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- Genji Monogatari
Yoru nami no kokoro mo shirade Waka no ura ni
tamamo nabikamu hodo zo ukitaru
For the jeweled weed of Waka bay to bend without knowing the heart of the wave that reaches it would be a light thing indeed.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Asaborake kiri tatsu sora no mayoi ni mo
yukisugigataki imo ga kado kana
At daybreak, lost in a sky thick with mist, I come to her gate and find I cannot pass it by.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Tachitomari kiri no magaki no sugiuku wa
kusa no tozashi ni sawari shi mo seji
If you stop and say this fence of mist is hard to pass, then surely a gate barred only with grass could be no hindrance at all.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ne wa minedo aware to zo omou Musashino no
tsuyu wakewaburu kusa no yukari o
I have not yet seen the root, and still I hold dear this kindred grass of Musashi plain, where I grow weary of parting the dew.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kakotsubeki yue o shiraneba obotsukana
ikanaru kusa no yukari naruramu
Not knowing what cause you would lay it to, I am left uncertain—just what kind of grass am I said to be kin to?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Morotomo ni Ōuchiyama wa idetsuredo
iru kata misenu isayoi no tsuki
We came out from the palace together, and still you will not show me where you go in—you, moon of the sixteenth night.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Sato wakanu kage o ba miredo yuku tsuki no
Irusa no yama o tare ka tazunuru
We see the light that falls on every village without distinction—but who goes looking for Irusa, the hill the moon slips behind?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Ikuso tabi kimi ga shijima ni makenuramu
mono na ii so to iwanu tanomi ni
How often have I been defeated by your silence, holding on to the one hope that you have never told me to be quiet.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Kane tsukite tojimemu koto wa sasuga nite
kotae mauki zo katsu wa ayanaki
To ring the bell and close the matter is more than I can bring myself to do, and yet answering comes hard—which makes little sense even to me.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Iwanu o mo iu ni masaru to shirinagara
oshikometaru wa kurushikarikeri
I know well enough that silence can say more than speech, and still to be shut out like this is hard to bear.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Yūgiri no haruru keshiki mo mada minu ni
ibuse sasouru yoi no ame kana
I have seen no sign yet that the evening mist will lift, and now the rain at nightfall draws out still more gloom.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Harenu yo no tsuki matsu sato o omoiyare
onaji kokoro ni nagame sezu tomo
Think of the house that waits for a moon on a night that will not clear—even if you do not watch the sky with the same heart.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Asahi sasu noki no tarui wa tokenagara
nadoka tsurara no musubōruramu
The icicles at the eaves are loosening in the morning sun—so why does that ice stay bound and refuse to melt?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Furinikeru kashira no yuki o miru hito mo
otorazu nurasu asa no sode kana
The one who looks at that snow settled on an aged head wets his own sleeve this morning no less than the old man does.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Karagoromo kimi ga kokoro no tsurakereba
tamoto wa kaku zo sobochitsutsu nomi
I send this robe; and since your heart is hard toward me, my sleeve does nothing but grow wetter and wetter.
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu
Natsukashiki iro to mo nashi ni nani ni kono
suetsumuhana o sode ni furekemu
It is not a color that draws the heart—so why did I ever let my sleeve touch this last-picked safflower?
Genji Monogatari - Murasaki Shikibu