Sakurabana nushi o wasurenu mono naraba fukikomu kaze ni kotozute wa seyo - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

桜花主を忘れぬものならば
吹き来む風に言伝はせよ

Roma-ji: Sakurabana nushi o wasurenu mono naraba fukikomu kaze ni kotozute wa seyo
English Translation: O cherry blossoms,
if you do not forget
the master you had,
by the wind that blows my way
send a message on to me
Meaning: O cherry blossoms, if you have not forgotten your master, send word to me on the wind that blows my way.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 57

Headnote: "When setting out for a place far from home, tied to the cherry blossoms in the garden."
About to depart for a distant land, the poet calls on the cherries in his garden: if they have not forgotten their master, let them send word on the wind that blows his way. His reluctance to part from his home and its flowers is keenly expressed by speaking directly to the blossoms.
According to the headnote, he tied this poem to the cherry blossoms in the garden when setting out for a place far from home. It is thought to date from his banishment to Dazaifu, and shares its conceit with his poem in the Shūi Wakashū bidding the plum blossoms send their fragrance on the east wind and not forget spring though their master is gone.
The poet, called "the Sugawara Minister of the Right," is Sugawara no Michizane. A son of Sugawara no Koreyoshi, he was esteemed as a scholar, served Emperors Uda and Daigo, and rose to Minister of the Right. He was later demoted to Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu and died in exile.

The first line, "Sakurabana," is an address, speaking to the garden cherry as if it were a person.
In the second line, "nushi," master, refers to the owner of the cherry, the poet himself.
The third line, "mono naraba," means "if it is so," setting a condition.
In the fourth line, "mu" is conjectural: "the wind that will blow this way." Whereas the preceding poem, 56, fears the wind that scatters blossoms, this one makes the wind a messenger, forming a contrast.
In the last line, "kotozute" is a message entrusted to another, and "seyo" is imperative, asking the cherry to send word by the wind. It also resonates with "hitozute," hearsay, in 61 of this book.
Author: Sugawara no Michizane
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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