Iwane fumi yomichi wa yukaji to omoeredo imo ni yorite wa shinobi kanetsu mo

岩根踏み夜道は行かじと思へれど
妹によりては忍びかねつも

Roma-ji: Iwane fumi yomichi wa yukaji to omoeredo imo ni yorite wa shinobi kanetsu mo
English Translation: Treading on the rocks
on the night road, I would not go,
so I had resolved;
yet when it comes to my love,
I could not hold myself back
Meaning: I had resolved not to go along the night road, treading over rocks, yet when it came to my beloved, I could not restrain myself.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2590

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
A man had made up his mind not to take the steep night road over the rocks, yet when it came to his beloved he could not hold back his feelings and set out after all. The poem tells, with a sigh touched by self-mockery, how resolve crumbles before love.
Turning from the poems of sleepless grief in bed at night, this poem describes a man's action as he crosses the night road toward his wife. It shifts the theme of love at night from the one who waits to the one who goes to visit.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "iwane fumi": "treading on rocks." "Iwane" are great rocks that seem rooted in the earth, showing a rough way.
Second line, "yomichi wa yukaji to": "I will not go by the night road." "Ji" is the auxiliary of negative intention, expressing the decision not to go.
Third line, "omoeredo": "though I thought so." "Omoere" is "omou" with the continuative auxiliary "ri," and the particle "do" leads into the second half as a contrast.
Fourth line, "imo ni yorite wa": "when it comes to my beloved." The particle "wa" sets her apart: whatever else, where she is concerned.
Fifth line, "shinobi kanetsu mo": "I could not restrain myself." "Kane" is the auxiliary "kanu," to be unable, "tsu" is perfective, and "mo" expresses feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ai omowazu kimi wa aru rashi nubatama no ime ni mo miezu ukeite nuredo
Next Poem: Hitogoto no shigeki ma moru to awazu araba tsui ni ya kora ga omowasure namu