muckefuck: (Default)
muckefuck ([personal profile] muckefuck) wrote2005-10-23 10:10 pm

Translation request: Kuroda-bushi

I took a stab at this and didn't get very far. Anyone know their way around 16th century Japanese?
古き都に来て見れば
浅茅が原とぞ なりにける
月の光はくまなくて
秋風のみぞ 身にはしむ
Edit: Romaji for [livejournal.com profile] niemandsrose. (Syllables written in kanji are bolded.)
furuki miyakoni kite mireba,
Asajigaharatozo narinikeru,
tsuki no hikariwa kumanakute,
akikazenomizo miniwashimu
Further Edit:Well, I finally managed to track down a translation (no thanks to you bitches!). As it turns out, the poem appears in Chapter 5.2 of the Heike monogatari. Here it is in McCullough's (somewhat overadorned) translation:
When I came once more to the former capital
I could find only a desolate rush-wild plain
The light of the moon fills all of heaven and earth
The bitter winds of autumn pierce me to the bone

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