Murasaki no nataka no ura no nabikimo no kokoro wa imo ni yorinishi mono o

紫の名高の浦の靡き藻の
心は妹に寄りにしものを

Roma-ji: Murasaki no nataka no ura no nabikimo no kokoro wa imo ni yorinishi mono o
English Translation: Like the swaying weed
in the bay of Nataka,
famed as purple dye,
my heart has drawn to you,
my love, and yet even so
Meaning: Like the swaying seaweed in the bay of Nataka, famed as purple dye, my heart has wholly drawn to you, my love, and yet.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2780

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Just as the seaweed of Nataka Bay sways with the waves and drifts to one side, the speaker's heart has drawn wholly to his beloved, and yet: so the poem ends. In the trailing close "mono o" seeps the frustration of a love that, though wholly given, does not go as one wishes.
Following the preceding poem, 2779, it is another poem on swaying seaweed. There the swaying seaweed expressed a drooping heart; here the weed drifting to one side expresses a heart drawn toward the beloved, so the same swaying seaweed becomes a figure for different motions of the heart.
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, "murasaki no": a pillow word attaching to "Nataka" (famed), since purple is a renowned color. Setting a noble color at the start lends the poem splendor.
Second line, "nataka no ura no": "of Nataka Bay" in Kii Province, thought to be near present-day Kainan in Wakayama, showing a shore where seaweed sways.
Third line, "nabikimo no": "of the swaying seaweed." The first three lines form a preface, the weed swaying to one side leading into "yori" (drawn toward).
Fourth line, "kokoro wa imo ni": "my heart, to my beloved." "Imo" is a man's affectionate word for his lover or wife, and "wa" singles out the heart.
Fifth line, "yorinishi mono o": "has drawn to you, and yet." "Ni" marks completion, "shi" the past, and "mono o" an exclamatory concession, ending with feelings left unanswered.
Source: Manyoshu
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