classic waka stream

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  • Kagero Nikki

Mashimizu no mashite hodo furu mono naraba onaji nurema ni mo ori mo tachinamu

Like water risen higher: if the days must fall the more, then since I shall be wet in any case, I may as well wade out to you.

Kagero Nikki - Fujiwara no Kaneie

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Hana ni saki mi ni narikawaru yo o sutete ukiha no tsuyu to ware zo kenu beki

Leaving behind this world that blossoms and then turns to fruit, I shall be a drop of dew on a floating leaf, and vanish.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Kaze dani mo omowanu kata ni yosezaraba kono yo no koto wa kano yo ni mo mimu

If only the wind will not blow him toward some quarter he never wished for, then I shall watch what befalls in this world from the next.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Tsuyu shigeki michi to ka itodo shide no yama katsugatsu nururu sode ika ni semu

They say it is a road thick with dew, that mountain the dead must cross; and already my sleeves are wet. What am I to do with them?

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Yado mireba yomogi no kado mo sashinagara aru beki mono to omoikemu ya zo

Looking at the house, I see the gate shut fast and choked with mugwort. Could she ever have thought that things would come to stand so?

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Yamabiko no irae ari to wa kikinagara ato naki sora o tazune wabinuru

Though I am told an echo answered, I have searched and searched an empty sky where no trace of a hand remains.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Fuku kaze ni tsukete mono omou ama no taku shio no keburi wa tazune idezu ya

Will you not seek out the smoke of the salt-fires burned by one who broods at every turn of the wind — a seafolk woman, a nun?

Kagero Nikki

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Aruru ura ni shio no keburi wa tachikeredo konata ni kaesu kaze zo nakarishi

On that desolate bay the smoke of salt did rise; but no wind turned to carry it back this way, to where I waited.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Ōzora o meguru tsukihi no iku kaeri kyō yukusue ni awamu to suramu

How many times must sun and moon go round the great sky before they come again to the far end of the day we keep today?

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Hitokoe ni yagate chidori to kikitsureba yoyo o tsukusamu kazu mo shirarezu

Hearing a thousand birds in a single cry, I cannot even guess the number of ages those cries will run out to.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Amata toshi koyuru yamabe ni ieite tsuna hiku koma mo omonarenikeri

Living so many years in the hills they cross, I have come to know by sight even the colts led past at the end of a rope.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Kumoi yori uchikochi no koe o kiku nabe ni sashikumu bakari miyuru tsukikage

From beyond the clouds I hear the flutes, here and there; and as I listen, the moonlight on the water looks near enough to scoop up in my hands.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Namikage no miyari ni tateru komatsubara kokoro o yosuru koto zo aru beshi

The little pine grove standing where the waves can be seen from afar — surely there is something in it that leans, that gives its heart.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Matsu no kage masago no naka to tazunuru wa nani no akanu zo tazu no muratori

Searching the shade of the pines, and then the fine sand — what is it you find not enough, you flock of cranes?

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Ajirogi ni kokoro o yosete hi o fureba amata no yo koso tabine shitekere

Giving my heart to the stakes of the fishing weir, I let the days go by — and so I have spent night after night sleeping away from home.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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Izaribi mo ama no kobune mo nodokeshi na ikeru kai aru ura ni kinikeri

The fishing fires and the seafolk's little boats lie quiet alike. I have come to a bay where living is worth the living.

Kagero Nikki - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

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