Hau kuzu no taezu shinowamu ōkimi no meshishi nobe ni wa shime yuubeshi mo

延ふ葛の絶えず偲はむ大君の
見しし野辺には標結ふべしも

Roma-ji: Hau kuzu no taezu shinowamu ōkimi no meshishi nobe ni wa shime yuubeshi mo
English Translation: Like the creeping kudzu
never breaking, we'll recall him;
the fields our great lord
gazed upon and loved so well
should be roped off as his own
Meaning: Like the creeping kudzu, we will remember him without end; the fields our lord once gazed upon should be roped off and kept sacred.
Commentary: Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4509

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems composed as each, moved by the mood, thought of the site of the detached palace at Takamato."
Like the creeping kudzu we will remember him without end; the fields our lord gazed on should be roped off: the poem wishes to preserve the fields associated with Emperor Shōmu. The left note attributes it to Ōtomo no Yakamochi, Middle Controller of the Right. Taking up the kudzu of the preceding poem, he lays remembrance over its endless spreading and says the fields the emperor loved should be kept as sacred ground.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Middle Controller of the Right.

The first line, "hau kuzu no," takes up "nobe hau kuzu no" of the preceding poem and serves as a pillow word for taezu, "unbroken."
The second line, "taezu shinowamu," "we will remember him without end," ends the first sentence.
The third line, "ōkimi no," refers to Emperor Shōmu.
The fourth line, "meshishi nobe ni wa," uses mesu, honorific for "to see": the fields our lord gazed on.
The closing line, "shime yuubeshi mo," "they should be roped off," ends with the wish to protect and hand down the emperor's land.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Takamato no nobe hau kuzu no sue tsui ni chiyo ni wasuremu waga ōkimi kamo
Next Poem: Ōkimi no tsugite mesurashi Takamato no nobe miru goto ni ne nomi shi nakayu