classic waka stream

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  • Genji Monogatari

Ware nomi ya ukiyo o shireru tameshi nite
nuresou sode no na o kutasubeki

Must I alone stand as the example of one who has known this hard world, and let the name of these sleeves, wet all over again, rot away?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Ōkata wa ware nureginu o kisezu tomo
kuchinishi sode no na ya wa kakururu

Even if I lay no false blame upon you, can the name of sleeves already worn through be hidden now?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Ogiwara ya nokiba no tsuyu ni sobochitsutsu
yae tatsu kiri o wake zo yukubeki

Soaked through by the dew at the eaves of this reed field, I must part my way out through mists that stand eightfold deep.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Wakeyukamu kusaba no tsuyu o kagoto nite
nao nureginu o kakemu to ya omou

Making a pretext of the dew on the grass you must part to go, do you mean even so to lay false blame upon me?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Tamashii o tsurenaki sode ni tomeokite
waga kokoro kara madowaruru kana

Having left my soul behind at your unfeeling sleeve, I am lost—and it is my own heart that has led me astray.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Seku kara ni asasa zo miemu yamagawa no
nagarete no na o tsutsumihatezu wa

It is the damming that will show how shallow it is, like a mountain stream—if the name that flows on cannot be kept covered.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Ominaeshi shioruru nobe o izuko tote
hitoyo bakari no yado o karikemu

For what sort of place did you take this meadow where the maidenflower droops, that you borrowed it as lodging for a single night?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Aki no no no kusa no shigemi wa wakeshikado
karine no makura musubi ya wa seshi

I did part my way through the thick grasses of the autumn field; but did I ever knot the grass into a pillow for the night?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Aware o mo ika ni shirite ka nagusamemu
aru ya koishiki naki ya kanashiki

Knowing it for what, am I to comfort you? Is it the living one you long for, or the one who is gone that grieves you?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Izure to ka wakite nagamemu kiekaeru
tsuyu mo kusaba no ue to minu yo o

Which of them should I single out and dwell on, in a world where the dew that vanishes and forms again does not lie on grass blades alone?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Sato tōmi Ono no shinohara wakete kite
ware mo shika koso koe mo oshimane

The village being far, I have come parting my way through the bamboo grass of Ono; and I too, like the deer, do not spare my voice.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Fujigoromo tsuyukeki aki no yamabito wa
shika no naku ne ni ne o zo soetsuru

The mountain dwellers, their mourning robes heavy with autumn dew, have added their own voices to the crying of the deer.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Mishi hito no kage sumihatenu ikemizu ni
hitori yado moru aki no yo no tsuki

In the pond water where the face I used to see no longer stands clear, the moon of this autumn night keeps the house alone.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Itsu to ka wa odorokasubeki akenu yo no
yume samete to ka iishi hitokoto

When am I to come and wake you? You spoke one word: when the dream of a night that never ends has broken.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Asayū ni naku ne o tatsuru Onoyama wa
taenu namida ya Otonashi no taki

On Ono mountain, where morning and evening I weep aloud, do these tears that never end become the soundless waterfall?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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Noborinishi mine no keburi ni tachimajiri
omowanu kata ni nabikazu mogana

Let me rise and mingle with the smoke that went up from that ridge, and never be made to lean toward a quarter I did not choose.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

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