Kakiho nasu hito wa iedomo komanishiki himo tokiakeshi kimi naranaku ni

垣ほなす人は言へども高麗錦
紐解き開けし君ならなくに

Roma-ji: Kakiho nasu hito wa iedomo komanishiki himo tokiakeshi kimi naranaku ni
English Translation: Like a hedge they stand,
all the people, and they talk,
yet with Koma brocade
it is not you who untied
and loosened the cord I wear
Meaning: Though people crowd around like a hedge and talk, you are not one who has untied my Koma-brocade cord with me.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2405

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Though the people around crowd like a hedge and gossip about the two of them, they have not yet untied each other's cords and slept together; the poem laments rumors that are not true. The frustration of being made the subject of groundless talk overlaps with a love not yet fulfilled.
The next poem also shares the phrase "komanishiki himo tokiake," so the two are linked by the same words. Where this poem laments that rumors arise though the cords have not been untied, the next seeks to untie the cords and meet, using the same phrase to sing of different phases of love. Like "koto no shigekeku" in poems 2397 and 2398 of this book, it is also a love poem troubled by gossip.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kakiho nasu": "like a hedge," a figure for people surrounding the lovers like a fence and talking about them.
Second line, "hito wa iedomo": "though people talk." The concessive "domo" leads on to the second half, which shows the gap between rumor and fact.
Third line, "komanishiki": a pillow word attached to "cord." It is brocade brought from Koguryo, and leads to "cord" through the sense of cords made from such brocade.
Fourth line, "himo tokiakeshi": "who untied and opened the cord." For man and woman to untie each other's cords means to sleep together. "Shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," modifies "you" in the last line.
Fifth line, "kimi naranaku ni": "you are not the one." "Naku ni" is the nominalized negative "zu" with "ni," closing the poem with a sigh that the rumor is untrue.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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