classic waka stream

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  • Izayoi Nikki

Todomeoku furuki makura no chiri o dani waga tachisaraba tare ka harawamu

Once I have gone, who will brush away even the dust that gathers on this old pillow I leave behind?

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Waka no ura ni kakitodometaru moshiogusa kore o mukashi no katami tomo miyo

Here is the salt-weed I raked together and set down at the bay of poetry; look on it as a keepsake of the one who is gone.

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Anakashiko yokonami kakuna hamachidori hitokata naranu ato o omowaba

Take care, shore plover, that no sidelong wave should wash over them, if you have any regard for tracks so far from ordinary.

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Tsui ni yomo ada ni wa naraji moshiogusa katami o miyo no ato ni nokoseba

It will never come to nothing, this salt-weed, since you leave the keepsake behind as the trace of three generations.

Izayoi Nikki - Reizei Tameuji

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Mayowamashi oshiezariseba hamachidori hitokata naranu ato o sore tomo

Had you not taught me, I would have lost my way, and never known those far from ordinary tracks of the shore plover for what they are.

Izayoi Nikki - Reizei Tameuji

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Harubaru to yukusaki tōku shitawarete ikani sonata no sora o nagamemu

You go so far, and the road ahead is long; I am drawn after you, and with what heart shall I gaze at the sky over the country where you are?

Izayoi Nikki - Reizei Tamemori

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Tsukuzuku to sora na nagame so koishikuba michi tōku tomo haya kaerikomu

Do not sit gazing at the sky. If you miss me, then however long the road, I shall come home soon.

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Ada ni nomi namida wa kakeji tabigoromo kokoro no yukite tachikaeru hodo

I will not let my tears be spent for nothing, not while the heart that set out in travelling robes is going and coming home again.

Izayoi Nikki - Minamoto no Shō

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Tachisou zo ureshikarikeru tabigoromo katami ni tanomu oya no mamori wa

What gladness, to set out at your side in travelling robes; it is a parent's watch over us that we lean on, each upon the other.

Izayoi Nikki - Keiyū

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Kimi o koso asahi to tanome furusato ni nokoru nadeshiko shimo ni karasu na

It is you I look to as the morning sun; do not let the frost wither the pinks that remain behind in the old capital.

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Omoioku kokoro todome wa furusato no shimo ni mo kareji yamato nadeshiko

Because the heart you leave behind remains here, the pinks of Yamato will not wither, not even in the frost of the old capital.

Izayoi Nikki

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Sadamenaki inochi wa shiranu tabi naredo mata ōsaka to tanomete zo yuku

Life is uncertain and the road unknown, yet I go trusting in the name of the Hill of Meeting, that we shall meet again.

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Uchishigure furusato omou sode nurete yukusaki tōki noji no shinohara

The winter rain comes down, my sleeve wet with longing for the capital, and still the road runs far ahead—the bamboo-grass plain of Noji.

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Itodo nao sode nurase to ya yadorikemu ma naku shigure no moruyama ni shimo

Was it so that my sleeves should be wetter still that I came to lodge here of all places, at Moru Hill, where the rain leaks down without ceasing?

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Tabibito wa mina morotomo ni asadachite koma uchiwatasu Yasu no kawagiri

The travellers have all set out together in the early morning, urging their horses across the water, somewhere in the river mist of Yasu.

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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Musubu te ni nigoru kokoro o susugi naba ukiyo no yume ya samegai no mizu

If I could rinse this clouded heart in the water I cup in my hands, would the dream of this sorrowful world break as well—water of the well called Waking?

Izayoi Nikki - Abutsu-ni

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