Kimi ni niru kusa to mishi yori waga shimeshi noyama no asaji hito na kari so ne

君に似る草と見しより我が標めし
野山の浅茅人な刈りそね

Roma-ji: Kimi ni niru kusa to mishi yori waga shimeshi noyama no asaji hito na kari so ne
English Translation: Since I first saw it
as a grass that looks like you,
I have staked my claim;
the cogon of field and hill,
let no other cut it down
Meaning: Ever since I saw it as a grass that resembles you, I have staked my claim—so let no one cut the cogon grass of these fields and hills.
Commentary: Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1347

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Grasses"
The speaker asks that no one cut the cogon grass of the fields and hills, which has been roped off as his own ever since he saw it as a grass resembling the one he loves. The cogon grass stands for the beloved, roping it off for claiming the person as his own, and cutting it for another taking her, expressing his wish not to lose his love to someone else.
It is one of the poems on grasses. Roping off cogon grass contrasts with poem 1342 in this book, which regrets not having tied a marker, and the next poem, 1348, likewise sings of having staked a claim, the two poems sharing the words "since I have claimed." The poet is unknown.

The first line, "Since I first saw it," is followed by "a grass that looks like you," naming the beloved it resembles.
The second line, "as a grass that looks like you," means "from the time I saw it so."
The third line, "I have staked my claim," uses the same word "shimeshi" as the second line of the next poem.
The fourth line names short cogon grass on the fields and hills, corresponding to the "reed-grass plain" of poem 1342 in this book.
In the final line, "na ... so ne" is a pleading prohibition: "let no one cut it."
Source: Manyoshu
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