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- Sarashina Nikki
Uzumorenu kabaneonanini tazunekemu kokenoshitaniwa mikosonarikere
Why did she go searching for a corpse that was never buried? She herself has become the thing that lies beneath the moss.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Furusatoni kakukosohitowa kaerikere awareikanaru wakarenarikemu
So this is how people go back to the house they came from. Ah—what kind of parting was that other one, I wonder.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Kakinagasu atowatsurarani tojitekeri naniowasurenu katamitokamimu
The traces of your brush have been sealed shut by ice, you say. Then what am I to look on as the keepsake that will not let me forget?
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Nagusamuru katamonagisano hamachidori nanikaukiyoni atomotodomemu
There is no way left to be comforted, no shore for the plover on the tideland; why should I leave any trace of myself in this bitter world?
Noborikemu nobewakemurimo nakarikemu izukoohakato tazunetekamishi
On the moor where the smoke must have risen, surely no smoke was left by then; how did she find the place and know it for a grave?
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Sokohakato shiriteyukanedo sakinitatsu namidazomichino shirubenarikeru
She did not go knowing for certain that this was the place, but the tears that rose ahead of her were the guide along the road.
Suminarenu nobenosasahara atohakamo nakunakuikani tazunewabikemu
On the bamboo grass of a moor where no one lives there is no trace at all; weeping, how she must have searched and searched in vain.
Mishimamani moeshikemuriwa tsukinishio ikagatazuneshi nobenosasahara
Even as I watched, the smoke of the burning was spent; how then did she find it—that bamboo grass on the moor?
Yukifurite marenohitomemo taenuramu yoshinonoyamano minenokakemichi
With the snow come down, even the rare visitor must have ceased to pass along the cliff path over the peaks of Mount Yoshino.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Akurumatsu kanenokoenimo yumesamete akinomomoyono kokochiseshikana
Waiting for the day to break, I was woken even by the sound of the bell, and it felt as though a hundred long autumn nights had passed.
Akatsukio naninimachikemu omoukoto narutomokikanu kanenootoyue
Why did we wait for the dawn at all—because of a bell that rings but never tells us whether what we hoped for has come to pass?
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Tatakutomo tarekakuinano kurenuruni yamajiofukaku tazunetehakomu
Something is knocking—but night has already come, and who would make his way this deep into the mountain paths to look for me? It is only the rail.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Okuyamano ishimanomizuo musubiagete akanumonotowa imanomiyashiru
Cupping up the water that runs between the stones deep in the mountains—is it only now that you learn one can never have enough of it?
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Yamanoino shizukuninigoru mizuyorimo kowanaoakanu kokochikososure
More than that mountain spring clouded by the drops from cupped hands, this water here leaves me feeling I have had nothing like enough.
Yamanohani iribinokagewa irihatete kokorobosokuzo nagameyarareshi
The light of the setting sun went wholly down behind the ridge, and with a forlorn heart I found myself gazing off toward where you are.
Tarenimise tarenikikasemu yamazatono konoakatsukimo ochikaerunemo
Whom can I show it to, whom can I let hear it—this daybreak in the mountain village, and this call that comes round again and again?
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume