Katsu koete wakare mo yuku ka Ōsaka wa hitodanome naru na ni koso arikere - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かつ越えて別れも行くかあふさかは
人頼めなる名にこそありけれ

Roma-ji: Katsu koete wakare mo yuku ka Ōsaka wa hitodanome naru na ni koso arikere
English Translation: Even as we cross,
do we go on to part?
Ōsaka, "the Slope of Meeting,"
is only a name, I see,
that raises empty hopes.
Meaning: Even as we cross it, must we go on to part? Ōsaka, "the Slope of Meeting"—I see now it is only a name that raises hopes in vain.
Commentary: Book Eight Parting Poems 390

Headnote: "Composed when crossing Ōsaka while seeing off Fujiwara no Koreoka, who was leaving to take up the post of Vice-Governor of Musashi"
This poem was composed while seeing off Fujiwara no Koreoka, who was going down as Vice-Governor of Musashi, as the party was about to cross the Ōsaka Barrier. Faced with the reality of parting while crossing a barrier whose name contains "meeting," the poet laments that the name only raises people's hopes.
The author, "Tsurayuki," was Ki no Tsurayuki, one of the compilers of the Kokinshū, who wrote its kana preface.

The first line, "even as we cross," uses katsu, "at the very moment," to show that the parting advances even as they cross the barrier.
The second line, "do we go on to part?" uses the exclamatory ka in surprised lament, and the poem breaks after this line.
The third line, "Ōsaka," is a pivot word joining the name of the Ōsaka Barrier with au, "to meet." Where poem 374 in this book asked the same barrier to live up to its name and hold the traveler back, this poem laments that the name belies reality, and the two form a pair.
The fourth line, "that raises empty hopes," uses hitodanome, raising someone's hopes only to disappoint them, to express the emptiness of the name.
The last line, "is only a name, I see," binds the particle koso with the perfective kere, showing a lament upon realizing the true nature of the name. It shares its last line with poem 382 in this book, and both sing of a place name at odds with reality.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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