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- Heike Monogatari
Ariake no tsuki mo Akashi no urakaze ni
nami bakari koso yoru to mieshika
The dawn moon left the Akashi shore bright, and in that sea wind the only thing that seemed like night was the waves drawing near.
Heike Monogatari - Abutsu-ni
Kumoi yori tada morikitaru tsuki nareba
oboroge nite wa iwaji to zo omou
Since it is a moon that came leaking down from the clouded palace sky, I do not mean to say lightly where it came from.
Heike Monogatari - Reizei Tameuji
Moeizuru mo karuru mo onaji nobe no kusa
izure ka aki ni awade hatsubeki
The grass that puts out new shoots and the grass that withers away are grasses of the same field. Which of them could ever reach its end without meeting the autumn?
Heike Monogatari - Reizei Tamemori
Uki fushi ni shizumi mo yarade kawatake no
yo ni tameshi naki na o ya nagasan
Unable to sink under the weight of this grief, I stand like the bamboo at the river's edge—must I let my name drift through the world as something for which there is no precedent?
Heike Monogatari - Minamoto no Shō
Omoiki ya uki mi nagara ni meguri kite
onaji kumoi no tsuki o mimu to wa
I never thought that, wretched as I am, I would come round again to look upon the same moon above these cloud-dwelling halls.
Heike Monogatari - Minamoto no Shō
Sakurabana Kamo no kawakaze uramu na yo
chiru o ba e koso todomezarikere
Cherry blossoms, bear no grudge against the river wind of Kamo. Not even that wind had the power to keep you from falling.
Heike Monogatari - Keiyū
Miyamagi no sono kozue to mo miezarishi
sakura wa hana ni arawarenikeri
Deep in the mountains it stood indistinguishable, no branch of it to be told from any other; and now, by its blossoms, the cherry has shown itself for what it is.
Heike Monogatari - Kyōgoku Tamekane
Michinoku no Akoya no matsu ni kogakurete
izubeki tsuki no ide mo yaranu ka
Hidden behind the Akoya pine of Michinoku, the moon that ought to rise will not show itself at all.
Heike Monogatari - Sei Shōnagon
Inori koshi waga tatsu soma no hikikaete
hito naki mine to nari ya hatenan
Must this mountain where I have prayed so long now turn about and end as a peak with no one living on it?
Heike Monogatari - Sei Shōnagon
Tsui ni kaku somukihatekeru yo no naka o
toku sutezarishi koto zo kuyashiki
So in the end I have turned from the world altogether. What I regret is not having cast it off sooner.
Heike Monogatari - Bai Juyi (opening lines), Sei Shōnagon (closing lines)
Chihayaburu kami ni inori no shigekereba
nadoka miyako e kaerazarubeki
Since your prayers to the gods have been so many and so unceasing, how should you not return to the capital?
Heike Monogatari - Fujiwara no Sanekata
Satsumagata oki no kojima ni ware ari to
oya ni wa tsuge yo yae no shiokaze
That I am still alive on a small island out in the Satsuma sea—carry word of it to my parents, wind across the eightfold tides.
Heike Monogatari - Bai Juyi (opening lines), Sei Shōnagon (closing lines)
Omoiyare shibashi to omou tabi dani mo
nao furusato wa koishiki mono o
Consider it: even on a journey one expects to be short, one still longs for home.
Heike Monogatari - Bai Juyi (opening lines), Sei Shōnagon (closing lines)
Furusato no hana no mono iu yo nariseba
ika ni mukashi no koto o towamashi
If this were a world in which the blossoms of my old home could speak, how much I would ask them about the days that are gone.
Heike Monogatari - Sei Shōnagon (opening lines), Empress Teishi (closing lines)
Furusato no noki no itama ni koke mushite
omoishi hodo wa moranu tsuki kana
Moss has grown over the gaps in the eaves of my old home, and less moonlight leaks through than I had imagined it would.
Heike Monogatari - Bai Juyi (opening lines), Sei Shōnagon (closing lines)
Kumoi yori ochikuru taki no shiraito ni
chigiri o musubu koto zo ureshiki
That I may bind myself to these white threads of water falling from the clouds—this is a joy indeed.
Heike Monogatari - Empress Teishi