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- Sarashina Nikki
Todomeokite wagagotomonoya omoikemu mirunikanashiki koshinobinomori
Did whoever named it leave a child behind and grieve as I grieve? Sorrowful even to look upon—the Grove of Longing for a Child.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue
Koshinobio kikunitsuketemo todomeokishi chichibunoyamano tsurakiazumaji
Whenever I hear that name, Longing for a Child, I resent the eastern road that took you past the hills of Chichibu and left me here.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Namidasae furihaetsutsuzo omoiyaru arashifukuramu fuyunoyamazato
Even my tears fall as I go out of my way to think of you—your mountain village in winter, where the storms must be loud now.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Waketetou kokoronohodono miyurukana kokageoguraki natsunoshigerio
I can see how deep your feeling is, that you should part the way to reach me—as you did once through the summer growth, under the dark of the trees.
Kakaruyomo arikerumonoo kagiritote kiminiwakareshi akiwaikanizo
Such a day as this could come after all—then what was that autumn, when I parted from you as though it were the end?
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Omoukoto kanawazunazoto itoikoshi inochinohodomo imazoureshiki
I loathed this life of mine, saying nothing I wished for ever came to pass—and yet now the length of it is a gladness to me.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue
Omoiidete hitokosotowane yamazatono magakinoogini akikazewafuku
No one remembers me and comes; only the autumn wind comes blowing through the reeds along the fence of this mountain house.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Toshiwakure yowaakegatano tsukikageno sodeniutsureru hodozohakanaki
The year is closing, the night is breaking, and the light of the moon lies caught in my sleeve—how fleeting all of it is.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Ikuchitabi mizunotaserio tsumishikaba omoishikotono tsuyumokanawanu
How many thousand times have I gathered parsley from the flooded fields—and not one thing I hoped for has come to me, not a drop.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Amanotoo kumoinagaramo yosonimite mukashinoatoo kōrutsukikana
Though it dwells in those same clouds, it watches the gate of heaven as something apart, and longs for the traces of what used to be—this moon.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Tsukimonaku hanamomizarishi fuyunoyono kokoronishimite koishikiyanazo
There was no moon, and no blossom to look at—so why has that winter night soaked so deep into me, and why do I long for it?
Saeshiyono kōriwasodeni madatokede fuyunoyonagara neokosowanake
The ice of that bitter night has still not thawed upon my sleeve, and I weep aloud as though it were that winter night again.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Wagagotozo mizunoukineni akashitsutsu uwagenoshimoo haraiwaburunaru
They are just like me—passing the night afloat on the water, and unable, it seems, to shake the frost from the feathers of their backs.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Mashiteomoe mizunokarineno hododanizo uwagenoshimoo haraiwabikeru
Think further than that: even in so brief a snatch of sleep upon the water, they could not shake away the frost that settled on their wings.
Fuyugareno shinonoosusuki sodetayumi manekimoyoseji kazenimakasemu
Like the small pampas grass among the winter-withered reeds, my sleeve hangs slack; I will not beckon you over, but leave it to the wind.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume
Asamidori hanamohitotsuni kasumitsutsu oboronimiyuru harunoyonotsuki
A pale green haze, and the blossoms blurred into it until they are one, and through it, dimly, the moon of a spring night.
Sarashina Nikki - Sugawara no Takasue no Musume