Imo ga na mo waga na mo tataba oshimi koso fuji no takane no moetsutsu watare

妹が名も我が名も立たば惜しみこそ
富士の高嶺の燃えつつわたれ

Roma-ji: Imo ga na mo waga na mo tataba oshimi koso fuji no takane no moetsutsu watare
English Translation: If her name and mine
were to be on every tongue
it would be a loss;
so like Mount Fuji's high peak
I go on burning still
Meaning: Because it would be a pity if her name and mine were bandied about, I go on burning in secret, like the lofty peak of Fuji.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2697

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Because it would be a pity if her name and his were bandied about, a man keeps his feelings hidden and passes his days burning within, like the lofty peak of Fuji. The pain of a secret love that hides itself for fear of rumor is entrusted to the ever-burning mountain.
This is a poem on Mount Fuji, and like poem 2695 it uses "the lofty peak of Fuji" as a preface leading into "burning." That poem laments a love that burns on for want of a way to meet, while this one burns on because he himself hides his feelings for fear of rumor, turning the same figure to a different circumstance.
A left note records, under "a certain poem says," a variant: "kimi ga na mo waga na mo tataba oshimi koso Fuji no takane no moetsutsu mo ore."
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "imo ga na mo": "her name too." "Na" means reputation or rumor, and the particle "mo" pairs it with "my name too."
Second line, "waga na mo tataba": "if my name too should rise in rumor." "Tata" is the irrealis of "tatsu" and "ba" marks a supposition, fearing that their affair will become known.
Third line, "oshimi koso": "precisely because it would be a pity." "Oshimi," the stem of the adjective "oshi" with "mi," gives a reason, and "koso" forms a kakari-musubi with the realis "watare" in the last line.
Fourth line, "fuji no takane no": "of the lofty peak of Fuji." "No" means "like," and the image of Fuji leads into "burning" in the last line.
Fifth line, "moetsutsu watare": "I go on burning." "Wataru" expresses passing time, and the line closes in the realis "watare," answering "koso" in the third line.
Source: Manyoshu
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