Yorokobi o kuwae ni isogu tabi nareba omoedo e koso todomezarikere - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

喜びを加へに急ぐ旅なれば
思へどえこそとどめざりけれ

Roma-ji: Yorokobi o kuwae ni isogu tabi nareba omoedo e koso todomezarikere
English Translation: To add to your joy
you hasten along the road,
and so, though I grieve,
I could not find it in me
to hold you back from your way.
Meaning: Since this is a journey you hurry on to add still more to your good fortune, I could not bring myself to hold you back, however much I wished to.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 174

Headnote: "Sent to Akisuke, Master of the Western Capital Office, when he went down as governor of Kaga."
A poem sent to Fujiwara no Akisuke as he left for Kaga, newly appointed its governor. Because it is a journey to heap further joy upon the happy event of his appointment, the poet cannot hold him back, however sad the parting, and so congratulations and farewell are spoken together.
Akisuke was the compiler of this anthology, and a poem sent at his own departure for the provinces is included among the parting poems. Celebration stands in the foreground, while loneliness seeps through beneath it.

First line, "yorokobi o" (your joy), refers to the happy event of the appointment. That a parting poem opens with the word "joy" makes it unusual within this book.
Second line, "kuwae ni isogu": "kuwae ni" is the continuative form of "kuwau" (to add) with "ni" marking purpose, so the traveler hurries in order to add joy to joy.
Third line, "tabi nareba," is a conditional of established fact: "since it is a journey."
Fourth line, "omoedo e koso": "omoedo" means though I feel the sorrow of parting. "E" with a negative expresses impossibility, and "koso" forms an emphatic agreement with "kere" in the final line.
Final line, "todomezarikere": "zari" is negative and "kere" concludes "koso." Where the preceding poem, 173, laments being unable to hold back one who leaves, here the farewell takes the form of not holding back because of the joyful occasion.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Shika Wakashu
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