shinonome ni
toriaenu made odorokasuramu
Before I have finished reproaching her coldness, the dawn comes, and the bird startles me into leaving without even gathering myself.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Mi no usa o nageku ni akade akuru yo wa
torikasanete zo ne mo nakarekeru
On a night that breaks before I have grieved my fill over my own wretchedness, my voice cries out along with the bird's.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Mishi yume o au yo ari ya to nageku ma ni
me sae awade zo koro mo henikeru
While I grieve and wonder whether that dreamlike night will ever come again, the days have gone by without so much as our eyes meeting.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Hahakigi no kokoro o shirade Sonohara no
michi ni ayanaku madoinuru kana
Not knowing your heart—the broom tree that vanishes when approached—I have wandered the Sonohara road for nothing at all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kazu naranu fuseya ni ouru na no usa ni
aru ni mo arazu kiyuru hahakigi
Burdened with the name of something growing at Fuseya, a house of no account, the broom tree fades away, scarcely there at all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Utsusemi no mi o kaetekeru ki no moto ni
nao hitogara no natsukashiki kana
At the foot of the tree where the cicada shed its shell and changed its form, the person she was still draws me and remains dear.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Utsusemi no ha ni oku tsuyu no kogakurete
shinobi shinobi ni nururu sode kana
Like dew on a cicada's wing, hidden away in the shade of the tree, my sleeves are wet in secret, and in secret again.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kokoroate ni sore ka to zo miru shiratsuyu no
hikari soetaru yūgao no hana
Guessing, I take you for that one—the evening face flower, to which the white dew has added a light of its own.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yorite koso sore ka to mo mime tasokare ni
honobono mitsuru hana no yūgao
Only by coming close could one tell whether it is truly that—this evening face flower, glimpsed so faintly in the dusk.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Asagiri no harema mo matanu keshiki nite
hana ni kokoro o tomenu to zo miru
You leave without even waiting for the morning mist to lift, and so I see that the flower held no part of your heart.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Saku hana ni utsuru chō na wa tsutsumedomo
orade sugiuki kesa no asagao
I would keep hidden the name of a man whose heart moves to each new flower, and still I find it hard to pass this morning glory without picking it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ubasoku ga okonau michi o shirube nite
komu yo mo fukaki chigiri tagau na
Let the road that the lay ascetic walks in his devotions be our guide, and do not break the deep vow that binds us in the life to come.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Saki no yo no chigiri shiraruru mi no usa ni
yukusue kanete tanomigatasa yo
The sorrow of my life makes plain how thin my bond was in an earlier existence, and so I cannot yet trust in what lies ahead.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Inishie mo kaku ya wa hito no madoikemu
waga mada shiranu shinonome no michi
Did people long ago lose themselves like this? This road at daybreak is one I have never traveled before.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu