Himokagami notoka no yama mo ta ga yue ka kimi kimaseru ni himo tokazu nemu

紐鏡能登香の山も誰がゆゑか
君来ませるに紐解かず寝む

Roma-ji: Himokagami notoka no yama mo ta ga yue ka kimi kimaseru ni himo tokazu nemu
English Translation: Notoka Mountain,
named like a mirror's cord, 'untie not,'
for whose sake does it speak?
Now that you have come to me,
shall I sleep with cords still tied?
Meaning: Notoka Mountain, whose name says "untie not" like a mirror's cord—for whose sake does it say so? Now that you have come, how could I sleep with my cords still tied?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2424

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
There is a mountain named Notoka, whose name seems to say "untie not," but for whose sake? Now that the beloved has come, the speaker will not sleep with her cords still tied. Hearing the mountain's name as the prohibition "na toki so," the poem playfully brushes it aside and expresses the wish to welcome the lover.
Speaking through a mountain, this poem follows the poems on mountains before it. In poems 2408, 2409, and 2413 of this book, a cord coming undone was an omen of love, while here the speaker unties her own cord to receive her lover. The location of Notoka Mountain is uncertain, and several views have been put forward.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "himokagami": a pillow word attached to "Notoka." Since the cord on the back of a mirror is not to be untied, it is said to lead to the sound "notoka" through the sense of "na toki so" (do not untie).
Second line, "notoka no yama mo": "Notoka Mountain too." The speaker hears in the mountain's name the sound of "do not untie," as though it were forbidding her to loosen her cord.
Third line, "ta ga yue ka": "for whose sake?" The binding particle "ka" forms a kakari-musubi with "mu" in the last line and makes a rhetorical question.
Fourth line, "kimi kimaseru ni": "though you have come." "Kimaseru" is "ku" (to come) with the honorific "masu" and the continuative "ri," and "ni" is concessive.
Fifth line, "himo tokazu nemu": "shall I sleep without untying my cord? No, I will untie it." Responding to "ka" in the third line, it ends in the attributive "mu." Ending with "himo," the same word as in "himokagami" in the first line, it makes beginning and end answer each other.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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