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- Kagero Nikki
Kakurenu ni ouru kazu o ba tare ka shiru ayame shirazu mo mataru naru kana
Who could ever count how many grow in the hidden marsh? Not knowing one thing from another, you wait for it all the same, and keenly too.
Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Kaneie
Taenuru ka kage dani araba tou beki o katami no mizu wa mikusa inikeri
Has it ended, then? Were there even a reflection I might put my question to it; but on the water he left behind, weed has come to grow.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Ichijiruki yamaguchi naraba koko nagara kami no keshiki o miseyo to zo omou
If this is a mountain gate where the god's power shows itself plainly, then from just here, without climbing further, let me be shown his mind.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Inariyama ōku no toshi zo koenikeri inoru shirushi no sugi o tanomite
Over Mount Inari I have crossed, and crossed again, through many years, trusting to the cedar sprig that is the token of prayer.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kamigami to noborikudari wa waburedomo mada sakayukanu kokoro koso sure
Calling on the gods, I climb and come down again, and it is hard going; and still the slope is not finished, and still my fortunes do not rise.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kami ya seku shimo ni ya mikuzu tsumoruramu omou kokoro no yukanu mitarashi
Is it dammed above, or has the refuse gathered below? My praying heart cannot make its way along this purifying stream.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Sakakiba no tokiwa kakiwa ni yūshide ya katakurushi naru me na miseso kami
By the sacred evergreen, unchanging as rock, and by the streamers hung upon it: let me not see such hard and bitter days again, O god.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Itsushika mo itsushika mo to zo machiwataru mori no koma yori hikari mimu ma o
When, oh when, I say, and say again, and go on waiting — waiting for the hour when I shall see light through the trees of the grove.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Yūdasuki musubōretsutsu nageku koto taenaba kami no shirushi to omowamu
The mulberry cord knots and will not come undone, and so my heart goes on grieving; should the grieving cease, I shall take it as the god's own sign.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kazu shirazu omou kokoro ni kurabureba tō kasanuru mo mono to ya wa miru
Set beside a heart that thinks of you past all counting, can ten of them stacked one upon another seem any great thing?
Omou hodo shirade wa kai ya arazaramu kaesugaesu mo kazu o koso mime
If I cannot know how much you think of me, what use is there in it? Over and over again, I would have the number shown me.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Yo no naka o hakanaki mono to misasagi no umoruru yama ni nagekuramu ya zo
Seeing the world for the fleeting thing it is — at that hill where the tomb lies buried, are you grieving there even now?
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Okureji to uki misasagi ni omoiiru kokoro wa shide no yama ni ya aruramu
Not to be left behind, my heart goes into that bitter tomb; and now, perhaps, it stands already on the mountain of the dead.
Okuyama no omoiyari dani kanashiki ni mata amagumo no kakaru nani nari
To think of him gone into the deep mountains is grief enough; and now, on top of it, a cloud of heaven — a nun's habit — settles there too. What does it mean?
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Yama fukaku irinishi hito mo tazunuredo nao amagumo no yoso ni koso nare
Though I go seeking him who went deep into the mountains, he is still as far from me as the clouds of heaven, and beyond my reach.
Katagoi ya kurushikaruramu yamagatsu no augo nashi to wa mienu mono kara
A load borne on one side only, a love on one side only: hard to bear, no doubt — and yet this woodsman does not seem to be without a carrying pole.
Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna