Kimi ga yo ni abukumagawa no soko kiyomi chitose o hetsutsu sumamu to zo omou - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君が代にあふくま川の底清み
千歳を経つつすまむとぞ思ふ

Roma-ji: Kimi ga yo ni abukumagawa no soko kiyomi chitose o hetsutsu sumamu to zo omou
English Translation: In my lord's reign
I meet the Abukuma,
its riverbed so clear,
that through a thousand years
I mean to dwell, run pure
Meaning: The Abukuma River, whose very name speaks of meeting my lord's reign, runs clear to its bed; so through a thousand years I mean to stay pure as its waters and to dwell on in this reign.
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 161

This poem by Fujiwara no Michinaga opens Book Five, the celebration poems of the Shikawakashū. It entrusts the joy of living under the sovereign's reign to the clear stream of the Abukuma, a famed poetic place in Michinaga's distant Michinoku, and wishes to dwell in that reign for a thousand years.
The heart of the poem lies in its wordplay: the river's name carries "to meet," and the closing sumamu means both "to dwell" and "to run clear," binding the purity of the water to the brightness of the reign. Composed by the statesman at the very summit of Regency power in praise of the sovereign's age, it has a dignity fitting the opening of the book.

First line, "In my lord's reign," names the reign being celebrated. Within this book, 164 ("My lord's reign") and 170 ("Of my lord's reign") begin with the same words, making it the keynote of the celebration book.
Second line, "the Abukuma," is a pivot word joining au, to meet the reign, with the Abukuma River, a poetic place of Michinoku. The joy of the meeting is laid directly onto the river's name.
Third line, "its riverbed so clear," uses the stem of kiyoshi with the suffix -mi to give a reason: because the bed is clear. The image of the water's depths answers 169's "lodged in its depths."
Fourth line, "through a thousand years," uses the particle tsutsu to express long continuance, the standard thousand-year span of celebration poems. It shares the word chitose with the final line of 169, "the pine's thousand years."
Fifth line, "I mean to dwell, run pure," pairs the pivot word sumu, to dwell and to run clear, with the volitional mu. The emphatic zo is resolved by the attributive form omou. The sound of sumu also links this opening poem with the book's last poem, 171, which begins "Sumiyoshi."
Author: Fujiwara no Michinaga
Source: Shika Wakashu
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