Aki no ta no hota no karibaka ka yoriawaba soko mo ka hito no wa o koto nasamu

秋の田の穂田の刈りばかか寄りあはば
そこもか人の我を言成さむ

Roma-ji: Aki no ta no hota no karibaka ka yoriawaba soko mo ka hito no wa o koto nasamu
English Translation: In the autumn fields,
where the ripened rice is reaped,
should our shares draw close,
would people even over that
make a rumor out of me
Meaning: If in the autumn rice fields our shares of the harvest happened to lie side by side, would people make gossip of me even over that?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 512

Headnote: "A poem by Kusa no Otome"
Drawing on the harvest scene in the autumn fields, the poet wonders whether people would spread rumors even if her share of the reaping merely happened to lie next to a man's, and laments the noisiness of gossip. Through the plain imagery of farm work, one senses a young woman's worry over whispers about love.
The author, Kusa no Otome, is a woman of whom nothing is known. Kusa may mean "country," and some take the name to mean a country girl.

First line, "In the autumn fields," means fields of ripened rice, marking the harvest season.
Second line, "where the ripened rice is reaped," names hota, fields in ear, and karibaka, each reaper's allotted strip; with the first line it is taken as a preface leading to "draw close" in the third line.
Third line, "should our shares draw close," uses the prefix ka and the hypothetical -ba: if they should come together.
Fourth line, "would people even over that," uses soko, "that matter," and the questioning ka, closed by the attributive mu in the fifth line.
Fifth line, "make a rumor out of me," means will they make me the subject of talk? Koto nasu means to talk of, to make gossip; she laments the sharpness of people's tongues.
Author: Kusa no Otome
Source: Manyoshu
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