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- Genji Monogatari
Asagiri ni tomo madowaseru shika no ne o
ōkata ni ya wa aware to mo kiku
The call of a deer that has lost its companion in the morning mist—how could one hear it as one hears an ordinary thing?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Iro kawaru asaji o mite mo sumizome ni
yatsururu sode o omoi koso yare
Seeing the low reeds change colour, I think of your sleeves and how they must be worn thin in the dark dye of mourning.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Iro kawaru sode o ba tsuyu no yadori nite
waga mi zo sara ni okidokoro naki
My altered sleeves are the lodging the dew takes; beyond that, this body of mine has nowhere at all to rest.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Akigiri no harenu kumoi ni itodoshiku
kono yo o kari to ii shirasuramu
In the sky where the autumn mist will not clear, the geese cry all the more that this world is only borrowed.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kimi nakute iwa no kakeji taeshi yori
matsu no yuki o mo nani to ka wa miru
Since you left us and the steep path by the rocks fell into disuse, with what mind am I to look on the snow upon the pines?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Okuyama no matsuba ni tsumoru yuki to dani
kienishi hito o omowamashikaba
If only I could think of the one who has gone as I think of the snow that gathers on the pine needles in the deep hills.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yuki fukaki yama no kakehashi kimi narade
mata fumikayou ato o minu kana
On the bridge across the snow-deep mountain there is no track of anyone treading through but yours alone.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tsurara toji koma fumishidaku yamagawa o
shirube shigatera mazu ya wataramu
The hill stream is shut in ice for the horse to break underfoot; while I am about guiding another, shall I be the first to cross it?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tachiyoramu kage to tanomishi shii ga moto
munashiki toko ni narinikeru kana
The foot of the oak I trusted for the shade I might turn aside to has become an empty seat.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kimi ga oru mine no warabi to mimashikaba
shirare ya semashi haru no shirushi mo
Had I been able to see them as bracken you yourself had picked on the peak, I might have known them for a sign of spring.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yuki fukaki migiwa no koseri ta ga tame ni
tsumi ka hayasamu oya nashi ni shite
For whose sake should I gather and make much of the little cress at the snow-deep water's edge, having no parent left?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tsute ni mishi yado no sakura o kono haru wa
kasumi hedatezu orite kazasamu
The cherry at your house that I saw only at second hand—this spring let me break it off with no haze between us, and wear it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Izuko to ka tazunete oramu sumizome ni
kasumikometaru yado no sakura o
Where would you suppose you were coming, to break off the cherry at this house of ours, closed in with the haze of mourning?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Agemaki ni nagaki chigiri o musubikome
onaji tokoro ni yori mo awanamu
Let a long bond be bound into the knotted cords, and let the two strands twist and come together in the one place.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Nuki mo aezu moroki namida no tama no o ni
nagaki chigiri o ikaga musubamu
On a cord of tears too fragile to be strung at all, how should I ever tie down a bond that is meant to last?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yamazato no aware shiraruru koegoe ni
toriatsumetaru asaborake kana
In the many voices by which one comes to know a mountain village, everything is gathered into this one hour of growing light.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu