classic waka stream

  • Top
  • -
  • Genji Monogatari

Nagekiwabi mi o ba sutsu tomo naki kage ni
uki na nagasamu koto o koso omoe

Though, worn out with grief, I throw this body away, what troubles me is that a bitter name will be set adrift upon my shade.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Kara o dani ukiyo no naka ni todomezu wa
izuko o haka to kimi mo uramimu

If I do not leave even this husk of a body behind me in the bitter world, you too will hold it against me, having no grave to mark.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Nochi ni mata aimimu koto o omowanamu
kono yo no yume ni kokoro madowade

Think of it, that we shall look upon each other again hereafter, and do not let your heart be confused by the dream of this world.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Kane no oto no tayuru hibiki ni ne o soete
waga yo tsukinu to kimi ni tsutae yo

To the dying fall of the temple bell add the sound of my own weeping, and carry word to her that my life in the world is done.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Shinobine ya kimi mo nakuramu kai mo naki
shide no taosa ni kokoro kayowaba

Do you too weep in a muffled voice, if your heart runs with that bird of the road of death, whose crying is of no avail?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Tachibana no kaoru atari wa hototogisu
kokoro shite koso nakubekarikere

Where the fragrance of the orange hangs, the cuckoo ought to have taken more care how it lifted its voice.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Ware mo mata uki furusato o arehateba
tare yadorigi no kage o shinobamu

If I too should go, and this bitter old place fall wholly to ruin, who will be left to remember the shade of the lodging tree?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Aware shiru kokoro wa hito ni okurenedo
kazu naranu mi ni kietsutsu zo furu

My heart, which knows how to feel, falls behind no one's; and yet, being of no account, I pass my days like something going out.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Tsune nashi to kokora yo o miru uki mi dani
hito no shiru made nageki ya wa suru

Even this wretched self, who has watched so much of the world's impermanence, does not grieve so far that others can see it.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Ogi no ha ni tsuyu fukimusubu akikaze mo
yūbe zo wakite mi ni wa shimikeru

The autumn wind that blows and gathers dew on the reed leaves goes to the bone at evening above all.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Ominaeshi midaruru nobe ni majiru tomo
tsuyu no adana o ware ni kakeme ya

Though I mingle in fields where the maiden flowers grow in disorder, would I let a name for lightness with the dew be laid on me?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Hana to ieba na koso ada nare ominaeshi
nabete no tsuyu ni midare ya wa suru

As for flowers, it is the name alone that is light; does the maiden flower fall into disorder for any dew that comes?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Tabine shite nao kokoromi yo ominaeshi
sakari no iro ni utsuri utsurazu

Stay the night and put it to the proof: whether the maiden flower changes the colour it wears at its height, or does not.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Yado kasaba hitoyo wa nenamu ōkata no
hana ni utsuranu kokoro nari tomo

If you lend me a lodging I will sleep one night, even though mine is not a heart that turns to the common run of flowers.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Ari to mite te ni wa torarezu mireba mata
yukue mo shirazu kieshi kagerō

I saw that it was there, and it was not to be caught; I looked again, and it had gone, with no trace of where—the mayfly.

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail

Mi o nageshi namida no kawa no hayaki se o
shigarami kakete tare ka tomeshi

Who set a weir across the swift shallows of that river of tears into which I threw myself, and held me back?

Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu

show detail