Koete yuku tomo ya nakaramu Ōsaka no seki no shimizu no kage hanarenaba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

越えて行く友やなからむ逢坂の
関の清水のかげ離れなば

Roma-ji: Koete yuku tomo ya nakaramu Ōsaka no seki no shimizu no kage hanarenaba
English Translation: Will there be no friend
to cross over at my side,
once I leave behind
my reflection in the clear spring
at the barrier of Ōsaka?
Meaning: Will there be no companion to cross with me once I leave my reflection behind in the clear spring at the Ōsaka Barrier?
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 523

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of traveling a barrier road alone at the house of the Naka-no-in Minister of the Right"
Composed on the topic "traveling a barrier road alone" at the house of Minamoto no Masasada, the Naka-no-in Minister of the Right. Once I leave my reflection in the spring at the Ōsaka Barrier, will there be no companion to cross with me? the poet asks. For one traveling alone, his own reflection in the spring is his only companion, and the poem conveys the loneliness of becoming utterly alone once he leaves it.
The author, "Major Counselor Sadafusa," is Minamoto no Sadafusa, son of Provisional Middle Counselor Minamoto no Masakane. He was adopted by Minamoto no Masasada, the Naka-no-in Minister of the Right, and rose to Major Counselor.

First line, "koete yuku": "crossing over the barrier," modifying "tomo" in the second line.
Second line, "tomo ya nakaramu": the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive of the conjectural "mu," "will there be no companion to cross with me?" The poem pauses here.
Third line, "Ōsaka no": the Ōsaka Barrier, sung of as in the preceding poem, 522.
Fourth line, "seki no shimizu no": "seki no shimizu" is the spring at the Ōsaka Barrier, also sung of in the opening poem, 498.
Fifth line, "kage hanarenaba": "kage" is his own reflection in the spring, "na" the irrealis of the perfective "nu," and with "ba" a hypothetical, "once I part from my reflection." It is inverted with the second line.
Author: Minamoto no Sadafusa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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