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Any passage would do almost equally well to suggest the complexities, which tend to disappear in fluent translations that eliminate run-on sentences or augment the original with explanations. The following passage occurs near the beginning of the “Yugao” chapter:

Mikuruma irubeki kado wa sashitarikereba, hito shite Koremitsu mesasete, matasetamaikeru hodo, mutsukashige naru oji no sama wo miwatase shitamaeru ni, kono ie no katawara ni, higaki to iu mono wo atarashu shite, kami wa, hajitomi shigoken bakari agewatashite, sudare nado mo ito shiro suzushige naru ni, okashiki hitaitsuki no sukikage, amata miete nozoku. Tachisamayouran shimotsukata omoiyaru ni, anagachi ni taketakaki kokochi zo suru.

It is not possible to make an absolutely literal rendering, but the meaning is approximately: “Because the gate through which carriages were admitted was locked, he sent a man for Koremitsu, and while he waited, he ran his eyes along the disreputable-looking street [and noticed] that [someone] in the house next door had newly [put up] what they call a cypress-bark fence, above which [someone] had lifted the row of four or five shutters; the blinds looked very white and cool, and he could dimly see through them many charming foreheads peeping [at him]. When he tried imagining the lower parts [of the figures] that seemed to be wandering around, he had a feeling that they must be very tall.”

The translation by Arthur Waley renders this passage:

[H]e managed to find the house; but the front gate was locked and he could not drive in. He sent one of his servants for Koremitsu, his foster-nurse’s son, and while he was waiting began to examine the rather wretched-looking by-street. The house next door was fenced with a new paling, above which at one place were four or five panels of open trellis-work, screened by blinds which were very white and bare. Through chinks in the blinds a number of foreheads could be seen. They seemed to belong to a group of ladies who must be peeping with interest into the street below. At first he thought that they had merely peeped out as they passed; but he soon realized that if they were standing on the floor they must be giants. No, evidently they had taken the trouble to climb on to some table or bed; which was surely rather odd!

Edward Seidensticker’s translation is closer to the original:

The carriage entrance was closed. He sent for Koremitsu and while he was waiting looked up and down the dirty, cluttered street. Beside the nurse’s house was a new fence of plaited cypress. The four or five narrow shutters above had been raised, and new blinds, white and clean, hung in the apertures. He caught outlines of pretty foreheads beyond. He would have judged, as they moved about, that they belonged to rather tall women.

Waley’s amplification of the text—especially his placing the women on “some table or bed,” though it is hard to imagine a Heian room containing either—was undoubtedly inspired by his desire to make the text as immediately intelligible as possible to the European reader. Murasaki Shikibu does not explain why the women looked tall, and Waley felt obliged to insert an explanation. Seidensticker evidently preferred not to mention the peeping of the women nor their lower parts (shimotsukata), nor did he attempt to explain the tallness of the women. Waley is perhaps closer to the original than Seidensticker in the leisurely pace of the sentences. But probably no translator could be completely faithful both to the original and to the English language.

Any passage would do almost equally well to suggest the complexities, which tend to disappear in fluent translations that eliminate run-on sentences or augment the original with explanations. The following passage occurs near the beginning of the “Yugao” chapter:

Mikuruma irubeki kado wa sashitarikereba, hito shite Koremitsu mesasete, matasetamaikeru hodo, mutsukashige naru oji no sama wo miwatase shitamaeru ni, kono ie no katawara ni, higaki to iu mono wo atarashu shite, kami wa, hajitomi shigoken bakari agewatashite, sudare nado mo ito shiro suzushige naru ni, okashiki hitaitsuki no sukikage, amata miete nozoku. Tachisamayouran shimotsukata omoiyaru ni, anagachi ni taketakaki kokochi zo suru.

It is not possible to make an absolutely literal rendering, but the meaning is approximately: “Because the gate through which carriages were admitted was locked, he sent a man for Koremitsu, and while he waited, he ran his eyes along the disreputable-looking street [and noticed] that [someone] in the house next door had newly [put up] what they call a cypress-bark fence, above which [someone] had lifted the row of four or five shutters; the blinds looked very white and cool, and he could dimly see through them many charming foreheads peeping [at him]. When he tried imagining the lower parts [of the figures] that seemed to be wandering around, he had a feeling that they must be very tall.”

The translation by Arthur Waley renders this passage:

[H]e managed to find the house; but the front gate was locked and he could not drive in. He sent one of his servants for Koremitsu, his foster-nurse’s son, and while he was waiting began to examine the rather wretched-looking by-street. The house next door was fenced with a new paling, above which at one place were four or five panels of open trellis-work, screened by blinds which were very white and bare. Through chinks in the blinds a number of foreheads could be seen. They seemed to belong to a group of ladies who must be peeping with interest into the street below. At first he thought that they had merely peeped out as they passed; but he soon realized that if they were standing on the floor they must be giants. No, evidently they had taken the trouble to climb on to some table or bed; which was surely rather odd!

Edward Seidensticker’s translation is closer to the original:

The carriage entrance was closed. He sent for Koremitsu and while he was waiting looked up and down the dirty, cluttered street. Beside the nurse’s house was a new fence of plaited cypress. The four or five narrow shutters above had been raised, and new blinds, white and clean, hung in the apertures. He caught outlines of pretty foreheads beyond. He would have judged, as they moved about, that they belonged to rather tall women.

Waley’s amplification of the text—especially his placing the women on “some table or bed,” though it is hard to imagine a Heian room containing either—was undoubtedly inspired by his desire to make the text as immediately intelligible as possible to the European reader. Murasaki Shikibu does not explain why the women looked tall, and Waley felt obliged to insert an explanation. Seidensticker evidently preferred not to mention the peeping of the women nor their lower parts (shimotsukata), nor did he attempt to explain the tallness of the women. Waley is perhaps closer to the original than Seidensticker in the leisurely pace of the sentences. But probably no translator could be completely faithful both to the original and to the English language.

Donald Keene also points to the beginning of the fourth chapter and compares Waley and Seidensticker's translations (source: Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century, Keene, Donald, 1999, pp 477-514):

Any passage would do almost equally well to suggest the complexities, which tend to disappear in fluent translations that eliminate run-on sentences or augment the original with explanations. The following passage occurs near the beginning of the “Yugao” chapter:

Mikuruma irubeki kado wa sashitarikereba, hito shite Koremitsu mesasete, matasetamaikeru hodo, mutsukashige naru oji no sama wo miwatase shitamaeru ni, kono ie no katawara ni, higaki to iu mono wo atarashu shite, kami wa, hajitomi shigoken bakari agewatashite, sudare nado mo ito shiro suzushige naru ni, okashiki hitaitsuki no sukikage, amata miete nozoku. Tachisamayouran shimotsukata omoiyaru ni, anagachi ni taketakaki kokochi zo suru.

It is not possible to make an absolutely literal rendering, but the meaning is approximately: “Because the gate through which carriages were admitted was locked, he sent a man for Koremitsu, and while he waited, he ran his eyes along the disreputable-looking street [and noticed] that [someone] in the house next door had newly [put up] what they call a cypress-bark fence, above which [someone] had lifted the row of four or five shutters; the blinds looked very white and cool, and he could dimly see through them many charming foreheads peeping [at him]. When he tried imagining the lower parts [of the figures] that seemed to be wandering around, he had a feeling that they must be very tall.”

The translation by Arthur Waley renders this passage:

[H]e managed to find the house; but the front gate was locked and he could not drive in. He sent one of his servants for Koremitsu, his foster-nurse’s son, and while he was waiting began to examine the rather wretched-looking by-street. The house next door was fenced with a new paling, above which at one place were four or five panels of open trellis-work, screened by blinds which were very white and bare. Through chinks in the blinds a number of foreheads could be seen. They seemed to belong to a group of ladies who must be peeping with interest into the street below. At first he thought that they had merely peeped out as they passed; but he soon realized that if they were standing on the floor they must be giants. No, evidently they had taken the trouble to climb on to some table or bed; which was surely rather odd!

Edward Seidensticker’s translation is closer to the original:

The carriage entrance was closed. He sent for Koremitsu and while he was waiting looked up and down the dirty, cluttered street. Beside the nurse’s house was a new fence of plaited cypress. The four or five narrow shutters above had been raised, and new blinds, white and clean, hung in the apertures. He caught outlines of pretty foreheads beyond. He would have judged, as they moved about, that they belonged to rather tall women.

Waley’s amplification of the text—especially his placing the women on “some table or bed,” though it is hard to imagine a Heian room containing either—was undoubtedly inspired by his desire to make the text as immediately intelligible as possible to the European reader. Murasaki Shikibu does not explain why the women looked tall, and Waley felt obliged to insert an explanation. Seidensticker evidently preferred not to mention the peeping of the women nor their lower parts (shimotsukata), nor did he attempt to explain the tallness of the women. Waley is perhaps closer to the original than Seidensticker in the leisurely pace of the sentences. But probably no translator could be completely faithful both to the original and to the English language.

"How can I now let her go from me?" is so glaring a mistake that I doubt he could speak the language (apparently he taught himself to read classical Japanese/Chinese, probably not speak). The line is addressed to Kiritsubo Consort, so the object should be the second person pronoun "you". Also the tone is slightly reproachful albeit full of pain. This is the Emperor talking, so even in a moment of great pain and love showing and even to the object of his affection, he still retains his undisputed authoritativeness and unquestionable power. "You made a promise to me. How could you leave me (and die first)?" would roughly be the modern equivalent. But it is said more elegantly and with more respect.

"How can I now let her go from me?" is so glaring a mistake that I doubt he could speak the language (apparently he taught himself to read classical Japanese/Chinese, probably not speak). The line is addressed to Kiritsubo Consort, so the object should be the second person pronoun "you". Also the tone is slightly reproachful albeit full of pain. This is the Emperor talking, so even in a moment of great pain and love showing and even to the object of his affection, he still retains his undisputed authoritativeness and unquestionable power. "You made a promise to me. How could you leave me (and die first)?" would roughly be the modern equivalent. But it is said more elegantly and with more respect. In comparison, Waley mistakenly rendered it as a short soliloquy in the form of a rhetorical question exuding self-doubt that simply isn't there in the original text.