- Top
- -
- Shika Wakashu
Ika nareba onaji nagare no mizu ni shimo sa nomi wa tsuki no utsuru naruramu
Why is it that in water of one and the same stream, the moon should be reflected so — only there?
Sumiyoshi no hosoe ni saseru miotsukushi fukaki ni makenu hito wa araji na
Like the channel markers set in the narrow inlet at Sumiyoshi, giving all oneself — surely there is no one who would not yield to love so deep.
Shika Wakashu - Sagami
Furu ame no ashi tomo otsuru namida kana komaka ni mono o omoikudakeba
My tears fall like streaks of pouring rain, for my heart is shattered with brooding over every little thing.
Shika Wakashu - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kannazuki ariake no sora no shigururu o mata ware naranu hito ya miruramu
In the tenth month the dawn sky, with the moon still lingering, falls into showers; is there someone besides me who is watching it too?
Shika Wakashu - Akazome Emon
Shinoburu mo kurushikarikeri kazu naranu mi ni wa namida no nakaramashikaba
Keeping my feelings hidden is painful too; if only this worthless self of mine had no tears to shed.
Oto senu wa kurushiki mono o mi ni chikaku naru tote itou hito mo arikeri
Hearing no word from you is painful, and yet there are people, I find, who dislike a sound simply because it rings close by.
Shika Wakashu - Izumi Shikibu
Hito no yo ni futatabi shinuru mono naraba shinobikeri ya to kokoromitemashi
If one could die twice in this world, I would try it, to learn whether you had mourned me.
Shika Wakashu - Daini no Sanmi
Yūgiri ni Sano no funahashi oto su nari tanare no koma no kaerikuru kamo
In the evening mist I hear the boat-bridge at Sano sounding; could it be my familiar horse coming home?
Sumiyoshi no nami ni hitareru matsu yori mo kami no shirushi zo arawarenikeru
More clearly than the pines that stand steeped in the waves at Sumiyoshi, the god's grace has made itself manifest.
Ikade kaku ne o oshimuramu ayamegusa uki ni wa koe mo tatetsu beki yo o
Why, sweet flag, do you hold back your voice like this, when in this sorrowful world, rooted in the mire, one might well cry out aloud?
Shika Wakashu - Suo no Naishi
Yo no naka ni furu kai mo naki takenoko wa waga tsumu toshi o tatematsuru nari
This bamboo shoot — a child who finds no worth in living on in this world — offers up to you the years it has gathered, as one gathers shoots.
Shika Wakashu - Retired Emperor Kazan
Toshi henuru take no yowai o kaeshite mo kono yo o nagaku nasamu to zo omou
Even if I must give back the years of this aged bamboo, I mean to make the life of my child long in this world.
Ashikare to omowanu yama no mine ni dani ou naru mono o hito no nageki wa
They say that even on the peaks of mountains no one wishes harm, nageki — firewood — grows; so too does human grief.
Shika Wakashu - Izumi Shikibu
Hitaburu ni yamada moru mi to narinureba ware nomi hito o odorokasu kana
Now that I have become one who does nothing but guard the mountain fields, it is only I who rouse others — no one comes to rouse me.
Shika Wakashu - Nōin
Mikasayama sasuga ni kage ni kakuroete furu kai mo naki ame no shita kana
Hidden away in the shade of Mount Mikasa, as though under a hat, I find no point in the rain that falls nor in the years that pass beneath this heaven.
Kimi hikazu narinamashikaba ayamegusa ikanaru ne o ka kyō wa kakemashi
Had you not pulled up the sweet flag for me, what root would I have hung up today — or what sound of weeping might I have made?