Hagakurete tsuharu to mieshi hodo mo naku ko wa umiume ni narinikeru kana - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

葉隠れてつはると見えしほどもなく
こはうみうめになりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Hagakurete tsuharu to mieshi hodo mo naku ko wa umiume ni narinikeru kana
English Translation: Hidden in the leaves
budding they seemed to me, and
in no time at all
look, they have become ripe plums,
the child born, the fruit grown
Meaning: Hidden among the leaves, they seemed only to be budding, and in no time at all they have become ripe plums—and the child is already born.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 577

They seemed to be budding hidden among the leaves, the poet says, and in no time they have become ripe plums. While singing of plums ripening, the poem lets tsuharu echo the morning sickness of pregnancy and ko wa umiume echo the child being born, playfully saying that no sooner did she seem with child than the baby was born.
A witty poem that layers a surface meaning and a hidden meaning through pivot words.

First line, 'hagakurete', means hidden among the leaves, the plums in the shade of foliage.
Second line, 'tsuharu to mieshi', is a pivot in which tsuharu means both plants budding and the morning sickness of pregnancy, left in kana.
Third line, 'hodo mo naku', means before long.
Fourth line, 'ko wa umiume ni', is a pivot joining this has become a ripe plum and the child is born, left in kana.
Final line, 'narinikeru kana', means how it has become, the perfective nu, the exclamatory keri and kana. Naru echoes fruit forming on a tree.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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