Spin & Discover Kakekotoba!
Poem 10: Semimaru
Try to find the kakekotoba hidden in the poem and tap it.
The word you tap will spin right where it is, revealing its two meanings in turn.
これやこの
行くも帰るも
わかれては
しるもしらぬも
逢坂の関
Commentary
The word "Ōsaka" is a kakekotoba.
A kakekotoba layers two meanings onto a single word that sounds the same either way.
Here, "Ōsaka" carries both the place name "逢坂" and "逢う坂" — the slope where people meet.
Travelers leaving the capital and travelers returning to it, acquaintances and strangers alike — everyone meets, and everyone parts, on this very slope. A whole cross-section of human lives unfolds here.
By layering the act of "meeting" onto a single place name, the poem evokes not just a scene of travel, but the fleeting nature of the bonds between people — this is the poem's charm.
Making two meanings resonate within just thirty-one syllables is the beauty of kakekotoba.
Vocabulary
A slope where a checkpoint once stood, linking the capital and Ōmi Province.
The slope where people meet.
A checkpoint — a place set up to inspect travelers passing through.