Ōsaka no seki shi masashiki mono naraba akazu wakaruru kimi o todomeyo - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あふさかの関しまさしきものならば
飽かず別るる君をとどめよ

Roma-ji: Ōsaka no seki shi masashiki mono naraba akazu wakaruru kimi o todomeyo
English Translation: If the Barrier of Ōsaka,
"the Slope of Meeting," is true
to its name,
then hold back my friend
who leaves me still unsatisfied.
Meaning: If the Barrier of Ōsaka truly lives up to its name, "the Slope of Meeting," then let it hold you back, you who part from me before I have had my fill of your company.
Commentary: Book Eight Parting Poems 374

Headnote: "Composed when parting from someone at Ōsaka"
Parting from a traveler at the Ōsaka Barrier, the poet calls upon the barrier itself: if its name contains "meeting," let it be true to that name and detain the departing friend. The wit lies in joining the barrier's function of stopping travelers with the meaning of the place name.
The author, "Naniwa no Yorozuo," is a figure whose life is not well known.

The first line, "of Ōsaka," is a pivot word joining the name of the Ōsaka Barrier on the border of Ōmi and Yamashiro with au, "to meet." Poem 390 in this book also treats Ōsaka and corresponds to this one in lamenting a barrier that, contrary to its name, becomes a place of parting.
The second line, "if the barrier is true," stresses the barrier with the emphatic shi; masashi means that a name matches reality, setting the condition "if it is as its name says."
The third line, "if it be so," states the hypothesis and leads to the command in the lower verses.
The fourth line, "who parts unsatisfied," means parting before one has had enough, and shares the same sense with "parting still unsatisfied" in poems 396 and 400 of this book.
The last line, "hold back my friend," ends with the imperative todomeyo, addressing the barrier directly. It is a personification grounded in the barrier's role of stopping travelers.
Author: Naniwa no Yorozuo
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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