Atai naki takara to iu tomo hitotsuki no nigoreru sake ni ani masame ya mo

価なき宝といふとも一杯の
濁れる酒にあにまさめやも

Roma-ji: Atai naki takara to iu tomo hitotsuki no nigoreru sake ni ani masame ya mo
English Translation: Though it be a gem
so rare that none could price it,
would it ever be
worth more than a single cup
of the cloudy wine? Never!
Meaning: Even a treasure beyond all price—how could it be worth more than a single cup of cloudy sake?
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 345

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General of Dazaifu, Lord Ōtomo"
This is the eighth of the thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo. Even a treasure of incalculable worth cannot match a single cup of cloudy sake—wine is praised as supreme. "A treasure beyond price" is thought to echo the priceless jewel of the Buddhist scriptures. It uses the same phrase, "a single cup of cloudy wine," as the first poem.
The thirteen poems in praise of sake form a sequence in which Tabito, at Dazaifu, extols wine as a way of rejecting worldly cleverness and consoling life's sorrows, drawing on Chinese precedents such as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was a son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro. He served as Middle Counselor and Governor-General of Dazaifu before rising to Great Counselor, and died in Tenpyō 3 (731). Steeped in Chinese letters, he was at the center of a poetic circle with Yamanoue no Okura and others while serving in Tsukushi.

First line "so rare that none could price it": atai naki means beyond all value.
Second line "Though it be a gem": tomo is a concessive condition.
Third line "a single cup" is the same phrase as in the first poem of the sequence.
Fourth line "of the cloudy wine" names the unfiltered sake.
Fifth line "Never": ani strengthens the rhetorical question, me is the conditional of mu, and ya mo rhetorical—"how could it be better?"
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ana miniku sakashira o su to sake nomanu hito o yoku miba saru ni ka mo nimu
Next Poem: Yoru hikaru tama to iu tomo sake nomite kokoro o yaru ni ani shikame ya mo