夜よ這ばい

noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb

night crawling; sneaking into a woman's bedroom at night for sex

Historical custom, mainly pre-modern rural Japan, where a man would visit a woman at night for sexual relations, often with tacit social acceptance. Now archaic and used only in historical or literary contexts.

• 昔むかしの農のう村そんでは、夜よ這ばいという風ふう習しゅうがあった。

  In old farming villages, there was a custom called night crawling.

• 彼かれは夜よ這ばいをかけて捕つかまった。

  He was caught while sneaking into a woman's room at night.