Arare furi tōtsu ōura ni yosuru nami yoshi mo yosu tomo nikuku aranaku ni

霰降り遠つ大浦に寄する波
よしも寄すとも憎くあらなくに

Roma-ji: Arare furi tōtsu ōura ni yosuru nami yoshi mo yosu tomo nikuku aranaku ni
English Translation: Hail is falling down
on the far-off Great Bay where
the waves roll ashore:
let them link my name with yours,
I would not hate it at all
Meaning: Like the waves rolling ashore at far Ōura Bay, even if people link my name with yours, I would not find it hateful at all.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2729

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Like the waves that roll in to the far Great Bay, even if people link the speaker's name with the beloved's in gossip, it would not be unwelcome in the least. Among many poems that fear rumor, this one is distinctive for embracing it.
As a poem expressing feelings through things, it speaks through waves rolling onto a shore. "Yosu" means to pair two people in gossip, and it overlaps with the waves' "yosuru." Where the preceding poem laments gossip in "koto no shigekeku," this one welcomes it, so two attitudes toward rumor are placed side by side. It also corresponds with "otodakaki" in the next poem and "yosu tomo" in poem 2740 of this book.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "arare furi": a pillow word attached to "tō," "far." It is thought to derive from the sound of falling hail.
Second line, "tōtsu ōura ni": "at far Ōura Bay." Its location is disputed; one view places it at Ōura on the north shore of Lake Biwa.
Third line, "yosuru nami": "the waves rolling in." The lines up to here form a preface, leading to the same word "yosu."
Fourth line, "yoshi mo yosu tomo": "even if they pair us in rumor." "Yoshi" expresses a provisional acceptance, and "tomo" is a concessive conditional particle.
Fifth line, "nikuku aranaku ni": "it would not be hateful." "Naku ni" is the nominalized form of the negative "zu" followed by "ni"; it closes with feeling on a heart that does not mind the gossip.
Source: Manyoshu
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