Suminoe no kishino no hari ni niouredo niowanu ware ya nioite oramu

住吉の岸野の榛ににほふれど
にほはぬ我れやにほひて居らむ

Roma-ji: Suminoe no kishino no hari ni niouredo niowanu ware ya nioite oramu
English Translation: In Suminoe,
the alders of the shore fields
lend their glowing hue—
could I alone, still undyed,
stay untouched? I too shall glow.
Meaning: The others take on the glowing color of the alders in the shore fields of Suminoe; could I alone remain undyed? I too shall take on that hue.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3801

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Nine poems in reply by the maidens."
Just as cloth takes on a lovely color from the alders of Suminoe, the other girls let their hearts be colored by the old man. Asking how she alone could stay undyed, the maiden too draws near. The triple use of niou, "to take on color," is a notable piece of wordplay.
This is the set in which the nine maidens who had teased the Bamboo-Cutter answer his chōka and envoys one after another. From the second poem on, almost every one ends with "I too shall draw near," so that the maidens yield to the old man one by one.
The poet is one of the nine maidens the Bamboo-Cutter met; her name is not recorded. She is a figure of the tale, one of those the old man called immortals.

First line, "Suminoe no," names Suminoe in Settsu. The Bamboo-Cutter's chōka speaks of robes dyed with "alder from the far fields of Suminoe," and the maiden takes up those words.
Second line, "kishino no hari ni," means "in the alders of the shore fields." Hari is the alder, whose bark and cones were used to dye cloth.
Third line, "niouredo," means "though they take on color," a figure for the other girls letting their hearts be colored by the old man.
Fourth line, "niowanu ware ya," means "I who remain undyed." The particle ya forms a kakari-musubi with mu in the final line, making it rhetorical.
Final line, "nioite oramu," means "how could I stay undyed? I too shall take on color." Niou repeated in the third, fourth and final lines makes this one of the most crafted poems of the set.
Source: Manyoshu
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