# The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East/Volume 13/Book 1

ANCIENT JAPAN
(A.D. 600-1160)
THE KOJIKI
OR
RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
TRANSLATED BY PROF. B. H. CHAMBERLAIN
“Of all the mass of Japanese literature which lies before us as the result of twelve centuries of book-making, the most important monument is the ‘Kojiki.’ ”
— B. H. CHAMBERLAIN.
THE KOJIKI
(INTRODUCTION)
THE "Kojiki" is written, as are all Japanese works, in Chinese characters. Hence it reads in columns from top to bottom of the page; and the opening column is at the right instead of at the left. The "Kojiki," as being almost if not quite the earliest Japanese book, is a puzzling medley of Chinese and Japanese. Sometimes the Chinese character is the picture of an object or a thought, just as it is in the Chinese tongue; at other times it is a mere sound or syllable, making part of a Japanese word, and wholly divorced from its Chinese meaning. Thus the "Kojiki" is very hard to read.
When the Japanese scholars of the seventeenth century, under the shelter of Iyeyasu's peace, began to study the old books which had been preserved in the temples, they had much difficulty with the "Kojiki." They raised it to high honor among themselves; and they wrote commentaries on it, as the Hindus and Chinese had written commentaries on their ancient Scriptures. Yet to a Western scholar who knows just when and with what knowledge these Japanese commentators approached the "Kojiki," their explanations appear of little value, as they refuse to accept the book as being the simple, straightforward record of barbaric myths which it seems to us.
The "Kojiki" itself tells us something of how it came to be written. There had been an earlier such work, composed about A.D. 620, almost a century before, and this was destroyed by fire. After that the records existed only in the memories of trained reciters, who knew the legends, every word by heart. Finally, the best of these reciters was officially summoned before the Chinese writer Yasumaro, who copied the old tales from the reciter's narrative. How old they really ​were, how often they had previously been recorded, no man can say; but in A.D. 712, the date of the finishing of the "Kojiki," Chinese learning had been for more than a century knocking at Japan's door. The first official Chinese visit was by an ambassador in A.D. 608; but Buddhism had entered the land at least half a century before (A.D. 553) from Chinese sources. Hence it seems clear that the "Kojiki" was by no means Japan's first book; it is only the first to survive from among generations of carefully prepared and treasured court records.
As between the "Kojiki" and the "Nihongi," the "Kojiki" is much more valuable in its account of the early gods; but when we turn to what purports to be the history of the Mikados, especially the later ones, the "Nihongi" is very much fuller, though perhaps not equally reliable. The "Kojiki" begins with raw and crude accounts of the births of many gods, whose many-syllabled compound names have each, to Japanese eyes, a special value. These are the gods of Shinto, that is, the ancestors of the Japanese. Hence, in a way, they are scarcely gods at all. Indeed we only thus translate the Chinese character for these old figures because we scarcely know how else to tell their story unless we call them deities. These crude, barbaric figures are not gods in the sense of being all-powerful, or even of ruling earth, or of being immortal. They are just "ancestors," barbaric men and women magnified by time.
Hence the tales of the "Kojiki" soon begin to center on Ama-terasu the Sun-goddess and her children; because these were the special ancestors of the Japanese; and hence, too, the tales drift readily aside into beast-fables. These beast-stories are quite unlike those of the Buddhist and Hindu books, in that they have no moral significance. They appear merely as historic incidents, actual happenings which have somehow become queerly distorted. So too we have culled from the "Kojiki" its story of the great Yamato-take, "Champion of Japan," because this is obviously an old ​native tradition. The native "Kojiki" gives Yamato-take ample justice; the "Nihongi" almost ignores the Champion, for the later work would center all attention on the Mikados.
THE KOJIKI
Part I.—The Birth of the Deities
THE BEGINNING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
The names of the deities that were born in the Plain of High Heaven when the Heaven and Earth began were the deity Master-of-the-August-Center-of-Heaven; next, the High-August-Producing-Wondrous deity; next, the Divine-Producing-Wondrous deity. These three deities were all deities born alone, and hid their persons. The names of the deities that were born next from a thing that sprouted up like unto a reed-shoot when the earth, young and like unto floating oil, drifted about medusa-like, were the Pleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder deity, next the Heavenly-Eternally-Standing deity. These two deities were likewise born alone, and hid their persons.
The five deities in the above list are separate Heavenly deities.
THE SEVEN DIVINE GENERATIONS
The names of the deities that were born next were the Earthly-Eternally-Standing deity; next, the Luxuriant-In​tegrating-Master deity. These two deities were likewise deities born alone, and hid their persons. The names of the deities that were born next were the deity Mud-Earth-Lord; next, his younger sister the deity Mud-Earth-Lady; next, the Germ-Integrating deity; next, his younger sister the Life-Integrating deity; next, the deity of Elder-of-the-Great-Place; next, his younger sister the deity Elder-Lady-of-the-Great-Place; next, the deity Perfect-Exterior; next, his younger sister the deity Oh-Awful-Lady; next, the deity Izanagi or the Male-Who-Invites; next, his younger sister Izanami or the deity the Female-Who-Invites.
From the Earthly-Eternally-Standing deity down to the deity the Female-Who-Invites in the previous list are what are termed the Seven Divine Generations.
THE ISLAND OF ONOGORO
Hereupon all the Heavenly deities commanded the two deities His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites and Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites, ordering them to "make, consolidate, and give birth to this drifting land." Granting to them a heavenly jeweled spear, they thus deigned to charge them. So the two deities, standing upon the Floating Bridge of Heaven, pushed down the jeweled spear and stirred with it, whereupon, when they had stirred the brine
​till it went curdle-curdle, and drew the spear up, the brine that dripped down from the end of the spear was piled up and became an island. This is the Island of Onogoro.
COURTSHIP OF THE DEITIES THE MALE-WHO-INVITES AND THE FEMALE-WHO-INVITES
Having descended from Heaven on to this island, they saw to the erection of a heavenly august pillar, they saw to the erection of a hall of eight fathoms. Then Izanagi, the Male-Who-Invites, said to Izanami, the Female-Who-Invites, "We should create children"; and he said, "Let us go around the heavenly august pillar, and when we meet on the other side let us be united. Do you go around from the left, and I will go from the right." When they met, Her Augustness, the Female-Who-Invites, spake first, exclaiming, "Ah, what a fair and lovable youth!" Then His Augustness said, "Ah, what a fair and lovable maiden!" But afterward he said, "It was not well that the woman should speak first!" The child which was born to them was Hiruko (the leech-child), which when three years old was still unable to stand upright. So they placed the leech-child in a boat of reeds and let it float away. Next they gave birth to the island of Aha. This likewise is not reckoned among their children.
Hereupon the two deities took counsel, saying: "The children to whom we have now given birth are not good. It will be best to announce this in the august place of the Heavenly deities." They ascended forthwith to Heaven and inquired of Their Augustnesses the Heavenly deities. Then the Heavenly deities commanded and found out by grand
​divination, and ordered them, saying: "They were not good because the woman spoke first. Descend back again and amend your words." So thereupon descending back, they again went round the heavenly august pillar. Thereupon his Augustness the Male-Who-Invites spoke first: "Ah! what a fair and lovely maiden!" Afterward his younger sister Her Augustness the Female-Wlio-Invites spoke: "Ah! what a fair and lovely youth!" Next they gave birth to the Island of Futa-na in Iyo. This island has one body and four faces, and each face has a name. So the Land of Iyo is called Lovely-Princess; the Land of Sanuki is called Prince-Good-Boiled-Rice; the Land of Aha is called the Princess-of-Great-Food; the Land of Tosa is called Brave-Good-Youth. Next they gave birth to the islands of Mitsu-go near Oki, another name for which islands is Heavenly-Great-Heart-Youth. This island likewise has one body and four faces, and each face has a name. So the Land of Tsukushi is called White-Sun-Youth; the Land of Toyo is called Luxuriant-Sun-Youth; the Land of Hi is called Brave-Sun-Confronting-Luxuriant-Wondrous-Lord-Youth; the Land of Kumaso is called Brave-Sun-Youth. Next they gave birth to the Island of Iki, another name for which is Heaven's One-Pillar. Next they gave birth to the Island of Tsu, another name for which is Heavenly-Handnet-Good-Princess. Next they gave birth to the Island of Sado. Next they gave birth to Great-Yamato-the-Luxuriant-Island-of-the-Dragon-fly, another name for which is Heavenly-​August-Sky-Luxuriant-Dragon-fly-Lord-Youth. The name of "Land-of-the-Eight-Great-Islands" therefore originated in these eight islands having been born first. After that, when they had returned, they gave birth to the Island of Kō-zhima in Kibi, another name for which island is Brave-Sun-Direction-Youth. Next they gave birth to the Island of Adzuki, another name for which is Oho-Nu-De-Hime. Next they gave birth to the Island of Oho-shima, another name for which is Oho-Tamaru-Wake. Next they gave birth to the Island of Hime, another name for which is Heaven's-One-Root. Next they gave birth to the Island of Chika, another name for which is Heavenly-Great-Male. Next they gave birth to the islands of Futa-go, another name for which is Heaven's-Two-Houses. (Six islands in all from the Island of Ko in Kibi to the Island of Heaven's-Two-Houses.)
BIRTH OF THE VARIOUS DEITIES
When they had finished giving birth to countries, they began afresh giving birth to deities. So the name of the deity they gave birth to was the deity Great-Male-of-the-Great-Thing; next, they gave birth to the deity Rock-Earth-Prince; next, they gave birth to the deity Rock-Nest-Princess; next, they gave birth to the deity Great-Door-Sun-Youth; next, they gave birth to the deity Heavenly-Blowing-Male; next, they gave birth to the deity Great-House-Prince; next, they gave birth to the deity Youth-of-the-Wind-Breath-the-Great-Male; next, they gave birth to the sea-deity, whose name is the deity Great-Ocean-Possessor; next, they gave birth to the deity of the Water-Gates, whose name is the deity ​Prince-of-Swift-Autumn; next they gave birth to his younger sister the deity Princess-of-Swift-Autumn. (Ten deities in all from the deity Great-Male-of-the-Great-Thing to the deity Princess-of-Autumn.) The names of the deities given birth to by these two deities Prince-of-Swift-Autumn and Princess-of-Swift-Autumn from their separate dominions of river and sea were: the deity Foam-Calm; next, the deity Foam-Waves; next the deity Bubble-Calm; next, the deity Bubble-Waves; next the deity Heavenly-Water-Divider; next, the deity Earthly-Water-Divider; next, the deity Heavenly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-Possessor; next, the deity Earthly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-Possessor. (Eight deities in all from the deity Foam-Prince to the deity Earthly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-Possessor.) Next, they gave birth to the deity of Wind, whose name is the deity Prince-of-Long-Wind. Next, they gave birth to the deity of Trees, whose name is deity Stem-Elder; next, they gave birth to the deity of Mountains, whose name is the deity Great-Mountain-Possessor. Next, they gave birth to the deity of Moors, whose name is the deity Thatch-Moor-Princess, another name for whom is the deity Moor-Elder. (Four deities in all from the deity Prince-of-Long-Wind to Moor-Elder.) The names of the deities given birth to by these two deities, the deity Great-Mountain-Possessor and the deity Moor-Elder from their separate dominions of mountain and moor were: the deity Heavenly-Elder-of-the-Passes; next, the deity Earthly-Elder-of-the-Passes; next, the deity Heavenly-Pass-Boundary; next, the deity Earthly-Pass-Boundary; next, the deity Heavenly-Dark-Door; next, the deity Earthly-Dark-Door; next, the deity Great-Vale-Prince; next, the deity Great-Vale-Princess. (Eight deities in all from the deity Heavenly-Elder-of-the-Passes to the deity Great-Vale-Princess.) The name of the deity they next ​gave birth to was the deity Bird's-Rock-Camphor-tree-Boat, another name for whom is the Heavenly-Bird-Boat. Next, they gave birth to the deity Princess-of-Great-Food. Next, they gave birth to the Fire-Burning-Swift-Male deity, another name for whom is the deity Fire-Shining-Prince, and another name is the deity Fire-Shining-Elder.
RETIREMENT OF HER AUGUSTNESS THE PRINCESS-WHO-INVITES
Through giving birth to this child her august private parts were burned, and she sickened and lay down. The names of the deities born from her vomit were the deity Metal-Mountain-Prince and, next, the deity Metal-Mountain-Princess. The names of the deities that were born from her fæces were the deity Clay-Viscid-Prince and, next, the deity Clay-Viscid-Princess. The names of the deities that were next born from her urine were the deity Mitsuhanome and, next, the Young-Wondrous-Producing deity. The child of this deity was called the deity Luxuriant-Food-Princess. So the deity the Female-Who-Invites, through giving birth to the deity of Fire, at length divinely retired. (Eight deities in all from the Heavenly-Bird-Boat to the deity Luxuriant-Food-Princess.) The total number of islands given birth to jointly by the two deities the Male-Who-Invites and the Female-Who-Invites was fourteen, and of deities thirty-five. (These are such as were given birth to before the deity the Princess-Who-Invites divinely retired. Only the Island of Onogoro was not given birth to, and, moreover, the Leech-Child and the Island of Aha are not reckoned among the children.)
So then His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites said: "Oh! Thine Augustness my lovely younger sister! Oh! that I ​should have exchanged thee for this single child!" And as he crept round her august pillow, and as he crept round her august feet and wept, there was born from his august tears the deity that dwells at Konomoto, near Unewo on Mount Kagu, and whose name is the Crying-Weeping-Female deity. So he buried the divinely retired deity the Female-Who-Invites on Mount Hiba, at the boundary of the Land of Idzumo and the Land of Hahaki.
THE SLAYING OF THE FIRE-DEITY
Then His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites, drawing the ten-grasp saber that was augustly girded on him, cut off the head of his child the deity Shining-Elder. Hereupon the names of the deities that were born from the blood that stuck to the point of the august sword and bespattered the multitudinous rock-masses were: the deity Rock-Splitter; next, the deity Root-Splitter; next, the Rock-Possessing-Male deity. The names of the deities that were next born from the blood that stuck to the upper part of the august sword and again bespattered the multitudinous rock-masses were: the Awfully-Swift deity; next, the Fire-Swift deity; next, the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male deity, another name for whom is the Brave-Snapping deity, and another name is the Luxuriant-Snapping deity. The names of the deities that were next born from the blood that collected on the hilt of the august sword and leaked out between his fingers were: the deity Kura-okami and, next, the deity Kura-mitsuha.
All the eight deities in the above list, from the deity Rock-Splitter to the deity Kura-mitsuha, are deities that were born from the august sword.
THE KOJIKI
PART II.—The Quarrel of Izanagi and Izanami
THE LAND OF HADES
Thereupon His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites, wishing to meet and see his younger sister Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites, followed after her to the Land of Hades. So when from the palace she raised the door and came out to meet him, His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites spoke, saying: "Thine Augustness, my lovely younger sister! the lands that I and thou made are not yet finished making; so come back!" Then Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites answered, saying: "Lamentable indeed that thou earnest not sooner! I have eaten of the furnace of Hades. Nevertheless, as I reverence the entry here of Thine Augustness, ​my lovely elder brother, I wish to return. Moreover, I will discuss it particularly with the deities of Hades. Look not at me!" Having thus spoken, she went back inside the palace; and as she tarried there very long, he could not wait. So having taken and broken off one of the end-teeth of the multitudinous and close-toothed comb stuck in the august left bunch of his hair, he lit one light and went in and looked. Maggots were swarming, and she was rotting, and in her head dwelt the Great-Thunder, in her breast dwelt the Fire-Thunder, in her left hand dwelt the Young-Thunder, in her right hand dwelt the Earth-Thunder, in her left foot dwelt the Rumbling-Thunder, in her right foot dwelt the Couchant-Thunder—altogether eight Thunder-deities had been born and dwelt there. Hereupon His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites, overawed at the sight, fled back, whereupon his younger sister, Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites, said: "Thou hast put me to shame," and at once sent the Ugly-Female-of-Hades to pursue him. So His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites took his black august head-dress and cast it down, and ​it instantly turned into grapes. While she picked them up and ate them, he fled on; but as she still pursued him, he took and broke the multitudinous and close-toothed comb in the right bunch of his hair and cast it down, and it instantly turned into bamboo-sprouts. While she pulled them up and ate them, he fled on. Again, later, his younger sister sent the eight Thunder-deities with a thousand and five hundred warriors of Hades to pursue him. So he, drawing the ten-grasp saber that was augustly girded on him, fled forward brandishing it in his back hand; and as they still pursued, he took, on reaching the base of the Even-Pass-of-Hades, three peaches that were growing at its base, and waited and smote his pursuers therewith, so that they all fled back. Then His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites announced to the peaches: "Like as ye have helped me, so must ye help all living people in the Central Land of Reed-Plains when they shall fall into troublous circumstances and be harassed!"—and he gave to the peaches the designation of Their Augustnesses Great-Divine-Fruit. Last of all, his younger sister, Her Augustness the Princess-Who-Invites, came out herself in pursuit. So he
​drew a thousand-draught rock, and with it blocked up the Even-Pass-of-Hades, and placed the rock in the middle; and they stood opposite to one another and exchanged leave-takings; and Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites said: "My lovely elder brother, thine Augustness! If thou do like this, I will in one day strangle to death a thousand of the folk of thy land." Then His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites replied: "My lovely younger sister, Thine Augustness! If thou do this, I will in one day set up a thousand and five hundred parturition-houses. In this manner each day a thousand people would surely be born." So Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites is called the Great-Deity-of-Hades. Again it is said that, owing to her having pursued and reached her elder brother, she is called the Road-Reaching-Great deity. Again, the rock with which he blocked up the Even-Pass-of-Hades is called the Great-Deity-of-the-Road-Turning-back, and again it is called the Blocking-Great-Deity-of-the-Door-of-Hades. So what was called the Even-Pass-of-Hades is now called the Ifuya-Pass in the Land of Idzumo.
THE PURIFICATION OF THE AUGUST PERSON
Therefore the great deity the Male-Who-Invites said: "Nay! hideous! I have come to a hideous and polluted ​land—I have! So I will perform the purification of my august person." So he went out to a plain covered with ahagi, at a small river-mouth near Tachibana in Himuka in the island of Tsukushi, and purified and cleansed himself. So the name of the deity that was born from the august staff which he threw down was the deity Thrust-Erect-Come-Not-Place. The name of the deity that was born from the august girdle which he next threw down was the deity Road-Long-Space. The name of the deity that was born from the august skirt which he next threw down was the deity Loosen-Put. The name of the deity that was born from the august upper garment which he next threw down was the deity Master-of-Trouble. The name of the deity that was born from the august trousers which he next threw down was the Road-Fork deity. The name of the deity that was born from the august hat which he next threw down was the deity Master-of-the-Open-Mouth. The names of the deities that were born from the bracelet of his august left hand which he next threw down were the deity Offing-Distant, next, the ​deity Wash-Prince-of-the-Offing; next, the deity Intermediate-Direction-of-the-Offing. The names of the deities that were born from the bracelet of his august right hand which he next threw down were: the deity Shore-Distant; next, the deity Wash-Prince-of-the-Shore; next, the deity Intermediate-Direction-of-the-Shore.
The twelve deities mentioned in the foregoing list from the deity Come-Not-Place down to the deity Intermediate-Direction-of-the-Shore are deities that were born from his taking off the things that were on his person.
Thereupon saying: "The water in the upper reach is too rapid; the water in the lower reach is too sluggish," he went down and plunged in the middle reach; and, as he washed, there was first born the Wondrous-Deity-of-Eighty-Evils, and next the Wondrous-Deity-of-Great-Evils. These two deities are the deities that were born from the filth he contracted when he went to that polluted, hideous land. The names of the deities that were next born to rectify those evils were: the Divine-Rectifying-Wondrous deity; next, the Great-Rectifying-Wondrous deity; next, the Female-Deity-Idzu. The names of the deities that were next born as he bathed at the bottom of the water were: the deity Possessor-of-the-Ocean-Bottom and, next, His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Bottom. The names of the deities that were born as he bathed in the middle of the water were: the deity Possessor-of-the-Ocean-Middle and, next, His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Middle. The names of the deities that were born as he bathed at the top of the water were the deity Possessor-of-the-Ocean-Surface and, next, His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Surface. These three Ocean-Possessing deities are the deities held in reverence as their ancestral deities by the Chiefs of Adzumi. So
​the Chiefs of Adzumi are the descendants of His Augustness Utsushi-hi-gana-saku, a child of these Ocean-possessing deities. These three deities His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Bottom, His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Middle, and His Augustness Elder-Male-of-the-Surface are the three great deities of the Inlet of Sumi. The name of the deity that was born as he thereupon washed his left august eye was the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity. The name of the deity that was next born as he washed his right august eye was His Augustness Moon-Night-Possessor. The name of the deity that was next born as he washed his august nose was His Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness.
The fourteen deities in the foregoing list from the Wondrous-Deity-of-Eighty-Evils down to His Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness are deities born from the bathing of his august person.
THE KOJIKI
Part III.—Amaterasu, The Sun-Goddess, and the Storm-God
INVESTITURE OF THE THREE DEITIES, THE ILLUSTRIOUS AUGUST CHILDREN
At this time His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites greatly rejoiced, saying: "I, begetting child after child, have at my final begetting gotten three illustrious children." With which words, at once jinglingly taking off and shaking the jewelstring forming his august necklace, he bestowed it on Amaterasu, the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity, saying: "Do Thine Augustness rule the Plain-of-High-Heaven." With this charge he bestowed it on her. Now the name of this august necklace was the August-Storehouse-Shelf deity. Next he said to His Augustness Moon-Night-Possessor: "Do Thine Augustness rule the Dominion of the Night." Thus he charged him. Next he said to His-Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness: "Do Thine Augustness rule the Sea-Plain."
THE CRYING AND WEEPING OF HIS IMPETUOUS-MALE-AUGUSTNESS
So while the other two deities each assumed his and her rule according to the command with which her father had deigned to charge them, the Storm-God, His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness, did not assume the rule of the dominion with which he had been charged, but cried and wept till his eight-grasp beard reached to the pit of his stomach. The ​fashion of his weeping was such as by his weeping to wither the green mountains into withered mountains, and by his weeping to dry up all the rivers and seas. For this reason the sound of bad deities was like unto the flies in the fifth moon as they all swarmed, and in all things every portent of woe arose. So the Great August deity the Male-Who-Invites said to His Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness: "How is it that, instead of ruling the land with which I charged thee, thou dost wail and weep?" He replied, saying: "I wail because I wish to depart to my deceased mother's land, to the Nether Distant Land." Then the Great August deity the Male-Who-Invites was very angry and said: If that be so, thou shalt not dwell in this land," and forthwith expelled him with a divine expulsion. So the great deity the Male-Who-Invites dwells at Taga in Afumi.
THE AUGUST OATH
So thereupon His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness said: "If that be so I will take leave of the Heaven-Shining-​Great-August deity, and depart." With these words he forthwith went up to Heaven, whereupon all the mountains and rivers shook, and every land and country quaked. So the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity, alarmed at the noise, said: "The reason of the ascent hither of His Augustness my elder brother is surely of no good intent. It is only that he wishes to wrest my land from me." And she forthwith, unbinding her august hair, twisted it into august bunches; and both into the left and into the right august bunch, as likewise into her august head-dress and likewise on to her left and her right august arm, she twisted an augustly complete string of curved jewels eight feet long, of five hundred jewels, and, slinging on her back a quiver holding a thousand arrows, and adding thereto a quiver holding five hundred arrows, she likewise took and slung at her side a mighty and high sounding elbow-pad, and brandished and stuck her bow upright so that the top shook, and she stamped her feet into the hard ground up to her opposing thighs, kicking away the earth like rotten snow, and stood valiantly like unto a mighty man, and, waiting, asked: "Wherefore ascendest thou hither?" Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness replied, saying: "I have no evil intent. It is only that when the Great August deity our father spoke, deigning to inquire the cause of
THE AUGUST DECLARATION OF THE DIVISION OF THE AUGUST MALE CHILDREN AND THE AUGUST FEMALE CHILDREN
Hereupon the Heavenly Shining-Great-August deity said to His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness: "As for the seed of the five male deities born last, their birth was from things of mine; so undoubtedly they are my children. As for the seed of the three female deities born first, their birth was from a thing of thine; so doubtless they are thy children." Thus did she declare the division. So Her Augustuess Torrent-Mist-Princess, the deity born first, dwells in the inner temple of Munakata. The next, Her Augustness Lovely-Island-Princess, dwells in the middle temple of Munakata. The next, Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Torrent, dwells in the outer temple of Munakata. These three deities are of the three great deities held in reverence by the dukes of Munakata. So His Augustness Brave-Rustic-Illuminator, child of His Augustness Ame-no-hohi, one of the five children born afterward. This is the ancestor of the rulers of the land of Idzumo, of the rulers of the land of Muzashi, of the rulers of the upper land of Unakami, of the rulers of the lower land of Unakami, of the rulers of the land of Izhimu, of the departmental suzerains of the Island of Tsu and of the rulers of the land of Toho-tsu-Afumi. The next, His Augustness Prince-​Lord-of-Heaven, is the ancestor of the rulers of the land of Ofushi-kafuchi, of the chiefs of Nukatabe-no-yuwe, of the rulers of the land of Ki, of the suzerains of Tanaka in Yamato, of the rulers of the land of Yamashiro, of the rulers of the land of Umaguta, of the rulers of the land of Kine in Michino-Shiri, of the rulers of the land of Suhau, of the rulers of Amuchi, in Yamato, of the departmental suzerains of Takechi, of the territorial lords of Kamafu, and of the rulers of Sakikusabe.
THE AUGUST RAVAGES OF HIS-IMPETUOUS-MALE-AUGUSTNESS
Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness said to the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity: "Owing to the sincerity of my intentions I have, in begetting children, gotten delicate females. Judging from this, I have undoubtedly gained the victory." With these words, and impetuous with victory, he broke down the divisions of the rice-fields laid out by the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity, filled up the ditches, and moreover strewed excrements in the palace where she partook of the great food. So, though he did thus, the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity upbraided him not, but said: "What looks like excrements must be something that His Augustness mine elder brother has vomited through drunkenness. Again, as to his breaking down the divisions of the rice-fields and filling up the ditches, it must be because he grudges the land they occupy that His Augustness mine elder brother acts thus." But notwithstanding these apologetic words, he still continued his evil acts, and was more and more violent. As the Heaven-​Shining-Great-August deity sat in her awful weaving-hall seeing to the weaving of the august garments of the deities, he broke a hole in the top of the weaving-hall, and through it let fall a heavenly piebald horse which he had flayed with a backward flaying, at whose sight the women weaving the heavenly garments were so much alarmed they died of fear.
THE DOOR OF THE HEAVENLY ROCK-DWELLING
So thereupon the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity, terrified at the sight, closed behind her the door of the Heavenly Rock-Dwelling, made it fast, and retired. Then the whole Plain of High Heaven was obscured and all the Central Land of Reed-Plains darkened. Owing to this, eternal night prevailed. Hereupon the voices of the myriad deities were like unto the flies in the fifth moon as they swarmed, and a myriad portents of woe all arose. Therefore did the eight hundred myriad deities assemble in a divine assembly in the bed of the Tranquil River of Heaven, and bid the deity Thought-Includer, child of the High-August-Producing-Wondrous deity, think of a plan, assembling the long-singing birds of eternal night and making them sing, taking the hard rocks of Heaven from the river-bed of the Tranquil River of Heaven, and taking the iron from the Heavenly Metal-Mountains, calling in the smith Ama-tsu-ma-ra, charging Her Augustness I-shi-ko​ri-do-me to make a mirror, and charging His Augustness Jewel-Ancestor to make an augustly complete string of curved jewels eight feet long—of five hundred jewels—and summoning His Augustness Heavenly-Beckoning-Ancestor-Lord and His Augustness Great-Jewel, and causing them to pull out with a complete pulling the shoulder-blade of a true stag from the Heavenly Mount Kagu, and take cherry-bark from the Heavenly Mount Kagu, and perform divination, and pulling up by pulling its roots a true cleyera japonica with five hundred branches from the Heavenly Mount Kagu, and taking and putting upon its upper branches the augustly complete string of curved jewels eight feet long—of five hundred jewels—and taking and tying to the middle branches the mirror eight feet long, and taking and hanging upon its lower branches the white pacificatory offerings and the blue pacificatory offerings, His Augustness Grand-Jewel taking these divers things and holding them together with the grand august offerings, and His Augustness Heavenly-Beckoning-Ancestor-Lord prayerfully reciting grand liturgies, and the Heavenly Hand-Strength-Male deity standing hidden beside the door, and Her Augustness Heavenly-Alarming-Female hanging round her the heavenly clubmoss the Heavenly Mount Kagu as a sash, and making the heavenly spindle-tree her head-dress, and binding the leaves of the bamboo-grass of the Heavenly Mount Kagu in a posy for her hands, and laying a sounding-board before the door of the Heavenly Rock-Dwelling, and stamping till she made it resound and doing as if possessed by a deity, ​and pulling out the nipples of her breasts, pushing down her skirt-string usque ad privates partes. Then the Plain of High Heaven shook, and the eight hundred myriad deities laughed together.
Hereupon the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity was greatly amazed, and, slightly opening the door of the Heavenly Rock-Dwelling, spoke thus from the inside: "Methought that owing to my retirement the Plain of Heaven would be dark, and likewise the Central Land of Reed-Plains would all be dark: how then is it that the Heavenly-Alarming-Female makes merry, and that likewise the eight hundred myriad deities all laugh?" Then the Heavenly-Alarming-Female spoke, saying: "We rejoice and are glad because there is a deity more illustrious than Thine Augustness." While she was thus speaking, His Augustness Heavenly-Beckoning-Ancestor-Lord and His Augustness Grand-Jewel pushed forward the mirror and respectfully showed it to the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity, whereupon the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity, more and more astonished, gradually came forth from the door and gazed upon it, whereupon the Heavenly-Hand-Strength-Male deity, who was standing hidden, took her august hand and drew her out, and then His Augustness Grand-Jewel drew the bottom-tied rope along at her august back, and spoke, saying: "Thou must not go back further in than this"! So when the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity had come forth, both the Plain of High
​Heaven and the Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains of course again became light.
THE AUGUST EXPULSION OF HIS IMPETUOUS-MALE-AUGUSTNESS
Thereupon the eight hundred myriad deities took counsel together, and imposed on High-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness a fine of a thousand tables, and likewise cut his beard, and even caused the nails of his fingers and toes to be pulled out, and expelled him with a divine expulsion. Again he begged food of the deity Princess-of-Great-Food. Then the Princess-of-Great-Food took out all sorts of dainty things from her nose, her mouth, and her fundament, and made them up into all sorts of dishes, which she offered to him. But His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness watched her proceedings, considered that she was offering up to him filth, and at once killed the deity Princess-of-Great-Food. So the things that were born in the body of the deity who had been killed were as follows: in her head were born silkworms, in her two eyes were born rice-seeds, in her two ears was born millet, in her nose were born small beans, in her private parts was born barley, in her fundament were born large beans. So His Augustness the Deity-Producing-Wondrous-Ancestor caused them to be taken and used as seeds.
THE EIGHT-FORKED SERPENT
So, having been expelled, His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness descended to a place called Tori-kami at the headwaters of the River Hi in the Land of Idzumo. At this time some chopsticks came floating down the stream. So His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness, thinking that there must ​be people at the head-waters of the river, went up it in quest of them, when he came upon an old man and an old woman—two of them—who had a young girl between them, and were weeping. Then he deigned to ask: "Who are ye?" So the old man replied, saying: "I am an Earthly deity, child of the deity Great-Mountain-Possessor. I am called by the name of Foot-Stroking-Elder, my wife is called by the name of Hand-Stroking-Elder, and my daughter is called by the name of Wondrous-Inada-Princess." Again he asked: "What is the cause of your crying?" The old man answered, saying: "I had originally eight young girls as daughters. But the eight-forked serpent of Koshi has come every year and devoured one, and it is now its time to come, wherefore we weep." Then he asked him: "What is its form like?" The old man answered, saying: "Its eyes are like akakagachi, it has one body with eight heads and eight tails. Moreover, on its body grows moss, and also chamæcyparis and cryptomerias. Its length extends over eight valleys and eight hills, and if one look at its belly, it is all constantly bloody and inflamed." (What is called here akakagachi is the modern hohodzuki.) Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness said to the old man: "If this be thy daughter, wilt thou offer her to me?" He replied, saying: "With reverence, but I know not thine august name." Then he replied, saying: "I am elder brother to the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity. So I have now descended from Heaven." Then the deities Foot-Stroking-Elder and Hand-Stroking-Elder said: "If that be so, with reverence will we offer her to thee." So His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness, at once taking and changing the young girl into a multitudinous and close-toothed comb which he stuck into his august hair-bunch, said to the deities Foot-Stroking-Elder and Hand-Stroking-Elder: "Do you distil some eightfold refined liquor. Also make a fence round about, in that fence make eight gates, at each gate tie together eight platforms, on each platform put a liquor-vat, and into each vat pour the eightfold refined liquor, and wait." So as they waited after having thus prepared everything in accordance with his bidding, the eight-forked serpent came ​truly as the old man had said, and immediately dipped a head into each vat, and drank the liquor. Thereupon it was intoxicated with drinking, and all the heads lay down and slept. Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness drew the ten-grasp saber, that was augustly girded on him, and cut the serpent in pieces, so that the River Hi flowed on changed into a river of blood. So when he cut the middle tail, the edge of his august sword broke. Then, thinking it strange, he thrust into and split the flesh with the point of his august sword and looked, and there was a great sword within. So he took this great sword, and, thinking it a strange thing, he respectfully informed the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity. This is the Herb-Quelling Great Sword.
THE PALACE OF SUGA
So thereupon His Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness sought in the land of Idzumo for a place where he might build a palace. Then he arrived at a place called Suga, and said: "On coming to this place my august heart is pure" and in that place he built a palace to dwell in. So that place is now called Suga. When this great deity first built the palace of Suga, clouds rose up thence. Then he made an august song. That song said:
"Eight clouds arise. The eightfold fence of Idzumo makes an eightfold fence for the spouses to retire within. Oh! that eightfold fence."
THE KOJIKI
Part IV.—The Beast-Legends
THE WHITE HARE OF INABA
From His Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness was descended the deity Master-of-the-Great-Land. He had eighty deities his brethren; but they all left the land to the deity Master-of-the-Great-Land. The reason for their leaving it was this: Each of these eighty deities had in his heart the wish to marry the Princess of Yakami in Inaba, and they went together to Inaba, putting their bag on the back of the deity Great-Name-Possessor, whom they took with them as an attendant. Hereupon, when they arrived at Cape Keta, they found a naked hare lying down. Then the eighty deities spoke to the hare, saying: "What thou shouldest do is to bathe in the sea-water here, and lie on the slope of a high mountain exposed to the blowing of the wind." So the hare followed the instructions of the eighty deities, and lay down. Then, as the sea-water dried, the skin of its body all split with the blowing of the wind, so that it lay weeping with pain. But the deity Great-Name-Possessor, who came last of all, saw the hare, and said: "Why liest thou weeping?" The hare replied, saying: "I was in the Island of Oki, and wished to cross over to this land, but had no means of crossing over. For this reason I deceived the crocodiles of the sea, saying: 'Let you and me compete, and compute the numbers of our respective tribes. So do you go and fetch every member of your tribe, and make them all lie in a row across from this island to Cape Keta. Then I will tread on them, and count them as I run across. Hereby shall we know whether it or my tribe is the larger.' Upon my speaking thus, they were ​deceived and lay down in a row, and I trod on them and counted them as I came across, and was just about to get on land, when I said: 'You have been deceived by me.' As soon as I had finished speaking, the crocodile who lay the last of all seized me and stripped off all my clothing. As I was weeping and lamenting for this reason, the eighty deities who went by before thee commanded and exhorted me, saying: "Bathe in the salt water, and lie down exposed to the wind.' So, on my doing as they had instructed me, my whole body was hurt." Thereupon the deity Great-Name-Possessor instructed the hare, saying: "Go quickly now to the river mouth, wash thy body with the fresh water, then take the pollen of the sedges growing at the river-mouth, spread it about, and roll about upon it, whereupon thy body will certainly be restored to its original state." So the hare did as it was instructed, and its body became as it had been originally. This was the White Hare of Inaba. It is now called the Hare deity. So the hare said to the deity Great-Name-Possessor: "These eighty deities shall certainly not get the Princess of Yakami. Though thou bearest the bag, Thine Augustness shall obtain her."
MOUNT TEMA
Thereupon the Princess of Yakami answered the eighty deities, saying: "I will not listen to your words. I mean to marry the deity Great-Name-Possessor." So the eighty deities, being enraged, and wishing to slay the deity Great-Name-Possessor, took counsel together, on arriving at the foot of Tema in the land of Hahaki, and said to him: "On this mountain there is a red boar. So when we drive it down, do thou wait and catch it. If thou do not wait and catch it, we will certainly slay thee." Having thus spoken, they took fire, and burned a large stone like unto a boar, and rolled it down. Then, as they drove it down and he caught it, he got stuck to and burned by the stone, and died. Thereupon Her Augustness his august parent cried and lamented, and went up to ​Heaven, and entreated His Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Augustness, who at once sent Princess Cockle-Shell and Princess Clam to bring him to life. Then Princess Cockle-Shell triturated and scorched her shell, and Princess Clam carried water and smeared him as with mother's milk, whereupon he became a beautiful young man, and wandered off. Hereupon the eighty deities, seeing this, again deceived him, taking him with them into the mountains, where they cut down a large tree, inserted a wedge in the tree and made him stand in the middle, whereupon they took away the wedge and tortured him to death. Then on Her Augustness his august parent again seeking him with cries, she perceived him, and at once cleaving the tree, took him out and brought him to life, and said to him: "If thou remain here, thou wilt at last be destroyed by the eighty deities." Then she sent him swiftly off to the august place of the deity Great-House-Prince in the land of Ki. Then when the eighty deities searched and pursued till they came up to him, and fixed their arrows in their bows, he escaped by dipping under the fork of a tree, and disappeared.
THE NETHER-DISTANT-LAND
The deity Great-House-Prince spoke to him, saying: "Thou must set off to the Nether-Distant-Land where dwells His Impetuous-Male-Augustness. That great deity will certainly-counsel thee." So on his obeying her commands and arriving at the august place of His Impetuous-Male-Augustness, the latter's daughter the Forward-Princess came out and saw him, and they exchanged glances and were married, and she went in again, and told her father, saying: "A very ​beautiful deity has come." Then the great deity went out and looked, and said: "This is the Ugly-Male-Deity-of-the-Reed-Plains," and at once calling him in, made him sleep in the snake-house. Hereupon his wife, Her Augustness the Forward-Princess, gave her husband a snake-scarf, saying: "When the snakes are about to bite thee, drive them away by waving this scarf thrice." So, on his doing as she had instructed, the snakes became quiet, so that he came forth after calm slumbers. Again on the night of the next day the Impetuous-Male deity put him into the centipede and wasp-house; but as she again gave him a centipede and wasp-scarf, and instructed him as before, he came forth calmly. Again the Impetuous-Male deity shot a whizzing barb into the middle of a large moor, and sent him to fetch the arrow, and, when he had entered the moor, at once set fire to the moor all round. Thereupon, while he stood knowing no place of exit, a mouse came and said: "The inside is hollow-hollow; the outside is narrow-narrow." Owing to its speaking thus, he trod on the place, whereupon he fell in and hid himself, during which time the fire burned past. Then the mouse brought out in its mouth and presented to him the whizzing barb. The feathers of the arrow were brought in their mouths by all the mouse's children. Hereupon his wife the Forward-Princess came bearing mourning-implements, and crying. Her father the great deity, thinking that the deity Great-Name-Possessor was already dead and done for, went out and stood on the moor, whereupon the deity Great-Name-Possessor brought the arrow and presented it to him, upon which the great deity, taking him into the house and calling him into an eight-foot spaced large room, made him take the lice off his head. So, on looking at the head, he saw that there were many centipedes there. Thereupon, as his wife gave to her
​husband berries of the muku tree and red earth, he chewed the berries to pieces, and spat them out with the red earth which he held in his mouth, so that the great deity believed him to be chewing up and spitting out the centipedes, and, feeling fond of him in his heart, fell asleep. Then the deity Great-Name-Possessor, grasping the great deity's hair, tied it fast to the various rafters of the house, and, blocking up the floor of the house with a five-hundred draught rock, and taking his wife the Forward-Princess on his back, then carried off the great deity's great life-sword and life-bow-and-arrows, as also his heavenly speaking-lute, and ran out. But the heavenly speaking-lute brushed against a tree, and the earth resounded. So the great deity, who was sleeping, started at the sound, and pulled down the house. But while he was disentangling his hair which was tied to the rafters, the deity Great-Name-Possessor fled a long way. So then, pursuing after him to the Even-Pass-of-Hades, and gazing on him from afar, he called out to the deity Great-Name-Possessor, saying: "With the great life-sword and the life-bow-and-arrows which thou carriest, pursue thy half-brethren till they crouch on the august slopes of the passes, and pursue them till they are swept into the reaches of the rivers, and do thou, wretch! become the deity Master-of-the-Great-Land; and moreover, becoming the deity Spirit-of-the-Living-Land, and making my daughter the Forward-Princess thy consort, do thou make stout the temple-pillars at the foot of Mount Uka in the nethermost rock-bottom, and make high the crossbeams to the Plain-of-High-Heaven, and dwell there, thou villain!" So when, bearing the great sword and bow, he ​pursued and scattered the eighty deities, he did pursue them till they crouched on the august slope of every pass, he did pursue them till they were swept into every river, and then he began to make the land.
THE WOOING OF THE DEITY-OF-EIGHT-THOUSAND-SPEARS
This Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears, when he went forth to woo the Princess of Nuna-kaha, in the land of Koshi, on arriving at the house of the Princess of Nunakaha sang, saying:
"I, His Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears, having been unable to find a spouse in the Land of the Eight Islands, and having heard that in the far-off Land of Koshi there is a wise maiden, having heard that there is a beauteous maiden, I am standing here to truly woo her, I am going backward and forward to woo her. Without having yet untied even the cord of my sword, without having yet untied even my veil, I push back the plank-door shut by the maiden; while I am standing here, I pull it forward. While I am standing here, the nuye sings upon the green mountain, and the voice of the true bird of the moor, the pheasant, resounds; the bird of the yard, the cock, crows. Oh! the pity that the birds should sing! Oh! these birds! Would that I could beat them till they were sick! Oh! swiftly flying heaven-racing messenger, the tradition of the thing, too, this!"
​Then the Princess of Nuna-kaha, without yet opening the door, sang from the inside, saying:
"Thine Augustness, the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! Being a maiden like a drooping plant, my heart is just a bird on a sand-bank by the shore; it will now indeed be a dotterel. Afterward it will be a gentle bird; so as for thy life, do not deign to die. Oh! swiftly flying heaven-racing messenger! the tradition of the thing, too, this!"
Second Song of the Princess
"When the sun shall hide behind the green mountains, in the night black as the true jewels of the moor will I come forth. Coming radiant with smiles like the morning sun, thine arms white as rope of paper-mulberry-bark shall softly pat my breast soft as the melting snow; and patting each other interlaced, stretching out and pillowing ourselves on each other's jewel-arms true jewel-arms and with outstretched legs, will we sleep. So speak not too lovingly, Thine Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! The tradition of the thing, too, this!"
THE CUP PLEDGE
Again this deity's Chief Empress, Her Augustness the Forward-Princess, was very jealous. So the deity her husband, being distressed, was about to go up from Idzumo to the Land of Yamato; and as he stood attired, with one august hand on the saddle of his august horse and one august foot in the august stirrup, he sang, saying:
"When I take and attire myself so carefully in my august garments black as the true jewels of the moor, and, like the birds of the offing, look at my breast though I raise my fins, I say that these are not good, and cast them off on the waves on the beach. When I take and attire myself so carefully in my august garments green as the kingfisher, and, like the birds of the offing, look at my breast though I raise my
​fins, I say that these, too, are not good, and cast them off on the waves on the beach. When I take and attire myself so carefully in my raiment dyed in the sap of the dye-tree, the pounded madder sought in the mountain fields, and, like the birds of the offing, look at my breast though I raise my fins, I say that they are good. My dear young sister, Thine Augustness! Though thou say that thou wilt not weep if like the flocking birds, I flock and depart, if, like the led birds, I am led away and depart, thou wilt hang down thy head like a single eulalia upon the mountain and thy weeping shall indeed rise as the mist of the morning shower. Thine Augustness my spouse like the young herbs! The tradition of the thing, too, this!"
Then his Empress, taking a great august liquor-cup, and drawing near and offering it to him, sang, saying:
"Oh! Thine Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! Thou, my dear Master-of-the-Great-Land indeed, being a man, probably hast on the various island-headlands that thou seest, and on every beach-headland that thou lookest on, a wife like the young herbs. But as for me alas! being a woman, I have no man except thee; I have no spouse except thee. Beneath the fluttering of the ornamented fence, beneath the softness of the warm coverlet, beneath the rustling of the cloth coverlet, thine arms white as rope of paper-mulberry bark softly patting my breast soft as the melting snow, and patting each other interlaced, stretching out and pillowing ourselves on each other's arms true jewel-arms, and with outstretched legs, will we sleep. Lift up the luxuriant august liquor!"
She having thus sung, they at once pledged each other by the cup with their hands on each other's necks, and are at rest till the present time. These are called divine words.
THE KOJIKI
The Champion of Japan
YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS HIS ELDER BROTHER
The Heavenly Sovereign said to His Augustness Wo-usu: "Why does not thine elder brother come forth to the morning and evening great august repasts? Be thou the one to take the trouble to teach him his duty." Thus he commanded; but for five days after, still the prince came not forth. Then the Heavenly Sovereign deigned to ask His Augustness Wo-usu, saying: "Why is thine elder brother so long of coming? Hast thou perchance not yet taught him his duty?" He replied, saying: "I have been at that trouble." Again the Heavenly Sovereign said: "How didst thou take the trouble?" He replied, saying: "In the early morning when he went into the privy, I grasped hold of him and crushed him, and, pulling off his limbs, wrapped them in matting and flung them away.
YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS THE KUMASO BRAVOES
Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, alarmed at the valor and ferocity of his august child's disposition, commanded him, saying: "In the West there are two Kumaso bravoes—unsubmissive and disrespectful men. So take them"—and with this command he sent him off. It happened that at this time his august hair was bound at the brow. Then His Au​gustness Wo-usu was granted by his aunt Her Augustness Yamato-hime her august upper garment and august skirt; and, with a saber hidden in his august bosom, he went forth. So, on reaching the house of the Kumaso braves, he saw that near the house there was a threefold belt of warriors, who had made a cave to dwell in. Hereupon they, noisily discussing a rejoicing for the august cave, were getting food ready. So Prince Wo-usu sauntered about the neighborhood, waiting for the day of the rejoicing. Then when the day of the rejoicing came, having combed down after the manner of girls his august hair which was bound up, and having put on his aunt's august upper garment and august skirt, he looked quite like a young girl, and, standing amidst the women, went inside the cave. Then the elder brother and the younger brother, the two Kumaso bravoes, delighted at the sight of the maiden, set her between them, and rejoiced exuberantly. So, when the feast was at its height, His Augustness Wo-usu, drawing the saber from his bosom, and catching Kumaso by the collar of his garment, thrust the saber through his chest, whereupon, alarmed at the sight, the younger bravo ran out. But pursuing after and reaching him at the bottom of the steps of the cave, and catching him by the back, Prince Wo-usu thrust the saber through his buttock. Then the Kumaso brave spoke, saying: "Do not move the sword; I have something to say." Then His Augustness Wo-usu, respited him for a moment, holding him down as he lay prostrate. Hereupon the bravo said: "Who is Thine Augustness?" Then he said: "I am the august child of Oho-tarashi-hiko-oshiro-​wake, the Heavenly Sovereign who, dwelling in the palace of Hishiro at Makimuku, rules the Land of the Eight Great Islands; and my name is King Yamata-woguna. Hearing that you two fellows, the Kumaso bravoes, were unsubmissive and disrespectful, the Heavenly Sovereign sent me with the command to take and slay you." Then the Kumaso bravo said: "That must be true. There are no persons in the West so brave and strong as we two. Yet in the Land of Great Yamato there is a man braver than we two—there is. Therefore will I offer thee an august name. From this time forward it is right that thou be praised as the August Child Yamato-take." As soon as he had finished saying this, the Prince ripped him up like a ripe melon, and slew him. So thenceforward he was praised by being called by the august name of his Augustness Yamato-take. When he returned up to the capital after doing this, he subdued and pacified every one of the deities of the mountains and of the deities of the rivers and likewise of the deities of Anado, and then went up to the capital.
YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS THE IDZUMO BRAVO
Forthwith entering the land of Idzumo, and wishing to slay the Idzumo bravo, he, on arriving, forthwith bound himself to him in friendship. So, having secretly made the wood of an oak-tree into a false sword and augustly girded it, he went with the bravo to bathe in the River Hi. Then, His Augustness Yamato-take getting out of the river first, and taking and girding on the sword that the Idzumo bravo had taken off and laid down, said: "Let us exchange swords!" So afterward the Idzumo bravo, getting out of the river, girded on His Augustness Yamato-take's false sword. Hereupon His Au​gustness Yamato-take, suggested, saying: "Come on! let us cross swords." Then on drawing his sword, the Idzumo bravo could not draw the false sword. Forthwith His Augustness Yamato-take drew his sword and slew the Idzumo bravo. Then he sang augustly, saying:
"Alas that the sword girded on the Idzumo bravo, and wound round with many a creeper, should have had no true blade!"
So having thus extirpated the bravoes and made the land orderly, he went up to the capital and made his report to the Heavenly Sovereign.
YAMATO-TAKE IS SENT TO SUBDUE THE EAST, AND VISITS HIS AUNT AT ISE
YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS THE RULERS OF SAGAMU
So reaching the land of Wohari, he went into the house of Princess Miyadzu, ancestress of the rulers of Wohari, and forthwith thought to wed her; but thinking again that he would wed her when he should return up toward the capital, and having plighted his troth, he went on into the Eastern lands, and subdued and pacified all the savage deities and unsubmissive people of the mountains and rivers. So then, when he reached the land of Sagamu, the ruler of the land lied, saying: "In the middle of this moor is a great lagoon, and the deity that dwells in the middle of the lagoon is a very violent deity." Hereupon Yamato-take entered the moor to see the deity. Then the ruler of the land set fire to the moor. So, knowing that he had been deceived, he opened the mouth of the bag which his aunt, Her Augustness Yamato-hime had bestowed on him, and saw that inside of it there was a fire-striker. Hereupon he first mowed away the herbage with his august sword, took the fire-striker and struck out fire, and, kindling a counter-fire, burned the herbage and drove back the other fire and returned forth, and killed and destroyed all the rulers of that land, and forthwith set fire to and burned them. So that place is now called Yakidzu.
YAMATO-TAKE'S EMPRESS STILLS THE WAVES
When he thence penetrated on, and crossed the sea of Hashiri-midzu, the deity of that crossing raised the waves, tossing the ship so that it could not proceed across. Then Ya​mato-take's Empress, whose name was Her Augustness Princess Oto-tachibana, said: "I will enter the sea instead of the august child. The august child must complete the service on which he has been sent, and take back a report to the Heavenly Sovereign." When she was about to enter the sea, she spread eight thicknesses of sedge rugs, eight thicknesses of skin rugs, and eight thicknesses of silk rugs on the top of the waves, and sat down on the top of them. Thereupon the violent waves at once went down, and the august ship was able to proceed. Then the Empress sang, saying:
"Ah! thou whom I inquired of, standing in the midst of the flames of the fire burning on the little moor of Sagamu, where the true peak pierces!"
So seven days afterward the Empress's august comb drifted on to the sea-beach which comb was forthwith taken and placed in an august mausoleum which was made.
YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS THE DEITY OF THE ASHIGARA PASS
When, having thence penetrated on and subdued all the savage Yemish and likewise pacified all the savage deities ​of the mountains and rivers, he was returning up to the capital, he, on reaching the foot of the Ashigara Pass, was eating his august provisions, when the deity of the pass, transformed into a white deer, came and stood before him. Then forthwith, on his waiting and striking the deer with a scrap of wild chive, the deer was hit in the eye and struck dead. So, mounting to the top of the pass, he sighed three times and spoke, saying: "Adzuma ha ya!" So that land is called by the name of Adzuma.
YAMATO-TAKE WOOS PRINCESS MIYAZU
When, forthwith crossing over from that land out into Kahi, he dwelt in the palace of Sakawori, he sang, saying:
"How many nights have I slept since passing Nihibari and Tsukuha?"
Then the old man, who was the lighter of the august fire, completed the august song, and sang, saying:
"Oh! having put the days in a row, there are of nights nine nights, and of days ten days!"
Therefore Yamato-take praised the old man, and forthwith bestowed on him the rulership of the Eastern lands.
Having crossed over from that land into the land of Shinanu and subdued the deity of the Shinanu pass, he came back to the land of Wohari, and went to dwell in the house of Princess Miyazu, to whom he had before plighted his troth. Hereupon, when presenting to him the great august food, Princess Miyazu lifted up a great liquor-cup and presented it to him.
YAMATOTAKE MEETS THE DEITY OF MOUNT IBUKI
Hereupon he said: "As for the deity of this mountain, I will simply take him empty-handed" and was ascending the mountain, when there met him on the mountainside a white boar whose size was like unto that of a bull. Then he lifted up words, and said: "This creature that is transformed into a white boar must be a messenger from the deity. Though I slay it not now, I will slay it when I return" and so saying, ascended. Thereupon the deity caused heavy ice-rain to fall, striking and perplexing His Augustness Yamato-take. (This creature transformed into a white boar was not a messenger from the deity, but the very deity in person. Owing to the lifting up of words, he appeared and misled Yamato-take.) So when, on descending back, he reached the fresh spring of Tamakura-be and rested there, his august heart awoke somewhat. So that fresh spring is called by the name of the fresh spring of Wi-same.
YAMATO-TAKE SICKENS AND DIES
When he departed thence and reached the moor of Tagi, he said: "Whereas my heart always felt like flying through ​the sky, my legs are now unable to walk. They have become rudder-shaped." So that place was called by the name of Tagi. Owing to his being very weary with progressing a little farther beyond that place, he leaned upon an august staff to walk a little. So that place is called by the name of the Tsuwetsuki pass. On arriving at the single pine-tree on Cape Wotsu, an august sword, which he had forgotten at that place before when augustly eating, was still there, not lost. Then he augustly sang, saying:
"O mine elder brother, the single pine-tree that art on Cape Wotsu which directly faces Wohari! If thou, single pine-tree! wert a person, I would gird my sword upon thee, I would clothe thee with my garments—O mine elder brother, the single pine-tree!"
When he departed thence and reached the village of Mihe, he again said: "My legs are like threefold crooks, and very weary." So that place was called by the name of Mihe. When he departed thence and reached the moor of Nobe, he regretting his native land, sang, saying:
"As for Yamato, the most secluded of land—Yamato, retired behind Mount Awogaki encompassing it with its folds, is delightful." ​Again he sang, saying:
"Let those whose life may be complete stick in their hair as a headdress the leaves of the bear-oak from Mount Heguri those children!"
This song is a land-regretting song. Again he sang, saying:
"How sweet! ah! from the direction of home clouds are rising and coming!"
This is an incomplete song. At this time, his august sickness was very urgent. Then he sang augustly, saying:
"The saber-sword which I placed at the maiden's bedside, alas! that sword!"
As soon as he had finished singing, he died. Then a courier was dispatched to the Heavenly Sovereign.
YAMATO-TAKE TURNS INTO A WHITE BIRD
Thereupon his Empresses and likewise his august children, who dwelt in Yamato, all went down and built an august mausoleum, and, forthwith crawling hither and thither in the rice-fields encompassing the mausoleum, sobbed out a song, saying:
"The Dioacorea quinqueloba crawling hither and thither among the rice-stubble, among the rice-stubble in the rice-fields encompassing the mausoleum. . . ."
Thereupon the dead prince, turning into a white dotterel eight fathoms long, and soaring up to Heaven, flew off toward the shore. Then the Empress and likewise the august chil​dren, though they tore their feet treading on the stubble of the bamboo-grass, forgot the pain, and pursued him with lamentations. At that time they sang, saying:
"Our loins are impeded in the plain overgrown with short bamboo-grass. We are not going through the sky, but oh! we are on foot."
Again when they entered the salt sea, and suffered as they went, they sang, saying:
"As we go through the sea, our loins are impeded tottering in the sea like herbs growing in a great river-bed."
Again when the bird flew and perched on the seaside, they sang, saying:
"The dotterel of the beach goes not on the beach, but follows the seaside."
These four songs were all sung at Yamato-take's august interment. So to the present day these songs are sung at the great interment of a Heavenly Sovereign. So the bird flew off from that country, and stopped at Shiki in the land of Kafuchi. So they made an august mausoleum there, and laid Yamato-take to rest. Forthwith that august mausoleum was called by the name of the "August-Mausoleum of the White-Bird." Nevertheless the bird soared up thence to heaven again and flew away.
[From here onward the "Kojiki" becomes more strictly historical and more like the "Nihongi," only less expanded and detailed.]
* ↑ Yamato seems the original Japanese name for "Japan." Later, the Japanese themselves adopted from their Chinese teachers the Chinese name of Nihon or Nippon, the "Land of the Rising Sun." "Japan" is but our Western pronunciation of this Chinese name. The islanders themselves have reduced the significance of their earlier name, Yamato, so that it now stands only for a single province.
* ↑ Literally, "that became." Such "becoming" is concisely defined by Motowori as "the birth of that which did not exist before."
* ↑ I.e., they all came into existence without being procreated in the manner usual with both gods and men, and afterward disappeared, i.e., died.
* ↑ This is a note in the original, where such notes are indented, as has also been done in the translation. The author's obscure phrase is explained by Motowori to mean that these Heavenly deities were separate from those who came into existence afterward, and especially from the Earthly-Eternally-Standing deity who, in the "Chronicles," is the first divine being of whom mention is made. These five were, he says, "separate" and had nothing to do with the creation of the world. It should be stated that the sentence will also bear the interpretation "The five deities in the above list are deities who divided Heaven" (i.e., presumably from Earth); but this rendering has against it the authority of all the native editors. As the expressions "Heavenly deity" and "Earthly deity" (literally "Country deity") are of frequent occurrence in these "Records," it may be as well to state that, according to Motowori, the "Heavenly deities" were such as either dwelt in Heaven or had originally descended to Earth from Heaven, whereas the Earthly deities were those born and dwelling in Japan.
* ↑ Izana-gi-no-kami and Izana-mi-no-kami. There is some slight diversity of opinion as to the literal signification of the component parts of the names of these the best-known of the deities hitherto mentioned, though the gist of the meaning remains unchanged. Motowori would prefer to read Iza-na-gi and Iza-na-mi, understanding the names thus: "the Prince-Who-Invites-Thee" and the "Princess-Who-Invites-Thee."
* ↑ Ama-no-uki-hashi or Ame-no-uki-hashi. The best authorities are at variance as to the nature of this bridge uniting Heaven with Earth. Hirata identifies it with the Heavenly-Rock-Boat (Ame-no-iha-fune) mentioned in some ancient writings, whereas Motowori takes it to have been a real bridge, and finds traces of it and of similar bridges in the so-called "Heavenly Stairs" (Ama-no-hashi-date) which are found on several points of the coast, forming a kind of natural breakwater just above water-level.
* ↑ I.e., "till it became thick and glutinous." It is not easy to find in English a word which will aptly render the original Japanese onomatopœia koworokoworo. The meaning may also be "till it made a curdling sound."
* ↑ I.e., "Self-Curdling," "Self-Condensed." It is supposed to have been one of the islets off the coast of the larger island of Ahaji.
* ↑ This passage has been abbreviated in translation. Its sexual description is full and flatly physical.
* ↑ Literally, "Foam," perhaps the island of Ahaji.
* ↑ "The most important mode of divination practised by the primitive Japanese was that of scorching the shoulder-blade of a deer over a clear fire, and finding omens in the cracks produced by the heat."
* ↑ Futa-na is written with characters signifying "two names," and Motowori's derivation from futa-narabi, "two abreast," does not carry conviction. The etymology of Iyo is quite uncertain. It is here taken as the name of the whole island called in modern times Shikoku; but immediately below we find it in its usual modern acceptation of one of the four provinces into which that island is divided. A similar remark applies to Tsukushi a little further on.
* ↑ Tsu (Tsu-shima) means "port," "anchorage," a name probably given to this island on account of its being the midway halting-place for junks plying between Japan and Korea.
* ↑ Oho-ya-shima-kuni. A perhaps still more literal English rendering of this name would be "Land of the Grand Eight Islands" or "Grand Land of the Eight Islands," for the word oho must be regarded rather as an honorific than as actually meant to convey an idea of size.
* ↑ "To the Island of Onogoro," says Motowori; but we are not told that the god and goddess had ever left it.
* ↑ Oho-to-bi-wake-na-kami, a name which Motowori, by supposing corruptions of the text and by making a plentiful use of the pliant and powerful system of derivation with which the Japanese etymologists lay siege to the difficulties of their language, identifies with Oho-naho-bi-no-kami, "the Great-Rectifying-Wondrous deity."
* ↑ I.e., river-mouths, estuaries, or ports.
* ↑ "Haya-aki-dzu-hiko. Aki, whose proper signification is "autumn," might also by metonymy be interpreted to mean "dragon-fly" or "Japan." Motowori, àpropos of this name, launches forth on very bold derivations and identifications with the names of other gods. The original of the sister-deity is Haya-aki-dzu-hime-no-kami.
* ↑ I.e., the Prince-Who-Invites and the Princess-Who-Invites (Izanagi and Izana-mi).
* ↑ "Lying down" (koyasu) is a term often used in the archaic language in the sense of "dying." But here it must be taken literally, the death ("divine retirement") of the goddess being narrated a few lines further on.
* ↑ This island was not born, but arose spontaneously from drops of brine.
* ↑ Hiru-go was not counted among the children of these deities for the reason that the latter abandoned him as soon as he was born, he being a failure. The reason for omitting Aha from the computation is not so clear.
* ↑ One "grasp" is defined as "the breadth of four fingers when the hand is clenched," so that the meaning intended to be conveyed is of a big saber ten handbreadths long. The length of the sabers and of beards was measured by such "grasps" or "handbreadths."
* ↑ The characters in the original which are here rendered Hades are literally, "Yellow Stream," a Chinese name for the Underworld, to which a remark of Mencius and a story in the "Tso Chuan" appear to have given rise. They here represent the Japanese word Yomo or Yomi, which we find phonetically written in the name of Yomo-tsu-shiko-me a little further on, and which is defined by Motowori as "an underworld, . . . the habitation of the dead, . . . the land whither, when they die, go all men, whether noble or mean, virtuous or wicked." The orthodox Japanese derivation of Yomi is from Yoru, "night," which would give us for Yomo-tsu-kuni some such rendering as "the Land of Gloom." A suggestion quoted by Arawi Hakuseki ("Toga" article Idzumi) that the word may really be but a mispronunciation of Yama, the Sanskrit name of the Buddhist god of hell, is however worthy of consideration; but it seems best on the whole to translate Yomi or Yomo by "Hades," a term which is itself of uncertain derivation, and the signification attached to which closely resembles the Japanese Shinto notion of the world beyond, or rather beneath, the grave.
* ↑ I.e., "of the food of Hades." It would be more obvious (following the text) to translate "I have eaten in the doors, i.e., in the house, of Hades"; but the character in this place stands almost certainly for "a place for cooking," "a furnace."
* ↑ The word kashikoshi, here translated "reverence," exactly corresponds to the modern polite idiom osore-iri-mashita, for which there is no precise equivalent in English, but which conveys some such sentiment as "I am overpowered by the honor you do me," "I am sorry you should have taken the trouble."
* ↑ Return "with thee to the land of the living."
* ↑ Yomo-tsu-kami. Both Motowori and Hirata take the word "deities" in the plural, and the translator therefore renders it in that number, though the singular would be at least equally suitable to the text as it stands. Of the deities of Hades little or nothing is known.
* ↑ Literally, "the male pillar," i.e., the large tooth of which there is one at each end of the comb.
* ↑ The use of the expression "lit one light," where it would have been more natural to say simply "lit a light," is explained by a gloss in the "Chronicles," which informs us that "at the present day" the lighting of a single light is considered unlucky, as is also the throwing away of a comb at night-time. It is allowed that the gloss is a late addition, and its statement might perhaps be considered a mere invention made to account for the peculiar expression in the text. Motowori tells us, however, that "it is said by the natives" that these actions are still (latter part of 18th century) considered unlucky in the province of Ihami, and the same superstition also survives, as the translator is assured, in Yedo itself. It is to be understood that it was the large tooth broken off from the comb which the god lighted.
* ↑ We might perhaps with equal propriety render by "wreath" the word here translated head-dress—leaves and flowers having been the earliest ornaments for the hair. In later times, however, it has been used to designate any sort of head-dress, and that is also the dictionary meaning of the Chinese character with which it is written. The Japanese words for "head-dress" and "creeper" are homonymous, and indeed the former is probably but a specialized acceptation of the latter.
* ↑ I.e., brandishing it behind him.
* ↑ Or Flat Hill of Hades, Yomo-tsu-hira-saka, said by Motowori to form the frontier-line between Hades and the World of the Living.
* ↑ Ashi-hara-no-naka-tsu-kuni, a common periphrastic designation of Japan. It is better to translate the name thus than to render it by "the Land in the Middle of the Reed-Plains," a forced interpretation which Motowori and Hirata would only seem to adopt in order to veil the fact that one of the most ancient and revered names of their native land was imitated from that of China—everything Chinese being an abomination in the sight of these ardent Shintoists. Yamazaki Suiga, as quoted by Tanigaha Shisei, is more sensible when he remarks that each country naturally considers itself central and foreign countries barbarous, and that Japan is not peculiar in being looked on by its inhabitants as the center of the universe. This is also the view taken by the other earlier scholars.
* ↑ Oho-kamu-deumi-no-mikoto. The difference between singular and plural is not often present to the Japanese mind, and though there were three peaches, we might just as well render their name by the words "His Augustness," etc., considering the three as forming together but one divinity. The interpretation of the name here adopted is the simple and natural one which Motowori borrowed from Tanigaha Shisei.
* ↑ I.e., a rock which it would take a thousand men to lift.
* ↑ That some kind of leave-taking and separation is intended seems certain; but the precise import of the characters in the text is not to be ascertained. Moribe, in his critique on this commentary, argues that "divorced each other" is the proper signification of the words, and supports his opinion by the parallel passage of the "Chronicles."
* ↑ I.e., "I will cause fifteen hundred women to bear children." There was a custom of erecting a separate hut for a woman about to be delivered.
* ↑ Yomo-tsu-oho-kami. On this rather embarrassing statement Motowori is silent, and Hirata simply says: "It must be supposed that the 'deities of Hades' previously mentioned had been its 'Great Deities' up to this time, a position which was henceforward assumed by Her Augustness Izana-mi (the Female-Who-Invites)."
* ↑ Chi-shiki-no-oho-kami.
* ↑ Because the goddess was turned back by it on the road where she was pursuing her brother-husband.
* ↑ Ifuya-zaka. Moribe conjectures that Ifuya may be derived from Yufu-yami, "evening darkness," an etymology which has at least the merit of suiting the legend.
* ↑ The words "I have" thus repeated are an attempt to render the concluding words ari keri of the sentence in the original, by which, though they have no particular sense, the author evidently set great store, as he writes them syllabically. They may be considered to emphasize what goes before and, says Motowori, "convey the idea of lamentation." The idiom occurs some half-dozen times in the course of the present work.
* ↑ This botanical name is identified by Arawi Hakuseki and Hirata with the modern hagi, or "bushclover" (lespedeza of various species).
* ↑ Tachibana is understood to be the general designation of trees of the orange tribe. Here it is used as a proper name.
* ↑ This name, which signifies "sun-confronting," was not unnaturally bestowed on a province in the eastern. part of the westernmost of the larger Japanese islands, as it might well be conceived as lying "opposite the sun." It has, however, been supposed to have originally denoted the whole of the island in question. In any case the name is not inappropriate, as the island has a long eastern sea-board.
* ↑ Aki-guhi-no-ushi-no-kami. The English rendering of this obscure name proceeds on the assumption that Motowori is correct when he proposes to consider kuhi as "mouth." The gaping trousers no longer filled by the deity's legs would perhaps suggest the idea of an open mouth, though it is true that this is not the deity said to have been actually born from that portion of the attire.
* ↑ The word "wash," by which for want of a better one the substantive nagisa has been rendered, must be understood to signify the part nearest to the strand of the sea or of a river—the boundary of the waves.
* ↑ Literally, "right." In Chinese and Japanese compositions the lines follow each other from right to left instead of from top to bottom as with us. "Right" therefore signifies "foregoing," and "left," "following."
* ↑ Adumi-no-murazhi. This name is said by Motowori to be taken from that of a place in the province of Shinano. But Moribe shows that at any rate the etymology of the word may be traced to ama-tsu-mochi, "possessors of fishermen."
* ↑ Attention must again be drawn to the vagueness of the Japanese perception of the distinction between singular and plural. As three deities are particularly and repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing text, we are forced to translate this passage in the plural; and yet how could one child have three fathers?
* ↑ Sumi-no-ye, also called Sumi-yoshi, i.e., by a play upon words, "pleasant to dwell in." The real etymology of sumi is not certain. Instead of "the three great deities," we might translate by "the great deities of the Three Shrines."
* ↑ This deity became the favorite of the Japanese, who regarded themselves as her descendants. She is the Sun-goddess, Amaterasu. The untranslated name would be Ama-terasu-oho-mi-kami. The causative form is simply honorific, and the two words ama terasu signify, as Motowori explains, "shining in heaven."
* ↑ Tsuki-yomi-no-kami. There is no doubt as to a moon-god being intended, but the precise import of the name is disputed. The translator has followed Mabuchi's view as quoted by Motowori, and which is supported by the fact that, from classical times down to the present day, tsuku-yo or tsuki-yo has been a word in common use to denote "a fine moonlight night." If we were to take yomi as one word, we should have to render it either by "Moon-Hades" or by "Moon-Darkness," which seem less appropriate designations, though still of plain enough intent.
* ↑ Susa, which is sometimes read Soso, is rendered by the word "impetuous," in accordance with Mabuchi's view as quoted by Motowori. This god is usually called Susa-no-wo. He is the rain-storm, a popular but mischievous deity.
* ↑ I.e., "the string of jewels."
* ↑ Mi-kura-tana-no-kami. Motowori comments on this name by saying that the necklace was doubtless so precious that it was carefully kept by the goddess on a shelf in her storehouse.
* ↑ This is the Rain-storm god, known to the Japanese as Susa-no-wo, the mischief-maker.
* ↑ Literally, "in front of his heart."
* ↑ Sic in the original, to the perplexity of commentators.
* ↑ "Flies in the fifth moon" is the received interpretation of the original term sa-bahe.
* ↑ The text has here the character "to be full," for which Motowori somewhat arbitrarily reads "to bubble up," taking this word in the sense of swarming. The translator has endeavored to preserve the vagueness of the original Japanese, which leaves it doubtful at first sight whether the flies or the deities should be regarded as the logical subject of the verb.
* ↑ Literally, "a myriad things," a Chinese phrase for totality.
* ↑ The Chinese character for the first-personal pronoun used here and below by this deity is the humble one signifying, literally, "servant." The commentators read it simply "I."
* ↑ The Japanese authorities simply read "mother." But the character which is used in this place specially designates a mother who is deceased.
* ↑ I.e., Hades.
* ↑ I.e., say the commentators, "in this realm of ocean which I granted to thee as thy domain." Probably, however, this is reading into the text more than it was meant to contain.
* ↑ Derivation unknown.
* ↑ From aha-umi, "fresh sea," i.e., "lake." The province of Afumi was doubtless so called from Lake Biha, which occupies a great portion of its surface.
* ↑ The English location "to take leave" exactly represents the Chinese character here used which, from having the sense of "asking permission," has come to mean "bidding adieu."
* ↑ He was her younger brother.
* ↑ Literally, "heart," here and elsewhere.
* ↑ The original is here obscure, but the translator has, as usual, followed the Chinese characters as far as possible, and has been chiefly guided by Moribe's interpretation. According to this, the "eight feet" (which Moribe takes to mean simply "several feet") must be supposed to refer to the length of the necklace which, he says, probably resembled a Buddhist rosary, only that the beads were somewhat larger. Mr. Satow, adopting some of the bolder etymologies of the Japanese commentators, translates thus: the "ever-bright curved (or glittering) jewels, the many assembled jewels," and concludes that "a long string of, perhaps, claw-shaped stone beads" was what the author meant to describe.
* ↑ Hirata supposes this additional quiver to have been slung in front.
* ↑ I.e., "both legs penetrated into the ground up to the thigh," a proof of the vigor with which she used her limbs in stamping.
* ↑ Literally, "bubble-snow."
* ↑ I.e., "pledge our faith," "bind ourselves," in order to show forth the sincerity of our intentions.
* ↑ Ichiki-shima-hime-no-mikoto, ichiki being an unusual form of itsuki. The island, which is in the Inland Sea, is still celebrated, but bears in common parlance the name of Miya-zhime, i.e., "Temple Island."
* ↑ The word mimi, "ears," forms part of a large number of Ancient Japanese proper names. Motowori, who of course passes over in silence the fact that large ears are considered lucky, not only in Japan, but also in China and Korea, suggests the etymology hi hi or bi bi, i.e., the word "wondrous" or "miraculous" repeated. But there are examples of such names in which the interpretation of mimi as "ears" is unavoidable.
* ↑ Ame-no signifies "of Heaven" or "heavenly." The syllables hohi are incomprehensible.
* ↑ Ama-tsu-hiko-ne-no-mikoto.
* ↑ Or "hand."
* ↑ Iku-tsu-hiko-ne-no-mikoto.
* ↑ This god does not seem to be known by any other name, but is conjectured by Hirata to be identical with Ame-no-hohi, the second of these divine brothers. Kumanu, or less archaically Kumano, is said to be, not the well-known Kumano in the province of Kishiu, but a place in Idzumo near Suga. The name is written with the characters, "bear moor." The native commentators however interpret it as a corruption of "the moor of retirement," on account of a tradition preserved in the "Chronicles" of Izanami (the Female-Who-Invites) having been interred at the Kishiu Kumano.
* ↑ I.e., the origin.
* ↑ A place in the province of Chikuzen. The name signifies either "breast-shape" or " body-shape."
* ↑ Or, "sea-shore temple."
* ↑ Or, "the great deities of the three shrines."
* ↑ Munakata-no-kimi. Remember that all the names in this and similar lists are hereditary "gentile names," and that "Duke" and the other titles used in this translation to designate them must only be regarded as approximations toward giving the force of the Japanese originals, which are themselves by no means always clear, either etymologically or historically.
* ↑ Here and throughout the work passages of this nature containing genealogies are in all the editions printed small, and might therefore be supposed to be either intended as footnotes, or to be later glosses. Motowori however rightly rejects such an inference. To an English reader the word "This" may seem, by disturbing the grammar of the sentence, to support that inference; but in Japanese construction little importance need be attached to the presence of this double nominative.
* ↑ Sakikusabe-no-miyatsuko. Sakikusa-be means, literally, "lily clan," saki-kusa, the old name for the lily (or one species of lily) being literally "the luck-plant." The story of the origin of this cognomen is to be found in the "Catalogue of Family Names."
* ↑ Literally, "if one speak from this."
* ↑ We might, following classical usage, translate the verb togamezu, which is written phonetically, by the words "took no heed" or "made no observation"; but in this passage it certainly seems to have the stronger and more specialized signification of "upbraiding," "scolding," which attaches to it in the colloquial dialect.
* ↑ I.e., he thinks that none of the land should be wasted in ditches and embankments, but should all be devoted to the production of food.
* ↑ In the parallel passage of the "Chronicles" the goddess injures herself with her shuttle, but without dying of the effects of the accident.
* ↑ Motowori says that the word "rock" need not here be taken literally. But it is always (and the translator thinks rightly) so understood, and the compound considered to mean a cave in the rocks, which is also the expression found in the "Chronicles."
* ↑ The word sasu, which is here used, implies that the goddess made the door fast either by sticking something against it or by bolting it—perhaps with a metal hook.
* ↑ Ama tsu signifies "of Heaven," but the rest of this name is not to be explained. Motowori adopts from the "Chronicles" the reading, Ama-tsu-ma-ura, where the character used for ma signifies "true," and that for ura signifies "sea-shore." (It should be remarked that the forging of a spear by this personage is referred by the author of the "Chronicles," not to the "Divine Age" but to the reign of the Emperor Sui-zei.) Motowori also proposes to supplement after the name the words "to make a spear."
* ↑ This name is written in the "Chronicles" with characters signifying Stone-Coagulating-Old-Woman.
* ↑ Tasuki, "a cord or sash passed over the shoulders, round the back of the neck, and attached to the wrists, to strengthen the hands for the support of weights, whence the name, which means 'hand-helper.'" It was thus different both in form and use from the modern tasuki, a cord with its two ends joined which is worn behind the neck, under the arms and round the back, to keep the modern loose sleeves out of the way when household duties are being performed.
* ↑ I.e., making for herself a head-dress of spindle-tree leaves.
* ↑ The original of these words, uke fusete, is written phonetically, and the exact meaning of uke, here rendered "sounding-board," is open to doubt.
* ↑ Neither the text nor Motowori's Commentary (which Hirata adopts word for word) is absolutely explicit, but the imitation and not the reality of divine possession appears to be here intended. In the parallel passage of the "Chronicles," on the other hand, we seem to be reading of genuine possession.
* ↑ The subject of the verb is not clear in many of the clauses of this immensely long sentence, which does not properly hang together. Some clauses read as if the different deities who take a part in the action did so of their own free will; but the intention of the author must have been to let a causative sense be understood throughout, as he begins by telling us that a plan was devised by the deity Thought-Includer, which plan must have influenced all the subsequent details.
* ↑ Shiri-kume-naha, i.e., rope made of straw drawn up by the roots, which stick out from the end of the rope. Straw-ropes thus manufactured are still used in certain ceremonies and are called shime-naha, a corruption of the Archaic term.
* ↑ I.e., "an immense fine."
* ↑ Oho-ge-tsu-hime-no-kami. This personage (but without the title of "deity") has already appeared as the alternative personal name of the Island of Aha.
* ↑ Or, less probably, "wheat."
* ↑ Kami-musu-bi-mi-oya-no-mikoto, the same deity as the one mentioned at the beginning of these "Records" under the shorter title of Kami-musu-bi-no-kami.
* ↑ This difficult song has been rather differently rendered by Mr. Aston in the Second Appendix to his "Grammar of the Japanese Written Language." Mr. Aston translates it thus: "Many clouds arise: The clouds which come forth are a manifold fence: For the husband and wife to retire within They have formed a manifold fence: Oh! that manifold fence!"
* ↑ The name of a province not far from that of Idzumo. The word may possibly, as Motowori suggests, be derived from ina-ba, "rice-leaves."
* ↑ Deity Great-Name-Possessor is but another title of the deity Master-of-the-Great-Land. He is also given other names.
* ↑ It must be understood that in the meantime they had arrived at her dwelling and begun to court her.
* ↑ Or "nurses." The meaning is that a paste like milk was made of the triturated and calcined shell mixed with water. There is in this passage a play upon words which it is impossible to reproduce in English, the Japanese term for "triturating," kisage (which the author has taken care to write phonetically) resembling the name of Princess Kisagahi (Cockle-Shell), while omo, "mother" or "nurse," similarly recalls that of Princess Umugi (Clam). Motowori traces the names of the shell-fish in question to this exploit of the two goddesses.
* ↑ This is Motowori's view of the import of the original name Suseribime, which he connects with susumu, "to advance," "to press forward," and explains by reference to the bold, forward conduct of the young goddess.
* ↑ One of the alternative names of this deity, who is mostly mentioned by one of his other designations.
* ↑ I.e., "a scarf by waving which he might keep off the snakes." Similarly the "centipede and wasp-scarf" mentioned a little further on must be understood to mean "a scarf to ward off centipedes and wasps with."
* ↑ I.e., "a rock which it would require five hundred men to lift."
* ↑ Iku-tachi, supposed by Motowori to be "a sword having the virtue of conferring long life upon its possessor."
* ↑ Thus according to this legend, "Master-of-the Great-Land" (Oho-kuni-nushi) was not the original name of the deity commonly designated by it, and his sovereignty over the Land of the Living (whence the appropriateness of the second name in this context) was derived by investiture from the god of the Land of the Dead.
* ↑ The characters which are here used designate specifically the chief or legitimate wife, as opposed to the lesser wives or concubines.
* ↑ I.e., "Firmly planting in the rock the pillars forming the founda- tion of thy palace, and rearing its fabric to the skies, do thou rule therefrom the Land of the Living, thou powerful wretch, who hast so successfully braved me!"
* ↑ This is taken to mean that he continued the act of creation which had been interrupted by the death of Izanami (the "Female-Who-Invites"). See where her husband Izanagi says to her: "The lands that I and thou made are not yet finished making." The words Kuni tsukuri, here used for "making the land," became a title for "Ruler-of-the-Land" and finally a "gentile name."
* ↑ In this section, the deity Master-of-the-Great-Land is spoken of under this alias.
* ↑ Nuna-kaha or Nu-na-kaha ("lagoon-river") is supposed to be the name of a place in the province of Echigo.
* ↑ The drift of this poem needs but little elucidation. After giving his reasons for coming to woo the Princess of Nuna-kaha, the god declares that he is in such haste to penetrate to her chamber, that he does not even stay to ungird his sword or take off his veil, but tries to push or pull open the door at once. During these vain endeavors, the mountainside begins to re-echo with the cries of the birds announcing the dawn, when lovers must slink away. Would that he could kill these unwelcome harbingers of day, and bring back the darkness! The Land of the Eight Islands (i.e., Japan proper, beyond whose boundaries lay the barbarous northern country of Koshi) is in the original Ya-shima- kuni. The nuye is a bird which must be fabulous if most of the accounts given of it are accepted. The "Commentary on the Lyric Dramas" tells us (with variations) that "it has the head of a monkey, the body of a racoon-faced dog, the tail of a serpent, and the hands (sic) and feet of a tiger," adding, as the reader will make no difficulty in allowing, that "it is a strange and peculiar creature." The Wa-Kun Shiiwori says that "it is a bird much larger than a pigeon, and having a loud and mournful cry." It is likewise said to come out at night-time and retire during the day, for which reason doubtless Mabuchi likens it to the owl.
* ↑ The drift of the poem is this: "Being a tender maiden, my heart flutters like the birds on the sandy islets by the beach, and I can not yet be thine. Yet do not die of despair; for I will soon comply with thy desires."
* ↑ I.e., chief wife.
* ↑ The meaning of this poem is: "I start for Yamato, there to search for a better wife, and I carefully array myself for the journey. Black—the color of mourning—is not fair enough, and red is more beautiful than green; so it is on my red garments that my choice rests. And thou, jealous and imperious woman! for all that thou sayest that thou wilt not heed my going, thou wilt weep when I depart with my retainers as departs a flock of birds, and thou wilt bury thy head in thy hands, and thy tears shall be as the misty drops of the morning shower."
* ↑ The import of this poem needs little explanation. The goddess says to her husband, "Come back and live with me, and quaff this goblet as a sign of reconciliation; for though thou, as a man, mayest have a wife on every shore, I shall be left solitary if thou depart."
* ↑ Yamato-take means "Japan-champion." The hero's original name was Wo-usu. He was the emperor's son. The original account of this celebrated hero in the "Kojiki" is obviously very old. The "Nihongi" also tells of him, but gives all credit for his deeds to the emperor, Kei-ko
* ↑ Viz., to attend on his Imperial father.
* ↑ I.e., "How didst thou do it?"
* ↑ Literally, "branches."
* ↑ I.e., caught up from the brow and tied together on the crown of the head. This being the way in which the hair of boys was dressed, the author thus intimates that His Augustness was still a youth.
* ↑ Who was high-priestess of the temple of the great deity of Ise.
* ↑ The characters used for these last two words are those properly restricted to the mention of an imperial progress, but Yamato-take is constantly spoken of as if he had actually sat on the throne.
* ↑ Motowori reads "New cave," but the word "August" is in the text. At the same time we see that this feast was intended as a housewarming.
* ↑ The parallel passage of the "Chronicles" puts the same meaning into plainer words. It says: "He undid his hair, and made it appear like a girl's."
* ↑ Or, according to the old reading, "mixing with the concubines."
* ↑ I.e., the elder bravo of Kumaso.
* ↑ I.e., "Yamato-Brave," q.d., "the Bravest in Yamato." It is by this name that the hero is commonly spoken of. Remember that "august child" signifies prince.
* ↑ Or specifically, the "musk-melon."
* ↑ Or, "of the Ana passage" (literally, "door"), the modern Strait of Shimonoseki. The word ana signifies "hole," and there is a tradition to the effect that formerly the main island and the island of Kiushiu were continuous at this point, there being only a sort of natural tunnel, through which junks could pass.
* ↑ The discovery of this sword by the deity Susa-no-wo ("Impetuous Male") inside one of the tails of the eight-headed serpent which he had slain is narrated in Part III.
* ↑ The use of the contents of this bag will be seen in the next section.
* ↑ The present writer prefers not to prejudge the question as to whether the "fire-striker" intended by the author was a steel, or a wooden fire-drill. Motowori would seem to have held the latter view, as in his gloss on this passage he refers to the previous passage, where the fire-drill is explicitly mentioned. He also quotes an ancient one in which a "fire-striker of metal" is specially referred to, so that it would seem that all fire-strikers were not of that material.
* ↑ Remember that the word "ruler" (Miyatsuko) had the acceptation of a "gentile name" as well as of the name of an office, so that we may understand the author to mean that Yamato-take destroyed the whole ruling family of Sagami. Parallel passage of the "Chronicles" has "he burned all that rebel band, and destroyed them."
* ↑ I.e., "running water."
* ↑ I.e., his consort.
* ↑ As written, literally, "concubine."
* ↑ I.e., "instead of thee, the Prince."
* ↑ More literally, "finish the government."
* ↑ The general purport of the poem is, of course, to allude to Yamato-take's adventure on the burning moor, and at the same time to the love which bound him and his consort together; almost each individual line offers matter for doubt. Finally Moribe points out that the song does not suit the context in which it is found, and has probably been erroneously inserted here instead of in an earlier portion of the text.
* ↑ This is the traditional ancient reading of what is, according to the modern pronunciation, Yezo, while the Chinese characters with which the name is written signify "Prawn Barbarians," in allusion (if Motowori may be trusted) to the long beards which make their faces resemble a prawn's head. The hairy barbarians known to English readers as Ainos, and whose name of Yezo is applied by the Japanese to the northernmost large island of the Japanese archipelago, which is still chiefly tenanted by them, are almost certainly here referred to. In ancient times they inhabited a great part of the main island of Japan. The translator may add that the genuineness of the so-called ancient reading "Yemishi" appears to him doubtful. The name known to the people themselves, and which apparently can be traced as far as Kamschatka, is Yezo.
* ↑ Ashigara-zaka, one of the passes from Sagami into Suruga leading toward Mount Fuji.
* ↑ I.e., lying in ambush.
* ↑ I.e., "My wife!" Adzuma is still used as a poetical designation of Eastern Japan. The translator doubts the correctness of the derivation of it given in the text, although it is universally accepted and certainly fits in well with the graceful legend by which it is here accounted for.
* ↑ I.e., "without weapons," and specially without the magic sword which he had left behind in Princess Miyazu's house.
* ↑ Or "ox," or "cow," the original word not distinguishing between the sexes.
* ↑ The Japanese expression koto-age shite, here rendered "lifted up words," very frequently has the signification of "lifting up a prayer" to some superhuman being. In this passage, however, it conveys no more than its proper etymological meaning.
* ↑ Viz., the god of Mount Ibuki.
* ↑ Perhaps "hail" may be intended by this expression, and so Motowori decides.
* ↑ The commentators disagree as to whether this note should or should not be considered to form part of the original text. Motowori so considers it.
* ↑ The literal meaning of this name is "jewel-store-tribe"; but complete uncertainty attaches both to the etymology of the word and to the position of the place.
* ↑ He had been misled and dazed, but now came to himself again. Thence, according to the etymology of our author, the name of Wi-same, which signifies "dwelling (resting) and awaking," given to the spring.
* ↑ This song and the two following form but one in the pages of the "Chronicles," where they appear with several verbal differences, and are attributed, not to the Prince, but to his father the Emperor. Moribe decides that in the latter particular the text of these "Records" gives the preferable account, but that the "Chronicles" are right in making the three songs one continuous poem. The expression "this song is a land-regretting song" strongly supports this view; for, though we might also render in the plural "these songs are," etc., such a translation would be less natural, as in similar cases the numeral is used, thus "these two songs are," etc. The expression "this is an incomplete song" points as decidedly to some mutilation of the original document, from which the compiler of the "Records" copied this passage. Taking then the three songs as one, the entire drift is that of a paean on Yamato, the poet's native land, which he could not hope ever to see again: Commencing by praising its still seclusion as it lies there behind its barrier of protecting mountains, he goes on to mention the rural pleasures enjoyed by those who, wandering over the hill-sides, deck their hair with garlands of leaves and flowers. For himself indeed these delights are no more; "but," says he, "do you, ye children full of health and happiness, pursue your inocent enjoyment!" In conclusion he lovingly apostrophizes the clouds which, rising up from the southwest, are, as it were, messengers from home.
* ↑ I.e., wives. It will be remembered that the historian habitually mentions Yamato-take as if he had been Emperor.
* ↑ Q.d., to the land of Ise.
* ↑ The drift of the song is a comparison of the helpless wanderings of the mourners in the neighborhood of the tomb to the convolutions of the Dioscorea quinqueloba (a creeping plant) growing among the rice in the adjacent fields. But there are evidently some lines omitted.
* ↑ As usual when the word chidori (defined as "any kind of dotterel, plover, or sandpiper") is used, it is doubtful what bird is really intended. At the end of this section we are told that the mausoleum was called the "Mausoleum of the White Bird." Specifically, however, these characters are used with their Sinico-Japanese pronunciation of hakuchō as the name of the swan.