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- Genji Monogatari
Hana no ka ni sasowarenubeki mi nariseba
kaze no tayori o sugusamashi ya wa
Were I a man to be drawn on by the scent of a flower, would I have let the word the wind brought me pass me by?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Moto tsu ka no nioeru kimi ga sode fureba
hana mo e naranu na o ya chirasamu
If the sleeve of one whose fragrance is his from birth should brush the flower, the flower too will scatter a name beyond all telling.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Hana no ka o niowasu yado ni tomeyukaba
iro ni mezu to ya hito no togamen
If I made my way to the house that sends its flower's fragrance abroad, would the world not fault me for loving color too well?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Orite miba itodo nioi mo masaru ya to
sukoshi iromeke ume no hatsuhana
If one broke it off, would the fragrance be greater for the nearer view? Then take on a little color, first blossom of the plum.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yoso nite wa mogiki nari to ya sadamuran
shita ni nioeru ume no hatsuhana
From outside you have no doubt settled that I am a bare, stripped tree, though the first plum blossom keeps its scent beneath.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Hito wa mina hana ni kokoro o utsusuramu
hitori zo madou haru no yo no yami
They have all turned their hearts toward the flower, while I alone stray, lost in the darkness of a spring night.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Orikara ya aware mo shiramu ume no hana
tada ka bakari ni utsuri shi mo seji
It is the season that makes you feel it so; the plum's scent and nothing more would never have drawn you like this.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Takekawa no hashi uchiideshi hitofushi ni
fukaki kokoro no soko wa shiriki ya
In that one measure of Takekawa I let out, there at the bridge, did you come to know how deep the bottom of my heart lies?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Takekawa ni yo o fukasaji to isogishi mo
ikanaru fushi o omoiokamashi
At Takekawa you hurried away lest the night grow deep; what manner of feeling did you leave behind you then?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Sakura yue kaze ni kokoro no sawagu kana
omoiguma naki hana to miru miru
It is for the cherry's sake that my heart stirs whenever the wind blows, and this though I see it is a flower that takes no thought for me.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Saku to mite katsu wa chirinuru hana nareba
makuru o fukaki urami to mo sezu
Since it is a flower that scatters on the very day we see it open, losing it is not a thing to hold as a deep grievance.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kaze ni chiru koto wa yo no tsune eda nagara
utsurou hana o tada ni shi mo miji
That they scatter in the wind is the way of the world, but a flower that fades while still on the branch I could not watch unmoved.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kokoro arite ike no migiwa ni otsuru hana
awa to narite mo waga kata ni yore
Flower that falls with a mind of its own to the edge of the pond, become the foam on the water if you must, but come over to our side.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ōzora no kaze ni chiredomo sakurabana
ono ga mono to zo kakitsumete miru
Though they have scattered on the wind of the wide sky, we gather up the cherry blossoms and look at them, calling them ours after all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Sakurabana nioi amata ni chirasaji to
ōu bakari no sode wa ari ya wa
To keep the cherry from scattering its colors far and wide, is there any sleeve in the world wide enough to cover them?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tsurenakute suguru tsukihi o kazoetsutsu
mono urameshiki kure no haru kana
Counting over the months and days that pass, cold and heedless still, how full of resentment this evening at the end of spring.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu