Katsuragi no takama no kaya no haya shirite shime sasamashi o ima zo kuyashiki

葛城の高間の草野早知りて
標刺さましを今ぞ悔しき

Roma-ji: Katsuragi no takama no kaya no haya shirite shime sasamashi o ima zo kuyashiki
English Translation: At Katsuragi
on Takama's field of reeds,
had I known it soon
I would have staked out my claim;
now how bitterly I rue it
Meaning: Had I only known of the reed fields of Takama in Katsuragi early on, I would have staked my claim to them—how bitterly I regret it now.
Commentary: Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1337

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Grasses"
The poet laments that had he known of the reed fields of Takama in Katsuragi early, he would have staked his claim, and now he regrets it. The reed field stands for the woman he loves and staking a claim for making her his own, expressing regret for a woman who has already become another man's.
It is one of the poems on grasses. The motif of setting up a marker to claim something as one's own also appears in poems 1342, 1347, and 1348 in this book and recurs through this sequence. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "At Katsuragi," names the district on the border of Yamato and Kawachi.
The second line refers to the reed fields of Takama on the slopes of Mount Katsuragi.
The third line, "had I known it soon," means "if I had known of it early."
In the fourth line, "mashi o" is counterfactual: "I should have staked my claim." The poem pauses here, and the form matches the last line of poem 1342 in this book.
The final line, "now how bitterly I rue it," is a kakari-musubi construction in which "zo" is answered by the attributive "kuyashiki."
Source: Manyoshu
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