Kimi ga tame Mitarashigawa o wakamizu ni musubu ya chiyo no hajime naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君がため御手洗川を若水に
掬ぶや千代の始めなるらん

Roma-ji: Kimi ga tame Mitarashigawa o wakamizu ni musubu ya chiyo no hajime naruran
English Translation: For my lord's sake now
from the Mitarashi River
as the year's young water
I scoop: is this not the start
of a thousand ages to come?
Meaning: For my lord's sake I scoop the water of the Mitarashi River as the first water of the new year; surely this is the beginning of a thousand ages.
Commentary: Book Ten Poems of Celebration 610

Headnote: "In the reign of Emperor Horikawa, on the morning of the first day of spring, there was a command to compose on the spirit of the day, and this was presented"
In the reign of Emperor Horikawa, on the morning of the first day of spring, he was commanded to compose a poem on the spirit of the day and presented this one. Scooping the water of the Mitarashi River as the new year's young water for my lord, he says, must be the beginning of a thousand ages. The young water drawn on the morning of the first day of spring was believed to drive away evil, and by making it water from the sacred Mitarashi River, the poem celebrates both the purity of the year's beginning and the endurance of the reign.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was the son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A central figure in the poetry circle of Emperor Horikawa, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa. His personal collection is the Sanboku Kika Shū, and he has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The next poem, 611, also dates from Emperor Horikawa's reign; this poem sees the beginning of a thousand ages in the year's first water, the next in cherry blossoms just beginning to open.

First line, "kimi ga tame": "for my lord's sake." My lord is Emperor Horikawa.
Second line, "Mitarashigawa o": the Mitarashi is a stream where worshipers purify their hands and mouths at a shrine, that of the Kamo Shrines being especially famous.
Third line, "wakamizu ni": "wakamizu" is water drawn on the morning of the first day of spring or of New Year's Day, believed to ward off evil.
Fourth line, "musubu ya chiyo no": "musubu" is to scoop water with the hands. The interrogative binding particle "ya" closes with the attributive "ran" in the last line.
Fifth line, "hajime naruran": "ran," the attributive of the present conjectural "ramu," closes the "ya" of the fourth line, "surely it is the beginning of a thousand ages." It shares "chiyo no hajime no" with 617 of this book.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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