expression
had it not been for; were it not for
Archaic conditional expression equivalent to modern ～がなかったならば or ～がいなかったならば. Used in classical Japanese and occasionally in modern literary or poetic contexts.
君が無かりせば、我が人生は空しきものなりし。
Had it not been for you, my life would have been empty.
この書無かりせば、
Were it not for this book, there would have been no way to know the truth.
Modern conditional form of ない; used in everyday speech and writing. なかりせば is its archaic equivalent.
Modern emphatic conditional; なかりせば carries a similar meaning but is restricted to classical or literary usage.
Derived from the classical Japanese adjective 無し (なし, 'not exist') in its 連用形 (かり) + past auxiliary き in its 未然形 (せ) + conditional particle ば. Literally 'if there were not'.