Aioi no sode no furenishi yado no take yoyo wa henikeri waga tomo to shite

相生の袖の触れにし宿の竹
よよは経にけりわが友として

Roma-ji: Aioi no sode no furenishi yado no take yoyo wa henikeri waga tomo to shite
English Translation: Growing up with me,
brushing sleeves through all the years,
the bamboo of my house—
joint by joint the ages passed,
and always as my friend.
Meaning: The bamboo of my house, which grew up with me and brushed my sleeves, has passed age upon age, always as my friend.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 664

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Celebration through the bamboo"
The bamboo of his house, grown up with him and always brushing his sleeves, has passed ages as his friend. Drawing on the Chinese tale of the man who called bamboo "this gentleman" and kept it as a friend, it celebrates growing old together with the bamboo.
The Ruijū text places it among the "poems found in other and printed texts." Kamo no Mabuchi remarked that aioi originally meant "growing old together" and later readers mistook it.

Line 1 means "growing up together."
Line 2 means "whose sleeves have touched," showing how close bamboo and man have been.
Line 3 means "the bamboo of my house," with a break after the line.
Line 4 means "ages have passed," yoyo meaning both bamboo joints and ages, the same word as at the end of the preceding poem.
Line 5 means "as my friend," in inversion, drawing on the tale of bamboo as a companion.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Nayotake no chiji no saeda no haeda no sono fushibushi ni yoyo wa komoreri
Next Poem: Iwa ni musu koke no midori no fukaki iro o iku chiyo made to tare ka somekemu