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- Genji Monogatari
Ide ya nazo kazu naranu mi ni kanawanu wa
hito ni makeji no kokoro narikeri
Why should it be that in one who counts for nothing, the one thing that will not obey is this heart unwilling to lose to anyone.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Warinashi ya tsuyoki ni yoramu kachimake o
kokoro hitotsu ni ikaga makasuru
It is past reason. A win or a loss turns on who is stronger; how would you make it over to your own heart's wish alone?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Aware tote te o yuruse kashi ikishini o
kimi ni makasuru waga mi to naraba
Take pity and loosen your hand a while, if I have become a man who leaves his life and death in your keeping.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Hana o mite haru wa kurashitsu kyō yori ya
shigeki nageki no shita ni madowamu
Looking at blossoms I have lived the spring away; from today must I wander lost beneath a thicket of grief?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kyō zo shiru sora o nagamuru keshiki nite
hana ni kokoro o utsushikeri to mo
Today I have learned that, with the look of a man gazing at the sky, you had all the while moved your heart across to the flower.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Aware chō tsune naranu yo no hitokoto mo
ikanaru hito ni kakuru mono zo wa
This word men speak—pity, in a world where nothing lasts—upon what sort of person is it a thing to bestow?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ikeru yo no shini wa kokoro ni makaseneba
kikade ya yamamu kimi ga hitokoto
In this living world dying is not ours to choose; must I end, then, without ever hearing that one word from you?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Te ni kakuru mono ni shi araba fuji no hana
matsu yori masaru iro o mimashi ya
If it were a thing one could take in the hand, would I ever have seen the wisteria's color, that outdoes the pine?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Murasaki no iro wa kayoedo fuji no hana
kokoro ni e koso kakarazarikere
Though the same purple runs in her blood and mine, the wisteria would not fall trailing as my heart would have had it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Takekawa no sono yo no koto wa omoiizu ya
shinobu bakari no fushi wa nakeredo
Do you remember that night when Takekawa was sung, though there was nothing in it worth keeping in mind?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Nagarete no tanome munashiki Takekawa ni
yo wa uki mono to omoi shiriniki
Time has flowed away and the hope you gave me came to nothing; there by Takekawa I learned how hard the world is.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Uchisutete tsugai sarinishi mizutori no
kari no kono yo ni tachiokurekemu
Left behind as the waterbird's mate went away, why have I lingered on in this world that is only lent to us?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ikade kaku sudachikeru zo to omou ni mo
uki mizutori no chigiri o zo shiru
Wondering how we ever came to grow up at all, I recognize the bitter bond that is the waterbird's.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Naku naku mo hane uchikisuru kimi naku wa
ware zo sumori ni nari wa hatemashi
Had you not wept and spread your wings over us, I should have stayed in the nest, an egg that never hatched.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Mishi hito mo yado mo keburi ni narinishi o
nani tote waga mi kienokorikemu
Both the one I knew and the house have turned to smoke; for what cause has this body of mine been left unconsumed?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yo o itou kokoro wa yama ni kayoedomo
yae tatsu kumo o kimi ya hedatsuru
My wish to be quit of the world goes out to your hills; is it you, then, who set eightfold clouds between us?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu