Waga yado ni ueooshitaru akihagi o tare ka shime sasu ware ni shiraezu

我が宿に植ゑ生ほしたる秋萩を
誰れか標刺す我れに知らえず

Roma-ji: Waga yado ni ueooshitaru akihagi o tare ka shime sasu ware ni shiraezu
English Translation: At my own dwelling,
planted there and raised with care,
autumn bush clover—
who has marked it as his own,
all unknown to me, I wonder?
Meaning: Who has staked his claim to the autumn bush clover I planted and raised at my home, without my knowing?
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2114

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
This poem says someone has, without the speaker's knowledge, marked as his own the bush clover planted and raised at home. It is often read as an allegory likening the carefully raised clover to a daughter, and someone courting her unbeknown. It suggests the surprise and bewilderment of a parent learning that a carefully raised daughter has a lover.

The first line, "at my dwelling," names the place.
The second line, "planted and raised," is hypermetric.
The third line, "the autumn bush clover," is taken as a figure for a carefully raised daughter.
In the fourth line, "tare ka shime sasu," "shime" is a mark of ownership or prohibition and "ka" an interrogative particle in kakari-musubi with the attributive "sasu."
In the last line, "ware ni shiraezu," "e" is passive: without my knowing. By inversion the surprise comes at the end.
Source: Manyoshu
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