Waga yado no mase no hatate ni hau uri no nari mo narazu mo futari nenamashi

我が宿の籬のはたてに這ふ瓜の
なりもならずも二人寝なまし

Roma-ji: Waga yado no mase no hatate ni hau uri no nari mo narazu mo futari nenamashi
English Translation: At my house the melon
creeps along the hedge's end;
whether it bears or no,
whether our love comes true or no,
let the two of us lie together.
Meaning: Like the melon vine creeping at the end of the hedge by my house, whether it bears fruit or not, whether our love is fulfilled or not, I would have the two of us sleep together.
Commentary: Love Poems 413

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
Laying the question of whether the melon at the hedge's end will bear fruit over the question of whether love will be fulfilled, the poet says frankly that whatever comes, he would have the two of them sleep together. The simple, open-hearted diction recalls the Man'yōshū.
Line 2 of the base text is irregular in its writing; here the reading mase no hatate ni given in the notes for the Ruijū and Teika texts is followed. The Ruijū text places the poem in the miscellaneous section under the title "Love."

Line 1 means "at my house."
Line 2 means "at the end of the hedge," mase being a low fence of woven bamboo or brushwood.
Line 3 means "the creeping melon," and the first three lines form a preface leading to naru.
Line 4 plays on naru, a melon bearing fruit and a love coming true. Against the "empty love" of the preceding poem, this is a bold love indifferent to success or failure.
Line 5: na is intensive and mashi a conjecture with a wish, "let the two of us sleep together."
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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