Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 10
koreyo konoyuku mo kaeru mowakaretsutsushiru mo shiranu moAusaka no Seki
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This is that placewhere people come and go,parting time and again,both friends and strangers,the Barrier of Meeting Slope.
Semimaru (10th c.")

[Monument at the site of the ancient Osaka Barrier]
The poem aptly paints the hustle and bustle of the Barrier by use of contrast: people setting out on a journey and others who are coming back, the many farewells but also meetings (as indicated by the name Meeting Slope), the passing by of people who know each other and those who are complete strangers. One meets in order to part and says goodbye in order to meet again... the world is in a constant flux, a truly Buddhist view of life.
[Semimaru playing his luteby Yoshitoshi]
Semimaru, the purported poet, is a legendary figure who may have been based on a blind musician who lived in the second half of the 9th c. He was a skilled biwa player and rumor has it that he even was of royal birth... but such is indeed the stuff of legend. The recluse who supposedly lived in a hut near the Osaka Barrier also figures in several Noh plays. There are three Seki-no-Semimaru Shrines along the road that leaves Otsu for Kyoto. The Shimo-Sha Shrine is the largest and stands closest to Otsu (just a 10 min walk from Otsu St.).

[Semimaru Shrine, Otsu]
(Includes parts from my previous post about this poem)

[Same poem included in Gosenshu, 1089]References: Pictures of t...