Haru no no no shitakusa nabiki ware mo yori nioi yorinamu tomo no manimani

春の野の下草靡き我れも寄り
にほひ寄りなむ友のまにまに

Roma-ji: Haru no no no shitakusa nabiki ware mo yori nioi yorinamu tomo no manimani
English Translation: On the fields of spring
the low grasses bend and sway—
so I too draw near,
glowing, I shall draw near you,
just as all my friends have done.
Meaning: As the low grasses bend on the spring fields, I too draw near; taking on your color, I shall draw near to you, just as my friends have done.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3802

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Nine poems in reply by the maidens."
Like the low grasses swaying in the wind on spring fields, the maiden will follow her friends and draw near to the old man. Closing the set of nine, the poem sets the outcome, with all the girls yielding to him, in a mild spring landscape.
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, "haru no no no," means "of the spring fields." It answers the headnote's account of a late-spring hill and colors the close of the set with a spring scene.
Second line, "shitakusa nabiki," means "as the low grasses bend." Grass yielding to the wind mirrors the maiden yielding to the old man.
Third line, "ware mo yori," means "I too draw near." The refrain ware mo yorinamu is moved to the third line, varying the pattern.
Fourth line, "nioi yorinamu," means "I shall draw near, taking on your color." It inherits niou from the preceding poem, 3801, linking the two by their words.
Final line, "tomo no manimani," means "just as my friends do." Through inversion it attaches to the fourth line, bringing the nine poems to a close with the girls following the old man together.
Source: Manyoshu
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