Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu (973-1014 o 25) es la autora del "Genji Monogatari" (La historia del príncipe Genji) la novela más antigua de la humanidad y la más importante de la literatura japonesa. También escribió un diario y poemas (wakas).






The clouds pile up darkly,
waves rise up fiercely in a sudden storm;
I am like this floating boat, ill at ease.

To be forgotten is not unusual in these sad times
what is depressing is the lack of consolation.



Someone stops writing and leaves me miserable
leaves in a forest of regret.


Lost in the dark spring night,
color and passion gone,
one´s heart yet steeps in the fragrant bloom.

My wooden door – shall I unlock it, too?
The moonlight makes me dither
as the moorhen insistently taps.


Someone passes,
and while I wonder
if it is he,
The midnight moon
is covered with clouds.

A thousand strands of black hair, tangled hair - like them my thoughts,
tangling and entangled.

Be close, you say;
but the first thing I met
on getting close
were your feelings,
thin as summer clothes.

My life and the year are closing together.
At the sound of the wind, dreary is my heart.

My place in the world:
why should it bring me grief?
Mountain cherry blossom in my sight,
were it ever so...

On all of the world's autumn sadness
rest your thoughts!
Though the moon into your heart
may have found its wandering way.


Without a trace of cloud,
for a thousand years upon the limpid water’s surface
the lodging moonlight brings peace.



This life of ours would not cause you sorrow
if you thought of it as like
the mountain cherry blossoms
which bloom and fade in a day.