Masurao mo kaku koikeru o tawayame no kouru kokoro ni tagui arame ya mo

ますらをもかく恋ひけるをたわやめの
恋ふる心にたぐひあらめやも

Roma-ji: Masurao mo kaku koikeru o tawayame no kouru kokoro ni tagui arame ya mo
English Translation: Even a stalwart man
has longed so much, you tell me;
yet a tender girl's
heart that longs, could anything
ever be compared to it
Meaning: If even a stalwart man like you longs so deeply, could anything compare with the longing heart of a tender woman?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 582

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems sent in reply by the Elder Daughter of the Ōtomo household at Sakanoue to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
If even he, a stalwart man, longs so deeply, she says, could anything match the love in a tender woman's heart? Setting masurao, "stalwart man," against tawayame, "tender woman," she takes up his words of love and returns a feeling greater still.
The author, Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ōiratsume, was the daughter of Ōtomo no Sukunamaro and Lady Sakanoue, and later became Ōtomo no Yakamochi's principal wife.

First line, "Even a stalwart man," names masurao, a manly man, referring to Yakamochi.
Second line, "has longed so much, you tell me," uses the concessive o: though he has longed like this.
Third line, "yet a tender girl's," names tawayame, a gentle woman, set against masurao in the first line.
Fourth line, "heart that longs, could anything," means the heart that loves.
Fifth line, "ever be compared to it," uses the rhetorical meya mo: could there be its equal? None.
Author: Ōtomo no Sakanoue no Ōiratsume
Source: Manyoshu
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