Sayo fukete kaze ya fukuramu hana no ka no niou kokochi no sora ni suru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

さ夜更けて風や吹くらむ花の香の
匂ふ心地のそらにするかな

Roma-ji: Sayo fukete kaze ya fukuramu hana no ka no niou kokochi no sora ni suru kana
English Translation: Now night grows late,
is the wind blowing, I wonder?
The scent of blossoms
seems to drift toward me,
out of the empty sky
Meaning: Now that the night has grown late, is the wind blowing? I feel the scent of blossoms drifting toward me, from the sky, from nowhere at all.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 23

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Late at night the poet senses the scent of blossoms drifting from nowhere and wonders whether the wind is blowing and carrying it. The feeling that the scent of unseen flowers fills the whole sky is captured in the phrase "sora ni suru."
The author, "Fujiwara no Michinobu Ason," is Fujiwara no Michinobu, son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Tamemitsu. He rose to Middle Captain of the Left Inner Palace Guards but died young at the age of twenty-three. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the middle period.

First line, "sayo fukete": "sa" is a euphonic prefix, so "as the night grows late."
Second line, "kaze ya fukuramu": the interrogative "ya" links with the attributive of the conjectural "ramu." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "hana no ka no": placed among the plum poems, it suggests the scent of plum blossoms.
Fourth line, "niou kokochi no": "the feeling of fragrance drifting."
Fifth line, "sora ni suru kana": "sora" is a pivot word meaning both "sky" and "sora ni," "vaguely, from nowhere in particular," layering scent coming from the sky with scent arriving from no clear source.
Author: Fujiwara no Michinobu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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