Murasaki no nioeru imo o nikuku araba hitozuma yue ni ware koime ya mo

紫のにほへる妹を憎くあらば
人妻故に我れ恋ひめやも

Roma-ji: Murasaki no nioeru imo o nikuku araba hitozuma yue ni ware koime ya mo
English Translation: You, so radiant,
like the purple gromwell's hue—
if I hated you,
knowing you another's wife,
would I love you as I do?
Meaning: If I hated you, radiant as purple gromwell, would I be longing for you like this—knowing full well you are another man's wife?
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 21

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When the Emperor went hunting on the plain of Gamō: a poem by the Crown Prince in reply"
Answering Nukata's gentle reproach about his waving sleeve, the prince frankly declares an irrepressible love: if he hated her, lovely as purple gromwell, would he long for her so, knowing she is another's wife? This bold declaration of love for a married woman, paired with Nukata's poem, is famed as one of the finest exchanges of love poetry in the Man'yōshū. Another influential view takes it as a witty riposte meant to delight the whole banquet. The left note records the hunt on the plain of Gamō on the fifth day of the fifth month of 668, the seventh year of Emperor Tenji.
Prince Ōama was a son of Emperor Jomei and Empress Kōgyoku (Saimei) and the full younger brother of Emperor Tenji. Named crown prince under Tenji, he later won the Jinshin War and took the throne as Emperor Tenmu. With Princess Nukata he fathered Princess Tōchi.

The first line, "purple," means "like the color of gromwell" and leads to "radiant." It takes up "madder-bright purple fields" from the preceding poem, answering with the same word.
In the second line, niou means to glow with lovely color, and ru is continuative: "you who shine so beautifully." Imo, a man's fond word for a woman, refers to Nukata.
The third line, nikuku araba, is a supposition: "if I hated you." It sets up the premise for the rhetorical question at the end.
In the fourth line, yue ni is concessive: "though you are another's wife." Knowing that Nukata serves Emperor Tenji, he dares to say "another's wife" outright.
In the last line, me is the perfective form of the conjectural mu, and ya mo is rhetorical: "would I love you? Surely not." The rhetorical turn proclaims the opposite with force—far from hating her, he loves her with all his heart.
Author: Prince Ōama
Source: Manyoshu
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