過にける年月さへぞ恨めしき今しもかゝる物思ふ身は
suginikeru
toshitsuki sae zo
urameshiki
ima shimo kakaru
mono’omou mi wa |
Long past
Days and months even
Do I resent;
Now in such
Gloomy thought am I. |
とにかくにつらきは隱岐の嶋つ鳥うきをばなれが名にや答えん
tonikaku ni
tsuraki wa oki no
shimatsudori
uki o ba nare ga
na ni ya kotaen |
By all accounts,
Coldhearted, are Oki
Island’s birds: cormorants
Are cruel; will you
Answer to that name, I wonder? |
暁の夢をはかなみまどろめばいやはかなゝる松風ぞ吹く
akatsuki no
yume o hakanami
madoromeba
iya hakananaru
matsukaze zo fuku |
Daybreak’s
Fleeting dream,
In fitful doze
Seems all the briefer as
The wind gusts through the pines. |
長夜をながなが明かす友とてや夕つけ鳥の聲ま近き
nagakiyo o
naganaga akasu
tomo tote ya
yūtsukedori no
koe majikaki |
A long, long night
Gradually lightening is
A friend, or so they say, so should
The cock’s
Crow sound so close? |
とはるゝも嬉しくもなし此海を渡らぬ人のなげの情は
towaruru mo
ureshiku mo nashi
kono umi o
wataranu hito no
nage no nasake wa |
That enquiries come
Is no pleasure at all;
Over the sea
No one voyages, but
Their pointless courtesy… |
里とをみきねが神樂の音澄みてをのれもふくる窓の燈
sato tōmi
kine ga kagura no
oto sumite
onore mo fukuru
mado no tomoshibi |
Far from home,
The priests’ shrine songs
Sound so clear;
I, too, late at night,
A lamp stand in the window. |
塩風に心もいとゞ亂れ芦のほに出でゝ泣けどとふ人もなし
shio kaze ni
kokoro mo itodo
midare ashi no
ho ni idete nakedo
tou hito mo nashi |
With the salt-sea winds,
My heart is simply
Disturbed, the reed fronds’
Tips emerge; I weep, yet
Visitors have I none. |
浪間より隱岐の港に入舟の我ぞこがるゝ絶ぬおもひに
nami ma yori
oki no minato ni
iribune no
ware zo kogaruru
taenu omoi ni |
As between the breakers,
Into Oki harbour
Come the boats,
Rowing, I am scorched
By unbearable fires of passion. |
かもめ鳴く入江に潮の滿つなへに芦のうら葉を洗ふ白浪
kamome naku
irie ni shio no
mitsu nae ni
ashi no uraba o
arau shiranami |
The seagulls cry along
The inlet where the tides,
At their height,
The reed tips
Wash with whitecaps. |
藻塩燒く海士のたくなわうち延へてくるしとだにもいふ方ぞなき
mo shio yaku
ama no takunawa
uchihaete
kurushi to dani mo
iu kata zo naki |
Burning seaweed for salt,
The fisher-folk, mulberry cords
Have strung
Along the pain
There’s no way I can describe. |
'Simply moving and elegant'