Chihayaburu uji no hashimori nare o shi zo aware to wa omou toshi no henureba - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ちはやぶる宇治の橋守なれをしぞ
あはれとは思ふ年の経ぬれば

Roma-ji: Chihayaburu uji no hashimori nare o shi zo aware to wa omou toshi no henureba
English Translation: O keeper
of the bridge at mighty Uji,
it is you indeed
I feel for with all my heart,
for the years have passed us both.
Meaning: O keeper of the Uji Bridge, it is you I hold dear with all my heart, since we have both lived through so many years.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 904

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Addressing the keeper who has long watched over the Uji Bridge, the speaker says he feels tenderly toward him as one who has also grown old. Overlaying his aged self with the keeper, he expresses fellow feeling between those who have lived through long years. The author is unknown.
In this book, poems on things that have lived through long years, such as the bridge keeper and pine trees, continue from this poem through 909.

First line "chihayaburu" is a pillow word for Uji.
Second line "uji no hashimori" is the keeper of the Uji Bridge over the Uji River in Yamashiro, taking the form of an address.
Third line "nare o shi zo": nare is the pronoun "you," singled out strongly by the emphatic shi and the particle zo.
Fourth line "aware to wa omou" closes zo with the attributive omou; the line is hypermetric.
Fifth line "toshi no henureba" gives the reason by inversion, ending in fellow feeling for the years both have passed.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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