martin.beutler@ulmslabo.de wrote:
> I think you guys here know the phrase "Auwa wakare no hajimi towa" which
> looks no such famous in our evryday life, according to my professor in Uni.
> What I'm interested in and wondering is the word "towa."
> What is the "true/right" explanation on this word if you know of any?

"Au wa wakare no hajime towa" is not the saying itself, but a quotation of it.
This is the first phrase of the Japanese old pop song 磯千鳥(ISO CHIDORI),
about 50 years ago.  This song goes like "Au wa wakare no hajime towa,
shiranu watashija nai keredo ..." and the meaning is roughly: "Although
I know that 'to meet is the starting point to be apart', ...."

The exact saying is "Au wa wakare no hajime" and sometimes said as "Au
wa wakare no hajime nari."  This is a translation of the title of the
famous Chinese poetry.  広辞苑(KOUJIEN) explains it as:

逢うは別れの始め
[白居易、和夢遊春詩詩「合者離之始」] 逢えば必ず別れがある。無常のたとえ。
仏教でいう、会者定離(えしやじようり)。

"... towa" in the phrase shown above roughly means "although they say
..., but," and is the same as "towa" in "towa ittemo" or "sou towa
shiranakatta."  "To" is the particle for quotation and "wa" is the
particle for limitation/restriction.  That is, "towa" is used where
someone is talking about what the other people say, but the person
has a certain objection or wondering at it.
-- 
Junn Ohta