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- Izayoi Nikki
Waga kodomo kimi ni tsukaemu tame narade wataramashi ya wa seki no Fujikawa
If it were not that my children must serve their lord, would I ever have crossed this river, the Fujikawa by the barrier gate?
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Hima ōki Fuwa no sekiya wa kono hodo no shigure mo tsuki mo ikani moruramu
The barrier hut at Fuwa is all gaps; how the showers of these days must come leaking through it, and the moonlight too.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Tabibito wa mino uchiharau yūgure no ame ni yado karu Kasanui no sato
Travellers beat the rain from their straw capes, and in the falling dusk they take lodging out of the rain at the village of Kasanui.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Mamore tada chigiri musubu no kami naraba tokenu urami ni ware mayowasade
Only guard me: if you are indeed the god who binds our vows, do not let me wander in a grievance that will never come untied.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Katabuchi no fukaki kokoro wa arinagara hitome zutsumi ni sazo sekaruramu
The pool runs deep on one side, and the heart may run as deep; yet the embankment of watching eyes must surely be holding it back.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Kari no yo no yukiki to miru mo hakanashi ya mi o ukifune o ukihashi ni shite
How fleeting it is, to watch this coming and going as the traffic of a borrowed world, crossing on sorrowing boats that float and are made a bridge.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Ichinomiya na sae natsukashi futatsu naku mitsu naki nori o mamoru narubeshi
First Shrine: even the name draws me. Surely what it guards is the one Law, in which there is no second and no third.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Inoru zo yo waga omou koto Narumigata kata hiku shio mo kami no manimani
This is my prayer: that what I long for may come to be, here at Narumi Bay, where even the ebbing tide runs as the god wills.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Narumigata waka no urakaze hedatezuba onaji kokoro ni kami mo ukuramu
If no distance is kept between Narumi Bay and the wind off the Bay of Poetry, then this god too will receive my poem with the same heart.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Mitsushio no sashite zo kitsuru Narumigata kami ya aware to mirume tazunete
Like the tide setting in, I have made my way here to Narumi Bay, seeking the sea-grass, and the eyes with which a god might look on me in pity.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Amekaze mo kami no kokoro ni makasuramu waga yukusaki no sawari arasuna
Rain and wind alike must go as the god wills; then let nothing stand in the way of the road ahead of me.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Hamachidori nakite zo sasou yo no naka ni ato tomemu to wa omowazarishi o
The shore plovers cry and go on ahead as though calling me after them; and yet I never thought to leave any trace of myself in this world.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Koto towamu hashi to ashi to wa akazarishi waga sumu kata no miyakodori ka to
Let me put the question to you: red of bill and red of foot, and I have not had my fill of the place—are you the capital-bird of the city where I lived?
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Harubaru to Futamurayama o yukisugite nao sue tadoru nobe no yūyami
I have come far, over Futamura Hill, and still I am feeling my way toward some end, through the dusk over the open fields.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Sasagani no kumode ayauki Yatsuhashi o yūgure kakete watarinuru kana
Frail as a spider's legs where the water branches, the eight bridges of Yatsuhashi—and I have crossed them, out into the falling dusk.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni
Shigurekeri somuru chishio no hate wa mata momiji no nishiki iro kaeru made
So the winter showers have come, dipping the hillside again and again in dye, until even the brocade of red leaves has changed its colour.
Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni