Mother Tree Haha Naru Ki No Monogatari

[Machine Translation] Let me tell you a story. This is a story that happened to me. Once upon a time, from the time I was born at the foot of Mount Gondoro until today, I have seen with my own eyes many events. Once upon a time, a one-eyed recluse built a hermitage near me. He had sad eyes. There was also a young warrior who bravely lost his life in front of me. Tatsukichi, the shipbuilder, and Tuki, the mountain girl, were both people who, when I think about it, had sad hearts. The pitiful cries of cubs who had lost their mothers and the lamentations of mothers who had abandoned their cubs remain in my ears to this day. Ravaged mountains, polluted rivers, and cut down trees, my body is etched with grief. Each and every tree ring of the year.... I am a 500-year-old Quercus serrata tree, protected by Daruma-iwa and nurtured by Shiroutogawa.

お話いたしましょう。これは私の身に起こった物語でございます。昔々、私が権轟山の麓に生まれてから今日までこの目で見た、さまざまな出来事の物語でございます。その昔、隻眼の世捨て人が私のそばに庵を編みました。悲しい目をした方でございました。私の前で勇敢に命を散らした若武者もおりました。船大工の辰吉も、山の少女ツキも、思えば哀しい心を抱いた人たちでした。母熊を失った子熊の哀れな鳴き声や、子を捨てた母親の嘆きの声は、今もこの耳に残っております。荒らされた山、汚された川、そして切られた木々、私の体には悲しみが刻まれているのでございます。年輪の一本、一本に…。私は、達磨岩さまに護られ、白糸川さまに育まれた、五百歳のミズナラの樹でございます。