Yamato no murō no kemomo moto shigeku iiteshi mono o narazu wa yamaji

大和の室生の毛桃本繁く
言ひてしものをならずはやまじ

Roma-ji: Yamato no murō no kemomo moto shigeku iiteshi mono o narazu wa yamaji
English Translation: In Yamato,
at Murō, the downy peach
thick about its root:
so thickly I have pleaded,
I will not stop till it bears fruit
Meaning: Like the downy peach of Murō in Yamato thick at its root, so thickly have I spoken my love; until it bears fruit, I will not stop.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2834

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Metaphorical Poems"
As the downy peach of Murō in Yamato grows thick at its root, so has the speaker pressed his suit with word upon word, and he will not stop until love bears fruit as the peach does. Fruit setting on the tree is overlaid with the fulfillment of love, and the poem declares a firm resolve not to give up until the wish is won.
By the left note "the one poem above expresses feelings through fruit," this poem uses fruit as its figure. The material moves from the waterside scenes of the preceding poems to the fruit of a tree.
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, "yamato no": "of Yamato," the province. With only four syllables, the line is one short.
Second line, "murō no kemomo": "the downy peach of Murō." Murō is held to be in present-day Uda City, Nara Prefecture, and the first two lines form a preface leading to "moto shigeku" through the image of the peach thick at its base.
Third line, "moto shigeku": "thick at the root," and at the same time "often, repeatedly" in speech. It turns the image of the peach in the preface toward the speaker's repeated wooing.
Fourth line, "iiteshi mono o": "since I have said so." "Te" is the continuative form of the perfective "tsu," "shi" the attributive form of the past "ki," and "mono o" is a conjunctive particle of contrast or exclamation, firmly affirming that the suit has been pressed.
Fifth line, "narazu wa yamaji": "I will not stop until it is fulfilled." "Nara" plays on the peach bearing fruit and love coming to fruition, "zu wa" states a negative supposition, and "maji" expresses negative intention.
Source: Manyoshu
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