Yamazakura hana o aruji to omowazu wa hito o matsubeki shiba no io ka wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山桜花を主と思はずは
人を待つべき柴の庵かは

Roma-ji: Yamazakura hana o aruji to omowazu wa hito o matsubeki shiba no io ka wa
English Translation: Mountain cherry flowers,
if I did not think of them
as master of this place,
would this be a brushwood hut
where one waits for guests to come?
Meaning: If I did not think of the mountain cherries as the master here, would this brushwood hut be a place to wait for guests? Surely not.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1072

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of waiting for guests because of the blossoms"
This poem was composed on the theme "waiting for guests because of the blossoms." If I did not think of the mountain cherries as the master, would this be a brushwood hut where one waits for guests, he says. One who lives in a humble brushwood hut never thinks of waiting for visitors. Yet when the mountain cherries bloom, they seem to be the true master of the hut, and he finds himself waiting for guests who will come to see them, singing of waiting for visitors through the flowers.
The author, "Minamoto no Sadamune Ason," was a poet of the late Heian period whose biography is not known in detail.
Where 1054 of this book sings of the lonely color of flowers that have lost their master, this poem makes the flowers the master of the hut, so the two stand in contrast over flowers and their master.

First line, "yamazakura": "mountain cherries." It is the same word as "yamazakura" in the third line of 1055 of this book.
Second line, "hana o aruji to": "the flowers as master of this hut." It shares "master" with "nushi naki iro wa" in the fourth line of 1054 of this book.
Third line, "omowazu wa": "zu wa" is a negative supposition, "if I did not think so." Like 1069 of this book, it places "omowazu wa" in the third line and moves from supposition to a rhetorical question.
Fourth line, "hito o matsubeki": "where one would wait for visitors."
Fifth line, "shiba no io ka wa": "ka wa" is a rhetorical binding particle, "would it be such a hut? It would not."
Author: Minamoto no Sadamune
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Furinikeri mukashi o shiraba sakurabana chiri no sue o mo aware to wa miyo
Next Poem: Izuku nite kaze o mo yo o mo uramimashi Yoshino no oku mo hana wa chiru nari