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- Genji Monogatari
Kishi tōku kogihanaruramu amabune ni
noriokureji to isogaruru kana
I find myself in haste, lest I be left behind by the fisher's boat that must by now be rowing far out from the shore.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kokoro koso ukiyo no kishi o hanaruredo
yukue mo shiranu ama no ukigi o
My heart has indeed put off the shore of this bitter world; yet I am drifting wood upon the water, that does not know where it goes.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kogarashi no fukinishi yama no fumoto ni wa
tachikakusubeki kage dani zo naki
At the foot of these hills, where the withering wind has blown, there is not so much as a tree's shade left to stand hidden behind.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Matsu hito mo araji to omou yamazato no
kozue o mitsutsu nao zo sugiuki
Thinking there can be no one here waiting for me, I look at the treetops of this hill village and still find it hard to pass by.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ōkata no yo o somukikeru kimi naredo
itou ni yosete mi koso tsurakere
It is the world at large you have turned away from, and yet, taking your renunciation to myself, it is my own lot that hurts.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kakikurasu noyama no yuki o nagamete mo
furinishi koto zo kyō mo kanashiki
Though I look out at the snow that darkens the fields and hills, what has fallen away into the past is sorrowful again today.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yamazato no yukima no wakana tsumihayashi
nao oisaki no tanomaruru kana
Gathering and prizing the young herbs from between the snows of this hill village, I find I still trust in the years ahead of you.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yuki fukaki nobe no wakana mo ima yori wa
kimi ga tame ni zo toshi mo tsumubeki
From now on I shall gather them for you, year after year: these young herbs of the deep-snowed fields.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Sode fureshi hito koso miene hana no ka no
sore ka to niou haru no akebono
The one whose sleeve brushed mine is nowhere to be seen, and yet the scent of the blossom breathes as though it were his, in the spring daybreak.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Mishi hito wa kage mo tomaranu mizu no ue ni
ochisou namida itodo sekiaezu
On the water, where not even his shadow remains, my tears fall and add themselves, and less than ever can I hold them back.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Amagoromo kawareru mi ni ya arishi yo no
katami ni sode o kakete shinobamu
Though this body has changed into a nun's habit, shall I lay hold of a sleeve and by it remember the world that once was mine?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Nori no shi to tazunuru michi o shirube nite
omowanu yama ni fumimadou kana
Taking as my guide the road by which I went to seek a teacher of the Law, I have lost my way in hills I never thought of.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu