Ōbune no tomo ni mo he ni mo yosuru nami yosu tomo ware wa kimi ga manimani

大船の艫にも舳にも寄する波
寄すとも我れは君がまにまに

Roma-ji: Ōbune no tomo ni mo he ni mo yosuru nami yosu tomo ware wa kimi ga manimani
English Translation: Upon the great ship
both at the stern and the prow
the waves come pressing;
though they press me upon one,
I am yours to do as you will
Meaning: As waves press against a great ship at both stern and prow, though people may press my name upon someone else, I am yours, to do with as you will.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2740

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Just as waves press against a great ship at both its stern and its prow, though people may link the speaker's name with this person or that, the speaker remains wholly at the beloved's will. The poem expresses a single-hearted devotion that is not shaken by rumor, and it is taken to be spoken from a woman's standpoint.
As a poem expressing feelings through things, it speaks through the waves pressing against a great ship. "Yosu tomo" in the fourth line, like "yoshi mo yosu tomo" in poem 2729 of this book, uses "yosu" in the sense of linking people together through rumor, and the two poems share a heart unafraid of gossip. It begins with "Ōbune no" just as poem 2738 does; where that poem sings of a heart tossed by love, this one sings of a heart that does not waver.
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, "Ōbune no": "of the great ship."
Second line, "tomo ni mo he ni mo": "at both stern and prow." "Tomo" is the stern and "he" the prow, carrying the sense of "from this side and from that."
Third line, "yosuru nami": "the waves that press in." The first three lines form a preface leading into the same word, "yosu."
Fourth line, "yosu tomo ware wa": "though they link my name, I." "Yosu" means to couple people together in rumor, and "tomo" is a concessive conditional particle. The particle "wa" sets the speaker apart from those who gossip.
Fifth line, "kimi ga manimani": "as you will." "Manimani," a noun meaning "in accordance with," closes the poem without a predicate, firmly declaring a heart that entrusts everything to the beloved.
Source: Manyoshu
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