Uete miru magaki no take no fushigoto ni komoreru chiyo wa kimi zo kazoen - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

植ゑて見る籬の竹の節ごとに
こもれる千代は君ぞ数へん

Roma-ji: Uete miru magaki no take no fushigoto ni komoreru chiyo wa kimi zo kazoen
English Translation: In every joint of
the bamboo of the low fence
I plant here and watch,
a thousand ages lie hid:
it is you who will count them
Meaning: The thousand ages hidden in every joint of the bamboo by the fence, which I planted and now gaze upon, are for you, my lord, to count.
Commentary: Book Ten Poems of Celebration 607

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed when he was still a prince staying at the Toba Palace, at a gathering held in the quarters of the Hachijō-in, then called the Princess, where poems were recited on the topic 'Bamboo, the Friend of Distant Years'"
Composed at the same gathering as the preceding poem. The thousand ages hidden in each joint of the bamboo by the fence, he says, are for my lord to count. Imagining that a thousand ages lie hidden in every joint, the poem celebrates the one who will live long enough to count them all.
The author, "the Later Sanjō Palace Minister," was the son of Hachijō Chancellor Fujiwara no Saneyuki. He rose to Palace Minister and, as a member of the Sanjō house, was called the Later Sanjō Palace Minister.
This is the second poem in the sequence. Where 606 made the bamboo the "companion" of my lord's years, this poem has my lord count the thousand ages hidden in its joints, celebrating long life through the same bamboo.

First line, "uete miru": "which I plant and watch."
Second line, "magaki no take no": "magaki" is a fence loosely woven of bamboo or brushwood. It answers "kimi ga mikaki no" in the next poem, 608, through the bamboo by the fence.
Third line, "fushigoto ni": "fushi" is a bamboo joint. Because the space between joints is called "yo," it echoes the "chiyo" of the fourth line.
Fourth line, "komoreru chiyo wa": "komore" is the perfective of "komoru," "to be enclosed," and "ru" the attributive of the continuative "ri," "the thousand ages that lie hidden."
Fifth line, "kimi zo kazoen": the emphatic "zo" closes with "n," the attributive of the conjectural "mu." It is my lord who will live long enough to count the thousand ages.
Author: Fujiwara no Kiminori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Ikuchiyo to kagirazarikeru kuretake ya kimi ga yowai no tagui naruran
Next Poem: Waga tomo to kimi ga mikaki no kuretake wa chiyo ni ikuyo no kage o souran