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- Genji Monogatari
Aki hatete sabishisa masaru ko no moto o
fuki na sugushi so mine no matsukaze
Now that autumn ends and loneliness grows at the foot of the tree, do not blow past and be gone, wind in the pines on the peak.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Wakakusa no ne mimu mono to wa omowanedo
musubōretaru kokochi koso sure
It is not that I think to lie down as with the young grasses, and yet I have the feeling of something knotted within me.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Nagamuru wa onaji kumoi o ika nareba
obotsukanasa o souru shigure zo
We look on the same sky, and yet why does this winter rain keep adding to my not knowing how you are?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Arare furu miyama no sato wa asayū ni
nagamuru sora mo kakikurashitsutsu
Here in the deep hills where the hail comes down, morning and evening alike, the sky I look on goes on darkening.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Shimo sayuru migiwa no chidori uchiwabite
naku ne kanashiki asaborake kana
The plovers at the water's edge, where the frost bites cold, cannot bear it, and their crying is sad in the growing light.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Akatsuki no shimo uchiharai naku chidori
mono omou hito no kokoro o ya shiru
The plover that shakes the frost of daybreak from its wings and cries—does it know what is in the heart of one who grieves?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kakikumori hikage mo mienu okuyama ni
kokoro o kurasu koro ni mo aru kana
In these deep mountains where the sky has clouded over and no sunlight shows, I pass these days with a darkened heart.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kurenai ni otsuru namida mo kai naki wa
katami no iro o somenu narikeri
The crimson tears that fall from me are of no use, since they will not dye the cloth to the colour of mourning.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Okureji to sora yuku tsuki o shitau kana
tsui ni sumubeki kono yo naraneba
Not to be left behind, I follow the moon crossing the sky with my longing, since this is no world one may dwell in long.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Koiwabite shinuru kusuri no yukashiki ni
yuki no yama ni ya ato o kenamashi
Longing to know the drug by which one may die of love, shall I go into the snowy hills and leave no trace behind?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Koshikata o omoiizuru mo hakanaki o
yukusue kakete nani tanomuramu
Even to look back on what has gone by is to find it frail; on what, then, should I rely for the time still to come?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yukusue o mijikaki mono to omoinaba
me no mae ni dani somukazaranamu
If you take the time to come to be short, then at least, while I am here before your eyes, do not turn away from me.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kimi ni tote amata no haru o tsumishikaba
tsune o wasurenu hatsuwarabi nari
Because it was for you that I picked them through so many springs, here again are the season's first bracken, as unfailing as ever.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kono haru wa tare ni ka misemu naki hito no
katami ni tsumeru mine no sawarabi
This spring, to whom am I to show them—the young bracken of the peak, picked as a keepsake of one who is gone?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Oru hito no kokoro ni kayou hana nare ya
iro ni wa idezu shita ni nioeru
Is this a flower that answers to the heart of the man who broke it—showing nothing in its colour, yet breathing scent beneath?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Miru hito ni kagoto yosekeru hana no e o
kokoro shite koso orubekarikere
A flowering branch on which the one who looks will hang a grievance—I should have taken more care before I broke it.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu