翻刻
草木の葉につき染る同五日の夜灰降る事甚し六日 【虫損による字欠ナシ】
の早朝に是を見るに寒夜に霜を置よりは猶 濃（コキ）也同六日
之夜半頃より灰と砂降る事地を埋也七日は震動
鳴動而天地 朦朧（モフロウ）たり未の上刻に至て一天俄にかき
曇り暗（アン）夜の如く萬家燈火を挑て弁用ス小時（シハラク）あつて
申中刻に至ては平生の東方の已に白あけなんとするに 【の已：のみ】
等（ヒト）し夜に入程震動する事益烈し亥ノ刻斗り
より雷電 厳（キビ）しく癖歴（ヘキレキ）し聾（ツンボ）の耳の針を指
かことくに通じ稲妻の光り目に焼が手指にことならず
雷は地を走り家をつんざくかと万民魂も飛出んと
するごとく親子の別ちも見へず君臣礼を失ふ砂の
降る音車 軸（ジク）の雨よりは厳し天地も只今 滅（メツ）するかと
気も魂も身に添ず按ずるに妙高ノ山モ却テ盡（コト〳〵ク）散 壊（ジヤク）￣ス大海￣ノ 【尽の旧字でなく異体字】
深￣コト無￣シ＿レ底亦復￣テ有＿レ涸渇スレコト大地及￣ブ＿二日月￣モ＿一時至スレハ皆ナ帰￣ス＿レ
盡ヲとある名僧の物語りし故弥こゝろ顔倒して意
気たる心地はなかりける暫く意気の両様をかんが見る
に車の両輪のことし意はよく物を見わけ聞わけ 【行頭に虫損による字欠アリ】
さばく物也気は常に臍？の下にあつて動きたち其
身を調ふ気強ければ身をえことのふ気つくれば則￣チ死す
つよかるず弱からざるやうにつかふべしとは何れ此節に
至ては其ほどよきを忌る誠に君臣父子￣ノ五輪の道を
失ふも理也と後にも思ひ知られけり猶夜の明￣ケなん
現代語訳
草木の葉に灰が降り積もった。同じく五日の夜は灰が甚だしく降った。六日の早朝にこれを見ると、寒い夜に霜が降りるよりもなお濃かった。同じく六日の夜半頃から灰と砂が降り、地面を埋め尽くした。七日には震動・鳴動が続き、天地は朦朧としていた。未の上刻（午後一時頃）になると、空は急に掻き曇り、暗夜のようになったので、多くの家々では灯火を灯して用を弁じた。しばらくして申の中刻（午後四時頃）になると、普段なら東の空がようやく白み始めようとするほどの明るさしかなく、夜に入るにつれ震動はますます激しくなった。亥の刻（午後十時頃）あたりから雷電が激しく轟き渡り、その音は聾者の耳に針を刺すかのように響き渡り、稲妻の光は目を焼くようで手で指差すのと変わらぬほどであった。雷は地を走り、家を引き裂くかと思うほどで、万民は魂が飛び出るかのようであり、親子の顔も見分けられず、君臣の礼も失われた。砂の降る音は車軸（轍）を流す大雨よりも激しく、天地も今まさに滅びるかと思われ、気も魂も身に添わぬほどであった。
思い巡らすに、「妙高の山もついには悉く散り壊れ、大海は底知れぬほど深くとも、またいつかは涸れることがあり、大地も日月も、時が至れば皆、盡（つき）に帰す」とある名僧の物語を思い出し、いよいよ心が転倒して、気力が萎えた心地がしないわけでもなかった。しばらく「意」と「気」の両様を考えてみると、それは車の両輪のようなものである。「意（こころ）」はよく物を見分け聞き分けて物事を裁く働きをし、「気」は常に臍の下（丹田）にあって動き立ち、その身を整える。気が強ければ身を自在に動かすことができ、気が尽きれば則ち死ぬ。強すぎず弱すぎないように使うべきものであるとはいえ、今この時に及んでは、その程よい加減を保つことも難しい。誠に君臣・父子の五倫の道を失うのも無理はないことだと、後になっても思い知らされた。なおも夜が明けないうちから――
英語訳
Ash fell and clung to the leaves of trees and plants. On the night of the fifth, ash fell heavily. When this was observed in the early morning of the sixth, it was even thicker than frost settling on a cold night. From around midnight of the sixth, ash and sand fell, burying the ground. On the seventh, there were tremors and rumblings, and heaven and earth were shrouded in haze. At the upper quarter of the Hour of the Sheep (around 1 p.m.), the sky suddenly became overcast and dark as a moonless night, so that households throughout the land lit their lamps to go about their affairs. After a while, by the middle of the Hour of the Monkey (around 4 p.m.), the light was no more than what one would see just before the eastern sky begins to whiten at dawn. As night deepened, the tremors grew ever more violent. From around the Hour of the Boar (around 10 p.m.), lightning thundered ferociously, the sound piercing through even as a needle thrust into the ear of a deaf man, and the flashes of lightning seared the eyes so brightly that one could have pointed one's finger by their light. The thunder ran along the ground and seemed as though it would split houses asunder; all the people felt as if their souls would fly from their bodies, parents and children could not distinguish one another's faces, and the proprieties between lord and subject were forgotten. The sound of the falling sand was more terrible than a rain heavy enough to wash away cart axles, and it seemed as if heaven and earth were on the very verge of destruction; neither spirit nor soul seemed to remain in one's body.
Reflecting on this, I recalled the words of a great monk: "Even the great mountain of Myōkō will in the end utterly crumble and fall to ruin; though the great ocean is fathomlessly deep, there shall come a time when it too dries up; and even the earth and the sun and moon, when their time arrives, shall all return to nothingness." Remembering these words, I felt all the more that my heart was turned upside down, and I cannot say that I did not feel utterly drained of all spirit and vigor. Reflecting for a while on the two aspects of "mind" (i) and "vital energy" (ki), I thought of them as the two wheels of a cart. The mind (i) is what perceives and discerns things seen and heard, and adjudicates all matters; the vital energy (ki) constantly resides below the navel (in the tanden) and, stirring and rising, regulates the body. If the ki is strong, one can freely govern the body; if the ki is exhausted, one dies. One ought to employ them in a manner neither too strong nor too weak — yet at a moment such as this, it was impossible even to maintain that proper balance. Truly, I came to understand, even in retrospect, that it was no wonder people had lost the way of the Five Human Relationships between lord and subject, and parent and child. As dawn had yet to break —