# Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 15

[Sect. XV.—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, be 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 that impegerunt privatas partes adversis radiis et obierunt.
* ↑ Literally “if one speak from this.”
* ↑ The character used is 田, which in Chinese does not necessarily signify a rice-field. But in Japanese it seems to have been always limited to this narrower meaning, to which likewise the context here clearly points.
* ↑ In the original written 屎麻理, which is partly ideographic and partly phonetic for kuso-mari. Motowori interprets it to signify “excrements and urine”; but the parallel passage of the “Chronicles” which he himself quotes goes to prove that mari had not the latter meaning, as does also another well-known passage in the “Tale of a Bamboo-Cutter.”
* ↑ 大嘗 read oho-nihe. The word nihe now denotes “a sacrifice,” and oho-nihe no matsuri is the religious festival of the tasting of the first new rice of the season.
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ The character used is 忌, “to shun,” which in Japanese has approximately the meaning of “sacred.” Thus a certain family of priests was called by the name of Imibe, lit. “the shunning clan,” on account of the uncleanness from which they were bound to abstain.
* ↑ Written with characters signifying literally “garment-house,” but the meaning, as understood by the native commentators, is that given in the text.
* ↑ 項. This character is taken by the native commentators in the sense of 棟, mune, “ridge-pole.”
* ↑ I.e., it is supposed, beginning at the tail. That this was considered criminal may be seen by comparing Sect. XCVII, Note 3.
* ↑ In the parallel passage of the “Chronicles” it is the goddess who injures herself with her shuttle, but without dying of the effects of the accident.