Oru hito no sore naru kara ni ajikinaku mishi waga yado no hana no ka zo suru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

折る人のそれなるからにあぢきなく
見しわが宿の花の香ぞする

Roma-ji: Oru hito no sore naru kara ni ajikinaku mishi waga yado no hana no ka zo suru
English Translation: Since the one who breaks
the branches is that very one,
I cannot help it—
the fragrance of the blossoms
of my house I saw comes to me.
Meaning: Because the one who breaks the branches is none other than that person, I cannot help it: there comes the scent of the blossoms at my house that I once saw.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1459

Headnote: "Sent the next day with the messenger whom Prince Atsumichi dispatched, after I had accompanied the prince to the Shirakawa house of the former Major Counselor Kintō."
This is the ninth poem of the sequence on the cherry. Because the one who breaks the blossoms is none other than that person, the poet says, she cannot help it: the scent of the blossoms at her house that she once saw comes to her. According to the headnote, she had accompanied Prince Atsumichi to the Shirakawa house of the former Major Counselor Kintō, and the next day sent this poem with the messenger the prince dispatched to Kintō.
The author, "Izumi Shikibu," was the daughter of Ōe no Masamune. She became the wife of Tachibana no Michisada and was called Izumi Shikibu, later having love affairs with Prince Tametaka and Prince Atsumichi. She also served Jōtōmon'in.
"Prince Atsumichi" in the headnote was a son of Emperor Reizei. "The former Major Counselor Kintō" is Fujiwara no Kintō, son of Regent Fujiwara no Yoritada, who compiled the Wakan Rōeishū. Shirakawa is the district east of the capital along the east bank of the Kamo River.

The first line, "oru hito no," refers to the one who breaks blossoms. It points to the person who broke the blossoms at the Shirakawa house the day before.
In the second line, "sore naru kara ni," "sore" means "none other than that person," indicating him without naming him. "Kara ni" means "because it is."
The third line, "ajikinaku," expresses a feeling that things are beyond one's control. It joins the circumstances of the first lines to the feeling of the last lines.
The fourth line, "mishi waga yado no," means "of my house that I once saw." It may also be read as calling the blossoms of the Shirakawa house seen the day before "the blossoms of my house," out of fondness.
The last line, "hana no ka zo suru," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "zo" with the attributive form "suru." Following the blossom viewing at Shirakawa in the preceding poem, the same Shirakawa blossoms are here recalled through their scent.
Author: Izumi Shikibu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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