Ōsaka no seki ni waga yado nakariseba wakaruru hito wa tanomazaramashi

English Translation

If at Ōsaka,
the Barrier of Meeting, my house
had never stood,
those who part from us would not
place their trust in meeting again.

Meaning

Were my house not here by the Barrier of Ōsaka, the Hill of Meeting, those who part from us would have no reason to hope that they might meet again.

Commentary

Book Nine Parting Poems 862

Headnote: "When I lived near the Ōsaka Barrier and gave a farewell to someone going away to a distant place."
This is the sixth poem of the sequence seeing off people bound for distant provinces. Because the speaker's house stands by the Ōsaka Barrier, whose name means "meeting," those departing can hope to meet again. According to the headnote, it was composed while the author lived near the barrier, when giving a farewell to someone leaving for a distant place.
The author was a son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, rose to Middle Counselor, and was called the Middle Counselor of the Embankment because his residence stood on the embankment of the Kamo River.
The scene is the sending off of someone bound for a distant province, and the place is the author's home near the Ōsaka Barrier.
The direct occasion was the farewell given to someone going to a distant place.
The Ōsaka Barrier stood on the border of Yamashiro and Ōmi, in what is now Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture, and as the place where travelers heading east were seen off, it was sung with a play on "au," "to meet."

The first line, "ōsaka no," plays on the place name Ōsaka and "au," "to meet." Though it is a place of parting, its name holds the promise of meeting again.
The second line, "seki ni waga yado," means "my house at the barrier." The circumstance in the headnote, that the author lived near the barrier, is written directly into the poem.
The third line, "nakariseba," means "if it had not been," a supposition contrary to fact. It pairs with "mashi" in the last line to form a counterfactual construction.
The fourth line, "wakaruru hito wa," refers to those who part, that is, the person going to a distant province.
The last line, "tanomazaramashi," means "would not rely on meeting again." Turned around, it is a witty thought that only because the speaker lives beside the Barrier of Meeting can the traveler trust in a reunion, lending a touch of brightness to a poem of parting. Where the preceding poem laments the distance of Mutsu, this poem finds hope of reunion in the name of the barrier.

Author

Fujiwara no Kanesuke

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other