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- Genji Monogatari
Koishisa no nagusamegataki katami nite
namida ni kumoru tama no hako kana
As a keepsake that cannot ease the longing at all, it stands before me clouded with tears—this jeweled box of hers.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Uramiwabi mune akigataki fuyu no yo ni
mata tozashi masaru seki no iwato
On a winter night when, resent it as I may, my breast will not clear, the stone gate of the barrier is barred tighter still.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Naruru mi o uramuru yori wa Matsushima no
ama no koromo ni tachi ya kaemashi
Rather than resent this body worn soft with use, shall I not cut it over into a fisher's habit at Matsushima?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Matsushima no ama no nureginu narenu tote
nugikaetsu chō na o tatame ya wa
Because a fisher's wet robe at Matsushima has been worn soft, would you have it said that you changed it for another?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Chigiri are ya kimi o kokoro ni tomeokite
aware to omou urameshi to kiku
Is there some bond from another life? I keep you in mind, and I think of you with pity while I hear of you with resentment.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Nani yue ka yo ni kazu naranu mi hitotsu o
ushi to mo omoi kanashi to mo kiku
For what cause is it that this single self of mine, which counts for nothing, should be thought of with bitterness and heard of with tenderness?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kazu naraba mi ni shiraremashi yo no usa o
hito no tame ni mo nurasu sode kana
Were I someone who counts, I should have known the world's hardness in my own person; and still it is for another that my sleeves are wet.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Hito no yo no uki o aware to mishikadomo
mi ni kaemu to wa omowazarishi o
I have looked with pity on the hardness of other people's lives, and never thought it would come round to me as well.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Oshikaranu kono mi nagara mo kagiri tote
takigi tsukinamu koto no kanashisa
This body of mine is no great loss, and even so, to think that it ends—that the firewood should burn through at last is a sad thing.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Takigi koru omoi wa kyō o hajime nite
kono yo ni negau nori zo harukeki
The thought of hewing firewood begins only today, and the Law we pray for in this world runs far off into the distance.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Taenubeki minori nagara zo tanomaruru
yoyo ni to musubu naka no chigiri o
Though this is the last such rite for me, still I find something to trust in it—this bond we tie between us for lives upon lives.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Musubioku chigiri wa taeji ōkata no
nokori sukunaki minori nari tomo
The bond we have tied will not be cut—even if the rites left to me to hold are few enough in number.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Oku to miru hodo zo hakanaki tomo sureba
kaze ni midaruru hagi no uwatsuyu
The while it is seen to settle there at all is brief; at a breath the wind scatters it—this dew on the bush clover.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yaya mo seba kie o arasou tsuyu no yo ni
okure sakidatsu hodo hezu mogana
In this dewdrop world, where at a breath they vie with one another to be gone, let no time pass between the one who stays and the one who goes.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Akikaze ni shibashi tomaranu tsuyu no yo o
tare ka kusaba no ue to nomi mimu
In a world of dew that will not stay a moment in the autumn wind, who could take it for a thing of the grass blades alone?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Inishie no aki no yūbe no koishiki ni
ima wa to mieshi akegure no yume
It is the autumn evening of long ago that I long for; and what showed itself as the end was a dream in the dark before dawn.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu