classic waka stream

富士の嶺のいや遠長き山道をも
妹がりとへばけによばず来ぬ
Roma-ji

Fuji no ne no iya tōnagaki yamaji o mo imogari to eba ke ni yobazu kinu

English Translation
On Fuji's high peak
farther still and ever long
the mountain path runs,
yet when told it led to her,
I came without pause for breath.
Meaning
Even the endlessly long mountain path of Fuji's peak—since it led to my beloved, I came along it without stopping to breathe.
Commentary
Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3356

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Even the long mountain road of Fuji's peak was no hardship, the singer says, because it led to his beloved, so he crossed it in one burst. The lift of a heart that forgets the distance for love is sung brightly and strongly.
The left note places it in Suruga. The idea of making nothing of a long road in order to meet a lover is often found among the love poems of the Man'yōshū.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "fuji no ne no": Following "the brushwood hills of Fuji" in the preceding poem, this sings of Fuji's peak. Within the Suruga poems Fuji recurs, each time from a different spot.
Second line, "iya tōnagaki": "Iya" means ever more, stressing the distance and length of the road.
Third line, "yamaji o mo": "O mo" intensifies: even such a road as this. Taking up the long road, it turns to the second half.
Fourth line, "imogari to eba": "Gari" means to where a person is, and "to eba" is a contraction of "to ieba." The goal—to her—drives the poem.
Final line, "ke ni yobazu kinu": "Ke ni yobazu" is obscure; one theory reads it as "without pausing for breath," "with ease." The "nu" of "kinu" marks completion: I have already come.
Source
Manyoshu
Prev Poem
Ama no hara fuji no shibayama ko no kure no toki yutsuri naba awazu kamo aramu
Next Poem
Kasumi iru fuji no yamabi ni waga kinaba izuchi mukite ka imo ga nagekamu