Ikuyo ni ka kataritsutaemu Hakozaki no matsu no chitose no hitotsu naraneba - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

幾世にか語り伝へむ筥崎の
松の千歳のひとつならねば

Roma-ji: Ikuyo ni ka kataritsutaemu Hakozaki no matsu no chitose no hitotsu naraneba
English Translation: Through how many ages
will the tale be handed down?
For at Hakozaki
the thousand years of the pines
are not one span, but many.
Meaning: Through how many ages will it be told and handed down? For the thousand years of the pines of Hakozaki are not one span alone, but many.
Commentary: Book Ten Kagura Songs 591

Headnote: "On seeing Hakozaki"
The poem wonders through how many ages the pine of Hakozaki will be told of, since it has passed through a thousand years not once but many times. The headnote shows it was composed on seeing Hakozaki in Chikuzen Province. It praises the long years of the pine at the Hakozaki Shrine and marvels that its age is beyond telling. Following the pines of Sumiyoshi in 589 and 590, it is another poem on the pine of a god's shrine.
The author, Minamoto no Shigeyuki, was a son of Minamoto no Kanenobu of the Seiwa Genji who served as Provisional Governor of Sagami and other posts and in his later years went down to Michinoku. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "kaze o itami" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "ikuyo ni ka," means "through how many ages," with the binding particle "ka" resolved by the attributive "mu" in the second line.
Second line, "kataritsutaemu," means "will it be handed down," and the poem breaks after this second line. It shares with "kotaenan" in the preceding poem, 590, the device of having the pine tell of the past.
Third line, "Hakozaki no," means "of Hakozaki" in Chikuzen Province, the site of the Hakozaki Shrine.
Fourth line, "matsu no chitose no," means "the thousand years of the pine," following the "Sumiyoshi no matsu" of the two preceding poems with another pine.
Final line, "hitotsu naraneba," means "since they are not one," speaking of the thousand years repeated many times. "Ne" is the perfective form of the negative "zu," and "ba" expresses cause.
Author: Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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