- Top
- -
- Shui Wakashu
Chigiri areba kabane naredomo ainuru o ware o ba tare ka towan to suran
Because there was a bond, this dead man, though only a corpse, has met one who mourns him. As for me, who will come to mourn me?
Shui Wakashu - Minamoto no Sukekata
Yamadera no iriai no kane no koe goto ni kyō mo kurenu to kiku zo kanashiki
Each time the evening bell of the mountain temple rings, I hear it say that today too has come to an end, and that is sad.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ukiyo o ba somukaba kyō mo somukinan asu mo ari to wa tanomubeki mi ka
If I am to turn my back on this sorrowful world, let me do it today. Am I one who can count on being alive tomorrow?
Shui Wakashu - Yoshishige no Yasutane
Yo no naka ni ushi no kuruma no nakariseba omoi no ie o ikade idemashi
If there were no ox-drawn carts in this world, how could we ever escape from this house burning with the fire of our desires?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Yo no naka ni furu zo hakanaki shirayuki no katsu wa kienuru mono to shirushiru
How fleeting it is to go on living in this world, like the white snow falling and melting even as it falls, knowing, all too well knowing, that it is so.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Takamitsu
Sumizome no iro wa ware nomi to omoishi o ukiyo o somuku hito mo aru to ka
I thought I was the only one wearing this ink-black color, yet I hear there is someone else who has turned her back on this sorrowful world.
Shui Wakashu - Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Sumizome no koromo to mireba yoso nagara morotomo ni kiru iro ni zo arikeru
When I see it as a robe of ink-black, I find it is a color we both wear, though we are far apart.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Omoishiru hito mo arikeru yo no naka o itsu o itsu tote sugusu naruran
In a world where some have seen the truth of things and acted on it, when do we think the time will come, as we let the days slip by?
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kintō
Sasanami ya Shiga no urakaze ikabakari kokoro no uchi no suzushikaruran
Like the wind blowing over the shore of Shiga by the rippling waves, how cool and clear the heart within you must be now.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Kintō
Kō tsukusu Mitarashigawa no kame nareba nori no ukigi ni awanu narikeri
I am a turtle that has spent endless kalpas in the Mitarashi River, and so I never meet the floating log of the Buddha's Law.
Shui Wakashu - Princess Senshi
Itsushika to kimi ni to omoishi wakana o ba nori no michi ni zo kyō wa tsumitsuru
The young greens I had so longed to offer you, I have picked today for the path of the Buddha's Law.
Shui Wakashu - Emperor Murakami
Takigi koru koto wa kinō ni tsukinishi o iza ono no e wa koko ni kutasan
The gathering of firewood for the rite came to an end yesterday. Come, let us stay here at Ono until the handle of our axe rots away.
Shui Wakashu - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Kyō yori wa tsuyu no inochi mo oshikarazu hachisu no ue no tama to chigireba
From this day on, I do not begrudge this life, fleeting as dew, for I have vowed to become a jewel of dew upon the lotus of paradise.
Shui Wakashu - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Asa goto ni harau chiri dani aru mono o ima ikuyo tote tayumu naruran
Even the dust you sweep away each morning comes back again, so how many lifetimes do you think you have left, that you grow so lax?
Kuraki yori kuraki michi ni zo irinubeki haruka ni terase yama no ha no tsuki
From darkness I am bound to wander into a darker path still. Shine on me from far away, moon on the rim of the mountains.
Shui Wakashu - Izumi Shikibu
Gokuraku wa harukeki hodo to kikishikado tsutomete itaru tokoro narikeri
I had heard that paradise lies far, far away, yet it is a place one reaches by striving on the path, even by early morning.
Shui Wakashu - The Monk Senkei