Kore ya kono yuku mo kaeru mo wakaretsutsu shiru mo shiranu mo ausaka no seki - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

これやこの行くも帰るも別れつつ
知るも知らぬもあふさかの関

Roma-ji: Kore ya kono yuku mo kaeru mo wakaretsutsu shiru mo shiranu mo ausaka no seki
English Translation: So this is the place—
those who go, those who return,
parting all the while,
known and unknown, meeting here
at the Barrier of Ōsaka
Meaning: So this is that famous place—where those leaving and those returning part again and again, and friends and strangers alike meet: the Barrier of Ōsaka, the Slope of Meeting.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1089

Headnote: "When I had built a hermitage at the Ōsaka Barrier and lived there, on watching the people coming and going."
The poet says that this is the famous Ōsaka Barrier, where those leaving and those returning part, and where the known and the unknown meet. In a brisk rhythm built of paired words, he pictures the meetings and partings of travelers at the barrier and suggests the law of the world that all who meet must part.
According to the headnote, he composed it while living in a hermitage he had built at the Ōsaka Barrier, watching people come and go. It was chosen for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, where the third line reads "wakarete wa."
The poet, Semimaru, is said to have lived near the Ōsaka Barrier, but little is known of his life. Many legends surround him, making him a blind master of the biwa lute or a servant of Prince Atsumi, son of Emperor Uda.

The first line, "Kore ya kono," means "so this is that," with "ya" a binding particle of question tinged with wonder. It conveys his emotion at seeing the famous barrier before his eyes and leads to "ausaka no seki" in the last line.
The second line, "yuku mo kaeru mo," means "those going and those returning," setting paired words side by side.
The third line, "wakaretsutsu," means "parting again and again," with "tsutsu" repetition, describing the endless partings at the barrier.
The fourth line, "shiru mo shiranu mo," means "the known and the unknown," again piling up paired words as in the second line.
The last line, "ausaka no seki," means "the Ōsaka Barrier," with "au" in Ausaka carrying the sense of meeting, set against "parting" in the third line. It ends on a noun. "Ausakayama" also appears in 1074, the closing poem of Book Fourteen.
Author: Semimaru
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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