- Top
- -
- Ise Monogatari
Io ōki shide no taosa wa nao tanomu
waga sumu sato ni koe shi taezu wa
Though the field-warden of death may have many huts and wander among them, still I would rely on you, if only your voice would not cease in the village where I dwell.
Idete yuku kimi ga tame ni to nugitsureba
ware sae mo naku narinubeki kana
For you who depart for the provinces, I took off my garment to offer as a gift, and it is as though I myself might vanish as well.
Yuku hotaru kumo no ue made inubeku wa
akikaze fuku to kari ni tsuge kose
O firefly rising into the sky—if you can go even above the clouds, then tell the wild geese that the autumn wind is blowing.
Kuregataki natsu no higurashi nagamureba
sono koto to naku mono zo kanashiki
On a long summer day that is slow to fade into evening, as I sit gazing in thought, everything feels sorrowful, though there is no single cause.
Me karu tomo omooenaku ni wasuraruru
toki shi nakereba omokage ni tatsu
Even though we do not meet, I cannot think that we are apart. There is no moment when I forget you; your form rises before my eyes.
Ōnusa no hikute amata ni narinureba
omoedo e koso tanomazarikere
Like a great sacred wand that is pulled by many hands, though I love you, I cannot place my trust in you.
Ōnusa to na ni koso tatere nagarete mo
tsui ni yoru se wa ari to iu mono o
You have indeed made me known as a great sacred wand sought by many, yet even one set adrift upon the current will in the end find a shallows where it comes to rest.
Ima zo shiru kurushi mono to hito matamu
sato o ba karezu toubekarikeri
Now at last I truly understand how painful it is to wait for someone who does not come; I should not have kept away from the place where another was waiting.
Urawakami neyoge ni miyuru wakakusa o
hito no musubamu koto o shi zo omou
That fresh young grass, so tender and fair to lie upon, seems delightful; yet I cannot help but think that someone will bind it for a pillow and rest upon it.
Hatsukusa no nado mezurashiki koto no ha zo
uranaku mono o omoikeru kana
Like the first young grass found in early spring, your words are strangely rare and unexpected; until now I have thought of nothing, without any suspicion, believing only that we were brother and sister.
Tori no ko o tō zutsu tō wa kasanu tomo
omowanu hito o omou mono ka wa
Even if birds’ eggs could be piled ten upon ten, a hundred in all—though such a thing cannot be—would one love a person who does not think of him at all?
Asatsuyu wa kienokorite mo arinubeshi
tare ka kono yo o tanomihatsubeki
Morning dew may perhaps remain without wholly vanishing; yet who could place trust in this world, more fleeting still, and rely upon it?
Fuku kaze ni kozo no sakura wa chirazu tomo
ana tanomigata hito no kokoro wa
Even if, in the blowing wind, last year’s cherry blossoms were not to fall at all, still the heart of a person is far more difficult to rely upon.
Yuku mizu ni kazu kaku yori mo hakanaki wa
omowanu hito o omou narikeri
More fleeting even than tracing numbers upon flowing water is to love a person who does not think of one at all.
Yuku mizu to suguru yowai to chiru hana to
izure mate chō koto o kikuramu
Flowing water, passing years, and falling blossoms—which of these has ever heard the word that tells it to wait?
Ueshi ueba aki naki toki ya sakazaramu
hana koso chirame ne sae kareme ya
Since I have carefully planted it, unless there were no autumn at all, it will surely bloom; though the flowers may scatter, will even the roots wither? Surely they will not.