Katsuragi no sotsubiko mayumi araki ni mo tanome ya kimi ga waga na norikemu

葛城の襲津彦真弓新木にも
頼めや君が我が名告りけむ

Roma-ji: Katsuragi no sotsubiko mayumi araki ni mo tanome ya kimi ga waga na norikemu
English Translation: Of Katsuragi,
like Sotsubiko's true bow
of fresh-cut timber,
did you trust me so, my lord,
that you spoke my name aloud
Meaning: Like the strong bow of fresh-cut wood belonging to Sotsubiko of Katsuragi, was it because you trusted me so that you spoke my name to others?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2639

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Like the strong bow of fresh-cut wood belonging to Sotsubiko of Katsuragi, was it because he relied on her that her lover revealed her name to others? So a woman asks. At that time, revealing a lover's name to others was something to be avoided, and the poem holds both her dismay at having her name spoken and her wish to take it as a sign of his firm trust. Interpretations vary.
Like the preceding poem, it speaks through a bow. Katsuragi no Sotsubiko was an ancient chieftain recorded in the Nihon Shoki as having been sent to the Korean peninsula, and is regarded as the ancestor of the Katsuragi clan. By invoking the bow of this famed warrior, the poem makes it an image of steadfast reliability.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "katsuragi no": "of Katsuragi," the area at the foot of Mount Katsuragi in present-day western Nara Prefecture, the home base of the Katsuragi clan.
Second line, "sotsubiko mayumi": "Sotsubiko's true bow." "Mayumi" is a bow made of spindle-tree wood or a term of praise for a bow, here the mighty bow of the legendary warrior Katsuragi no Sotsubiko.
Third line, "araki ni mo": "even as fresh-cut wood," timber newly cut, still green and supple, for a strong bow. The preface runs to here, the reliability of a strong bow leading into "tanome" (trusted).
Fourth line, "tanome ya kimi ga": "because you trusted, my lord?" "Tanome ya," the realis form with the particle "ya," gives a reason with a note of doubt.
Fifth line, "waga na norikemu": "did you speak my name?" "Noru" means to tell or say aloud, and the past conjectural "kemu" ends in the attributive form in a kakari-musubi construction answering "ya."
Source: Manyoshu
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