Oshi to omou hito ya tomaru to ashigamo no uchimurete koso ware wa kinikere - Tosa Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

をしと思ふ人やとまるとあし鴨の
うちむれてこそわれはきにけれ

Roma-ji: Oshi to omou hito ya tomaru to ashigamo no uchimurete koso ware wa kinikere
English Translation: Thinking you might stay,
you whom we so grieve to lose,
like the reed-bed ducks
flocking all together, so
have we come here to see you
Meaning: Hoping that the one we are so sorry to lose might stay, we have come flocking together like ducks among the reeds.
Commentary: 7 The Twenty-Seventh Day of the Twelfth Month: From Ōtsu toward Urado, Mourning a Lost Daughter

On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, the party rowed out from Ōtsu toward Urado. Amid this departure, a little girl born in the capital had suddenly died here in Tosa, and so, watching the bustle of preparations, no one could find anything to say. Though they were going home to the capital, all they could feel was grief and longing for the girl who was no longer with them, and those around could not hold back their tears.
The "certain person" is not named, but, like the figure who leaves the governor's residence at the opening of the diary after completing his term, he is taken to be the former Governor of Tosa, Ki no Tsurayuki. The girl who died was his daughter; born in the capital, she had come down to Tosa when her father took up his post.
While that person was composing poems in mourning for his daughter, at a place called Kako-no-saki the new governor's brothers and others came after them bearing sake. The party stepped down onto the rocky shore, sat together, and spoke of how hard it was to part. Among the people of the governor's residence, those who had come after them like this were quietly spoken of as truly thoughtful. This poem was raised by them there on the shore, all joining their voices as if hauling a net together.
Deeply moved, the departing traveler answered with "Sao sasedo sokoi mo shiranu watatsumi no fukaki kokoro o kimi ni miru kana." But in the midst of this exchange the steersman, blind to the feeling of the moment and having already had his fill of sake, was eager to be off. "The tide is in. The wind is sure to blow," he clamored, and the party made ready to board.

The first line, "Oshi to omou," means "sorry to part." In the second line, "ya" is an interrogative particle, expressing the hope that the one they are sorry to lose might stay. The third line, "ashigamo no," refers to ducks flocking among the reeds; it leads into "uchimurete," overlaying the image of a crowd arriving together like a flock of ducks.
In the fourth line, "uchi" is a prefix and "koso" an emphatic particle, and in the final line, "ware wa kinikere," "kere" is the realis form of the exclamatory auxiliary "keri," completing the kakari-musubi construction.
Fittingly for a seaside farewell, the poem brings in waterfowl and plainly conveys the hearts of the many who rushed to see the travelers off. The departing traveler's reply receives the feeling in this poem by likening it to the depth of the sea.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Tosa Nikki
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