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66
TRANSLATION
OF
"KO-JI-KI"
(古事記​)
or
4
Records of Ancient Matters"
BY
BASIL HALL CHAMBERLAIN
Emeritus Professor of Japanese and Philology
in the Imperial University of Tokyo
SECOND EDITION
With Annotations
by
the late
W. G. ASTON
Sometime Japanese Secretary to the
British Legation, Tokyo
Published with the permission of
THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF JAPAN, TOKYO
1932
:
by
J. L. Thompson & Co. (Retail) Ltd., Kobe
(All rights reserved)
002 620 287
yu
DS
.851
AR
K793
Printed by
Tanaka Printing Co., Ltd..
Kobe, Japan.
ión
So duran
6-17-20
34223
PUBLISHERS' NOTE TO THIS EDITION
Professor Chamberlain's translation of the "Kojiki" first
appeared in the year 1882 as a supplement to Vol. X of the
Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, all remaining stocks
of which publication were destroyed in the great earthquake-
fire of 1923.
The present edition has been prepared from a copy of
that supplement which belonged to the late Mr. W. G. Aston
and contains many annotations by that eminent scholar, the
fly-leaf bearing in Mr. Aston's handwriting the following words:
"As for the remarks scribbled here,-sunt bona; sunt quaedam;
mediveria sunt mala plura."
This volume was ultimately
presented to the library of the Asiatic Society of Japan by
Professor Chamberlain with an inscription by him on the
title-page reading: "Copy of Kojiki with annotations by Aston,
given to me by him on the 13th. May 1892, at Seaton, Devon.
To be used in making new edition.'
""
In this reprint Professor Chamberlain's translation has
been reproduced as it stood in the original—no alterations what-
ever, beyond the correction of a few typographical errors, having
been made. Mr. Aston's annotations, sometimes in pencil and
sometimes in ink, were written around the margins or even be-
tween the lines of the pages, and in a few places they have been
partly cut off in the process of trimming when the volume was
being rebound. Great care has been observed in copying out
the notes and only in one or two instances have they had to
be given up as indecipherable, even then only in the case
of single words not materially affecting the meaning. Every one
of the major annotations is here rendered. While each of
Professor Chamberlain's notes bears, as in the original, a
number by way of reference, those of Mr. Aston are distin-
guished by asterisks, etc., and by the initials "W.G.A.” placed
after them. Mr. Aston's translation of the Nihongi or
•
ii
Chronicles of Japan had not yet been published at the time
he was making his annotations on the Kojiki, but for the
convenience of readers references to that translation are now
added, within brackets, where they seem desirable. In allusions
to the Rituals reference is intended to Vol. II of the reprints of
the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
We gladly record our thanks to Professor Genchi Kato, to
Mr. G.B. Sansom, and to the Rev. S.H. Wainwright for their
advice and encouragement in the present undertaking; to Pro-
fessor Uru Tsugita for the list of Japanese Works published
on the Kojiki since 1883, which, included as Appendix III, will
we trust be useful to students; and to Mr. Shuten Inouye who
very kindly verified the correct reprinting of the ideographs
throughout the book. To Mr. James Stewart we are under
special obligation for unwearied attention to the reading and
correcting of the proofs generally, a task which owing to
its peculiar nature entailed an uncommon degree of patient
care. Nor will we omit acknowledgment to the Japanese
compositors and printers who have plodded along cheerfully
through the months during which the work has been in the
press.
The index, compiled by Mr. H. J. Griffiths, will, it is
hoped, appeal to all interested in the book.
Map of Japan
Publishers' Note
CONTENTS
Frontispiece
.......
Translator's Introduction
Authenticity and Nature of the Text, together with
Bibliographical Notes
Appendix
Details concerning the Method of Translation
The "Nihon-Gi" or "Chronicles of Japan"
Manners and Customs of the Early Japaneae
Religious and Political Ideas of the Early Japanese,
Beginnings of the Japanese Nation, and Credibility
of the National Traditions ....
List of Japanese Works quoted in the Introduction and
in the Notes to the Translation....
Preface….………..
Translation of the Kojiki
Vol. I.
Vol. II.
Vol. III.
I. Japanese Text of the Songs Preserved in the
Kojiki, transliterated into Roman
II. The Hitherto accepted Chronology of the
Early Japanese Sovereigns mentioned in the
Kojiki and in the Nihon-Gi
III. List of Books on the Kojiki published since
1883
Blank Pages for Notes...
Index
iv
xiii
xxi
xxvii
1
i
lxxxii
3
17
157
324
414
440
442
445
451
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION.
"1
Of all the mass of Japanese literature, which lies before
us as the result of nearly twelve centuries of book-making, the
most important monument is the work entitled " Ko-ji-ki "¹ or
"Records of Ancient Matters," which was completed in A. D.
712. It is the most important because it has preserved for
us more faithfully than any other book the mythology, the
manners, the language, and the traditional history of Ancient
Japan. Indeed it is the earliest authentic connected literary
product of that large division of the human race which has
been variously denominated Turanian, Scythian and Altaïc,
and it even precedes by at least a century the most ancient
extant literary compositions of non-Aryan India. Soon after
the date of its compilation, most of the salient features of
distinctive Japanese nationality were buried under a superin-
cumbent mass of Chinese culture, and it is to these "Records"
and to a very small number of other ancient works, such as
the poems of the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves" and the
Shinto Rituals, that the investigator must look, if he would
not at every step be misled into attributing originality to
modern customs and ideas, which have simply been borrowed
wholesale from the neighbouring continent.
It is of course not pretended that even these "Records
are untouched by Chinese influence: that influence is patent
>>
1 Should the claim of Accadian to be considered an Altaïc language
be substantiated, then Archaic Japanese will have to be content with
the second place in the Altaïc family. Taking the word Altaïc in its
usual acceptation, viz., as the generic name of all the languages
belonging to the Mantchu, Mongolian, Turkish and Finnish groups,
not only the Archaic, but the Classical, literature of Japan carries
us back several centuries beyond the earliest extant documents of any
other Altaïc tongue.-For a discussion of the age of the most ancient
Tamil documents see the Introduction to Bishop Caldwell's
"Com-
parative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages.” p. 91 et seq.
.
ii
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
<<
in the very characters with which the text is written. But
the influence is less, and of another kind. If in the traditions
preserved and in the customs alluded to we detect the Early
Japanese in the act of borrowing from China and perhaps
even from India, there is at least on our author's part no
ostentatious decking out in Chinese trappings of what he
believed to be original matter, after the fashion of the writers
who immediately succeeded him. It is true that this abstinence
on his part makes his compilation less pleasant to the ordinary
native taste than that of subsequent historians, who put fine
Chinese phrases into the mouths of emperors and heroes
supposed to have lived before the time when intercourse with
China began. But the European student, who reads all such
books not as a pastime but in order to search for facts, will
prefer the more genuine composition. It is also accorded the
first place by the most learned of the native literati.
Of late years this paramount importance of the "Records
of Ancient Matters" to investigators of Japanese subjects
generally has become well known to European scholars; and
even versions of a few passages are to be found scattered
through the pages of their writings. Thus Mr. Aston has
given us, in the Chrestomathy appended to his "Grammar of
the Japanese Written Language," a couple of interesting ex-
tracts; Mr. Satow has illustrated by occasional extracts his
elaborate papers on the Shinto Rituals printed in these
"Transactions," and a remarkable essay by Mr. Kempermann
published in the Fourth Number of the "Mittheilungen der
Deutschen Gesellschaft für Natur und Völkerkunde Ostasiens,"
though containing no actual translations, bases on the accounts
given in the "Records" some conjectures regarding the origines
of Japanese civilization whith are fully substantiated by more
minute research. All that has yet appeared in any European
language does not, however, amount to one-twentieth part of
the whole, and the most erroneous views of the style and
scope of the book and its contents have found their way into
popular works on Japan. It is hoped that the true nature of
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION.
iii
3
the book, and also the true nature of the traditions, customs,
and ideas of the Early Japanese, will be made clearer by the
present translation, the object of which is to give the entire
work in a continuous English version, and thus to furnish the
European student with a text to quote from, or at least to
use as a guide in consulting the original. The only object
aimed at has been a rigid and literal conformity with the
Japanese text. Fortunately for this endeavour (though less
fortunately for the student), one of the difficulties which often
beset the translator of an Oriental classic is absent in the
present case. There is no beauty of style, to preserve some
trace of which he may be tempted to sacrifice a certain amount
of accuracy. The "Records" sound queer and bald in
Japanese, as will be noticed further on; and it is therefore
right, even from a stylistic point of view, that they should
sound bald and queer in English. The only portions of the
text which, from obvious reasons, refuse to lend themselves to
translation into English after this fashion are the indecent
portions. But it has been thought that there could be no
objection to rendering them into Latin,-Latin as rigidly literal
as is the English of the greater part.
After these preliminary remarks. it will be most convenient
to take the several points which a study of the "Records
and the turning of them into English suggest, and to consider
the same one by one. These points are:
I. Authenticity and Nature of the Text, together with
Bibliographical Notes.
""
II. Details concerning the Method of Translation.
III,—The “Nihon-Gi” or “Chronicles of Japan.”
IV,—Manners and Customs of the Early Japanese.
V.-Religious and Political Ideas of the Early Japanese.
Beginnings of the Japanese Nation, and Credibility
of the National Traditions.
iv
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
(C
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
The latter portion of the Preface to the "Records of
Ancient Matters" is the only documentary authority for the
origin of the work. It likewise explains its scope. But though
in so doing the author descends to a more matter-of-fact style
than the high-sounding Chinese phrases and elaborate allusions
with which he had set forth, still his meaning may be found
to lack somewhat of clearness, and it will be as well to have
the facts put into language more intelligible to the European
student. This having already been done by Mr. Satow in
his paper on the "Revival of Pure Shintô," it will be best
simply to quote his words. They are as follows: "The
Emperor Temmu, at what portion of his reign is not men-
"tioned, lamenting that the records possessed by the chief
"families contained many errors, resolved to take steps to
preserve the true traditions from oblivion. He therefore had
"the records carefully examined, compared, and weeded of
"their faults. There happened to be in his household a person
"of marvellous memory named Hiyeda no Are,* who could
repeat without mistake the contents of any document he had
"ever seen, and never forgot anything that he had heard.
"Temmu Tennô³ took the pains to instruct this person in the
"genuine traditions and old language of former ages,' and to
"make him repeat them until he had the whole by heart.
"Before the undertaking was completed,' which probably
"means before it could be committed to writing, the Emperor
“died, and for twenty-five years Are's memory was the sole
depository of what afterwards received the title of Kojiki or
CC
(6
(6
I.
THE TEXT AND ITS AUTHENTICITY, TOGETHER WITH
2 Published in Vol. iii, Pt. I, of these "Transactions."
The й (Kodō Taii) by one of Hirata's pupils calls Are a
woman. Vol. I, p. 28.—(W.G.A.)
3 I.e., the Emperor Tem-mu.
4 I.e.,
"Records of Ancient Matters." The alternative reading,
¡
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. I.
V
“Furu-koto-bumi as it is read by Motoori. At the end of this
"interval the Empress Gemmiō ordered Yasumaro to write it
"down from the mouth of Are, which accounts for the com-
pletion of the manuscript in so short a time as four months
"and a half. Are's age at this date is not stated, but as he
"was twenty-eight years of age some time in the reign of
"Temmu Tennô, it could not possibly have been more than
sixty-eight, while taking into account the previous order of
"Temmu Tennô in 681 for the compilation of a history, and
"the statement that he was engaged on the composition of the
Kojiki at the time of his death in 686, it would not be un-
"reasonable to conclude that it belongs to about the last year
"of his reign, in which case Are was only fifty-three in 711."
The previous order of the Emperor Tem-mu mentioned
in the above extract is usually supposed to have resulted in
the compilation of a history which was early lost. But Hirata
gives reasons for supposing that this and the project of the
"Records of Ancient Matters" were identical. If this opinion
be accepted, the "Records," while the oldest existing Japanese
book, are, not the third, but the second historical work of
which mention has been preserved, one such having been
compiled in the year 620, but lost in a fire in the year 645.
It will thus be seen that it is rather hard to say whom we
should designate as the author of the work. The Emperor
Tem-mu, Hiyeda no Are, and Yasumaro may all three lay
claim to that title. The question, however, is of no importance
to us, and the share taken by Are may well have been exag-
gerated in the telling. What seems to remain as the residue
of fact is that the plan of a purely national history originated
with the Emperor Tem-mu and was finally carried out under
his successor by Yasumaro, one of the Court Nobles.
""
(C
66
Fuller evidence and confirmatory evidence from other
sources as to the origin of our "Records" would doubtless
which is probably but an invention of Motowori's, gives the same
meaning in pure Japanese (instead of Sinico-Japanese) sounds.
!
vi
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
be very acceptable. But the very small number of readers
and writers at that early date, and the almost simultaneous
compilation of a history (the "Chronicles of Japan") which
was better calculated to hit the taste of the age, make the
absence of such evidence almost unavoidable. In any case,
and only noticing in passing the fact that Japan was never till
quite recent years noted for such wholesale literary forgeries
(for Motowori's condemnation of the "Chronicles of Old
Matters of Former Ages" has been considered rash by later
scholars),—it cannot be too much emphasized that in this
instance authenticity is sufficiently proved by internal evidence.
It is hard to believe that any forger living later than the
eighth century of our era should have been so well able to
discard the Chinese "padding" to the old traditions, which,
after the acceptance by the Court of the "Chronicles of
Japan," had come to be generally regarded as an integral
portion of those very traditions; and it is more unlikely still
that he should have invented a style so little calculated to
bring his handiwork into repute. He would either have
written in fair Chinese, like the mass of early Japanese prose
writers (and his Preface shows that he could do so if he were
so minded); or, if the tradition of there having been a history
written in the native tongue had reached him, he would have
made his composition unmistakably Japanese in form by
arranging the characters in the order demanded by Japanese
syntax, and by the consistent use of characters employed
phonetically to denote particles and terminations, after the
fashion followed in the Rituals, and developed (apparently
before the close of the ninth century) into what is technically
known as the "Mixed Phonetic Style" (Kana-mazhiri), which
has remained ever since as the most convenient vehicle for
writing the language. As it is, his quasi-Chinese construction,
which breaks down every now and then to be helped up again
by a few Japanese words written phonetically, is surely the
first clumsy attempt at combining two divergent elements.
What however is simply incredible is that, if the supposed
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. I.
vii
forger lived even only a hundred years later than A.D. 712,
he should so well have imitated or divined the archaisms of
that early period. For the eighth century of our era was a
great turning point in the Japanese language, the Archaic
Dialect being then replaced by the Classical; and as the
Chinese language and literature were alone thenceforward
considered worthy the student's attention, there was no means
of keeping up an acquaintance with the diction of earlier
reigns, neither do we find the poets of the time ever attempt-
ing to adorn their verse with obsolete phraseology. That was
an affectation reserved for a later epoch, when the diffusion
of books rendered it possible. The poets of the seventh,
eighth, and ninth centuries apparently wrote as they spoke;
and the test of language alone would almost allow of our
arranging their compositions half century by half century,
even without the dates which are given in many instances in
the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves" and in the "Collection
of Songs Ancient and Modern," the first two collections of
poems published by imperial decree in the middle of the
eighth, and at the commencement of the tenth, century respec-
tively.
The above remarks are meant to apply more especially to
the occasional Japanese words,-all of them Archaic,-which,
as mentioned above, are used from time to time in the prose
text of the "Records," to help out the author's meaning and
to preserve names whose exact pronunciation he wished handed
down. That he should have invented the Songs would be too
monstrous a supposition for any one to entertain, even if we
had not many of the same and other similar ones preserved in
the pages of the "Chronicles of Japan," a work which was
undoubtedly completed in A.D. 720. The history of the
Japanese language is too well known to us, we can trace its
development and decay in too many documents reaching from
the eighth century to the present time, for it to be possible
to entertain the notion that the latest of these Songs, which
have been handed down with minute care in a syllabic trans-
viii
(C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
*
cription, is posterior to the first half of the eighth century,
while the majority must be ascribed to an earlier, though
uncertain, date. If we refer the greater number of them in
their present form to the sixth century, and allow a further
antiquity of one or two centuries to others more ancient in
sentiment and in grammatical usage, we shall probably be
making a moderate estimate. It is an estimate, moreover,
which obtains confirmation from the fact that the first notice
we have of the use of writing in Japan dates from early in
the fifth century; for it is natural to suppose that the Songs
believed to have been composed by the gods and heroes of
antiquity should have been among the first things to be written
down, while the reverence in which they were held would in
some cases cause them to be transcribed exactly as tradition
had bequeathed them, even if unintelligible or nearly so, while
in others the same feeling would lead to the correction of what
were supposed to be errors or inelegancies. Finally it may be
well to observe that the authenticity of the "Records" has
never been doubted, though, as has already been stated, some
of the native commentators have not hesitated to charge with
spuriousness another of their esteemed ancient histories. Now
it is unlikely that, in the war which has been waged between
the partisans of the "Records" and those of the "Chronicles,"
some flaw in the former's title to genuineness and to priority
should not have been discovered and pointed out if it existed.
During the Middle Ages, when no native Japanese works
were printed, and not many others excepting the Chinese
Classics and Buddhist Scriptures, the "Records of Ancient
Matters" remained in manuscript in the hands of the Shintō
priesthood, They were first printed in the year 1644, at the
time when, peace having been finally restored to the country
and the taste for reading having become diffused, the great
mass of the native literature first began to emerge from the
manuscript state. This very rare edition (which was reprinted
in fac-simile in 1798) is indispensable to any one who would
make of the "Records" a special study. The next edition
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. I.
ix
was by a Shintō priest, Deguchi Nobuyoshi, and appeared in
1687. It has marginal notes of no great value, and several
emendations of the text. The first-mentioned of these two
editions is commonly called the "Old Printed Edition" (ED
), but has no title beyond that of the original work,-
"Records of Ancient Matters." The name of the other is
"Records of Ancient Matters with Marginal Readings" (en ·
). Each is in three volumes. They were succeeded in
1789-1822 by Motowori's great edition, entitled "Exposition
of the Records of Ancient Matters" (L). This, which
is perhaps the most admirable work of which Japanese erudition
can boast, consists of forty-four large volumes, fifteen of which
are devoted to the elucidation of the first volume of the
original, seventeen to the second, ten to the third, and the
rest to prolegomena, indexes, etc. To the ordinary student
this Commentary will furnish all that he requires, and the
charm of Motowori's style will be found to shed a glamour over
the driest parts of the original work. The author's judgment
only seems to fail him occasionally when confronted with the
most difficult or corrupt passages, or with such as might be
construed in a sense unfavourable to his predilections as an
ardent Shintoist. He frequently quotes the opinions of his
master Mabuchi, whose own treatise on this subject is so rare
that the present writer has never seen a copy of it, nor does
the public library of Tōkiō possess one. Later and less im-
portant editions are the "Records of Ancient Matters with the
Ancient Reading" (*), a reprint by one of Motowori's
pupils of the Chinese text and of his Master's Kana reading
of it without his Commentary, and useful for reference, though
the title is a misnomer, 1803; the "Records of Ancient
Matters with Marginal Notes" (E), by Murakami
Tadanori, 1874; the "Records of Ancient Matters in the Syl-
labic Character" (R), by Sakata no Kaneyasu, 1874,
a misleading book, as it gives the modern Kana reading with
its arbitrarily inserted Honorifics and other departures from
the actual text, as the ipsissima verba of the original work; the
ت
X
((
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
"Records of Ancient Matters Revised" (E), by Uye-
matsu Shigewoka, 1875. All these editions are in three
volumes, and the "Records of Ancient Matters with the Ancient
Reading" has also been reprinted in one volume on beautiful
thin paper. Another in four volumes by Fujihara no Masaoki,
1871, entitled the "Records of Ancient Matters in the Divine
· Character" (j), is a real curiosity of literature, though
otherwise of no value. In it the editor has been at the pains
of reproducing the whole work, according to its modern Kana
reading, in that adaptation of the Korean alphabetic writing
which some modern Japanese authors have supposed to be
characters of peculiar age and sanctity, used by the ancient
gods of their country and named "Divine Characters" accord-
ingly.
Besides these actual editions of the "Records of Ancient
Matters," there is a considerable mass of literature bearing less
directly on the. same work, and all of which cannot be here
enumerated. It may be sufficient to mention the "Correct
Account of the Divine Age" (E), by Motowori, 3 Vols.
1789, and a commentary thereon entitled "Tokiha-Gusa" (iñ
RE#**) by Wosada Tominobu, from which the present
translator has borrowed a few ideas; the "Sources of the
Ancient Histories" () and its sequel entitled "Exposition
of the Ancient Histories" (4), by Hirata Atsutane, begun
printing in 1819,-works which are specially admirable from a •
philological point of view, and in which the student will find
the solution of not a few difficulties which even to Motowori
had been insuperable; the "Idzu no Chi-Waki" (H),
by Tachibana no Moribe, begun printing in 1851, a useful
commentary on the "Chronicles of Japan"; the "Idzu no
5 Unfortunately the portion already printed does not carry the
history down even to the close of the "Divine Age." The work is
as colossal in extent as it is minute in research, forty-one volumes
(including the eleven forming the "Sources") having already appeared.
The "Idzu no Chi- Waki” and “Idzu no Koto- Waki" are still similarly
incomplete.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. I.
xi
Koto-Waki"(), by the same author, begun printing
in 1847, an invaluable help to a comprehension of the Songs
contained in both the "Records" and the Chronicles"; the
"Examination of Difficult Words" (, also entitled 山​彥
​7), in 3 Vols., 1831, a sort of dictionary of specially per-
plexing terms and phrases, in which light is thrown on many
a verbal crux and much originality of thought displayed; and
the "Perpetual Commentary on the Chronicles of Japan" (B
**RO), by Tanigaha Shihei, 1762, a painstaking work
written in the Chinese language, 23 Vols. Neither must the
"Kō Gan Shō" (F), a commentary on the Songs con-
tained in the "Chronicles" and "Records" composed by the
Buddhist priest Keichiū, who may be termed the father of the
native school of criticism, be forgotten. It is true that most
of Keichiu's judgments on doubtful points have been super-
seded by the more perfect erudition of later days; but some
few of his interpretations may still be followed with advantage.
The "Kō Gan Shō," which was finished in the year 1691, has
never been printed. It is from these and a few others and
from the standard dictionaries and general books of reference,
such as the "Japanese Words Classified and Explained” (Z
R), the "Catalogue of Family Names" (E), and
(coming down to more modern times) Arawi Hakuseki's “Tōga”
(), that the translator has derived most assistance. The
majority of the useful quotations from the dictionaries, etc.,
having been incorporated by Motowori in his "Commentary,
it has not often been necessary to mention them by name in
the notes to the translation. At the same time the translator
must express his conviction that, as the native authorities
cannot possibly be dispensed with, so also must their assertions
be carefully weighed and only accepted with discrimination by
the critical European investigator. He must also thank Mr.
Tachibana no Chimori, grandson of the eminent scholar Tachi-
bana no Moribe, for kindly allowing him to make use of the
manuscript of the unpublished portions of the "Idzu no Chi-
Waki" and the "Idzu no Koto-Waki," works indispensable to
"
""
xii
("
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
the comprehension of the more difficult portion of the text of
the "Records." To Mr. Satow he is indebted for the English
and Latin equivalents of the Japanese botanical names, to
Capt. Blakiston and Mr. Namiye Motokichi for similar assis-
tance with regard to the zoological names.
Comparing what has been said above with what the author
tells us in his Preface, the nature of the text, so far as lan-
guage is concerned, will be easily understood. The Songs are
written phonetically, syllable by syllable, in what is technically
known as Manyō-Gana, i.e. entire Chinese characters used to
represent sound and not sense. The rest of the text, which
is in prose, is very poor Chinese, capable (owing to the
ideographic nature of the Chinese written character), of being
read off into Japanese. It is also not only full of "Japonisms,"
but irregularly interspersed with characters which turn the
text into nonsense for a Chinaman, as they are used phoneti-
cally to represent certain Japanese words, for which the author
could not find suitable Chinese equivalents. These phonetically
written words prove, even apart from the notice in the Preface,
that the text was never meant to be read as pure Chinese.
The probability is that (sense being considered more important
than sound) it was read partly in Chinese and partly in
Japanese, according to a mode which has since been systema-
tized and has become almost universal in this country even in
the reading of genuine Chinese texts. The modern school of
Japanese literati, who push their hatred of everything foreign
to the bounds of fanaticism, contend however that this, their
most ancient and revered book, was from the first intended to
6 The translator adopts the term "ideographic," because it is
that commonly used and understood, and because this is not the place
to demonstrate its inappropriateness. Strictly speaking, "logographic"
would be preferable to “ideographic," the difference between Chinese
characters and alphabetic writing being that the former represent in
their entirety the Chinese words for things and ideas, whereas the
latter dissects into their component sounds the words of the languages
which it is employed to write.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. II.
xiii
be read exclusively into Japanese. Drawing from the other
sources of our knowledge of the Archaic Dialect, Motowori
has even hazarded a restoration of the Japanese reading of the
entire prose text, in the whole of which not a single Chinese
word is used, excepting for the titles of the two Chinese books.
(the "Confucian Analects" and the "Thousand Character
Essay") which are said to have been brought over to Japan
in the reign of the Emperor Ō-jin, and for the names of a
Korean King and of three or four other Koreans and Chinese.
Whatever may be their opinion on the question at issue, most
European scholars, to whom the superior sanctity of the
Japanese language is not an article of faith, will probably agree
with Mr. Aston' in denying to this conjectural restoration the
the credit of representing the genuine words into which Japan-
ese eighth century students of history read off the text of the
"Records."
II.
METHOD OF TRANSLATION.
To the translator the question above mooted is not one of
great importance. The text itself must form the basis of his
version, and not any one's,-not even Motowori's, private and
particular reading of it. For this reason none of the Honorifics
which Motowori inserts as prefixes to nouns and terminations
to verbs have been taken any notice of, but the original has
been followed, character by character, with as great fidelity as
was attainable. The author too has his Honorifics; but he
does not use them so plentifully or so regularly as it pleases
Motowori to represent him as having intended to do. On the
other hand, Motowori's occasional emendations of the text
may generally be accepted. They rarely extend to more than
single words; and the errors in the earlier editions may fre-
quently be shown to have arisen from careless copying of charac-
7" Grammar of the Japanese Written Language," Second Edition,
Appendix II., p. VI.
xiv
(C
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
ters originally written, not in the square, but in the cursive
form. The translator has separately considered each case
where various readings occur, and has mentioned them in the
Notes when they seemed of sufficient importance. In some
few cases he has preferred a reading not approved by Moto-
wori, but he always mentions Motowori's reading in a Foot-
note.
The main body of the text contains but little to perplex
any one who has made a special study of the early Japanese
writings, and it has already been noticed that there is an
admirable exegetical literature at the student's command. With
the Songs embedded in the prose text the case is different, as
some of them are among the most difficult things in the
language, and the commentators frequently arrive at most dis-
cordant interpretations of the obscurer passages. In the present
version particulars concerning each Song have, except in a
very few cases where comment appeared superfluous, been
given in a Foot-note, the general sense being usually first
indicated, the meaning of particular expressions then explained,
and various opinions mentioned when they seemed worthy of
notice. Besides one or two terms of Japanese grammar, the
only technical knowledge with which the readers of the Notes
are necessarily credited is that of the use by the Japanese
poets of what have been styled Pillow-Words, Pivots, and
Prefaces; and those Pillow-Words which are founded on a
jeu-de-mots or are of doubtful signification form, with the one
exception mentioned below, the only case where anything con-
tained in the original is omitted from the English version.º
After some consideration, it has been deemed advisable to
print in an Appendix the Japanese text of all the Songs,
transliterated into Roman. Students will thus find it easier to
form their own opinion on the interpretation of doubtful
8 For a special account of the Pillow-Words, etc., see a paper by
the present writer in Vol. V, Pt. I, pp. 79 et seq. of these "Transac-
tions," and for a briefer notice, his "Classical Poetry of the Japanese,”
pp. 5 and 6.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. II.
XV
{
passages. The importance likewise of these Songs, as the
most ancient specimens of Altaïc speech, makes it right to
give them as much publicity as possible.
The text of the "Records" is, like many other Japanese
texts, completely devoid of breaks corresponding to the chapters
and paragraphs into which European works are divided. With
the occasional exception of a pause after a catalogue of gods
or princes, and of notes inserted in smaller type and generally
containing genealogies or indicating the pronunciation of certain
words, the whole story, prose and verse, runs on from begin-
ning to end with no interruptions other than those marked by
the conclusiou of Vol. I and by the death of each emperor in
Vols. II and III. Faithfulness however scarcely seems to
demand more than this statement; for a similarly continuous
printing of the English version would attain no end but that
of making a very dry piece of reading more arduous still.
Moreover there are certain traditional names by which the
various episodes of the history of the so-called "Divine Age"
are known to the native scholars, and according to which the
text of Vol. I may naturally be divided. The reigns of the
emperors form a similar foundation for the analysis of Vols. II
and III, which contain the account of the "Human Age." It
has been thought that it would be well to mark such natural
divisions by the use of numbered Sections with marginal
headings. The titles proposed by Motowori in the Prolegomena
to his Commentary have been adopted with scarcely any
alteration in the case of Vol. I. In Vols. II and III, where
his sections mostly embrace the whole reign of an emperor,
and the titles given by him to each Section consists only of
the name of the palace where each emperor is said to have
resided, there is less advantage in following him; for those
Sections are often inordinately long, and their titles occasionally
misleading and always inconvenient for purposes of reference,
as the Japanese emperors are commonly known, not by the
names of their places of residence, but by their "canonical
names." Motowori, as an ardent nationalist, of course rejected
xvi
CC
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
1.
these "canonical names," because they were first applied to
the Japanese emperors at a comparatively late date in imitation
of Chinese usage. But to a foreigner this need be no sufficient
reason for discarding them. The Sections in the translation of
Vols. II and III have therefore been obtained by breaking up
the longer reigns into appropriate portions; and in such Sec-
tions, as also in the Foot-notes, the emperors are always
mentioned by their "canonical names." The Vol. mentioned
in brackets on every right-hand page is that of Motowori's
Commentary which treats of the Section contained in that page.
The Notes translated from the original are indented, and
are printed small when they are in small type in the Japanese
text. Those only which give directions for pronouncing certain
characters phonetically have been omitted, as they have no
significance when the original tongue and method of writing
are exchanged for foreign vehicles of thought and expression.
The Songs have likewise been indented for the sake of clear-
ness, and each one printed as a separate paragraph. The
occasionally unavoidable insertion in the translation of important
words not occurring in the Japanese text has been indicated
The trans-
by printing such words within square brackets.
lator's Notes, which figure at the bottom of each page, do not
aim at anything more than the exegesis of the actual text. Το
illustrate its subject-matter from other sources, as Motowori
does, and to enlarge on all the subjects connected with Japan-
ese antiquity which are sometimes merely alluded to in a single
phrase, would require several more volumes the size of this
one, many years of labour on the part of the investigator, and
9 The practice of bestowing a canonical name (okurina) on an
emperor after his decease dates from the latter part of the eighth
century of our era when, at the command of the emperor Kuwam-mu,
a scholar named Mifune-no-Mahito selected suitable "canonical names"
for all the previous sovereigns, from Jim-mu down to Kuwam-mu's
immediate predecessor. From that time forward every emperor has
received his "canonical name " soon after death, and it is generally
by it alone that he is known to history.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. II.
xvii
an unusually large stock of patience on the reader's part. The
Notes terminate with the death of the Emperor Ken-zo, after
which the text ceases to offer any interest, except as a com-
ment on the genealogies given in the "Chronicles of Japan."
Without forgetting the fact that so-called equivalent terms
in two languages rarely quite cover each other, and that it
may therefore be necessary in some cases to render one
Japanese word by two or three different English words accord-
ing to the context, the translator has striven to keep such
diversity within the narrowest limits, as it tends to give a false
impression of the original, implying that it possesses a versatility
of thought which is indeed characteristic of Modern Europe,
but not at all of Early Japan. With reference to this point a
certain class of words must be mentioned, as the English
translation is unavoidably defective in their case, owing to the
fact of our language not possessing sufficiently close synonyms
for them. They are chiefly the names of titles, and are the
following:-
Agata-no-atahe roughly rendered by Departmental Suzerain.
Agata-nushi
(<
<<
"Departmental Lord.
"" Court Noble.
Suzerain.
Prince.
Princess.
Territorial Lord.
Asomi (Ason)
Atahe
Hiko
Hime
Inaki
· Iratsuko
Iratsume
Kami
Kimi
Ma
Miko (E)
Mi ko(御​子​)
Mikoto
Miyatsuko
Murazhi
<<
<<
CC
(C
((
"C
((
""
CC
(C
(6
<<
<<
((
(C
<<
(6
(C
(C
CC
(C
<<
<<
(C
(C
((
(
("
<<
<<
(6
<<
CC
("
"C
(C
""
<<
Lord.
Lady.
Deity.
"Duke.
True.
(C
" King.
((
(6
(C
(C
((
Omi
"Noble.
Sukune
Wake (in the names of human beings) Lord,
(C
(C
August Child.
Augustness.
Ruler.
Chief.
Grandee.
<<
xviii
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
It must be understood that no special significance is to
be attached to the use of such words as "Duke," "Suzerain,"
etc. They are merely, so to speak, labels by which titles that
are distinct in the original are sought to be kept distinct in
the translation. Many of them also are used as that species
of hereditary titular designation which the translator has ven-
tured to call the "gentile name,"10 Where possible, indeed,
the etymological meaning of the Japanese word has been pre-
served. Thus omi seems to be rightly derived by Motowori
from oho-mi, " great body"; and "grandee" is therefore the
nearest English equivalent. Similarly murashi, "chief," is a
corruption of two words signifying "master of a tribe.' On
the other hand, both the etymology and the precise import of
the title of wake* are extremely doubtful. Hiko and hime again,
if they really come from hi ko, sun-child” and hi me,
female" (or "fire-child" and "fire-female"), have wandered so
far from their origin as, even in Archaic times, to have been
nothing more than Honorific appellations, corresponding in a
loose fashion to the English words "prince and princess," or
"lord and lady," in some cases perhaps meaning scarcely
more than "youth and maiden."
<< sun-
(C
The four words kami, ma, miko and mikoto alone call for
special notice; and ma may be disposed of first. It is of
uncertain origin, but identified by the native philologists with
the perpetually recurring honorific mi, rendered "august." As,
when written ideographically, it is always represented by the
Chinese character, the translator renders it in English by
"true"; but it must be understood that this word has no
force beyond that of an Honorific.
Mikoto, rendered "Augustness," is properly a compound,
mi koto, "august thing." It is used as a title, somewhat after
the fashion of our words "Majesty" and "Highness," being
10 See Sect. IV. of this Introduction and Sect. XIV. Note 5 of
the Translation.
c.f. Nihongi, VII, p. 6.—W.G.A. (page 191 Aston's translation in
Transactions of the Japan Society, London).
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. II.
xix
Į
suffixed to the names of exalted human personages, and also
of gods and goddesses. For the sake of clearness in the
English translation this title is prefixed and used with the
possessive pronoun, thus: Yamato-Take-no-Mikoto, His August-
ness Yamato-Take.
With regard to the title read miko by the native com-
mentators, it is represented in two ways in the Chinese text.
When a young prince is denoted by it, we find the characters
,"august child," reminding us of the Spanish title of
infante. But in other cases it is written with the single
character E, “King," and it may be questioned whether the
reading of it as miko is not arbitrary. Many indications lead
us to suppose that in Early Japan something similar to the
feudal system, which again obtained during the Middle Ages,
was in force; and if so, then some of these "kings," may have
been kings indeed after a fashion; and to degrade their title,
as do the modern commentators, to that of "prince" is an
anachronism. In any case the safest plan, if we would not
help to obscure this interesting political question, is to adhere
to the proper signification of the character in the text, and
that character is E, "King."
Of all the words for which it is hard to find a suitable
English equivalent, Kami is the hardest. Indeed there is no
English word which renders it with any near approach to
exactness. If therefore it is here rendered by the word
(C
"god
deity" ("deity" being preferred to 'god" because it in-
cludes superior beings of both sexes), it must be clearly under-
stood that the word "deity" is taken in a sense not sanctioned
by any English dictionary; for kami, and "deity" or "god,'
only correspond to each other in a very rough manner. The
proper meaning of the word "kami" is "top," or "above";
and it is still constantly so used. For this reason it has the
secondary sense of "hair of the head;" and only the hair on
the top of the head,-not the hair on the face, is so desig-
11 Conf. Section LVI. Note 7.
""
XX
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
nated.
Similarly the Government, in popular phraseology, is
O Kami, literally "the honorably above"; and down to a few
years ago Kami was the name of a certain titular provincial
rank. Thus it may be understood how the word was naturally
applied to superiors in general, and especially to those more
than human superiors whom we call "gods." A Japanese, to
whom the origin of the word is patent, and who uses it every
day in contexts by no means divine, does not receive from the
word Kami the same impression of awe which is produced on
the more earnest European mind by the words "deity" and
"god," with their very different associations. In using the
word "
deity," therefore, to translate the Japanese term Kami
we must, so to speak, bring it down from the heights to which
Western thought has raised it. In fact Kami does not mean
much more than "superior." This subject will be noticed
again in Section V of the present Introduction; but so far as
the word Kami itself is concerned, these remarks may suffice.
To conclude this Section, the translator must advert to
his treatment of Proper Names, and he feels that he must
plead guilty to a certain amount of inconsistency on this head.
Indeed the treatment of Proper Names is always an embarrass-
ment, partly because it is often difficult to determine what is
a Proper Name, and partly because in translating a text into
a foreign tongue Proper Names, whose meanings are evident
in the original and perhaps have a bearing on the story, lose
their significance; and the translator has therefore first of all
to decide whether the name is really a Proper Name at all or
simply a description of the personage or place, and next
whether he will sacrifice the meaning because the word is
used as a name, or preserve the original name and thus fail to
render the meaning,—a meaning which may be of importance
as revealing the channels in which ancient thought flowed. For
instance Olo-kuni-nushi-no-kami, "the Deity Master of the
Great Land," is clearly nothing more than a description of the
god in question, who had several other names, and the reason
of whose adoption of this special one was that the sovereignty
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. III.
xxi
of the "Great Land," i.e. of Japan (or rather of Idzumo and
the neighbouring provinces in north-western Japan), was ceded
to him by another god, whom he deceived and whose daughter
he ran away with.12 Again Toyo-ashi-hara-no-chi-aki-no-naga-
i-ho-aki-no-midzu-ho-no-kumi, which signifies "the Luxuriant Reed-
Moors, the Land of Fresh Rice-ears,—of a Thousand Autumns,
-of Long Five Hundred Autumns" cannot possibly be
regarded as more than an honorific description of Japan. Such
a catalogue of words could never have been used as a name.
On the other hand it is plain that Tema was simply the
proper name of a certain mountain, because there is no known
word in Archaic Japanese to which it can with certainty be
traced. The difficulty is with the intermediate cases, the
cases of those names which are but partly comprehensible or
partly applicable to their bearers; and the difficulty is one of
which there would seem to be no satisfactory solution possible.
The translator may therefore merely state that in Vol. I of
these "Records," where an unusual number of the Proper
Names have a bearing on the legends related in the text, he
has, wherever feasible, translated all those which are borne by
persons, whether human or divine. In the succeeding Volumes
he has not done so, nor has he, except in a very small number
of instances, translated the Proper Names of places in any of
the three volumes. In order, however, to convey all the
needful information both as to sound and as to sense, the
Japanese original is always indicated in a Foot-note when the
translation has the name in English, and vice versa, while all
doubtful etymologies are discussed.
III.
THE CHRONICLES OF JAPAN.'
It will have been gathered from what has been already
said, and it is indeed generally known, that the "Records of
Ancient Matters" do not stand alone. To say nothing of the
12 See the legend in Sect. XXIII.
<<
>>
xxii
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
"Chronicles of Old Matters of Former Ages," whose genuine-
ness is disputed. there is another undoubtedly authentic work
with which no student of Japanese antiquity can dispense. It
is entitled "Nihon-Gi," i.e., "Chronicles of Japan," and is
second only in value to the "Records," which it has always
excelled in popular favour. It was completed in A.D. 720,
eight years after the "Records of Ancient Matters" had been
presented to the Empress Gem-miyō.
The scope of the two histories is the same; but the
language of the later one and its manner of treating the
national traditions stand in notable contrast to the unpretending
simplicity of the elder work. Not only is the style (excepting
in the Songs, which had to be left as they were or sacrificed
altogether) completely Chinese,-in fact to a great extent a
cento of well-worn Chinese phrases, but the subject-matter
is touched up, re-arranged, and polished, so as to make the
work resemble a Chinese history so far as that was possible.
Chinese philosophical speculations and moral precepts are
intermingled with the cruder traditions that had descended
from Japanese antiquity. Thus the naturalistic Japanese account
of the creation is ushered in by a few sentences which trace
the origin of all things to Yin and Yang (), the Passive
and Active Essences of Chinese philosophy. The legendary
Emperor Jim-mu is credited with speeches made up of quo-
tations from the "Yi Ching 13" the "Li Chi,14" and other
standard Chinese works. A few of the most childish of the
national traditions are omitted, for instance the story of the
"White Hare of Inaba," that of the gods obtaining counsel of
a toad, and that of the hospitality which a speaking mouse
extended to the deity Master-of-the Great-Land. 15 Sometimes
the original tradition is simply softened down or explained
away. A notable instance of this occurs in the account of the
visit of the deity Izanagi¹ to Hades, whither he goes in quest
M
13 易經​.
14 禮記
​15 See Sects. XXI. XXVII and XXIII.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. III.
xxiii
of his dead wife, and among other things has to scale the
"Even Pass (or Hill) of Hades."" In the tradition preserved
in the "Records" and indeed even in the "Chronicles," this
pass or hill is mentioned as a literal geographical fact. But
the compiler of the latter work, whose object it was to appear
and to make his forefathers appear, as reasonable as a learned
Chinese, adds a gloss to the effect that "One account says
that the Even Hill of Hades is no distinct place, but simply
the moment when breathing ceases at the time of death";
not a happy guess certainly, for this pass is mentioned in
connection with Izanagi's return to the land of the living. In
short we may say of this work what was said of the Sep-
tuagint, that it rationalizes.
M
Perhaps it will be asked, how can it have come to pass.
that a book in which the national traditions are thus unmis-
takably tampered with, and which is moreover written in
Chinese instead of in the native tongue, has enjoyed such a
much greater share of popularity than the more genuine work?
The answer lies on the surface: the concessions made to
Chinese notions went far towards satisfying minds trained on
Chinese models, while at the same time the reader had his
respect for the old native emperors increased, and was enabled
to preserve some sort of belief in the native gods. People are
rarely quite logical in such matters, particularly in an early
stage of society; and difficulties are glossed over rather than
insisted upon.
The beginning of the world, for instance, or,
to use Japanese phraseology, the "separation of heaven and
and earth" took place a long time ago; and perhaps, although
there could of course be no philosophical doubt as to the
cause of this event having been the interaction of the Passive
and Active Essences, it might also somehow be true that
Izanagi and Izanami (the "Male-Who-Invites " and the
"Female-Who-Invites ") were the progenitor and progenitrix
16 Rendered in the English translation by "the Male-Who-Invites.”
17 Yomo tsu Hira-Saka.
xxiv
<<
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
of Japan.
Who knows but what in them the formative prin-
ciples may not have been embodied, represented, or figured
forth after a fashion not quite determined, but none the less
real? As a matter of fact, the two deities in question have
often been spoken of in Japanese books under such designations
as the "Yin Deity" and the "Yang Deity," and in his Chinese
Preface the very compiler of these "Records" lends his
sanction to the use of such phraseology, though, if we look
closely at the part taken by the goddess in the legend narrated
in Sect. IV, it would seem but imperfectly applicable. If
again early sovereigns, such as the Empress Jin-gō, address
their troops in sentences cribbed from the "Shu Ching,"18 or.
like the Emperor Kei-kō, describe the Ainos in terms that
would only suit the pages of a Chinese topographer,-both
these personages being supposed to have lived prior to the
opening up of intercourse with the continent of Asia,-the
anachronism was partly hidden by the fact of the work which
thus recorded their doings being itself written in the Chinese
language, where such phrases only sounded natural.
In some
instances, too, the Chinese usage had so completely superseded
the native one as to cause the latter to have been almost for-
gotten excepting by the members of the Shinto priesthood.
This happened in the case of the Chinese method of divination
by means of a tortoise-shell, whose introduction caused the
elder native custom of divination through the shoulder-blade
of a deer to fall into desuetude. Whether indeed this native
custom itself may not perhaps be traced back to still earlier
continental influence is another question. So far as any docu-
mentary information reaches, divination through the shoulder-
blade of a deer was the most ancient Japanese method of
ascertaining the will of the gods. The use of the Chinese
sexagenary cycle for counting years, months, and days is
another instance of the imported usage having become so
thoroughly incorporated with native habits of mind as to make
C
18 書​經​.

-
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. III.
XXV
the anachronism of employing it when speaking of a period
confessedly anterior to the introduction of continental civili-
zation pass unnoticed. As for the (to a modern European)
grotesque notion of pretending to give the precise months and
days of events supposed to have occurred a thousand years
before the date assigned to the introduction of astronomical
instruments, of observatories, and even of the art of writing,
that is another of those inconsistencies which, while lying on
the very surface, yet so easily escape the uncritical Oriental
mind.19 Semi-civilized people tire of asking questions, and to
question antiquity, which fills so great a place in their
thoughts, is the last thing that would occur to any of their
learned men, whose mental attitude is characteristically repre-
sented by Confucius when he calls himself "A transmitter and
not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients."20 As
regards the question of language, standard Chinese soon became
easier to understand than Archaic Japanese, as the former
alone was taught in the schools, and the native language
changed rapidly during the century or two that followed the
diffusion of the foreign tongue and civilization. We have only
to call to mind the relative facility to most of ourselves of a
Latin book and of one written in Early English.
Of course,
as soon as the principles of the Japanese Renaissance had
taken hold of men's minds in the eighteenth century, the
more genuine, more national work assumed its proper place
C
19 Details as to the adoption by the Japanese of the Chinese sys-
tem of computing time will be found in the late Mr. Bramsen's
"Japanese Chronological Tables," where that lamented scholar brands
"the whole system of fictitious dates applied in the first histories of
Japan," as "one of the greatest literary frauds ever perpetrated, from
which we may infer how little trust can be placed in the early
Japanese historical works." See also Motowori's " Inquiry into the
True Chronology," pp. 33-36, and his second work on the same
subject entitled "Discussion of the Objections to the Inquiry into the
True Chronology," p.p. 46 et seq.
20❝ Confucian Analects," Book VII. Chap. I. Dr. Legge's translation.
xxvi
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
in the estimation of students. But the uncouthness of the
style according to modern ideas, and the greater amount of
explanation of all sorts that is required in order to make the
"Records of Ancient Matters" intelligible, must always prevent
them from attaining to the popularity of the sister history.
Thus, though published almost simultaneously, the tendencies
of the two works were very different, and their fate has
differed accordingly.
To the European student the chief value of the "Chroni-
cles of Japan" lies in the fact that their author, in treating of
the so-called "Divine Age," often gives a number of various
forms of the same legend-under the heading of "One account
says," suffixed in the form of a note to the main text. No
phrase is more commonly met with in later treatises on
Japanese history than this,-"One account in the Chronicles
of Japan' says," and it will be met with occasionally in the
Foot-notes to the present translation. There are likewise
instances of the author of the "Chronicles" having preserved,
either in the text or in "One account," traditions omitted by
the compiler of the "Records." Such are, for instance, the
quaint legend invented to explain the fact that the sun and
moon do not shine simultaneously," and the curious develop-
21 It may perhaps be worth while to quote this legend in full. It
is as follows:
"One account says that the Heaven-Shining Great Deity, being in
Heaven, said: 'I hear that in the Central Land of Reed-Plains (i.e.
"Japan) there is a Food-Possessing Deity. Do thou, Thine August-
ness Moon-Night-Possessor, go and see.' His Augustness the Moon-
Night-Possessor, having received these orders, descended [to earth],
"and arrived at the place where the Food-Possessing Deity was. The
'Food-Possessing Deity forthwith, on turning her head towards the
"land, produced rice from her mouth; again, on turning to the sea,
"she also produced from her mouth things broad of fin and things
narrow of fin; again, on turning to the mountains, she also produced
"from her mouth things rough of hair and things soft of hair.
"Having collected together all these things, she offered them [to the
Moon-God] as a feast on a hundred tables. At this time His
<<
<<
<<
(C
(C
64
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xxvii
ese.
ment of the legend of the expulsion of the deity Susa-no-wo
("Impetuous Male"), telling us of the hospitality which was
refused to him by the other gods when he appeared before
them to beg for shelter. Many of the Songs, too, in the
"Chronicles" are different from those in the "Records," and
make a precious addition to our vocabulary of Archaic Japan-
The prose text, likewise, contains, in the shape of notes,
numbers of readings by which the pronunciation of words
written ideograpically, or the meaning of words written phonet-
ically in the "Records " may be ascertained. Finally the
"Chronicles" give us the annals of seventy-two years not
comprised in the plan of the "Records," by carrying down to
A.D. 700 the history which in the "Records" steps at the
year 628.
Although therefore it is a mistake to assert, as
some have done, that the "Chronicles of Japan" must be
placed at the head of all the Japanese historical works, their
assistance can in no wise be dispensed with by the student of
Japanese mythology and of the Japanese language.2
22
""
IV.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE EARLY JAPANESE.
..
•A
The Japanese of the mythical period, as pictured in the
legends preserved by the compiler of the "Records of Ancient
Matters," were a race who had long emerged from the savage
(c
Augustness the Moon-Night-Possessor, being angry and colouring
CC
up, said: 'How filthy! how vulgar! What! shalt thou dare to feed
"C
me with things spat out from thy mouth?' [and with these words,]
"he drew his sabre and slew her. Afterwards he made his report [to
"the Sun-Goddess]. When he told her all the particulars, the Heaven-
Shining Great Deity was very angry, and said: "Thou art a wicked
"Deity, whom it is not right for me to see ';-and forthwith she and
"His Augustness the Moon-Night-Possessor dwelt separately day and
night." The partly parallel legend given in these "Records" forms
the subject of Sect. XVII of the Translation.
22 Compare Mr. Satow's remarks on this subject in Vol. III, Pt. I,
pp. 21-23 of these "Transactions."
-
:
xxviii (C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
The
state, and had attained to a high level of barbaric skill.
Stone Age was forgotten by them-or nearly so,—and the
evidence points to their never having passed through a genuine
Bronze Age, though the knowledge of bronze was at a later
period introduced from the neighbouring continent. They
used iron for manufacturing spears, swords, and knives of
various shapes, and likewise for the more peaceful purpose of
making hooks wherewith to angle, or to fasten the doors of
their huts. Their other warlike and hunting implements (besides
traps and gins which appear to have been used equally for
catching beasts and birds and for destroying human enemies)
were bows and arrows, spears and elbow-pads,*-the latter
seemingly of skin, while special allusion is made to the fact
that the arrows were feathered. Perhaps clubs should be added
to the list. Of the bows and arrows, swords and knives, there
is perpetual mention; but nowhere do we hear of the tools
with which they were manufactured, and there is the same
remarkable silence regarding such widely spread domestic im-
plements as the saw and the axe. We hear, however, of the
pestle and mortar,† of the fire-drill, of the wedge, of the sickle,
and of the shuttle used in weaving.
Navigation seems to have been in a very elementary stage.
Indeed the art of sailing was, as we know from the classical
literature of the country, but little practised in Japan even so
late as the middle of the tenth century of our era subsequent
to the general diffusion of Chinese civilization, though rowing
and punting are often mentioned by the early poets.
In one
passage of the "Records" and in another of the "Chronicles,"
mention is made of a "two-forked boat "‡ used on inland pools
or lakes; but, as a rule, in the earlier portions of those works,
we read only of people going to sea or being sent down from
heaven in water-proof baskets without oars, and reaching their
Wrist pads?-W.G.A.
+ The quern ?—W.G.A.
* The two-forked boat was a mere caprice.-W.G.A.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xxix
destination not through any efforts of their own, but through
supernatural interposition.
23
To what we should call towns or villages very little refer-
ence is made anywhere in the "Records" or in that portion
of the "Chronicles" which contains the account of the so-called
"Divine Age." But from what we learn incidentally, it would
seem that the scanty population was chiefly distributed in small
hamlets and isolated dwellings along the coast and up the
course of the larger streams. Of house-building there is frequent
mention,—especially of the building of palaces or temples for
sovereigns or gods, the words "palace" and "temple" being
(it should be mentioned) represented in Japanese by the same
term. Sometimes, in describing the construction of such a
sacred dwelling, the author of the "Records," abandoning his
usual flat and monotonous style, soars away on poetic wings,
as when, for instance, he tells how the monarch of Idzumo, on
abdicating in favour of the Sun-Goddess's descendant, coven-
anted that the latter should "make stout his temple pillars on
the nethermost rock-bottom, and make high the cross-beams
to the plain of High Heaven.”24 It must not, however, be
inferred from such language that these so-called palaces and
temples were of very gorgeous and imposing aspect. The
more exact notices to be culled from the ancient Shinto Rituals
(which are but little posterior to the "Records" and in no
wise contradict the inferences to be drawn from the latter)
23 A curious scrap of the history of Japanese civilization is pre-
served in the word kaji, whose exclusive acceptation in the modern
tongue is “rudder.” In archaic Japanese it meant "oar," a signification
which is now expressed by the term ro, which has been borrowed
from the the Chinese. It is a matter of debate whether the ancient
Japanese boats possessed such an appliance as a rudder, and the word
tagishi or taishi has been credited with that meaning. The more likely
opinion seems to be that both the thing and the word were specialized
in later times, the early Japanese boatmen having made any oar do
duty for a rudder when circumstances necessitated the use of one.
24 See the end of Sect. XXXII.
XXX
KO-JI-KI,” OR records of ANCIENT MATTERS.
having been already summarized by Mr. Satow, it may be as
well to quote that gentleman's words. He says:25 "The
palace of the Japanese sovereign was a wooden hut, with its
pillars planted in the ground, instead of being erected upon
"broad flat stones as in modern buildings. The whole frame-
"work, consisting of posts, beams, rafters, door-posts and
window-frames, was tied together with cords made by twisting
"the long fibrous stems of climbing plants, such as Pueraria
Thunbergiana (kuzu) and Wistaria Sinensis (fuji). The floor
"must have been low down, so that the occupants of the
building, as they squatted or lay on their mats, were exposed
'to the stealthy attacks of venomous snakes, which were pro-
bably far more numerous in the earliest ages when the
country was for the most part uncultivated, than at the
"present day......... There seems some reason to think that the
yuka, here translated floor, was originally nothing but a couch
"which ran round the sides of the hut, the rest of the space
"being simply a mud-floor, and that the size of the couch was
gradually increased until it occupied the whole interior. The
"rafters projected upward beyond the ridge-pole, crossing each
"other as is seen in the roofs of modern Shin-tau temples,
"whether their architecture be in conformity with early tradi-
"tions (in which case all the rafters are so crossed) or modified
"in accordance with more advanced principles of construction,
"and the crossed rafters retained only as ornaments at the two
"ends of the ridge. The roof was thatched, and perhaps had
"a gable at each end, with a hole to allow the smoke of the
"wood-fire to escape, so that it was possible for birds flying
"in and perching on the beams overhead, to defile the food,
((
or the fire with which it was cooked." To this description
it need only be added that fences were in use, and that the
wooden doors, sometimes fastened by means of hooks, resem-
bled those with which we are familiar in Europe rather than
the sliding, screen-like doors of modern Japan. The windows
25 See Vol. IX, Pt. II, pp. 191-192, of these "Transactions.”
((
""
(C
"
((
(C
((
66
(C
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xxxi
seem to have been mere holes. Rugs of skins and rush matting
were occasionally brought in to sit 'upon, and we even hear
once or twice of "silk rugs" being used for the same purpose
by the noble and wealthy.
The habits of personal cleanliness which so pleasantly
distinguish the modern Japanese from their neighbours in
continental Asia, though less fully developed than at present,
would seem to have existed in the germ in early times, as we
read more than once of bathing in rivers, and are told of
bathing-women being specially attached to the person of a
certain imperial infant. Lustrations, too, formed part of the
religious practices of the race. Latrines are mentioned several
times. They would appear to have been situated away from
the houses and to have generally been placed over a running
stream, whence doubtless the name for latrine in the Archaic
Dialect,-kaha-ya, i. e. "river-house." A well-known Japanese
classic of the tenth century, the "Yamato Tales,"26 tells us
indeed that "in older days the people dwelt in houses raised
"on platforms built out on the river Ikuta," and goes on to
relate a story which presupposes such a method of architecture.27
A passage in the account of the reign of the Emperor Jim-mu
which occurs both in the "Records" and in the "Chronicles,"
and another in the reign of the Emperor Sui-nin occurring in
the "Records" only, might be interpreted so as to support
this statement.28 But both are extremely obscure, and beyond
the fact that people who habitually lived near the water may
have built their houses after the aquatic fashion practised in
different parts of the world by certain savage tribes both
ancient and modern, the present writer is not aware of any
authority for the assertion that they actually did so except the
isolated passage in the "Yamato Tales" just quoted.
A peculiar sort of dwelling-place which the two old his-
26" Yamato Mono-gatari.”
27 For a translation of this story see the present writer's "Classical
Poetry of the Japanese ", pp. 42-44.
28 See sect. XLIV, Note 12 and Sect. LXXII, Note 29.
xxxii CC
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
tories bring prominently under our notice, is the so-called
"parturition-house," a one-roomed hut without windows which
a woman was expected to build and retire into for the purpose
of being delivered unseen.29 It would also appear to be not
unlikely that newly-married couples retired into a specially
built hut for the purpose of consummating the marriage, and
it is certain that for each sovereign a new palace was erected
on his accession.
Castles are not distinctly spoken of till a period which,
29
Mr. Ernest Satow, who in 1878 visited the island of Hachijo,
gives the following details concerning the observance down to modern
times in that remote corner of the Japanese Empire of the custom
mentioned in the text: "In Hachijo women, when about to become
"mothers, were formerly driven out to the huts on the mountain-side,
"and according to the accounts of native writers, left to shift for
themselves, the result not unfrequently being the death of the new-
"born infant, or if it survived the rude circumstances under which it
"first saw the light, the seeds of disease were sown which clung to
"it throughout its after life. The rule of non-intercourse was SO
"strictly enforced, that the woman was not allowed to leave the hut
"even to visit her own parents at the point of death, and besides the
"injurious effects that this solitary confinement must have had on the
"wives themselves, their prolonged absence was a serious loss to
"households, where there were elder children and large establishments
"to be superintended. The rigour of the custom was so far relaxed
"in modern times, that the huts were no longer built on the hills,
"but were constructed inside the homestead. It was a subject of
"wonder to people from other parts of Japan that the senseless
practice should still be kept up, and its abolition was often recom-
"mended, but the administration of the Shôguns was not animated
"by a reforming spirit, and it remained for the Government of the
"Mikado to exhort the islanders to abandon this and the previously
"mentioned custom. They are therefore no longer sanctioned by
"official authority and the force of social opinion against them is
"increasing, so that before long these relics of ancient ceremonial
“religion will in all probability have disappeared from the group of
"islands." (Trans. of the Asiat. Soc. of Japan, Vol. VI, Pt. III, pp.
455-6.)
CC
*
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xxxiii
though still mythical in the opinion of the present writer,
coincides according to the received chronology with the first
century B. C. We then first meet with the curious term "rice-
castle," whose precise signification is a matter of dispute among
the native commentators, but which, on comparison with Chinese
descriptions of the Early Japanese, should probably be under-
stood to mean a kind of palisade serving the purpose of a
redoubt, behind which the warriors could ensconce themselves.30
If this conjecture be correct, we have here a good instance of
a word, so to speak, moving upward with the march of civili-
zation, the term, which formerly denoted something not much
better than a fence, having later come to convey the idea of a
stone castle.
To conclude the subject of dwelling-places, it should be
stated that cave-dwellers are sometimes alluded to. The legend
of the retirement of the Sun-Goddess into a cavern may pos-
sibly suggest to some the idea of an early period when such
habitations were the normal abodes of the ancestors of the
Japanese race. 31 But at the time when the national traditions
assumed their present shape, such a state of things had cer-
tainly quite passed away, if it ever existed, and only barbarous
Ainos and rough bands of robbers are credited with the
construction of such primitive retreats. Natural caves (it may
be well to state) are rare in Japan, and the caves that are
alluded to were mostly artificial,* as may be gathered from
the context.
The food of the Early Japanese consisted of fish and of
the flesh of the wild creatures which fell by the hunter's arrow
or were taken in the trapper's snare,-an animal diet with
which Buddhist prohibitions had not yet interfered, as they
began to do in early historical times. Rice is the only cereal
30 See Sect. LXX, Note 6. The Japanese term is ina-ki, ki being
an Archaic term for "castle."
31 See Sect. XVI. Mention of cave-dwellers will also be found in
Sects. XLVIII, and LXXX.
* Pits?-W.G.A.
xxxiv
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
•
of which there is such mention made as to place it beyond a
doubt that its cultivation dates back to time immemorial.
Beans, millet, and barley are indeed named once, together with
silkworms, in the account of the "Divine Age."32 But the
passage has every aspect of an interpolation in the legend,
perhaps not dating back long before the time of the eighth
century compiler. A few unimportant vegetables and fruits,
of most of which there is but a single mention, will be found
in the list of plants given below. The intoxicating liquor
called sake was known in Japan during the mythical period,³
and so were chopsticks for eating the food with. Cooking-pots
and cups and dishes-the latter both of earthenware and of
leaves of trees, - are also mentioned; but of the use of fire for
warming purposes we hear nothing. Tables are named several
times, but never in connection with food. They would seem
to have been exclusively used for the purpose of presenting
offerings on, and were probably quite small and low,-in fact
rather trays than tables according to European ideas.
In the use of clothing and the specialization of garments
the Early Japanese had reached a high level. We read in the
most ancient legends of upper garments, skirts, trowsers, girdles,
veils, and hats, while both sexes adorned themselves with
necklaces, bracelets, and head-ornaments of stones considered
precious,—in this respect offering a striking contrast to their
descendants in modern times, of whose attire jewelry forms no
part.
The material of their clothes was hempen cloth and
paper-mulberry bark, coloured by being rubbed with madder,
All the
and probably with woad and other tinctorial plants.
garments, so far as we may judge, were woven, sewing being
nowhere mentioned, and it being expressly stated by the
Chinese commentator on the "Shan Hai Ching," who wrote
early in the fourth century, that the Japanese had no needles.³
134
32 See the latter part of Sect. XVII.
33 See Sect. XVIII, Note 16.
34 山海經​·
35 See, however, the legend in Sect. LXV.
33
35
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
XXXV
From the great place which the chase occupied in daily life we
are led to suppose that skins also were used to make garments
of. There is in the "Records
Records" at least one passage which
favours this supposition,36 and the "Chronicles" in one place
mention the straw rain-coat and broad-brimmed hat, which
still form the Japanese peasant's effectual protection against the
inclemencies of the weather. The tendrils of creeping plants.
served the purposes of string, and bound the warrior's sword
round his waist. Combs are mentioned, and it is evident that
much attention was devoted to the dressing of the hair. The
men seem to have bound up their hair in two bunches, one on
each side of the head, whilst the young boys tied theirs into
a topknot, the unmarried girls let their locks hang down over
their necks, and the married women dressed theirs after a
fashion which apparently combined the two last-named me-
thods. There is no mention in any of the old books of cutting
the hair or beard except in token of disgrace; neither do we
gather that the sexes, but for this matter of the head-dress,
were distinguished by a diversity of apparel and ornamentation.
With regard to the precious stones mentioned above as
having been used as ornaments for the head, neck, and arms,
the texts themselves give us little or no information as to the
identity of the stones meant to be referred to. Indeed it is
plain (and the native commentators admit the fact) that a
variety of Chinese characters properly denoting different sorts
of jewels were used indiscriminately by the early Japanese
writers to represent the single native word tama, which is the
only one the language contains to denote any hard substance
on which a special value is set, and which often refers chiefly
to the rounded shape, so that it might in fact be translated by
the word "bead" as fittingly as by the word "jewel." We
know, however, from the specimens which have rewarded the
labours of archæological research in Japan that agate, crystal,
glass, jade, serpentine, and steatite are the most usual materials,
36 See beginning of Sect. XXVII.
* Stems?-W.G.A.
xxxvi <<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
and curved and pierced cylindrical shapes (maga-tama and
kuda-tama), the commonest forms.37
The horse (which was ridden, but not driven), the barn-
door fowl, and the cormorant used for fishing, are the only
domesticated creatures mentioned in the earlier traditions, with
the doubtful exception of the silkworm, to which reference has
already been made.39 In the later portions of the "Records"
and "Chronicles", dogs and cattle are alluded to; but sheep,
swine, and even cats were apparently not yet introduced.
Indeed sheep were scarcely to be seen in Japan until a few
years ago, goats are still almost unknown, and swine and all
poultry excepting the barn-door fowl are extremely uncommon.
The following enumeration of the animals and plants
mentioned in the earlier portion of the "Records" may be
of interest. The Japanese equivalents, some few of which are
obsolete, are put in parenthesis, together with the Chinese
characters used to write them:
39
37 For details on this subject and illustrations, see Mr. Henry von
Siebold's "Notes on Japanese Archæology," p. 15 and Table XI, and
a paper by Professor Milne on the "Stone Age in Japan," read
before the Anthropological Society of Great Britain on the 25th May,
1880, pp. 10 and 11.
33 The tradition preserved in Sect. CXXIV, shows that in times
almost, if not quite, historical (the 4th century of our era) the silk-
It is
worm was a curious novelty, apparently imported from Korea.
not only possible, but probable, that silken fabrics were occasionally
imported into Japan from the mainland at an earlier period, which
would account for the mention of "silk rugs in Sects XL and
LXXXIV.
59 The (necessarily somewhat arbitrary) line between earlier and
later times has been drawn at the epoch of the traditional conquest of
Korea by the Empress Jin-go at the commencement of the third
century of our era, it being then, according to the received opinions,
that the Japanese first came in contact with their continental neigh-
bours, and began to borrow from them. (See however the concluding
Section of this Introduction for a demonstration of the untrustworth-
iness of all the so-called history of Japan down to the commencement
of the fifth century of the Christian era.)
›
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xxxvii
MAMMALS.
Bear, (kuma f).
Boar, (wi).
Deer, (shika
Hare, (usagi
).
).
Horse, (umaand koma ).
Mouse or Rat, (nedzumi
).
"Sea-ass" [Seal or Sea-lion ?],
(michi 海​驢​)
Whale, (kujira (54).
BIRDS.
Barndoor-fowl, (kakei ).
Cormorant, (u).
Crow or Raven, (karasu ).
Dotterel or Plover or Sandpiper,
*
(chidori F).
Heron or Egret, (sagi).
Kingfisher, (soni-dori ).
Nuye, ().40
Pheasant, (kigishi ).
Snipe, (shigi ).
Swan, (shiro-tori ).
Wild-duck, (kamo ).
Wild-goose, (kari HS).
""
REPTILES.
Crocodile, (wani).411
Tortoise, (kame ).
Toad or Frog, (taniguku, written
phonetically).
Serpent, (worochi
).
Snake [smaller than the preced-
ing], (hebi ).
INSECTS.
Centipede, (mukade. ).
Dragon-fly, (akidzu ).
Fly, (hahi ).
Louse, (shirami ).
Silkworm, (kahiko ).
40 See Sect. XXIV, Note 4.
41 Mr. Satow, in his translation of a passage of the "Records of
Ancient Matters forming part of a note to his third paper on the
"Rituals " in Vol. IX, Pt. II of these "Transactions", renders wani
by "shark." There is perhaps some want of clearness in the old
historical books in the details concerning the creature in question, and
its fin is mentioned in the "Chronicles." But the accounts point
rather to an amphibious creature, conceived of as being somewhat
similar to the serpent, than to a fish, and the Chinese descriptions
quoted by the Japanese commentators unmistakably refer to the
crocodile. The translator therefore sees no sufficient reason for aban-
doning the usually accepted interpretation of wani () as "crocodile ".
It should be noticed that the wan is never introduced into any but
patently fabulous stories, and that the example of other nations, and
indeed of Japan itself, shows that myth-makers have no objection to
embellish their tales by the mention of wonders supposed to exist in
foreign lands.
May not the wani have been a cetacean; perhaps the porpoise?
I have translated wani by “Sea-monster
"Sea-monster "-W.G.A.
xxxviii
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Wasp or Bee, (hachi).
FISHES, ETC.
Pagrus cardinalis [probably], (aka-
dahi) [or perhaps the
Pagrus cardinalis (tai) is
intended].
Perch [Percalabrax japonicus], (su-
dzulei鱸​).
Bêche-de-mer [genus Pentacta], (ko
海​鼠​).
Medusa, (kurage, written phonetic-
ally).
SHELLS.
Arca Suberenata [?], (hirabu-kahi,
written phonetically).
Cockle [Arca Inflata], (kisa-gahi
蟄​貝​).
Turbinido [a shell of the family],
(shitadami).
PLANTS.
Ampelopsis serianæ folia [?], (kagami
蘿摩​).
Aphananthe aspera, (muku, written
phonetically).
Aucuba japonica [probably], (aha-
gi, written phonetically).
Bamboo, (take †††).
Bamboo-grass [Bambusa chino],
(susu 小竹​).
Barley [or wheat?], (mugi ).
Béans [two kinds, viz., Soja glycine
and Phaseolus radiatus], (the gen-
eral name is mame, that of
the latter species in particular
adzuki 小豆​).
Bulrush [Typha japonica], (kama
**).
Bush-clover [Lespedeza of various
spécies], (hagi **).
Camellia japonica, (tsuba-ki #).
Cassia [Chinese mythical; or per-
haps the native Cercidiphyllum
japonica], (katsura, variously
written).
Chamaecyparis obtusa, (hi-no-ki†).
Cleyera japonica [and another al-
lied but undetermined species],
(saka-ki ).
Clubmoss, (hi-kage HR).
Cocculus thunbergi [probably], (tsu-
dzura 黑​葛​).
Cryptomeria japonica, (sugi ).
Eulalia japonica, (kaya
).
Euonymus japonica, (masa-ki R
木​).
Ginger [or perhaps the Xanthoxy-
lon is intended], (hazhikami ).
Halochloa macrantha [but it is not
certain that this is the sea-weed
intended], (komo).
Holly [or rather the Olea aqui-
folium, which closely resembles
holly], (hihira-gi
).
Knot-grass [Polygonum tinctorium],
(awi).
Lily, (sawi written phonetically,
yama-yuri-gusa, and
saki-kusa‡).
Madder, (akane).
Millet [Panicum italicum], (awa
粟​).
Moss, (koke).
Oak [two species, one evergreen
and one deciduous,- Quercus
myrsinæ folia Q. dentata], (kashi
白檮​,kashiwa 柏​)].
Peach, (momo ).
Photinia glabra [?], (soba, written
phonetically).
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xxxix
Pine-tree, (matsu A).
Pueraria thunbergiana, (kudzu ).
Reed, (ashi ).
Rice, (ine).
Sea-weed [or the original term
may designate a particular spe-
cies], (me).
Sedge [Scirpus maritimus], (suge
菅​).
Spindle-tree [Euonymus radicans],
(masaki no kadzura
).
The later portions of the
following:
ANIMALS.
Cow, (ushi 4).
Dog, (inu K). .
Crane [genus Gru], (tadzu ).
Dove or Pigeon, (hato J).
Grebe, (niho-dori EE).
Lark, (hibari ).
Peregrine falcon, (hayabusa 1).
Red-throated quail, (udzura).
Tree-sparrow, (suzume ).
Wagtail [probably], (mana-bashi-
ra, written phonetically).
Wren, (sazaki M).
).
Dolphin, (iruka
Trout [Plecoglossus altivelis], (ayu
FA).
Tunny [a kind of, viz. Thynnus
sibi], (shibi ).
Crab, (kani).
Horse-fly, (amu ).
Oyster, (kaki
).
PLANTS.
Alder [Alnus maritima], (hari-no-ki
榛​).
Aralia, (mi-tsuna-gashiha
Brasenia peltata, (nunaha ).
Vegetable Wax-tree [Rhus succe-
danea], (hazhi).
4).
Vine, (yebi-kadzura H†).
Wild cherry [or birch ?], (hahaka
朱櫻​).
Wild chive [or rather the allium
odorum, which closely resembles
it], (ka-mira ).
Winter-cherry [Physalis alkekengi],
(aka-kagachi written phoneti-
cally, and also hohodzuki E).
work furnish in addition the
Cabbage [brassica], (awona *).
Catalpa Kaempferi [but some say
the cherry is meant], (adzusa *).
Chestnut, (kuri ).
Dioscorea quinqueloba, (tokoro-dzura
薢​葛​).
Euonymus sieboldianus, (mayumi ★
檀​).
Gourd, (hisago ).
Hedysarum esculentum, (wogi *).
Hydropyrum latifolium, (komo).
Kadzura japonica, (sana-kadzura
**).
Livistona sinensis, (ajimasa).
Lotus [nelumbium], (hachisu).
Musk-melon, (hozochi ).
Oak, [three species, Quercus serrata
(kunugi), and Q. glanduli-
fera (nara fi), both deciduous ;
Q. gilva (ichihi) ever-
green].
Orange, (tachibana ).
Podocarpus macrophylla, (maki ).
Radish [Raphanus sativus], (oho-ne
大​根​),
Sashibu (written phonetically), [not
identified].
xl
""
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Water caltrop [Trapa bispinosa],
(hishi).
Wild garlic [Allium nipponicum],
(nubiru).
Zelkowa keaki [probably], (tsuki ).
A few more are probably preserved in the names of places.
Thus in Shinano, the name of a province, we seem to have
the shina (Tilia cordata), and in Tadetsu the tade (Polygonum
japonicum). But the identification in these cases is mostly
uncertain. It must also be remembered that, as in the case
of all non-scientific nomenclatures, several species, and occa-
sionally even more than one genus, are included in a single
Japanese term. Thus chi-dori (here always rendered "dotterel")
is the name of any kind of sandpiper, plover or dotterel.
Kari is a general name applied to geese, but not to all the
species, and also to the great bustard. Again it should not be
forgotten that there may have been, and probably were, in
the application of some of these terms, differences of usage
between the present day and eleven or twelve centuries ago.
Absolute precision is therefore not attainable.4
42
Noticeable in the above lists is the abundant mention of
plant-names in a work which is in no ways occupied with
botany. Equally noticeable is the absence of some of those
which are most common at the present day, such as the tea-
plant and the plum-tree, while of the orange we are specially
informed that it was introduced from abroad.43 The difference
between the various stones and metals seems, on the other
hand, to have attracted very little attention from the Early
Japanese. In later times the chief metals were named mostly
according to their colour, as follows:
Yellow metal
White
(6
(gold).
(silver).
42 Sect. CXXVIII preserves a very early ornithological observation
in the shape of the Songs composed by the Emperor Nin-toku and
his Minister Take-Uchi on the subject of a wild-goose laying eggs in
Central Japan. These birds are not known to breed even so far
south as the island of Yezo.
43 See the legend in Sect. LXXIV.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xli
(copper).
(iron).
Chinese (or Korean)... (bronze).
But in the "Records" the only metal of which it is
implied that it was in use from time, immemorial is iron, while
"various treasures dazzling to the eye, from gold and silver
downwards," are only referred to once as existing in the far-
western land of Korea. Red clay is the sole kind of earth
specially named.
The words relative to colour which occur are:
!
Red metal
Black <<
··
Black.
Blue (including Green).
Red.
Piebald (of horses).
White.
Yellow is not mentioned (except in the foreign Chinese phrase
"the Yellow Stream," signifying Hades, and not to be counted
in this context), neither are any of the numerous terms which
in modern Japanese serve to distinguish delicate shades of
colour. We hear of the blue (or green), i.c. black44
clouds" and also of the "blue (or green), sea"; but the "blue
sky" is conspicuous by its absence here as in so many other
early literatures, though strangely enough it does occur in the
oldest written documents of the Chinese.
With regard to the subject of names for the different
degrees of relationship,-a subject of sufficient interest to the
student of sociology to warrant its being discussed at some
length,—it may be stated that in modern Japanese parlance the
categories according to which relationship is conceived of do
not materially differ from those that are current in Europe.
Thus we find father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle,
nephew, stepfather, stepson, father-in-law, son-in-law, and the
corresponding terms for females,-mother, grandmother, etc.,-
"
44 Mr. Satow suggests that awo ("blue or green") means pro-
perly any colour derived from the awi plant (Polygonum tinctorium).
CC
xlii
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
as well as such vaguer designations as parents, ancestors,
cousins, and kinsmen. The only striking difference is that
brothers and sisters, instead of being considered as all mutually
related in the same manner, are divided into two categories,
viz.:
Ani
Otouto
Ane
Д………………………….. elder brother(s),
♫.....
....……… younger brother(s),
kiti....
............ elder sister(s),
Imouto............ younger sister(s),
in exact accordance with Chinese usage.
Now in Archaic times there seems to have been a different
and more complicated system, somewhat resembling that which
still obtains among the natives of Korea, and which the intro-
duction of Chinese ideas and especially the use of the Chinese
written characters must have caused to be afterwards abandoned.
There are indications of it in some of the phonetically written
fragments of the "Records." But they are not of themselves
sufficient to furnish a satisfactory explanation, and the subject
has puzzled the native literati themselves. Moreover the
English language fails us at this point, and elder and younger
brother, elder and younger sister are the only terms at the
translator's command. It may therefore be as well to quote
in extenso Motowori's elucidation of the Archaic usage to be
found in Vol. XIII, pp. 63-4 of his "Exposition of the Records
of Ancient Matters."45 He says:
"Anciently, when brothers.
"and sisters were spoken of, the elder brother was called se
(6
or ani in contradistinction to the younger brothers and
"younger sisters, and the younger brother also was called se
"in contradistinction to the elder sister. The elder sister was
"called ane in contradistinction to the younger sister, and the
"younger brother also would use the word ane in speaking of
"his elder sister himself. The younger brother was called oto
"in contradistinction to the elder brother, and the younger
"sister also was called oto in contradistinction to the elder
45
Only the foot-notes of the original are omitted, as not being
essential.
+
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xliii
(C
"sister. The younger sister was called imo in contradistinction
"to the elder brother, and the elder sister also was called imo
"in contradistinction to the younger brother. It was also the
"custom among brothers and sisters to use the words iro-se
'for se, iro-ne for ane, and iro-do for oto, and analogy forces
"us to conclude that iro-mo was used for imo." (Motowori
elsewhere explains iro as a term of endearment indentical with
the word iro, “love;" but we may hesitate to accept this view.)
It will be observed that the foundation of this system of
nomenclature was a subordination of the younger to the elder-
born modified by a subordination of the females to the males.
In the East, especially in primitive times, it is not "place aux
dames," but "place aux messieurs”.
Another important point to notice is that, though in a few
passages of the "Records" we find a distinction drawn between
the chief and the secondary wives,—perhaps nothing more than
the favorite or better-born, and the less well-born, are meant
to be thus designated, yet not only is this distinction not
drawn throughout, but the wife is constantly spoken of as imo,
i.e. "younger sister." In fact sister and wife were convertible
terms and ideas; and what in a later stage of Japanese, as of
Western, civilization is abhorred as incest was in Archaic.
Japanese times the common practice. We also hear of mar-
riages with half-sisters, with stepmothers, and with aunts; and
to wed two or three sisters at the same time was a recognized
usage. Most such unions were naturally so contrary to Chinese
ethical ideas, that one of the first traces of the influence of the
latter in Japan was the stigmatizing of them as incest; and
the conflict between the old native custom and the imported
moral code is seen to have resulted in political troubles.46
Marriage with sisters was naturally the first to disappear, and
indeed it is only mentioned in the legends of the gods; but
unions with half-sisters, aunts, etc., lasted on into the historic
46 See the story of Prince Karu, which is probably historical, in
Sects. CXLI et seq.
xliv
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
epoch. Of exogamy, such as obtains in China, there is no
trace in any Japanese document, nor do any other artificial
impediments seem to have stood in the way of the free choice
of the Early Japanese man, who also (in some cases at least)
received a dowry with his bride or brides.
*
If, taking as our guides the incidental notices which are
scattered up and down the pages of the earlier portion of the
"Records", we endeavour to follow an Archaic Japanese through
the chief events of his life from the cradle to the tomb, it will
be necessary to begin by recalling what has already been
alluded to as the "parturition-house" built by the mother, and
in which, as we are specially told that it was made windowless,
it would perhaps be contradictory to say that the infant first
saw the light. Soon after birth a name was given to it, given
to it by the mother,—such name generally containing some
appropriate personal reference. In the most ancient times each
person (so far as we can judge) bore but one name, or rather
one string of words compounded together into a sort of per-
sonal designation. But already at the dawn of the historical
epoch we are met by the mention of surnames and of what,
in the absence of a more fitting word, the translator has
ventured to call "gentile names," bestowed by the sovereign
as a recompense for some noteworthy deed.47
**
>>
*
It may be gathered from our text that the idea of calling
in the services of wet-nurses in certain exceptional cases had
already suggested itself to the minds of the ruling class,
whose infants were likewise sometimes attended by special
bathing-women. To what we should call education, whether
47 The custom of using surnames was certainly borrowed from
China, although the Japanese have not, like the Koreans, gone so far
as to adopt the actual surnames in use in that country. The "
"gentile
names may have sprung up more naturally, though they too show
traces of Chinese influence. Those most frequently met with are
Agata-nushi, Ason, Atahe, Kimi, Miyatsuko, Murazhi, Omi, Sukune, and
Wake. See above, pp. xvii-xviii.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xlv
mental or physical, there is absolutely no reference made in
the histories. All that can be inferred is that, when old
enough to do so, the boys began to follow one of the callings
of hunter or fisherman, while the girls staid at home weaving
the garments of the family. There was also a great deal of
fighting, generally of a treacherous kind, in the intervals of
which the warriors occupied themselves in cultivating patches
of ground. The very little which is to be gathered concerning
the treatment of old people would seem to indicate that they
were well cared for.
We are nowhere told of any wedding ceremonies except
the giving of presents by the bride or her father, the probable
reason being that no such ceremonies existed. Indeed late on
into the Middle Ages cohabitation alone constituted matrimony,
-cohabitation often secret at first, but afterwards acknow-
ledged, when, instead of going round under cover of night to
visit his mistress, the young man brought her back publicly to
his parents' house. Mistress, wife, and concubine were thus
terms which were not distinguished, and the woman could
naturally be discarded at any moment. She indeed was ex-
pected to remain faithful to the man with whom she had had
more than a passing intimacy, but no reciprocal obligation
bound him to her. Thus the wife of one of the gods is made
to address her husband in a poem which says:
"Thou.........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 I, alas! being a woman, have no man except thee
have no spouse except thee," etc., etc.48
I
In this sombre picture the only graceful touch is the
custom which lovers or spouses had of tying each other's
girdles when about to part for a time,-a ceremony by which
they implied that they would be constant to each other during
the period of absence.49 What became of the children in cases
48 See Sect. XXV, (the second Song in that Section).
49 See Sect. LXXI, Note 12.
1
-
xlvi
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
1
of conjugal separation does not clearly appear. In the only
instance which is related at length, we find the child left with
the father; but this instance is not a normal one.50 Adoption
is not mentioned in the earliest traditions; so that when we
meet with it later on we shall probably be justified in tracing
its introduction to Chinese sources.
Of death-bed scenes and dying speeches we hear but little,
and that little need not detain us. The burial rites are more
important. The various ceremonies observed on such an
occasion are indeed not explicitly detailed. But we gather thus
much: that the hut tenanted by the deceased was abandoned,--
an ancient custom to whose former existence the removal of
the capital at the commencement of each new sovereign's reign
long continued to bear witness, and that the body was first
deposited for some days in a "mourning-house," during which
interval the survivors (though their tears and lamentations are
also mentioned) held a carousal, feasting perhaps on the food
which was specially prepared as an offering to the dead person.
Afterwards, the corpse was interred, presumably in a wooden
bier, as the introduction of stone tombs is specially noted by
the historian as having taken place at the end of the reign of
the Emperor Sui-nin, and was therefore believed by those who
handed down the legendary history to have been a compara-
tively recent innovation, the date assigned to this monarch by
the author of the "Chronicles" coinciding with the latter part
of our first, and the first half of our second centuries.
time not long anterior is attributed the abolition of a custom
previously observed at the interments of royal personages.
This custom was the burying alive of some of their retainers
in the neighbourhood of the tomb. We know also, both from
other early literary sources and from the finds which have
recently rewarded the labours of archæologists, that articles of
clothing, ornaments, etc., were buried with the corpse. It is
To a
50 See Sect. XLII.
-
t
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xlvii
all the more curious that the "Records" should nowhere make
any reference to such a custom, and is a proof (if any be
needed) of the necessity of not relying exclusively on any
single authority, however respectable, if the full and true
picture of Japanese antiquity is to be restored. A few details
as to the abolition of the custom of burying retainers alive
round their master's tomb, and of the substitution for this
cruel holocaust of images in clay will be found in Sect. LXIII,
Note 23, and in Sect. LXXV, Note 4, of the following trans-
lation.Fl If the custom be one which is properly included
under the heading of human sacrifices, it is the only form of
such sacrifices of which the earliest recorded Japanese social
state retained any trace. The absence of slavery is another
honourable feature. On the other hand, the most cruel pun-
ishments were dealt out to enemies and wrongdoers. Their
nails were extracted, the sinews of their knees were cut, they
were buried up to the neck so that their eyes burst, etc.
Death, too, was inflicted for the most trivial offences. Of
branding, or rather tattooing, the face as a punishment there
are one or two incidental mentions. But as no tattooing or
other marking or painting of the body for any other purpose
is ever alluded to, with the solitary exception in one passage
of the painting of her eyebrows by a woman, it is possible
that the penal use of tattooing may have been borrowed from
the Chinese, to whom it was not unknown.*
The shocking obscenity of word and act to which the
"Records" bear witness is another ugly feature which must
not quite be passed over in silence. It is true that decency,
as we understand it, is a very modern product, and is not to
51 Representations of these clay images (tsuchi-nin-giyō) will be
found in Table XII of Mr. Henry von Siebold's "Notes on Japanese
Archæology," and in Mr. Satow's paper on "Ancient Sepulchral
Mounds in Kaudzuke" published in Vol. VII, Pt. III, pp. 313 et seq.
of these "Transactions."
* The Chinese notices of Japan speak of their tattooing themselves
thus indicating distinctions of rank.-W.G.A.
xlviii
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MAITERS.
be looked for in any society in the barbarous stage. At the
same time, the whole range of literature might perhaps be
ransacked in vain for a parallel to the naïve filthiness of the
passage forming Sect. IV. of the following translation, or to
the extraordinary topic which the hero Yamato-Take and his
mistress Miyazu are made to select as the theme of poetical
repartee.52 One passage likewise would lead us to suppose that
the most beastly crimes were commonly committed.5
53
To conclude this portion of the subject, it may be useful
for the sake of comparison to call attention to a few arts and
products with which the Early Japanese were not acquainted.
Thus they had no tea, no fans, no porcelain, no lacquer,—
none of the things, in fact, by which in later times they have
been chiefly known. They did not yet use vehicles of any
kind. They had no accurate method of computing time, no
money, scarcely any knowledge of medicine. Neither, though
they possessed some sort of music, and poems a few of which
at least are not without merit,54 do we hear anything of the art
of drawing. But the most important art of which they were
ignorant is that of writing. As some misapprehension has
existed on this head, and scholars in Europe have been misled
by the inventions of zealous champions of the Shintō religion
into a belief in the so-called "Divine Characters," by them
alleged to have been invented by the Japanese gods and to
have been used by the Japanese people prior to the introduction
of the Chinese ideographic writing, it must be stated precisely
F2 See Sect. LXXXVII.
53 See Sect. XCVII.
54 A translation,-especially a literal prose translation,-is not cal-
culated to show off to best advantage the poetry of an alien race. But
even subject to this drawback, the present writer would be surprised
if it were not granted that poetic fire and grace are displayed in some
of the Love-Songs (for instance the third Song in Sect. XXIV and
both Songs in Sect. XXV), and a quaint pathos in certain others (for
instance in Yamato-Take's address to his "elder brother the pine-
tree,” and in his Death-Songs contained in Sect. LXXXIX).
·
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. IV.
xlix
that all the traditions of the "Divine Age,” and of the reigns
of the earlier Emperors down to the third century of our era
according to the received chronology, maintain a complete
silence on the subject of writing, writing materials, and records
of every kind. Books are nowhere mentioned till a period
confessedly posterior to the opening up of intercourse with the
Asiatic continent, and the first books whose names occur are
the "Lun Yü" and the " Ch'ien Tzu Wên," which are said
to have been brought over to Japan during the reign of the
Emperor Ō-jin,—according to the same chronology in the year
284 after Christ. That even this statement is antedated, is
shown by the fact that the "Ch'ien Tzu Wên" was not written
till more than two centuries later, a fact which is worthy the
attention of those who have been disposed simply to take on
trust the assertions of the Japanese historians. It should
likewise be mentioned that, as has already been pointed out
by Mr. Aston, the Japanese terms fumi "written document,"
and fude "pen," are probably corruptions of foreign words.
The present, indeed, is not the place to discuss the whole
question of the so-called "Divine Characters," which Motowori,
56
55 論語 ​and 千字文​.
56 Viz. of the Chinese and (in the modern Mandarin pronun-
ciation wen and pi). Mr. Aston would seem to derive both the
Japanese term fude and the Korean put independently from the Chinese
The present writer thinks it more likely that the Japanese fude
was borrowed mediately through the Korean put. In any case, as it
regularly corresponds with the latter according to the laws of letter-
change subsisting between the two languages, it will be observed that
the Japanese term would still have to be considered borrowed, even
if the derivation of put from had to be abandoned; for we can
hardly suppose Korean and Japanese to have independently selected.
the same root to denote such a thing as a “pen.” As to the correct-
ness of the derivation of fumi from there can be little doubt, and
it had long ago struck even the Japanese themselves, who are not
prompt to acknowledge such loans. They usually derive fude from
fumi-te, “document hand," and thus again we are brought back to the
Chinese as the origin of the Japanese word for "pen."
of *
1
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
<<
the most patriotic as well as the most learned of the Japanese
literati, dismisses in a note to the Prolegomena of his "Ex-
position of the Records of Ancient Matters" with the remark
that they "are a late forgery over which no words need be
wasted." But as this mare's nest has been imported into the
discussion of the Early Japanese social state, and as the point
is one on which the absolute silence of the early traditions
bears such clear testimony, it was impossible to pass it by
without some brief allusion.
V.
RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL IDEAS OF THE EARLY JAPANESE,
BEGINNINGS OF THE JAPANESE NATION, AND CREDIBILITY
OF THE NATIONAL RECORDS.
The religious beliefs of the modern upholders of Shinto
may be ascertained without much difficulty by a perusal of the
works of the leaders of the movement which has endeavoured
during the last century and a half to destroy the influence of
Buddhism and of the Chinese philosophy, and which has lat-
terly succeeded to some extent in supplanting those two foreign
systems. But in Japan, as elsewhere, it has been impossible
for men really to turn back a thousand years in religious
thought and act; and when we try to discover the primitive
opinions that were entertained by the Japanese people prior to
the introduction of the Chinese culture, we are met by diffi-
culties that at first seem insuperable. The documents are
scanty, and the modern commentaries untrustworthy, for they
are all written under the influence of a preconceived opinion.
Moreover, the problem is apparently complicated by a mixture
of races and mythologies, and by a filtering in of Chinese
ideas previous to the compilation of documents of any sort,
though these are considerations which have hitherto scarcely
57 The Chinese characters used to write this word are, which
signify the "Way of the Gods." The term was adopted in order to
distinguish the old native beliefs from Buddhism and Confucianism.
*
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
li
been taken into account by foreigners, and are designedly
neglected and obscured by such narrowly patriotic native
writers as Motowori and Hirata.
In the political field the difficulties are not less, but rather
greater; for when once the Imperial House and the centralized
Japanese polity, as we know it from the sixth or seventh
century of our era downwards, became fully established, it was
but too clearly in the interest of the powers that be to efface
as far as possible the trace of different governmental arrange-
ments which may have preceded them, and to cause it to be
believed that, as things were then, so had they always been.
The Emperor Tem-mu, with his anxiety to amend "the
deviations from truth and the empty falsehoods" of the his-
torical documents preserved by the various families, and the
author of the "Chronicles of Japan" with his elaborate system
of fictitious dates, recur to our minds, and we ask ourselves
to what extent similar garblings of history,-sometimes inten-
tional, sometimes unintentional,-may have gone on during
earlier ages, when there was even less to check them than there
was in the eighth century. If, therefore, the translator here
gives expression to a few opinions founded chiefly on a careful
study of the text of the "Records of Ancient Matters" helped
out by a study of the "Chronicles of Japan," he would be
understood to do so with great diffidence, especially with
regard to his few (so to speak) constructive remarks. As to
the destructive side of the criticism, there need be less hesi-
tation; for the old histories bear evidence too conclusively
against themselves for it to be possible for the earlier portions
of them, at least, to stand the test of sober investigation.
Before endeavouring to piece together the little that is found
in the "Records" to illustrate the beliefs of Archaic Japanese
times, it will be necessary, at the risk of dulness, to give a
summary of the old traditions as they lie before us in their
entirety, after which will be hazarded a few speculations on
the subject of the earlier tribes which combined to form the
Japanese people; for the four questions of religious beliefs, of
** lii
((
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
political arrangements, of race, and of the credibility of docu-
ments, all hang closely together and, properly speaking, form
but one highly complex problem.
Greatly condensed, the Early Japanese traditions amount
to this: After an indefinitely long period, during which were
born a number of abstract deities, who are differently enumer-
ated in the "Records" and in the "Chronicles," two of these
deities, a brother and sister named Izanagi and Izanami (¿.e.,
the "Male Who Invites" and the "Female Who Invites"), are
united in marriage, and give birth to the various islands of
the Japanese archipelago. When they have finished producing
islands, they proceed to the production of a large number of
gods and goddesses, many of whom correspond to what we
should call personifications of the powers of nature, though
personification is a word which, in its legitimate acceptation,
is foreign to the Japanese mind. The birth of the Fire-God
causes Izanami's death, and the most striking episode of the
whole mythology then ensues, when her husband, Orpheus-like,
visits her in the under-world to implore her to return to him.
She would willingly do so, and bids him wait while she con-
sults with the deities of the place. But he, impatient at her
long tarrying, breaks off one of the end-teeth of the comb
stuck in the left bunch of his hair, lights it and goes in, only
to find her a hideous mass of corruption, in whose midst are
seated the eight Gods of Thunder. This episode ends with
the deification of three peaches who had assisted him in his
retreat before the armies of the under-world, and with bitter
words exchanged between him and his wife, who herself pursues
him as far as the "Even Pass of Hades."
E8
❤
Returning to Himuka in south-western Japan, Izanagi
purifies himself by bathing in a stream, and, as he does so,
fresh deities are born from each article of clothing that he
throws down on the river-bank, and from each part of his
58 Conf. p. xix, last paragraph for the modified sense in which
alone the word "deification" can be used in speaking of the Early
Japanese worship.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
liii
person. One of these deities was the Sun-Goddess, who was
born from his left eye, while the Moon-God sprang from his
right eye, and the last born of all, Susa-no-Wo, whose name
the translator renders by "the Impetuous Male," was born
from his nose. Between these three children their father
divides the inheritance of the universe.
<<
At this point the story loses its unity. The Moon-God is
no more heard of, and the traditions concerning the Sun-
Goddess and those concerning the "Impetuous Male Deity
diverge in a manner which is productive of inconsistencies in
the remainder of the mythology. The Sun-Goddess and the
Impetuous Male Deity" have a violent quarrel, and at last
the latter breaks a hole in the roof of the hall in Heaven'
where his sister is sitting at work with the celestial weaving-
maidens, and through it lets fall "a heavenly piebald horse
which he had flayed with a backward flaying." The conse-
quences of this act were so disastrous that the Sun-Goddess
withdrew for a season into a cave, from which the rest of the
eight hundred myriad (according to the "Chronicles" eighty
myriad) deities with difficulty allured her. The "Impetuous
Male Deity" was thereupon banished, and the Sun-Goddess
remained mistress of the field. Yet, strange to say, she
thenceforward retires into the background, and the most bulky
section of the mythology consists of stories concerning the
"Impetuous Male Deity" and his descendants, who are repre-
sented as the monarchs of Japan, or rather of the province of
Idzumo. The "Impetuous Male Deity" himself, whom his
father had charged with the dominion of the sea, never assumes
that rule, but first has a curiously told amorous adventure and
an encounter with an eight-forked serpent in Izumo, and
afterwards reappears as the capricious and filthy deity of Hades,
who however seems to retain some power over the land of the
living, as he invests his descendant of the sixth generation
with the sovereignty of Japan. Of this latter personage a
whole cycle of stories is told, all centering in Idzumo. We
learn of his conversations with a hare and with a mouse, of
""
•
liv
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
.
the prowess and cleverness which he displayed on the
occasion of a visit to his ancestor in Hades, which is in this
cycle of traditions a much less mysterious place than the Hades
visited by Izanagi, of his amours, of his triumph over his
eighty brethren, of his reconciliation with his jealous empress,
and of his numerous descendants, many of whom have names
that are particularly difficult of comprehension. We hear too
in a tradition, which ends in a pointless manner, of a micro-
scopic deity who comes across the sea to ask this monarch of
Idzumo to share the sovereignty with him.
This last-mentioned legend repeats itself in the sequel.
The Sun-Goddess, who on her second appearance is constantly
represented as acting in concert with the "High August Pro-
ducing Wondrous Deity,”—one of the abstractions mentioned
at the commencement of the "Records,"-resolves to bestow
the sovereignty of Japan on a child of whom it is doubtful
whether he were hers or that of her brother the "Impetuous
Male Deity." Three embassies are sent from Heaven to Idzumo
to arrange matters, but it is only a fourth that is successful,
the final ambassadors obtaining the submission of the monarch
or deity of Idzumo, who surrenders his sovereignty and pro-
mises to serve the new dynasty (apparently in the under-world),
if a palace or temple be built for him and he be appropriately
worshipped. Thereupon the child of the deity whom the
Sun-Goddess had originally wished to make sovereign of Japan,
descends to earth,-not to Idzumo in the north-west, be it
mentioned, as the logical sequence of the story would lead one
to expect, but to the peak of a mountain in the south-western
island of Kiushiu.
Here follows a quaint tale accounting for the odd appear-
ance of the bêche-de-mer, and another to account for the
shortness of the lives of mortals, after which we are told of
the birth under peculiar circumstances of the heaven-descended
deity's three sons. Two of these, Ho-deri and Ho-wori, whose
names may be Englished as "Fire-Shine" and "Fire-Subside,”
are the heroes of a very curious legend, which includes an
.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lv
elaborate account of a visit paid by the latter to the palace of
the God of Ocean, and of a curse or spell which gained for
him the victory over his elder brother, and enabled him to
dwell peacefully in his palace at Takachiho for the space of
five hundred and eighty years,--the first statement resembling
a date which the "Records" contain. This personage's son
married his own aunt, and was the father of four children, one
of whom " treading on the crest of the waves, crossed over to
the Eternal Land," while a second "went into the sea plain,"
and the two others moved eastward, fighting with the chiefs
of Kibi and Yamato, having adventures with gods both with
and without tails, being assisted by a miraculous sword and a
gigantic crow, and naming the various places they passed
through after incidents in their own career, as "the Impetuous
Male" and other divine personages had done before them.
One of these brothers was Kamu-Yamato-Ihare-Biko, who (the
other having died before him) was first given the title of
Jim-mu Ten-no more than fourteen centuries after the date
which in the "Chronicles" is assigned as that of his decease.
Henceforth Yamato, which had scarcely been mentioned
before, and the provinces adjacent to it become the centre of
the story, and Idzumo again emerges into importance. A very
indecent love-tale forms a bridge which unites the two frag-
ments of the mythology; and the "Great Deity of Miwa,”
who is identified with the deposed monarch of Idzumo, appears
on the scene. Indeed during the rest of the story this "Great
Deity of Miwa," and his colleague the "Small August Deity
(Sukuna-Mi-Kami59), the deity Izasa-Wake, the three Water-
Gods of Sumi, and the "Great Deity of Kadzuraki," of whom
there is so striking a mention in Sect. CLVIII, form, with
the Sun-Goddess and with a certain divine sword preserved
at the temple of Isonokami in Yamato, the only objects of
worship specially named, the other gods and goddesses being
""
59 In Sect. XXVII, where this deity is first mentioned, he is called
Sukuna-Biko-Na-no-Kami, the "Little Prince the Renowned Deity."
lvi
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
I
no more heard of. This portion of the story is closed by an
account of the troubles which inaugurated the reign of Jim-
mu's successor, Sui-sei, and then occurs a blank of (according
to the accepted chronology) five hundred years, during which
absolutely nothing is told us excepting dreary genealogies, the
place where each sovereign dwelt and where he was buried,
and the age to which he lived, this after the minute details
which had previously been given concerning the successive
gods or monarchs down to Sui-sei inclusive. It should likewise
be noted that the average age of the first seventeen monarchs
(counting Jim-mu Ten-nō as the first according to received
ideas) is nearly 96 years if we follow the "Records" and over
a hundred if we follow the accepted chronology which is based
chiefly on the constantly divergent statements contained in the
"Chronicles." The age of several of the monarchs exceeds
120 years.60
The above-mentioned lapse of an almost blank period of
five centuries brings us to the reign of the Emperor known to
history by the name of Su-jin, whose life of one hundred and
sixty-eight years (one hundred and twenty according to the
Chronicles") is supposed to have immediately preceded the
Christian era. In this reign the former monarch of Idzumo
or god of Miwa again appears and produces a pestilence, of
the manner of staying which Su-jin is warned in a dream,
while a curious but highly indecent episode tells us how a
person called Oho-Tata-Ne-Ko was known to be a son of the
deity in question, and was therefore appointed high priest of
his temple. In the ensuing reign an elaborate legend, involving
a variety of circumstances as miraculous as any in the earlier
portion of the mythology, again centres in the necessity of
pacifying the great god of Idzumo; and this, with details of
internecine strife in the Imperial family, of the sovereign's
amours, and of the importation of the orange from the "Eternal
Land," brings us to the cycle of traditions of which Yamato-
60 See Appendix II.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lvii
Take, a son of the Emperor Kei-kō, is the hero. This prince,
after slaying one of his brothers in the privy, accomplishes the
task of subduing both western and eastern Japan; and, not-
withstanding certain details which are unsavoury to the European
taste, his story, taken as a whole, is one of the most striking
in the book. He performs marvels of valour, disguises himself
as a woman to slay the brigands, is the possessor of a magic
sword and fire-striker, has a devoted wife who stills the fury
of the waves by sitting down upon their surface, has encounters
with a deer and with a boar who are really gods in disguise,
and finally dies on his way westward before he can reach his
home in Yamato. His death is followed by a highly mytholo-
gical account of the laying to rest of the white bird into which
he ended by being transformed.
The succeeding reign is a blank, and the next after that
transports us without a word of warning to quite another
scene. The sovereign's home is now in Tsukushi, the south-
western island of the Japanese archipelago, and four of the
gods, through the medium of the sovereign's wife, who is
known to history as the Empress Jin-go, reveal the existence of
the land of Korea, of which, however, this is not the first
mention. The Emperor disbelieves the divine message, and is
punished by death for his incredulity. But the Empress, after
a special consultation between her prime minister and the
gods, and the performance of various religious ceremonies,
marshals her fleet, and, with the assistance of the fishes both
great and small and of a miraculous wave, reaches Shiragiŝ¹
(one of the ancient divisions of Korea), and subdues it. She
then returns to Japan, the legend ending with a curiously
naïve tale of how she sat a-fishing one day on a shoal in the
river Wo-gawa in Tsukushi with threads picked out of her
skirt for lines.
The next section shows her going up by sea to Yamato,-
another joint in the story, by means of which the Yamato cycle
of legends and the Tsukushi cycle are brought into apparent
61 新羅​.
lviii
،،
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
·
unity. The "Chronicles of Japan" have even improved upon
this by making Jin-gō's husband dwell in Yamato at the com-
mencement of his reign and only remove to Tsukushi later, so
that if the less elaborated "Records" had not been preserved,
the two threads of the tradition would have been still more
difficult to unravel.The Empress's army defeats the troops
raised by the native kings or princes, who are represented as
her step-sons; and from that time forward the story runs on
in a single channel and always centres in Yamato. China
likewise is now first mentioned, books are said to have been
brought over from the mainland, and we hear of the gradual
introduction of various useful arts Even the annals of the
reign of Ō-jin however, during which this civilizing impulse
from abroad is said to have commenced, are not free from
details as miraculous as any in the earlier portions of the book.
Indeed Sects. CXIV-CXVI of the following translation, which
form part of the narrative of his reign, are occupied with the
recital of one of the most fanciful tales of the whole mythology.
The monarch himself is said to have lived a hundred and
thirty years, while his successor lived eighty-three (according
to the "Chronicles" Ö-jin lived a hundred and ten and his
successor Nin-toku reigned eighty-seven years). It is not till
the next reign that the miraculous ceases, a fact which signi-
ficantly coincides with the reign in which, according to a
statement in the "Chronicles," "historiographers were first
appointed to all the provinces to record words and events, and
forward archives from all directions." This brings us to the
commencement of the fifth century of our era, just three
centuries before the compilation of our histories, but only two
centuries before the compilation of the first history of which
mention has been preserved. From that time the story in the
"Records," though not well told, gives us some very curious
pictures, and reads as if it were reliable. It is tolerably full
for a few reigns, after which it again dwindles into mere
genealogies, carrying us down to the commencement of the
seventh century.
The "Chronicles," on the contrary, give us
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lix
full details down to A.D. 701, that is to within nineteen years
of the date of their compilation. ✔
The reader who has followed this summary, or who will
take the trouble to read through the whole text for himself,
will perceive that there is no break in the story,—at least no
chronological break, and no break between the fabulous and
the real, unless indeed it be at the commencement of the fifth
century of our era, i.e. more than a thousand years later than
the date usually accepted as the commencement of genuine
Japanese history. The only breaks are,—not chronological,-
but topographical.
This fact of the continuity of the Japanese mythology and
history has been fully recognized by the leading native com-
mentators, whose opinions are those considered orthodox by
modern Shintoists; and they draw from it the conclusion that
everything in the standard national histories must be equally
accepted as literal truth. All persons however cannot force
their minds into the limits of such a belief; and early in the eigh-
teenth century a celebrated writer and thinker, Arawi Hakuseki,
published a work in which, while accepting the native mytho-
logy as an authentic chronicle of events, he did so with the
reservation of proving to his own satisfaction that all the
miraculous portions thereof were allegories, and the gods only
men under another name. In this particular, the elasticity of
the Japanese word for "deity," kami, which has already been
noticed, stood the eastern Euhemerus in good stead. Some of
his explanations are however extremely comical, and it is
evident that such a system enables the person who uses it to
prove whatever he has a mind to.62 In the nineteenth century a
62 As a specimen of the flexibility of his sytem, the reader to
whom the Japanese language and Japanese legend are familiar is
recommended to peruse pp. 13-24 of Vol. I of Arawi Hakuseki's
“Ko Shi Tsu” (), where an elaborate rationalistic interpretation
is applied to the story of the amours of Izanagi and Izanami. It is
amusing in its very gravity, and one finds it difficult to believe that
the writer can have been in earnest when he penned it.
1x
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
diluted form of the same theory was adopted by Tachibana no
Moribe, who, although endeavouring to remain an orthodox
Shintoist, yet decided that some of the (so to speak) uselessly
miraculous incidents need not be believed in as revealed truth.
Such, for instance, are the story of the speaking mouse, and
that of Izanagi's head-dress turning into a bunch of grapes.
He accounts for many of these details by the supposition that
they are what he calls wosana-goto, i.e. "child-like words," and
thinks that they were invented for the sake of fixing the story
in the minds of children, aud are not binding on modern
adults as articles of faith. He is also willing to allow that
some passages show traces of Chinese influence, and he blames
Motowori's uncompromising championship of every iota of the
existing text of the "Records of Ancient Matters."As belong-
ing to this same school of what may perhaps be termed
"rationalistic believers" in Japanese mythology, a contemporary
Christian writer, Mr. Takahashi Gorō, must also be mentioned.
Treading in the foot-steps of Arawi Hakuseki, but bringing to
bear on the legends of his own country some knowledge of
the mythology of other lands, he for instance explains the
traditions of the Sun-Goddess and of the Eight-Forked Serpent
of Yamada by postulating the existence of an ancient queen
called Sun, whose brother, after having been banished from
her realm for his improper behaviour, killed an enemy whose
name was Serpent, etc., while such statements as that the
microscopic deity who came over the waves to share the
sovereignty of Idzumo would not tell his name, are explained
by the assertion that, being a foreigner, he was unintelligible
for some time until he had learnt the language. It is certainly
strange that such theorists should not see that they are under-
mining with one hand that which they endeavour to prop up
with the other, and that their own individual fancy is made
by them the sole standard of historic truth. Yet Mr. Taka-
hashi confidently asserts that "his explanations have nothing
forced or fanciful" in them, and that "they cannot fail to
solve the doubts even of the greatest of doubters."63 J
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxi
The general habit of the more sceptical Japanese of the
present day,-i.c. of ninety-nine out of every hundred of the
educated,—seems to be to reject, or at least to ignore, the
history of the gods, while implicitly accepting the history of
the emperors from Jim-mu downwards; and in so doing they
have been followed with but little reserve by most Europeans,-
almanacs, histories and cyclopædias all continuing to repeat on
the antiquated authority of such writers as Kaempfer and
Titsingh, that Japan possesses an authentic history covering
more than two thousand years, while Siebold and Hoffman
even go the length of discussing the hour of Jim-mu's accession
in the year 660 B.C.! This is the attitude of mind now
sanctioned by the governing class. Thus, in the historical
compilations used as text-books in the schools, the stories of
the gods, that is to say the Japanese traditions down to
Jim-mu exclusive, are either passed over in silence or dis-
missed in a few sentences, while the annals of the human
sovereigns, that is to say the Japanese traditions from Jim-mu
inclusive,—are treated precisely as if the events therein related
had happened yesterday, and were as incontrovertibly historical
as later statements for which there is contemporary evidence.
The same plan is pursued elsewhere in official publications.
Thus, to take but one example among many, the Imperial
Commissioners to the Vienna Exhibition, in their "Notice sur
l'Empire du Japon," tell us that "L'histoire de la dynastie
'impériale remonte très-haut. L'obscurité entoure ses débuts,
vu l'absence de documents réguliers ou d'un calendrier par-
"fait.
Le premier Empereur de la dynastie présente, dont il
"reste des annales dignes de confiance, est Jin-mou-ten-nô
(C
<<
qui organisa un soulèvement dans la province de Hiuga,
"marcha à l'Est avec ses compagnons, fonda sa capitale dans
"la vallée de Kashi-hara dans le Yamato, et monta sur le
(C
"Shinto
63 Mr. Takahashi Goro's book here alluded to is his
Discussed Afresh."
64 I.e. the Emperor Jim-mu,-ten-no, written , being simply the
Sinico-Japanese word for "emperor."
lxii
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
“trône comme Empereur. C'est de cet Empereur que descend,
per une succession régulière, la présente famille régnante du
"Japon. C'est de l'année de l'avènement de Jin-mou-ten-nô
que date l'ère japonaise (Année 1-660 avant Jésus-Christ.")
As for the ère Japonaise mentioned by the commissioners,
it may be pertinent to observe that it was only introduced by
an edict dated 15th Dec., 1872,65 that is to say just a fortnight
before the publication of their report. And this era, this
accession, is confidently placed thirteen or fourteen centuries before
the first history which records it was written, nine centuries before
(at the earliest computation) the art of writing was introduced into
the country, and on the sole authority of books teeming with
miraculous legends!! Does such a proceeding need any comment
after once being formulated in precise terms, and can any
unprejudiced person continue to accept the early Japanese
chronology and the first thousand years of the so-called history
of Japan?
(C
((
*
Leaving this discussion, let us now see whether any infor-
mation relative to the early religious and political state of the
Japanese can be gleaned from the pages of the "Records "
and of the "Chronicles." There are fragments of information,-
fragments of two sorts, some namely of clear import, others
which are rather a matter for inference and for argument. Let
us take the positive fragments first-the notices as to cosmolo-
gical ideas, dreams, prayers, etc.
The first thing that strikes the student is that what, for
want of a more appropriate name, we must call the religion of
the Early Japanese, was not an organized religion.
We can
discover in it nothing corresponding to the body of dogma,
the code of morals, and the sacred book authoritatively enforc-
ing both, with which we are familiar in civilized religions,
such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. What we find is
a bundle of miscellaneous superstitions rather than a co-ordin-
ated system.
Dreams evidently were credited with great
65 15th day of 11th moon of 5th year of Meiji.
C
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
Ixiii
importance, the future being supposed to be foretold in them,
and the will of the gods made known. Sometimes even an
actual object, such as a wonderful sword, was sent down in a
dream, thus to our ideas mixing the material with the spiritual.
The subject did not, however, present itself in that light to
the Early Japanese, to whom there was evidently but one order
of phenomena,—what we should call the natural order. Heaven,
or rather the Sky, was an actual place,—not more ethereal
than earth, nor thought of as the abode of the blessed after
death-but simply a "high plain" situated above Japan and
communicating with Japan by a bridge or ladder, and forming
the residence of some of those powerful personages called
kami,—a word which we must make shift to translate by "god"
or "goddess," or "deity." An arrow shot from earth could
reach Heaven, and make a hole in it. There was at least one
mountain in Heaven, and one river with a broad stony bed
like those with which the traveller in Japan becomes familiar,
one or two caves, one or more wells, and animals, and trees.
There is, however, some confusion as to the mountain,—the
celebrated Mount Kagu,- for there is one of that name in the
province of Yamato.
Some of the gods dwelt here on earth, or descended
hither from Heaven, and had children by human women.
Such, for instance, was the Emperor Jim-mu's great-grandfather.
Some few gods had tails or were otherwise personally remark-
able; and "savage deities" are often mentioned as inhabiting
certain portions of Japan, both in the so-called "Divine Age"
and during the reigns of the human emperors down to a time
corresponding, according to the generally received chronology,
with the first or second century of the Christian era. The
human emperors themselves, moreover, were sometimes spoken
of as deities, and even made personal use of that designation.
The gods occasionally transformed themselves into animals,
and at other times simple tangible objects were called gods,-
or at least they were called kami; for the gulf separating the
Japanese from the English term can never be too often recalled
lxiv
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
((
i
to mind. The word kami, as previously mentioned, properly
signifies "superior," and it would be putting more into it than
it really implies to say that the Early Japanese "deified,"-in
our sense of the verb to deify," the peaches which Izanagi
used to pelt his assailants with, or any other natural objects
whatsoever. It would, indeed, be to attribute to them a flight
of imagination of which they were not capable, and a habit of
personification not in accordance with the genius of their
language. Some of the gods are mentioned collectively as
"bad Deities like unto the flies in the fifth moon"; but there
is nothing approaching a systematic division into good spirits
and bad spirits. In fact the word " spirit" itself is not
applicable at all to the gods of Archaic Japan. They were,
like the gods of Greece, conceived of only as more powerful
human beings. They were born, and some of them died,
though here again there is inconsistency, as the death of some
of them is mentioned in a manner leading one to suppose that
they were conceived of as being then at an end, whereas in
other cases such death seems simply to denote transference to
Hades, or to what is called "the One Road," which is believed
to be a synonym for Hades. Sometimes, again, a journey to
Hades is undertaken by a god without any reference to his
death. Nothing, indeed, could be less consistent than the
various details.
(C
Hades itself is another instance of this inconsistency. In
the legend of Oho-Kuni-Nushi (the "Master of the Great
Land"), one of the Idzumo cycle of legends,-Hades is des-
cribed exactly as if it were part of the land of the living, or
exactly as if it were Heaven, which indeed comes to the same
thing. It has its trees, its houses, its family quarrels, etc., etc.
In the legend of Izanagi, on the other hand, Hades means
simply the abode of horrible putrefaction and of the vindictive
dead, and is fitly described by the god himself who had
66 For the use of this word to represent the Japanese Yomo or
Yomi, see Sect. IX, Note 1
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxv
ventured thither as "a hideous and polluted land." The only
point in which the legends agree is in placing between the
upper earth and Hades a barrier called the "Even Pass (or
Hill) of Hades." The state of the dead in general is nowhere
alluded to, nor are the dying ever made to refer to a future
world, whether good or evil.
The objects of worship were of course the gods, or some of
them. It has already been stated that during the later portions
of the story, whose scene is laid almost exclusively on earth, the
Sun-Goddess, the deity Izasa-Wake, the Divine Sword of Isono-
kami, the Small August Deity (Sukuna-Mi-Kami), the "Great
Gods" of Miwa and of Kadzuraki and the three Water-Deities
of Sumi, alone are mentioned as having been specially worship-
ped. Of these the first and the last appear together, forming a
sort of quaternion, while the other five appear singly and have no
connection with each other. The deities of the mountains, the
deities of the rivers, the deities of the sea, etc., are also mentioned
in the aggregate, as are likewise the heavenly deities and the
earthly deities; and the Empress Jin-gō is represented as con-
ciliating them all previous to her departure for Korea by "put-
ting into a gourd the ashes of a maki tree,67 and likewise
making a quantity of chopsticks and also of leaf-platters, and
"scattering them all on the waves."
This brings us to the subject of religious rites, a subject
on which we long for fuller information than the texts afford.68
That the conciliatory offerings made to the gods were of a
miscellaneous nature will be expected from the quotation just
made. Nevertheless, a very natural method was in the main
followed; for the people offered the things by which they them-
selves set most store, as we hear at a later period of the poet
Tsurayuki, when in a storm at sea, flinging his mirror into the
waves because he had but one. The Early Japanese made
offerings of two kinds of cloth, one being hempen cloth and the
((
(C
67 Podocarpus macrophylla.
68 The least meagre account will be found in Sects. XVI. and
XXXII.
lxvi
(( KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
other cloth manufactured from the bark of the paper-mulberry,
-offerings very precious in their eyes, but which have in modern
times been allowed to degenerate into useless strips of paper.
They likewise offered shields, spears, and other things. Food
was offered both to the gods and to the dead; indeed, the palace
or tomb of the dead monarch and the temple of the god cannot
always be distinguished from each other, and, as has already
been mentioned, the Japanese use the same word miya for
"palace" and for "temple." Etymologically signifying “august
house," it is naturally susceptible of what are to us two distinct
meanings.
€9
With but one exception, the "Records" do not give us
the words of any prayers (or, as the Japanese term norito has
elsewhere been translated, “rituals "). Conversations with the
gods are indeed detailed, but no devotional utterances. Fortun-
ately however a number of very ancient prayers have been
preserved in other books, and translations of some of them by
Mr. Satow will be found scattered through the volumes of the
Transactions of this Society. They consist mostly of declara-
tions of praise and statements of offerings made, either in return
for favours received or conditionally on favours being granted.
They are all in prose, and hymns do not seem to have been in
Indeed of the hundred and eleven Songs preserved in the
Records," not one has any religious reference.
use.
The sacred rite of which most frequent mention is made is
purification by water., Trial by hot water is also alluded to in
both histories, but not till a time confessedly posterior to the
commencement of intercourse with the mainland. We likewise
hear of compacts occasionally entered into with a god, and
somewhat resembling our European wager, oath, or curse.
Priests are spoken of in a few passages, but without any details.
We do not hear of their functions being in any way mediatorial,
and the impression conveyed is that they did not exist in very
early times as a separate class.* When they did come into
(C
69 To be found at the end of Sect. XXXII.
*The Imbe ?-W.G.A.
J
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxvii
existence, the profession soon became hereditary, according to
the general tendency in Japan towards the hereditability of
offices and occupations.
Miscellaneous superstitions crop up in many places. Some
of these were evidently obsolescent or unintelligible at the time
when the legends crystallized into their present shape, and
stories are told purporting to give their origin. Thus we learn
either in the "Records" or in the "Chronicles," or in both
works, why it is unlucky to use only one light, to break off the
teeth of a comb at night-time, and to enter the house with straw
hat and rain-coat on. The world-wide dread of going against
the sun is connected with the Jim-mu legend, and recurs else-
where.70 We also hear of charms, for instance, of the wondrous.
"Herb-Quelling Sabre" found by Susa-no-Wo (the " "Impetu-
ous Male Deity") inside a serpent's tail, and still preserved as
one of the Imperial regalia. Other such charms were the "tide-
flowing jewel" and "tide-ebbing jewel," that obtained for Jim-
mu's grandfather the victory over his elder brother, together
with the fish-hook which figures so largely in the same legend."
Divination by means of the shoulder-blade of a stag was a
favourite means of ascertaining the will of the gods. Sometimes
also human beings seem to have been credited in a vague manner
with the power of prophetic utterance. Earthenware pots were
buried at the point of his departure by an intending traveller.
In a fight the initial arrow was regarded with superstitious awe.
70 In the Jim-mu legend we have the more usual form of the super-
stition, that, viz., which makes it unlucky to go from West to East,
which is the contrary of the course pursued by the sun In Sect. CLIII,
on the other hand, the Emperor Yu-riaku is found fault with for acting
in precisely the reverse manner, viz., for going from East to West, i.e.
with his back to the sun. The idea is the same, though its practical
application may thus diametrically differ, the fundamental objection
being to going against the sun, in whatever manner the word against, or
some kindred expression, may be interpreted.
71 See Sects. XXXIX to XLI. For the " Herb-Quelling Sabre "
see Sects. XVIII and LXXXII, et seq.
lxviii
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
The great precautions with which the Empress Jin-gō is said to
have set out on her expedition to Korea have already been
alluded to, and indeed the commencement of any action or
enterprise seems to have had special importance attributed to it.
To conclude this survey of the religious beliefs of the Early
Japanese by referring, as was done in the case of the arts of life,
to certain notable features which are conspicuous by their
absence, attention may be called to the fact that there is no
tradition of a deluge, no testimony to any effect produced on
the imagination by the earthquakes from which the Japanese
islanders suffer such constant alarms, no trace of star-worship,
no notion of incarnation or of transmigration. This last remark
goes to show that the Japanese mythology had assumed its pres-
ent shape before the first echo of Buddhism reverberated on
these shores. But the absence of any tradition of a deluge or
inundation is still more remarkable, both because such catastro-
phes are likely to occur occasionally in all lands, and because
the imagination of most nations seems to have been greatly
impressed by their occurrence. Moreover what is specifically
known to us as the Deluge has been lately claimed as an ancient
Altaïc myth. Yet here we have the oldest of the undoubtedly
Altaïc nations without any legend of the kind. As for the
neglect of the stars, round whose names the imagination of other
races has twined such fanciful conceits, it is as characteristic of
Modern as of Archaic Japan. The Chinese designations of the
constellations, and some few Chinese legends relating to them,
have been borrowed in historic times; but no Japanese writer has
ever thought of looking in the stars for "the poetry of heaven."
Another detail worthy of mention is that the number seven,
which in so many countries has been considered sacred, is here
not prominent in any way, its place being taken by eight. Thus
we have Eight Great Islands, an Eight-forked Serpent, a beard
Eighty Handbreadths long, a God named "Eight-Thousand
Spears," Eighty or Eight Hundred Myriads of Deities, etc.,
etc. The commentators think it necessary to tell us that all
these eights and eighties need not be taken literally, as they
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxix
simply mean a great number. The fact remains that the num-
ber eight had, for some unknown reason, a special significance
attached to it; and as the documents which mention eight also
mention nine and ten, besides higher numbers, and as in some
test cases, such as that of the Eight Great Islands, each of the
eight is separately enumerated, it is plain that when the Early
Japanese said eight they meant eight, though they may doubt-
less have used that number in a vague manner, as we do a
dozen, a hundred, and a thousand.
How glaringly different all this is from the fanciful accounts
of Shintō that have been given by some recent popular writers
calls for no comment. Thus one of them, whom another quotes
as an authority,72 tells us that Shinto "consists in the belief that
the productive ethereal spirit being expanded through the whole
universe, every part is in some degree impregnated with it, and
therefore every part is in some measure the seat of the deity ;
whence local gods and goddesses are everywhere worshipped,
and consequently multiplied without end. Like the ancient
Romans and the Greeks, they acknowledge a Supreme Being,
the first, the supreme, the intellectual, by which men have been
reclaimed from rudeness and barbarism to elegance and refine-
ment, and been taught through privileged men and women, not
only to live with more comfort, but to die with better hopes."(!)
Truly, when one peruses such utterly groundless assertions,-
for that here quoted is but one among many,-one is tempted
to believe that the nineteenth century must form part of the
early mythopoeic age.
With regard to the question of government, we learn little
beyond such vague statements as that to so and-so was yielded
by his eighty brethren the sovereignty of the land of Idzu-
mo, or that Izanagi divided the dominion over all things be-
tween his three children, bestowing on one the “Plain of High
Heaven," on another the Dominion of the Night, and on the
third the "Sea-Plain." But we do not in the earlier legends see
72 General Le Gendre, quoted by Sir Edward Reed.
lxx
((
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
such sovereignty actually administered. The heavenly gods
seem rather to have been conceived as forming a sort of com-
monwealth, who decided things by meeting together in council
in the stony bed of the "River of Heaven," and taking the
advice of the shrewdest of their number. Indeed the various
divine assemblies, to which the story in the "Records" and
"Chronicles" introduces us, remind us of nothing so much as
of the village assemblies of primitive tribes in many parts of the
world, where the cleverness of one and the general willingness
to follow his suggestions fill the place of the more definite
organization of later times.
Descending from heaven to earth, we find little during the
so-called "Divine Age" but stories of isolated individuals and
families; and it is not till the narrative of the wars of the earlier
Emperors commences, that any kind of political organization
comes into view. Then at once we hear of chieftains in every
locality, who lead their men to battle, and are seemingly the sole
depositories of power, each in his microscopic sphere. The
legend of Jim-mu itself, however, is sufficient to show that
autocracy, as we understand it, was not characteristic of the
government of the Tsukushi tribes; for Jim-mu and his brother,
until the latter's death, are represented as joint chieftains of
their host. Similarly we find that the "Territorial Owners "
of Yamato, and the "Rulers" of Idzumo, whom Jim-mu or his
successors are said to have subjugated, are constantly spoken of
in the Plural, as if to intimate that they exercised a divided
sovereignty. During the whole of the so-called "Human Age
we meet, both in parts of the country which were already
subject to the Imperial rule and in others which were not
yet annexed, with local magnates bearing these same titles of
"Territorial Owners," "Rulers," "Chiefs," etc.; and the im-
pression left on the mind is that in early historical times the
sovereign's power was not exercised directly over all parts of
Japan, but that in many cases the local chieftains continued to
hold sway though owning some sort of allegiance to the emperor
in Yamato, while in others the emperor was strong enough to
""
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxxi
depose these local rulers, and to put in their place his own
kindred or retainers, who however exercised unlimited authority
in their own districts, and used the same titles as had been borne
by the former native rulers,—that, in fact, the government was
feudal rather than centralized. This characteristic of the politi-
cal organization of Early Japan has not altogether escaped the
attention of the native commentators. Indeed the great Shintō
scholar Hirata not only recognizes the fact, but endeavours to
prove that the system of centralization which obtained during
the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and part of the twelfth cen-
turies, and which has been revived in our own day, is nothing
but an imitation of the Chinese bureaucratic system; and he
asserts that an organized feudalism, similar to that which existed
from the twelfth century down to the year 1867, was the sole
really ancient and national Japanese form of government. The
translator cannot follow Hirata to such lengths, as he sees no
evidence in the early histories of the intricate organization of
medieval Japan. But that, beyond the immediate limits of the
Imperial domain, the government resembled feudalism rather
than centralization seems indisputable. It is also true that the
seventh century witnessed a sudden move in the direction of
bureaucratic organization, many of the titles which had up till
that time denoted actual provincial chieftains being then either
suppressed, or else allowed to sink into mere "gentile names."
Another remark which is suggested by a careful perusal of the
two ancient histories is that the Imperial succession was in early
historical times very irregular. Strange gaps occur as late as
the sixth century of our era; and even when it was one of the
children who inherited his father's throne, that child was rarely
the eldest son.
*
*
What now are we to gather from this analysis of the re-
ligious and political features revealed to us by a study of the
books containing the Early Japanese traditions as to the still
remoter history and tribal divisions of Japan, and as to the
lxxii
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
人
​origin of the Japanese legends? Very little that is certain,
perhaps; but, in the opinion of the present writer, two or three
interesting probabilities.
In view of the multiplicity of gods and the complications of
the so-called historical traditions, he thinks that it would be
à priori difficult to believe that the development of Japanese
civilization should have run on in a single stream broken only
in the third century by the commencement of intercourse with
the mainland of Asia. We are, however, not left to such a
merely theoretical consideration. There are clear indications
of there having been three centres of legendary cycles, three
streams which mixed together to form the Japan which meets
us at the dawn of authentic history in the fifth century of our
era. One of these centres,—the most important in the myth-
ology,―is Idzumo; the second is Yamato; the third is Tsu-
kushi, called in modern times Kiushiu. Eastern and Northern
Japan count for nothing; indeed, much of the North-East and
North was, down to comparatively recent times, occupied by
the barbarous Ainos or, as they are called by the Japanese
Yemishi, Yebisu or Yezo. That the legends or traditions derived
from the three parts of the country here mentioned accord but
imperfectly together is an opinion which has already been alluded
to, and upon which light may perhaps be thrown by a more
thorough sifting of the myths and beliefs classified according to
this three-fold system. The question of the ancient division of
Japan into several independent states is, however, not completely
a matter of opinion. For we have in the "Shan Hai Ching 73"
a positive statement concerning a Northern and a Southern
Yamato (), and the Chinese annals of both the Han dynasties
tell us of the division of the country into a much larger number
of kingdoms, of which, according to the annals of the later Han
dynasty, Yamato () was the most powerful. A later
official Chinese historian also tells us that Jih-pên (B, our
Japan) and Yamato had been two different states, and that Jih-
73 山海經​·
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxxiii
pên was reported to have swallowed up Yamato. By Jih-pên the
author evidently meant to speak of the island of Tsukushi or of
part of it. That the Chinese were fairly well acquainted with
Japan is shown by the fact of there being in the old Chinese
literature more than one mention of "the country of the hairy
people beyond the mountains in the East and North,”—that is
of the Yemishi or Ainos, No Chinese book would seem to
mention Idzumo as having formed a separate country; and this
evidence must be allowed its full weight. It is possible, of
course, that Idzumo may have been incorporated with Yamato
before the conquest of the latter by the Tsukushi people, and
in this case some of the inconsistencies of the history, may be
traceable to a confusion of the traditions concerning the conquest
of Idzumo by Yamato and of those concerning the conquest of
Yamato by Tsukushi. Perhaps too (for so almost impossible a
task is it to reconstruct history out of legend) there may not,
after all, be sufficient warrant for believing in the former ex-
istence of Idzumo as a separate state, though it certainly seems
hard to account otherwise for the peculiar place that Idzumo
occupies in mythic story. In any case, and whatever light may
hereafter be thrown on this very obscure question, it must be
remembered that, so far as clear native documentary evidence
reaches, 400 A.D. is approximately the highest limit of reliable*
Japanese history, Beyond that date we are at once confronted
with the miraculous; and if any facts relative to earlier Japan
are to be extracted from the pages of the "Records" and
Chronicles," it must be by a process very different from that
of simply reading and taking their assertions upon trust.
(C
With regard to the origin, or rather to the significance, of
the clearly fanciful portions of the Japanese legends, the question
here mooted as to the probability of the Japanese mythology
being a mixed one warns us to exercise more than usual caution
in endeavouring to interpret it. In fact it bids us wait to inter-
pret it until such time as further research shall have shown which
trustworthy-W.G.A.
lxxiv
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
legends belong together. For if they are of heterogeneous
origin, it is hopeless to attempt to establish a genealogical tree of
the gods, and the very phrase so often heard in discussions on
this subject," the original religious beliefs of the Japanese,”.
ceases to have any precise meaning; for different beliefs may
have been equally ancient and original, but distinguished geogra-
phically by belonging to different parts of the country. Further-
more it may not be superfluous to call attention to the fact that
the gods who are mentioned in the opening phrases of the
histories as we now have them are not therefore necessarily the
gods that were most anciently worshipped. Surely' in religions,
as in books, it is not often the preface that is written first. And
yet this simple consideration has been constantly neglected, and,
one after another, European writers having a tincture of know-
ledge of Japanese mythology, tell us of original Dualities, Trini-
ties, and Supreme Deities, without so much as pausing to notice
that the only two authorities in the matter,-viz., the "Records "
and the "Chronicles,"-differ most gravely in the lists they fur-
nish of primary gods. If the present writer ventured to throw
out a suggestion where so many random assertions have been
made, it would be to the effect that the various abstractions
which figure at the commencement of the "Records" and of
the "Chronicles " were probably later growths, and perhaps
indeed mere inventions of individual priests. There is nothing
either in the histories or in the Shintō Rituals to show that these
gods, or some one or more of them, were in early days, as has
been sometimes supposed, the objects of a purer worship which
was afterwards obscured by the legends of Izanagi, Izanami,
and their numerous descendants. On the contrary, with the
exception of the deity Taka-Mi-Musu-Bi," they are no sooner
mentioned than they vanish into space.
74 I.e. the High August Producing Wondrous Deity. He is the
second divinė personage whose birth is mentioned in the "Records "
(see Sect. I Note 5). In the story of the creation given in the "Chroni-
cles " he does not appear except in "One account."
•
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxxv
Whether it is intrinsically likely that so rude a race as the
Early Japanese, and a race so little given to metaphysical specu-
lation as the Japanese at all times of their history, should have
commenced by a highly abstract worship which they afterwards
completely abandoned, is a question which may better be left
to those whose general knowledge of early peoples and early
religious beliefs entitles their decisions to respect. Their assis-
tance, likewise, even after the resolution of the Japanese myth-
ology into its several component parts, must be called in by
the specialist to help in deciding how much of this mythology
should be interpreted according to the "solar" method now so
popular in England, how much should be accepted as history
more or less perverted, how much should be regarded as em-
bodying attempts at explaining facts in nature, and what residue
may be rejected as simple fabrication of the priesthood in com-
paratively late times.25 Those who are personally acquainted
with the Japanese character will probably incline to enlarge the
area of the three latter divisions more than would be prudent in
the case of the highly imaginative Aryans, and to point out that,
though some few Japanese legends or portions of legends can be
traced to false etymologies invented to account for names of
places, and are therefore true myths in the strictest acceptation
of the term, yet the kindred process whereby personality is
ascribed to inanimate objects,-a process which lies at the very
root of Aryan mythology,—is altogether alien to the Japanese
genius, and indeed to the Far-Eastern mind in general. Myth-
ology thus originated has been aptly described as a
"disease
of language." But all persons are not liable to catch the same
disease, neither presumably are all languages; and it is hard to
see how a linguistic disease which consists in mistaking a meta-
phor for a reality can attack a tongue to which metaphor, even
in its tamest shape, is an almost total stranger. Thus not only
75 Sect. XXXVII is a good instance of the third of these categories.
For an elaborate myth founded on the name of a place see Sect. LXV.
Lesser instances occur in Sects. XLIV, LXV, and LXXIII.
lxxvi
CC
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
i
have Japanese Nouns no Genders and Japanese Verbs no Persons,
but the names of inanimate objects cannot even be used as the
subjects of Transitive Verbs. Nowhere for instance in Japanese,
whether Archaic, Classical, or Modern, do we meet with such
metaphorical,-mythological,-phrases as "the hot wind melts
the ice," or "his conversation delights me," where the words
"wind" and "conversation" are spoken of as if they were
personal agents. No, the idea is invariably rendered in some
other and impersonal way. Yet what a distance separates such
statements, in which the ordinary European reader unacquainted
with any Altaïc tongue would scarcely recognize the existence
of any personification at all, from the bolder flights of Aryan
metaphor! Indeed, though Altaïc Asia has produced very few
wise men, the words of its languages closely correspond to the
definition of words as "the wise man's counters"; for they are
colourless and matter-of-fact, and rarely if ever carry him who
speaks them above the level of sober reality. At the same time,
it is patent that the sun plays some part in the Japanese myth-
ology; and even the legend of Prince Yamato-Take, which
has hitherto been generally accepted as historical or semi-his-
torical, bears such close resemblance to legends in other countries
which have been pronounced to be solar by great authorities
that it may at least be worth while to subject it to investigation
from that point of view. The present writer has already ex-
pressed his conviction that this matter is not one for the specialist
to decide alone. He would only, from the Japanese point of
view, suggest very particular caution in the application to Japan-
ese legend of a method of interpretation which has elsewhere
been fruitful of great results.
A further particular which is deserving of notice is the
almost certain fact of a recension of the various traditions at a
comparatively late date. This is partly shown by the amount
of geographical knowledge displayed in the enumeration of the
various islands supposed to have been given birth to by Izanagi
76 See Sects. LXXIX-XCI.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxxvii
and Izanami (the "Male who Invites" and the "Female who
Invites "),—an amount and an exactness of knowledge unat-
tainable at a time prior to the union under one rule of all the
provinces mentioned, and significantly not extending much
beyond those provinces. Such a recension may likewise be
inferred,—if the opinion of the manifold origin of the Japanese
traditions be accepted, from the fairly ingenious manner in
which their component parts have generally been welded toge-
ther. The way in which one or two legends,—for instance, that
of the curious curse pronounced by the younger brother Ho-
wori on the elder Ho-deri—are repeated more than once exem-
plifies a less intelligent revision." Under this heading may,
perhaps, be included the legends of the conquest of Yamato by
the Emperor Jim-mu and of the conquest of the same country
by the Empress Jin-gō, which certainly bear a suspicious likeness
to each other. Of the subjection of Korea by this last-named
personage it should be observed that the Chinese and Korean
histories, so far as they are known to us, make no mention, and
indeed the dates, as more specifically given in the "Chronicles,"
clearly show the inconsistency of the whole story; for Jin-gō's
husband, the Emperor Chiu-ai, is said to have been born in the
19th year of the reign of Sei-mu, i.c. in A. D. 149, while his
father, Prince Yamato-Take, is said to have died in the 43rd
year of Kei-kō, ¿.e. in A. D. 113, so that there is an interval of
thirty-six years between the death of the father and the birth of
the son !78
One peculiarly interesting piece of information to be derived
77 See this legend as first given in Scets. XL and XLI. and after-
wards in quite another context in Sect. CXVI. The way in which
"One account" of the "Chronicles of Japan" tells the story of the
ravages committed on the fields of the Sun-Goddess by her brother, the
"Impetuous Male Deity," might perhaps justify the opinion that that
likewise is but the same tale in another form. The legend is evidently
a very important one.
78 The translator's attention was drawn to the inconsistency of these
dates by Mr. Ernest Satow.
]
lxxviii
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
from a careful study of the "Records" and "Chronicles"
(though it is one on which the patriotic Japanese commentators
preserve complete silence) is that, at the very earliest period to
which the twilight of legend stretches back, Chinese influence
had already begun to make itself felt in these islands, com-
municating to the inhabitants both implements and ideas. This
is surely a fact of very particular importance, lending, as it does,
its weight to the mass of evidence which goes to prove that in
almost all known cases culture has been introduced from abroad,
and has not been spontaneously developed. The traces of
Chinese influence are indeed not numerous, but they are un-
mistakable. Thus we find chopsticks mentioned both in the
Idzumo and in the Kiushiu legendary cycle. The legend of the
birth of the Sun-Goddess and Moon-God from Izanagi's eyes is
a scarcely altered fragment of the Chinese myth of P'an Ku; the
superstition that peaches had assisted Izanagi to repel the hosts
of Hades can almost certainly be traced to a Chinese source, and
the hand-maidens of the Japanese Sun-Goddess are mentioned
under the exact title of the Spinning Damsel of Chinese myth
(**), while the River of Heaven (), which figures in
the same legend, is equally Chinese,-for surely both names
cannot be mere coincidences. A like remark applies to the
name of the Deity of the Kitchen, and to the way in which that
deity is mentioned. The art of making an intoxicationg liquor
is referred to in the very earliest Japanese legends. Are we to
believe that its invention here was independent of its invention
on the continent? In this instance moreover the old histories
bear witness against themselves; for they mention this same
liquor in terms showing that it was a curious rarity in what,
according to the accepted chronology, corresponds to the century
immediately preceding the Christian era, and again in the third
century of that era. The whole story of the Sea-God's palace
has a Chinese ring about it, and "cassia-tree" () mentioned
in it is certainly Chinese, as are the crocodiles. That the so-
79
79 See Sect. XXIX, Note 16.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT. V.
lxxix
called maga-tama, or "curved jewels," which figure so largely in
the Japanese mythology, and with which the Early Japanese
adorned themselves, were derived from China was already sus-
pected by Mr. Henry von Siebold; and quite latterly Mr. Milne
has thrown light on this subject from an altogether unexpected
quarter. He has remarked, namely, that jade or the jade-like
stone of which many of the maga-tama are made, is a mineral
which has never yet been met with in Japan. We therefore
know that some at least of the "curved jewels" or of the
material for them came from the mainland, and the probability
that the idea of curving these very oddly shaped ornaments was
likewise imported thence gains in probability. The peculiar
kind of arrow called narikabura () is another trace of
Chinese influence in the material order, and a thorough search
by a competent Chinese scholar would perhaps reveal others.
But enough at least has been said to show the indisputable
existence of that influence. From other sources we know that
the more recent mythic fancy of Japan has shown itself as little
impenetrable to such influence as have the manners and customs
of the people. The only difference is that assimilation has of
late proceeded with much greater rapidity.
In this, language is another guide; for, though the dis-
coverable traces of Chinese influence are comparatively few in
the Archaic Dialect, yet they are there. This is a subject which
has as yet scarcely been touched. Two Japanese authors of an
elder generation, Kahibara and Arawi Hakuseki, did indeed
point out the existence of some such traces. But they drew no
inference from them, they did not set to work to discover new
ones, and their indications, except in one or two obvious cases,
have received little attention from later writers whether native or
foreign. But when we compare such words as kane; kume, kuni,
saka, tana, uma, and many others with the pronunciation now
given, or with that which the phonetic laws of the language in
its earlier stage would have caused to be given, to their Chinese
equivalents 金​.軍​,郡​,尺​,壇​,馬​, etc., the idea forces way that
such coincidences of sound and sense cannot all be purely
1xxx
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
accidental; and when moreover we find that the great majority
of the words in question denote things or ideas that were almost
certainly imported, we perceive that a more thorough sifting of
Archaic Japanese (especially of botanical and zoological names
and of the names of implements and manufactures) would pro-
bably be the best means of discovering at least the negative
features of an antiquity remoter than all written documents,
remoter even than the crystallization of the legends which those
documents have preserved. In dealing with Korean words found
in Archaic Japanese we tread on more delicate ground; for there
we have a language which, unlike Chinese, stands to Japanese
in the closest family relationship, making it plain that many
coincidences of sound and sense should be ascribed to radical
affinity rather than to later intercourse. At the same time it
appears more probable that, for instance, such seemingly indigen-
ous Japanese terms as Hotoke, "Buddha," and tera, "Buddhist
temple," should have been in fact borrowed from the corres-
ponding Korean words Puchhö and chöl than that both nations
should have independently chosen homonyms to denote the
same foreign ideas. Indeed, it will perhaps not be too bold to
assume that in the case of Hotoke, Buddha," we have before
us a word whose journeyings consist of many stages, it having
been first brought from India to China, then from China to
Korea, and thirdly from Korea to Japan, where finally the
ingenuity of philologists has discovered for it a Japanese ety-
mology (lito ke, "human spirit") with which in reality it has
nothing whatever to do.
(
These introductory remarks have already extended to such
a length that a reference to the strikingly parallel case of bor-
rowed customs and ideas which is presented by the Ainos in this
same archipelago must be left undeveloped. In conclusion, it
need only be remarked that a simple translation of one book,
such as is here given, does not nearly exhaust the work which
might be expended even on the elucidation of that single book,
and much less can it fill the gap which still lies between us and
a proper knowledge of Japanese antiquity. To do this, the
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT V.
lxxxi
co-operation of the archæologist must be obtained, while even
in the field of the critical investigation of documents there is an
immense deal still to be done. Not only must all the available
Japanese sources be made to yield up the information which
they contain, but the assistance of Chinese and Korean records
must be called in. A large quantity of Chinese literature has
already been ransacked for a similar purpose by Matsushita
Ken-rin, a translation of part of whose very useful compilation
entitled “An Exposition of the Foreign Notices of Japan" (
H) would be one of the greatest helps towards the desired
knowledge. In fact there still remains to be done for Japanese
antiquity from our standpoint what Hirata has done for it from
the standpoint of a Japanese Shintoist. Except in some of Mr.
Satow's papers published in these "Transactions," the subject
has scarcely yet been studied in this spirit, and it is possible
that the Japanese members of our Society may be somewhat
alarmed at the idea of their national history being treated with
so little reverence. Perhaps, however, the discovery of the
interest of the field of study thus only waiting to be investigated
may reconcile them to the view here propounded. In any case
if the early history of Japan is not all true, no amount of make-
believe can make it so. What we would like to do is to sift the
true from the false. As an eminent writer on anthropology
has recently said, "Historical criticism, that is, judgment, is
practised not for the purpose of disbelieving, but of believing.
"Its object is not to find fault with the author, but to ascertain
"how much of what he says may be reasonably taken as true.'
Moreover, even in what is not to be accepted as historic fact
there is often much that is valuable from other points of view.
If, therefore, we lose a thousand years of so-called Japanese
history, it must not be forgotten that Japanese mythology re-
mains as the oldest existing product of the Altaïc mind.
(C
*
*
*
80 Dr. Tylor in his "Anthopology," Chap. XV.
lxxxii
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
i.
The following is a list of all the Japanese works quoted in
this Introduction and in the Notes to the Translation. For the
sake of convenience to the English reader all the titles have been
translated excepting some few which, mostly on account of their
embodying a recondite allusion, do not admit of translation :—
Catalogue of Family Names, Ek, by Prince Mata.81
Chronicles of Japan (generally quoted as the “Chroni-
cles”),日本 ​or 日本書紀​, by Prince Toneri and
others.
Chronicles of Japan Continued, HE, by Sugano
Ason Mamichi, Fujihara no Ason TSUGUNAHA and
others.
Chronicles of Japan Explained, HE, by URABE no
Yasukata.
Chronicles of the Old Matters of Former Ages, T
, authorship uncertain.
Collection of a Myriad Leaves,, by TACHIBANA NO
MOROYE (probably).
Collection of Japanese Songs Ancient and Modern, 4
, by Ki no TSURAYUKI and others.
Commentary on the Collection of a Myriad Leaves,
by Kamo no MABUCHI.
Commentary on the Lyric Dramas, **, by
Jin-kō.
Commentary on the Ritual of the General Purification,
, by MOTOWORI Norinaga.
Correct Account of the Divine Age, RE, by
神​代​正​語​,
MOTOWORI Norinaga.
81 The names in small capitals are those by which the authors (or
compilers) are best known, and are mostly either their surname or
personal name. Japanese usage is however very fluctuating, and sanc-
tions moreover the use of a variety of noms de plume. Thus Motowori
is not only often mentioned by his personal name Norinaga, but also by
the designation of Suzunoya no Ushi, Mabuchi by the designation of
Agatawi no Ushi, etc.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT V.
lxxxiii
Dictionary of Pillow-Words, , by Kamo no
MABUCHI.
Digest of the Imperial Genealogies, 18, by
Yokoyama Yoshikiyo and Kurokaha Saneyori.
Discussion of the Objections to the Inquiry into the True
Chronology,, by MOTOWORI Norinaga.
Examination of Difficult Words, , by Tachibana
no MORIBE.
Examination of the Synonyms for Japan, **, by
MOTOWORI Norinaga.
Explanation of Japanese Names, H, by KAHIBARA
Tokushin.
Explanation of the Songs in the Chronicles of Japan,
***, by Arakida no HISAOI.
Exposition of the Ancient Histories,, by HIRATA
Atsutane.
Exposition of the Foreign Notices of Japan, *,
by Matsushita Ken-rin.
Exposition of the Records of Ancient Matters (usually
quoted simply as "Motowori's Commentary "), ti
, by MOTOWORI Norinaga.
Exposition of the Records of Ancient Matters Criticized
(usually quoted as "Moribe's Critique on Moto-
wori's Commentary"), L, by Tachibana no
MORIBE.
Gleanings from Ancient Story, , by Imibe no
HIRONARI.
Idzu no Chi-Waki, ✯✯, by Tachibana no MORIBE.
Idzu no Koto-waki,, by
do.
Inquiry into the Signification of the Names of All
the Provinces (MS.), #4, by Fujihara no
Hitomaro.
Inquiry into the True Chronology, , by MOTO-
WORI Norinaga.
Japanese Words Classified and Explained, DRY,
by MINAMOTO NO SHITAGAFU.
lxxxiv
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Ko-Shi Tsu,, by ARAWI Kumbi HAKUSEKI.
Kō-Gan Shō (MS.), F, by KEI-CHIYU.
Perpetual Commentary on the Chronicles of Japan (usu-
ally quoted as "Tanigaha Shisei's Commentary"),
*LOR, by TANIGAHA SHISEI.
Records of Ancient Matters (often quoted simply as the
Records "),, by Futo no YASUMARO.
Records of Ancient Matters in the Divine Character,
* by Fujihara no Masaoki.
Records of Ancient Matters in the Syllabic Character,
, by Sakata no Kaneyasu.
Records of Ancient Matters Revised, E,
Anonymous.
Records of Ancient Matters With Marginal Notes (usu-
ally quoted as "the Edition of 1687"),
by Deguchi NOBUYOSHI.
±¶R,
Records of Ancient Matters With the Ancient Reading,
, by Nagase no Masachi (published with
Motowori's sanction).
Records of Ancient Matters with Marginal Readings,
E by Murakami Tadayoshi.
Ritual of the General Purification,, Authorship
Uncertain.
Shinto Discussed Afresh,, by Takahashi Gorō.
Sources of the Ancient Histories,, by HIRATA
Atsutane.
Tale of a Bamboo-Cutter, f, Authorship Uncer-
tain.
Tama-Katsuma, , by MOTOWORI Norinaga.
Tokiha-Gusa (the full title is Jin-Dai Sei-Go Tokiha-Gusa),
**‡ (REE**E), Hosoda TOMINOBU.
Topography of Yamashiro,, Authorship
Uncertain.
To-Ga (MS.), , by ARAWI Kumbi HAKUSEKI.
Wa-Kun Shizvori, F, by TANIGAHA SHISEI.
Yamato Tales,
Authorship Uncertain.
•
想
​lxxxv
Besides these, two or three standard Chinese works are
referred to, such as the "Yi Ching" or "Book of Changes"
(), and the "Shan Hai Ching" or "Mountain and Sea
Classic"(); but they are very few, and so easily recog-
nized that it were unnecessary to enumerate them. All Japan-
ese words properly so called are transliterated according to
Mr. Satow's "Orthographic System," which, while representing
the native spelling, does not in their case differ very greatly
from the modern pronunciation. In the case of Sinico-Japan-
ese words, where the divergence between the "Orthographic
spelling and the pronunciation is often considerable, a phonetic
spelling has been preferred. With but two or three exceptions,
which have been specially noted, Sinico-Japanese words are
found only in proper names mentioned in the Preface and in
the translator's Introduction, Foot-notes, and Sectional Head-
ings. The few Chinese words that occur in the Introduction
and Notes are transliterated according to the method introduced
by Sir Thomas Wade, and now so widely used by students
of Chinese.
TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION, SECT V.
**
در
1
""
THE
"KO-JI-KI,"
OR
RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS."
THE KO-JI-KI
OR
RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
1
- VOL. I.¹
PREFACE.2
I³ Yasumaro say :5
1 Literally "Upper Volume," there being three in all, and it being
the common Japanese practice (borrowed from the Chinese) to use the
words Upper, Middle, and Lower to denote the First, Second and Third
Volumes of a work respectively.
2 The peculiar nature of this Preface, which is but a tour de force
meant to show that the writer could compose in the Chinese style if he
chose to do so, has been already hinted at in the Introduction. It is
indeed a laboured little composition, and, but for the facts stated in its
latter portion, has no value except perhaps as a specimen of the manner
in which the legends of one country may be made to change aspect by
being presented through the medium of the philosophical terminology
and set phrases of another. It may be divided into five parts. In the
first the writer, in a succession of brief allusions antithetically balanced,
summarizes the most striking of the legends that are detailed in the
pages of his "Records," and in a few words paints the exploits of some
of the early emperors. In the second the troubles that ushered in the
reign of the Emperor Tem-mu and his triumph over Prince Ohotomo
are related at greater length in high-flown allusive phrases borrowed
from the Chinese historians. The third division gives us the Emperor
Tem-mu's decree ordering the compilation of the "Records," and the
fourth tells how the execution of that decree was delayed till the reign
of the Empress Gem-miyō (A.D. 708-715), on whom likewise a pane-
gyric is pronounced. In the fifth and last the compiler enters into some
details concerning the style and method which he has adopted.
3 The First Personal Pronoun is here represented by the humble
character, "vassal," used in China by a subject when addressing his
sovereign in writing.
4
[VOL. II.*
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Now when chaos had begun to condense, but force and
form were not yet manifest, and there was nought named,
nought done, who could know its shape? Nevertheless† Heaven
and Earth first parted, and the Three Deities performed the
commencement of creation; the Passive and Active Essences
then developed, and the Two Spirits became the ancestors of
all things. Therefore did he enter obscurity and emerge into
light, and the Sun and Moon were revealed by the washing
of his eyes; he floated on and plunged into the sea-water,
and Heavenly and Earthly Deities appeared through the ablutions
This number and that in the corner of every succeeding page of
the Translation is the number of the Volume of Motowori's Commen-
tary treating of of the Section in question.
† Shikō shite (T)=The next stage was that.-W.G.A.
08
4 This is the compiler's personal name. His full name and titles, as
given at the end of this preface, were 正​五位​上​勳​五​等​太​朝臣​安​萬​侶​,i.e,
the Court Noble Futo no Yasumaro, an Officer of the Upper Division of
the First Class of the Fifth Rank and of the Fifth Order of Merit. The
family of Futo claimed to descend from His Augustness Kamu-yawi-
mimi, second son of the Emperor Jim-mu. Yasumaro's death is re-
corded in the "Chronicles of Japan Continued," under date of 30th
August, A.D. 723.
5 I.e., I report as follows to Her Majesty the Empress.
6 I.e., in the primeval void which preceded all phenomena there was
neither form nor movement, and it was therefore unnamed and un-
knowable.
7 This sentence summarizes the first eight Sections of the text of
the "Records." The
The "three Deities" are the Deity Master-of-the-
August - Centre-of-Heaven, the High-August-Producing - Wondrous-
Deity, and the Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Deity (see Sect. I. Notes
4, 5, and 6). The two Spirits representing the "Passive and Active
Elements are the creatrix and creator Izanami and Izanagi (the "Fe-
male-Who-Invites" and the "Male-Who-Invites,"-see Sect. II, Note
8), the procreation by whom of the islands of the Japanese archipelago
and of a large number of gods and goddesses forms the subject of
Sections III.-VII.
در
8 The word “therefore" is not appropriate in this place, and Moto-
woii accordingly warns the reader to lay no stress upon it.
VOL. II.]
er
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
of his person ?⁹ So in the dimness of the great commencement,
we, by relying on the original teaching, learn the time of the
conception of the earth and of the birth of islands; in the
remoteness of the original beginning, we, by trusting the
former sages, perceive the era of the genesis of Deities and of
the establishment of men.10 Truly do we know that a mirror
was hung up, that jewels were spat out, and that then an
Hundred Kings succeeded each other; that a blade was bitten,
and a serpent cut in pieces, so that a Myriad Deities did
flourish,¹¹ By deliberations in the Tranquil River the Empire
9 This sentence alludes to Izanagi's visit to Hades, and to the puri-
fication of his person on his return to the Upper World (see Sects. IX.
and X). It also refers to the birth of the Sun-Goddess and of the
Moon-God from his left and from his right eye respectively, and to that
of a large number of lesser gods and goddesses, who were produced
from every article of his wearing apparel and from every part of his
person on the occasion of his performing those ablutions (see Sect. X).
10 The "original teaching " here mentioned means the original tradi-
tions of Japanese antiquity. The "former sages,"--a term which in
China fitly designates such philosophers as Confucius and Mencius, but
which it is difficult to invest with any particular sense here in Japan
where no sages have ever arisen,-may be best taken to mean those
unknown persons who transmitted the legends of the gods and early
emperors. The "establishment of men" probably alludes to the in-
vestiture of the sovereignty of Japan in the human descendants of the
Sun-Goddess. The expression is however obscure, and Motowori him-
self has nothing satisfactory to tell us about it.
#
11 The mirror here mentioned is that by means of which the Sun-
Goddess was allured out of the cave (see Sect. XVI); the jewels are
those which Susa-no-Wo (the "Impetuous Male Deity") begged of his
sister the Sun-Goddess, and crunched into fragments (see Sect. XIII);
the blade that was bitten to pieces by the Sun-Goddess figures in the
same legend; the serpent is that slain by Susa-no-Wo after his banish-
ment from Heaven (see Sect. XVIII); the "Myriad Deities
are sup-
posed by Motowori to be this same god's numerous descendants (see
Sect. XX), who ruled in Idzumo. There remains the phrase
Hundred Kings," which is lacking in clearness. The only rational
interpretation of it is as designating the Japanese imperial line, and yet
the reference seems to have no special appropriateness in this context.
an
<<
6
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. II.
Į
was pacified; by discussions on the Little Shore the land was
purified.¹2 Wherefore His Augustness Ho-no-ni-ni-gi³ first
descended to the Peak of Takachi,14 and the Heavenly Sovereign
Kamu-Yamato¹5 did traverse the Island of the Dragon-Fly.16
A weird bear put forth its claws, and a heavenly sabre was
obtained at Takakura.17 They with tails obstructed the path,
*
*
-W.G.A.
12 For the Tranquil River of Heaven, in whose stony bed the gods
were wont to meet in council, see Sect. XIII, Note 12. The divine
deliberations here referred to are those which resulted in the investi-
ture of the sovereignty of Japan in the grandson of the Sun-Goddess
(see Sects. XXX-XXXIII). The "discussions on the Little Shore
allude to the parleys on the beach of Inasa in Idzumo which preceded
the abdication of the Deity who had held sway over that part of
country prior to the descent of the Sun-Goddess' grandson (see Sect.
XXXII).
13 The abbreviated form of the name of the Sun-Goddess' grandson
(see Sect. XXXIII, Notes 5 and 10).
14 I.e., Mount Takachiho (see Sect. XXXIV, Note 5). The final
syllable is here apocopated, in order to preserve the rhythmical balance
of the sentence by using only three Chinese characters to write this
name, the "Island of the Dragon-Fly" being likewise written with
three characters.
""
15 I.e., the first "human emperor" Jim-mu, whose full native
Japanese name is Kamu-Yamato-Iharé-Biko. For the account of his
reign see Sects. XLIV-LII.
16 I.e., Japan, For the traditional origin of this poetical synonym
of Japan see Sect. V, Note 26 and also the legend in Sect. CLVI.
The word "traverse" in this sentence alludes to the Emperor Jim-
mu's victorious progress from Western Japan to Yamato in the centre
of the country, which he is said to have subdued, and where it is
related that he established his capital (see Sects. XLIV-L).
17 For the mention of the bear, whose appearance caused the
Emperor Jim-mu and his army to faint away, see commencement of
Sect. XLV. Motowori thinks that the character, "claws," is a
copyist's error for III, "mountain or A, "hole," (Conf. Sect. XLV,
Note 2). For the curious legend of the sabre see the same Section,
and for the name of Takakura see more especially Note 3 to that
Section.
در
VOL. II.]
7
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
*
and a great crow guided him to Yeshinu.18 Dancing in rows
they destroyed the brigands, and listening to a song they
vanquished the foemen.19 Being instructed in a dream, he was
reverent to the Heavenly and Earthly Deities, and was therefore
styled the Wise Monarch;20 having gazed on the smoke, he was
benevolent to the black-haired people, and is therefore re-
membered as the the Emperor-Sage.21 Determining the frontiers
and civilizing the country, he issued laws from the Nearer
Afumi ;22 reforming the surnames and selecting the gentile names,
Expel?-W.G.A.
* Jingo? Motoori-W.G.A.
18 For the gods with tails who met and conversed with the Emperor
Jim-mu in Yamato, see the latter part of Sect. XLVI, a perusal of
of which will however show that the phrase "obstructed the path,'
which is here used of them, is not exactly applicable. The miraculous
crow, which was sent down from Heaven to assist Jim-mu in his
conquests, is mentioned at the commencement of the same Section
and again at the commencement of Sect. XLVII. For Yeshinu
(modern Yoshino) see Sect. XLVI, note 3.
19 The word " dancing" in this sentence must not be too closely
pressed, as it is used simply to balance the word "song
" in the
parallel clause, which clause itself does but echo the sense of that
which precedes it. The reference is to the song which Jim-mu sang
as a signal to his followers to destroy the "earth-spiders" (see Sect.
XLVIII), and perhaps also to the songs in Sect. XLIX.
20" The Emperor Sū-jin" must be mentally supplied as the logical
subject of this clause. For the story of his dream see Sect. LXIV,
and for the origin of the laudatory designation here mentioned see
the end of Sect. LXVII, which is however obscure.
21" The Emperor Nin-toku must be supplied as the logical
subject of this clause. The allusion to the smoke and the laudatory
designation here mentioned will be understood by reference to Sect.
CXXI. The "black-haired people" is a common Chinese phrase for
the peasantry or the people in general.
22"The Emperor Sei-mu" must be supplied as the logical subject
of this clause. His labours are briefly recapitulated in Sect. XCIV.
For the province called Nearer Afumi (Chika-tsu-Afumi,) see Sect.
XXIX Note 20. Its name is here rhythmically balanced against
"Further Asuka" in the following clause.
در
8
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. II.
he held sway at the Further Asuka.23 Though each differed in
caution and in ardour, though all were unlike in accomplish-
ments and in intrinsic worth, yet was there none who did not by
contemplating antiquity correct manners that had fallen to ruin,
and by illumining modern times repair laws that were approach-
ing dissolution.24
In the august reign of the Heavenly Sovereign who governed
the Eight Great Islands from the Great Palace of Kiyomihara
at Asuka,25 the Hidden Dragon put on perfection, the Reiterated*
* Reverberating.-W.G.A.
23"The Emperor Ingiyō" must be supplied as the logical subject
of this sentence. This Sovereign's rectification of the names forms
the subject of Sect. CXXXIX. For Further Asuka (Toho-tsu-Asuka)
see Sect. CXXXIII, Notes 13 and 11.
24 I.e., though unlike in character, some of the ancient emperors
excelling in caution and others in ardour, some being remarkable for
their attainments and others for their native worth, yet was there not
one without a claim to greatness, not one who did not regard antiquity
as the standard by which modern times should be judged, and repair
the deviations from antique perfection that successively arose during
the lapse of ages.-How marvellously inapplicable is this rodomontade
to the early monarchs of Japan the student of Japanese history need
scarcely be told, and Motowori himself allows that "it is not completely
appropriate." Here the first part of the Preface terminates.
25 Viz., the Emperor Tem-mu, whose struggle for the crown in
the latter part of the seventh century of our era against the contending
claims of Prince Ohotomo is related at great length in the pages of the
"Chronicles," though naturally beyond the scope of these "Records,"
which close in A.D. 628. The "Eight Great Islands" is one of the
synonyms of Japan (see Sect. V. Noté 27). The reason for the
specially laudatory mention in this place of the Emperor Tem-mu is
the fact that it was with him that the idea of compiling these Records
originated, as is indeed stated a little further on. He is here alluded
to by the expressions Hidden Dragon and Reiterated Thunder, meta-
phorical names borrowed from the "Yi Ching" and denoting the
heir apparent, Tem-mu not having ascended the throne till some time
after his predecessor's death, as Prince Ohotomo disputed by force of
VOL. II.]
9
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Thunder came at the appointed moment. Having heard a song
in a dream, he felt that he should continue the succession ;
having reached the water at night, he knew that he should
receive the inheritance. Nevertheless Heaven's time was not yet,
and he escaped like the cicada to the Southern Mountains;
both men and matters were favourable, and he marched like
the tiger to the Eastern Land. Suddenly riding in the Imperial
arms his right to the succession.
and “
"The phrases "put on perfection
came at the appointed moment" are attempts at representing
the original, and . The meaning is that the Emperor Tem-
mu was the man for the age, and that he took his proper and exalted
place in it. In the following sentences we have a flowery résumé of
the story of the successful war by which he obtained the crown. The
reference to the "song in a dream
song in a dream" is indeed obscure; but the "water
at night" is the River Yoko, which we read of in the " Chronicles
as having been crossed by him. The characters somewhat freely
rendered by the English words "succession" and "inheritance
رد
>>
""
are
and, which approximate to that sense in this context. The
"Southern Mountains" are the Mountains of Yoshino, whither he
escaped for a season as a cicada escapes from its cast-off shell; the
“Eastern land” denotes the eastern provinces of Japan where he
organized his army. The "Six Divisions" and the "Three Hosts "
are Chinese designations of the Imperial troops, while the "ill-omened
crew of course refers to Tem-mu's enemies,-Prince Ohotomo and
his followers. In the ensuing sentence we see peace restored: Tem-
mu has returned to the capital (for which the words "Flowery
Summer are a Chinese periphrasis), he has taken in his hands the
insignia of office, and reigns supreme over the Six Cardinal Points
(North, South, East, West, Above, and Below) and over the "Eight
Wildernessés" (i.e., the barbarous regions on all sides). The writer
concludes this division of his Preface by a glowing panegyric of the
Monarch, who was, he says, superior to Hsüan Hou (Jap. Ken-
Kō), and Chou Wang (E Jap. Shiu-O), famous Chinese sovereigns
of the legendary period. So intelligent were his efforts, so perfect
was his conformity with the ways of Heaven as displayed in the
workings of the Active and Passive Essences, that the Five Elements
(Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth) all interacted with due regula-
rity, and laudable usages alone prevailed throughout the land. Up to
this point the preface may be said to be purely ornamental.
>>
10
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MAITERS. [VOL. II.
Palanquin, he forced his way across mountains and rivers: the
Six Divisions rolled like thunder, the Three Hosts sped like
lightning. The erect spears lifted up their might, and the bold
warriors arose like smoke: the crimson flags glistened among
the weapons, and the ill-omened crew were shattered like tiles.
Or ere a day* had elapsed, the evil influences were purified:
forthwith were the cattle let loose and the horses given repose,
as with shouts of victory they returned to the Flowery Summer;
the flags were rolled up and the javelins put away, as with
dances and chants they came to rest in the capital city. The
year was that of the Cock, and it was in the Second Moon.26
At the Great Palace of Kiyomihara did he ascend to the
Heavenly seat in morality he outstripped Ken-Kō, in virtue
he surpassed Shiū-Ō. Having grasped the celestial seals, he
was paramount over the Six Cardinal Points; having obtained
the heavenly supremacy, he annexed the Eight Wildernesses.
He held the mean between the Two Essences,27 and regulated
the order of the Five Elements. He established divine reason
wherewith to advance good customs; he disseminated brilliant
usages wherewith to make the land great. Moreover the ocean
of his wisdom, in its vastness, profoundly investigated the
highest antiquity; the mirror of his heart, in its fervour,
clearly observed former ages.
Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign commanded, saying:
"I hear that the chronicles of the emperors and likewise the
"original words in the possession of the various families deviate
"from exact truth, and are mostly amplified by empty falsehoods.
Why not adopt Motoori's explanation 12 days.--W.G.A.
Glowing and luminous.-W.G.A.
26 I.e., March (20th as the "Chronicles " tell us), A.D. 673. The
original, to denote the year and the month mentioned, uses the
periphrases 歲​次​大梁 ​and 月​踵​夾​鍾​, but doubtless without any reference
to the original proper meaning of those terms.
27 The text literally reads thus: "He rode in the exactness of the
Two Essences." But the author's intention is to tell us that Tem-mu
acted according to the golden mean, keeping the balance even, and
not inclining unduly either to the Active or the Passive side.
VOL. II.]
11
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
"If at the present time these imperfections be not amended,
"ere many years shall have elapsed, the purport of this, the
great basis28 of the country, the grand foundation of the
"monarchy, will be destroyed. So now I desire to have the
"chronicles of the emperors selected and recorded, and the old
“words examined and ascertained, falsehoods being erased and
"truth determined, in order to transmit [the latter] to after
At that time there was a retainer whose surname
ages.”29
was Hiyeda and his personal name Are. He was twenty-eight
years old, and of so intelligent a disposition that he could
repeat with his mouth whatever met his eyes, and record in
his heart whatever struck his ears.30 Forthwith Are was com-
manded to learn by heart the genealogies of the emperors,
and likewise the words of former ages. Nevertheless time
elapsed and the age changed,* and the thing was not yet carried
out.31
(
""
Prostrate I consider how Her Majesty the Empress, having
obtained Unity, illumines the empire,-being versed in the
Triad, nourishes the people.32 Ruling from the Purple Palace,
I.e., there was a new reign.-W.G.A.
28 Literally "warp and woof," i.e., canon, standard, mainspring,
first necessity.
29 This is the imperial decree ordering the compilation of the
'Records of Ancient Matters." The expressions "original words "
() and "old words" () are curious, and Motowori is probably
right in arguing from the emphatic manner in which they are repeated
that the Emperor Tem-mu attached special importance to the actual
archaic phraseology in which some at least of the early documents or
traditions had been handed down.
16
30 I.e., he could repeat the contents of any document that he had
once seen and remember all that he had ever heard.
31 I.e., the Emperor Tem-mu died before the plan of the compila-
tion of these "Records" had been carried into execution, viz., it may
be presumed, before a selection from the various original documents
committed to memory by Are had been reduced to writing.
327-*¤Ã¤, For the phrase "obtaining Unity," which is
borrowed from Lao Tzu, the student should consult Stanislas Julien's
T
!
12
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. II.
Her virtue reaches to the utmost limits of the horses' hoof-
marks: dwelling amid the Sombre Retinue, Her influence
illumines the furthest distance attained to by vessels' prows.
The sun rises, and the brightness is increased; the clouds
disperse, neither is there smoke. Never cease the historio-
graphers from recording the good omens of connected stalks
and double rice-ears; never for a single moon is the treasury
without the tribute of continuous beacon-fires and repeated
interpretations.* In fame She must be pronounced superior
to Bum-Mei, in virtue more eminent than Ten-Itsu.33 Here-
"Livre de la Voie et de la Vertu," pp. 144-149. The "
"Triad is the
threefold intelligence of Heaven, Earth, and Man. The general
meaning of the sentence is that the Empress' perfect virtue, which is
in complete accord with the heavenly ordinances, is spread abroad
throughout the empire, and that with her all-penetrating insight she
nourishes and sustains her people.
""
#
Does not I mean simply "interpreters" cf. Nihongi IX. 33
(Page 252 Aston's Translation) extract from Tsin book. Also Parker
translates so in early Japanese History.-W.G.A.
>>
33 In the above four sentences the compiler expresses his respectful
admiration of the Empress Gem-miyō, who was on the throne at the
time when he wrote, and tells us how wide was her rule and how
prosperous her reign. The "Purple Palace" is one of the ornamental
namės borrowed from the Chinese to denote the imperial residence.
The "Sombre Retinue (if such indeed is the correct rendering of the
original expression) is a phrase on which no authority consulted
by the translator throws any light. The "utmost limits of the horses'
hoof-marks and the "furthest distance attained to by vessels' prows
are favourite phrases in the old literature of Japan to express extréme
distance (see, for instance, Mr. Satow's translation of the Ritual of
the Praying for Harvest," Vol. VII, Pt. II, p. 111 of these "Transac-
tions," and the present writer's "Classical Poetry of the Japanese,"
p. 111).
Such unusual phenomena as connected stalks, i.e., trunks
springing from the same root and uniting again higher up, and "joint
rice-ears," i.e., two rice-ears growing on a single stem, are considered
lucky oméns by the Chinese, and their appearance is duly chronicled
in those Japanese histories that are composed after the Chinese model.
The "continuous beacon-fires " and the "repeated interpretations"
are phrases alluding to the foreign lands (ie., the various small
܀ܝ
M
"
VOL. II.]
13
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
upon,³¹ regretting the errors in the old words, and wishing to
correct the misstatements in the former chronicles, She, on the
eighteenth day of the ninth moon of the fourth year of Wa-
dō,35 commanded me Yasumaro to select and record the old
words learnt by heart by Hiyeda no Are according to the
Imperial Decree, and dutifully to lift them up to Her.26
In reverent obedience to the contents of the Decree, I
have made a careful choice. But in high antiquity both speech
and thought were so simple, that it would be difficult to arrange
phrases and compose periods in the characters. To relate
Korean states) speaking strange languages, whence tribute was sent
to Japan. The text, as it stands, gives the impression that the
arrival of the tribute - ships was announced by beacon- fires being
lighted. Motowori however wishes us to understand the author's
meaning to be that foreign states which, in the natural course of
events, would be inimical, and the approach of whose ships would be
signalized by the lighting of beacon-fires, now peacefully sent gifts to
the Japanese monarch. It may by added that the whole sentence is
borrowed scarcely without alteration from the "Wen Hsüan" (XI).
Bum-mei is the Japanese pronunciation of the characters, the
original name of Yü (), a celebrated legendary emperor of China.
Ten-Itsu is the Japanese pronunciation of the characters EZ, the
original name of the ancient emperor T'ang (), who is said to have
founded the Shang dynasty in the eighteenth century B.C.
*:
Vide Legge's Annals of the Bamboo Books. "The characters
for Sombre Retinue" are the name of a place where the Emperor
Hwangti had his throne, above Loy Ang.—W.G.A.
+ Cf. passage quoted by Motoori, but vide Williams Chinese Dic-
tionary p. 1094. The phrase is borrowed from China where it is
more applicable than in Japan. In Korea nightly signals are made to
the capital from the provinces, by beacon fires, to signify that all is
well, perhaps some such practice is alluded to. My Chinese beacon
customs.-W.G.A.
34 This word is here used as an initial particle without special
significance.
35 I.e., 3rd November, A.D. 711. Wa-dō (F) is the name of a
Japanese "year-period" which lasted from A.D. 708 to 714.
36 I.e., present them to her. With this sentence ends the fourth
division of the preface.
14
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. II.
everything in ideographic transcription would entail an inade-
quate expression of the meaning; to write altogether according
to the phonetic method would make the story of events unduly
lengthy.28 For this reason have I sometimes in the same
sentence used the phonetic and ideographic systems conjointly,
and have sometimes in one matter used the ideographic record
exclusively. Moreover where the drift of the words was
obscure, I have by comments elucidated their signification;
but need it be said that I have nowhere commented on what
was easy 39 Again, in such cases as calling the surname F
Kusaka, and the personal name written with the character
37 I.e., the simplicity of speech and thought in Early Japan renders
it too hard a task to rearrange the old documents committed to
memory by Are in such a manner as to make them conform to the
rules of Chinese style.
38 I.e., if I adopted in its entirety the Chinese ideographic method
of writing, I should often fail of giving a true impression of the
original documents (conf. the preceding Note). If, on the other hand,
I consistently used the Chinese characters, syllable by syllable, as
phonetic symbols for Japanese sounds, this work would attain to
inordinate proportions, on account of the great length of the poly-
syllabic Japanese as compared with the monosyllabic Chinese. The
author's meaning may be illustrated by referring to the first clause of
the "Records,"
("when Heaven and Earth began "),
which is thus written ideographically with six Chinese characters,
whereas it would require no less than eleven to write it phonetically
so as to represent the sound of the Japanese words ame tsuchi no
hazhime no toki, viz., HÆ✯LÆSE. It should be noticed
that in this passage the author employs the technical expressions on
and kun (and) in a manner which is the precise reverse of that
sanctioned by modern usage, on being with him the phonetic, and
kun the ideographic, acceptation of the Chinese characters.
39 It will be seen by perusing the following translation that the
author can scarcely be said to have vouchsafed as much exegetical
matter as this statement would lead us to expect. Indeed his " com-
ments are mostly confined to information concerning the pronuncia-
tion of certain characters. See however Motowori's remarks on this
sentence in Vol. II pp. 19-20 of his Commentary.
""
VOL. II.]
15
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
¿
Tarashi, I have followed usage without alteration.40 Altogether
the things recorded commence with the separation of Heaven
and Earth, and conclude with the august reign at Woharida.41
So from the Deity Master-of-the-August-Centre-of-Heaven
down to His Augustness Prince-Wave-Limit-Cormorant-Thatch-
Meeting-Incompletely makes the First Volume; from the
Heavenly Sovereign Kamu-Yamato-Ihare-Biko down to the
august reign of Homuda makes the Second Volume; from
the Emperor Oho-Sazaki down to the great palace of Woharida
makes the Third Volume.42 Altogether I have written Three
Volumes, which I reverently and respectfully present.43 I
Yasumaro, with true trembling and true fear, bow my head,
bow my head.
Reverently presented by the Court Noble* Futo no Yasu-
maro, an Officer of the Upper Division of the First Class of
* Motowori has "Oho" why Futo? And Oho no Ason does not
look like oho being part of the name. Is it not simply the Great
Court Noble? Ason is a mean title "Respectfully presented.”—W.G.A.
40 The author here refers to a certain class of Japanese words
which offer peculiar difficulties because written neither ideographically
nor phonetically, but in a completely arbitrary manner, the result of a
freak of usage. His manner of expressing himself is, however, ambig-
ous. What he meant to say is, as Motowori points out: "Again in
such cases as writing the surname Kusaka with the characters HF,
and the personal name Tarashi with the character, I have followed
usage without alteration." It is his imperfect mastery over the Chinese
construction that makes him fall into such errors,-errors easily recti-
fiable, however, by the more widely read modern Japanese literati.
41 I.e., commence with the creation, and end with the death of the
Empress Sui-ko (A.D. 628), who resided at Woharida.
""
42 For the Deity Master-of-the-August-Centre-of Heaven see Sect.
I, Note 4, and for Prince-Wave-Limit, etc., see Sect. XLII, Note 15.
Kamu-Yamato-Ihare-Biko is the proper native Japanese name of the
emperor commonly known by the Chinese "canonical name
of Jim-
mu. Homuda is part of the native Japanese name of the Emperor
O-jin (see Sects. XCIV to CXVIII). Oho-Sazaki is the native
Japanese name of the Emperor Nin-toku (see Sects. CXIX to CXXX).
43 Q.d., to the Empress.
16
((
[VOL. II.
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
the Fifth Rank and of the Fifth Order of Merit, on the 28th
day of the first moon of the fifth year of Wa-dō.44
44 I.e., 10th March, A.D. 712.
T
THE KO-JI-KI
OR
RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
6
[SECT. I.—THE BEGINNING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.]
5
The names of the Deities' that were born in the Plain of
High Heaven³ when the Heaven and Earth began were the
Deity Master-of-the-August-Centre-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
7
4
¹For this rendering of the Japanese word kami see Introduction,
pp. xix-xx.
2 Literally, "that became "(). Such "becoming" is concisely
defined by Motowori as "the birth of that which did not exist before."
3 In Japanese Takama-no-hara.
4 Ame-no-mi-naka-nushi-no-kami.
5 Taka-mi-musu-bi-no-kami. It is open to doubt whether the syl-
lable bi, instead of signifying "wondrous," may not simply be a verbal
termination, in which case the three syllables musubi would mean, not
"wondrous producing," but simply "producing,” i.e., if we adopt the
interpretation of the Verb musubu as "to produce" in the Active
sense of the word, an interpretation as to whose propriety there is
some room for doubt. In the absence of certainty the translator has
followed the view expressed by Motowori and adopted by Hirata.
The same remark applies to the following and other similar names.
6 Kami-musu-bi-no-kami. This name reappears in later Sections
under the lengthened form of Kami-musu-bi-mi-oya-no-mikoto, i.e., His
Augustness the Deity-Producing-Wondrous-August-Ancestor, and also
in abbreviated forms.
7 I.e., they all came into existence without being procreated in
the manner usual with both gods and men, and afterwards disappeared,
i.e., died.
18
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. III.
8
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.¹0 *
These two Deities were likewise born alone, and hid their
persons.
The five Deities in the above list are separate Heavenly
Deities,¹¹
9
8 Here and elsewhere the character, properly "country" (regio),
is used where "earth" (tellus) better suits the sense. Apparently in
the old language the word kuni (written), which is now restricted
to the former meaning, was used ambiguously somewhat like our word
"land."
9 Umashi-ashi-kabi-hiko-ji-no-kami. For hiko here and elsewhere
rendered "prince" see Introduction p. xviii; ji is rendered "elder” in
accordance with the opinion expressed by Motowori and Hirata, who
say that it is "an Honorific designation of males identical with the ji
meaning old man.”
10 Or, the Deity-Standing-Eternally-in-Heaven, Ame-no-toko-tachi-
no-kami. The translation of the name here given follows the natural
meaning of the characters composing it, and has the sanction of
Tanigaha Shisei, Motowori and Hirata take toko to stand for soko,
"bottom," and interpret accordingly; but this is probably but one of
the many instances in which the Japanese philologists allow themselves
to be led by the boldness of their etymological speculations into
identifying words radically distinct.
*Might_not_this mean: the Deity by whom Heaven stands for
ever?-W.G.A.
11 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 afterwards, and especially
from the Earthly-Eternally-Standing-Deity (Kuni-no-toko-tachi-no-kami)
who in the "Chronicles" is the first divine being of whom mention
in made. These five were, he says, separate" and had nothing to
do with the creation of the world. It should be stated that the sen-
tence 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" (lit.,
(C
1
VOL. III.]
19
VOL. I. SECT. II.
[SECT. II. THE SEVEN DIVINE GENERATIONS.]
ing-Master-Deity.2
The names of the Deities that were born next were the
Earthly-Eternally-Standing-Deity,' next the Luxuriant-Integrat-
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 ;3 next the Germ-
.3
(6
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 des-
cended to Earth from Heaven, whereas the Earthly Deities were those
born and dwelling in Japan.
1 Or, the Deity-Standing-Eternally-on-Earth, Kuni-no-toko-tachi-
no-kami. Conf. Note 10 to Sect. I.
2 Toyo-kumo-nu-no-kami. There is much doubt as to the proper
interpretation of this name. The characters ("cloud-moor "),
with which the syllables read kumo-nu are written, are almost certainly
phonetic, and the translator has followed Motowori's view as corrected
by Hirata, according to which kumo is taken to stand for kumu,
integrating," and nu is considered to be an apocopated form of nushi,
"master" (or more vaguely "the person who presides at or does a
thing"). Mabuchi in his "Dictionary of Pillow-words," Article Sasu-
take, argues that the syllables in question should be interpreted in the
sense of "coagulated mud"; but this is less satisfactory.
<<
3 U-hiji-ni-no-kami and Su-hiji-ni-no-kami.
The names of this
pair lend themselves to a variety of interpretations. Motowori's view
of the meaning of the first three syllables in each seems best, as it is
founded on the Chinese characters with which they are written in the
parallel passage of the "Chronicles ", and it has therefore been adopt-
ed here. Hirata interprets the names thus: First-Mud-Lord and
First-Sand-Lady, and takes ni to be an alternative form of the
Honorific ne found in so many proper names. This view of the
meaning of ni has been followed by the translator. On the other
hand Mabuchi explains the names to mean respectively Floating-Mud-
Earth and Sinking-Mud-Earth. The only thing therefore that is
granted by all is that the names in question refer to the mud or slime
out of which the world was afterwards made.-The reader will bear
in mind that "younger sister" and "wife" are convertible names in
Archaic Japanese. (See Introduction p. XLIII.)
دو
7
14
20
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. III.
Integrating-Deity, next his younger sister* the Life-Integrating-
Deity; next the Deity Elder-of-the-Great-Place, next his younger
sister the Deity Elder-Lady-of-the-Great-Place ;5 next the Deity
Perfect-Exterior, next his younger sister the Deity Oh-Awful-
Lady;' next the Deity the Male-Who-Invites, next his younger
sister the Deity the Female-Who-Invites.
.5
6
Or young woman.-W.G.A.
The interpretation
4 Tsunu-guhi-no-kami and Iku-guhi-no-kam!.
given is one in which the commentators agree, and which has some
probability in its favour. It must however only be accepted with
reservation.
5 Oho-to-no-ji-no-kami and Oho-to-no-be-no-kami.
6 Omo-daru-no-kami. We might also render omo-daru by "perfect-
face," i.e., "perfectly beautiful."
<<
7 Aya-kashiko-ne-no-kami. For "awful" we might substitute
"venerable." Hirata, commentating on this name and the seven which
precede it, says: U-hiji-ni and Su-hiji-ni are so named from their
having contained the germs of what was to become the earth. Oho-
‘to-no-ji and Oho-to-no-be are so called from the appearance of the
"incipient earth. Tsunu-guhi and Iku-guhi are so called from the
"united appearance of the earth and the Deities as they came into
"existence. Omo-daru and Kashiko-ne are so called from the com-
"pletion of the august persons of the Deities. Thus their names were
'given to them from the gradal progress [of creation]."
* Incites ?-W.G.A.
(i
(C
(6
8 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. Moto-
wori would prefer to read Iza-na-gi and Iza-na-mi, taking the syllable
na as the Second Personal Pronoun " thou," and understanding the
name thus: "the Prince-Who-Invites-Thee and the "Princess-Who-
Invites-Thee." It seems however more natural to look on izana as
forming but one word, viz., the Root of the Verb Izanafu, "to invite."
The older native commentators mean the same thing when they tell
us that na is an Expletive. The syllables gi and mi are of uncertain
etymology, but occur in other Archaic words to denote the male and
female of a pair. The appropriateness of the names of these deities
will be seen by referring to Sect. IV.
>>
O
•
VOL. IV.]
VOL. I. SECT. III.
21
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
two solitary Deities above [-mentioned] are each called one
generation. Of the succeeding ten Deities each pair of deities
is called a generation.)9
[SECT. III.—THE ISLAND OF ONOGORO.]
Hereupon all the Heavenly Deities commanded the two
Deities His Augustness' the Male-Who-Invites and Her August-
ness the Female-Who-Invites, ordering them to "make, con-
solidate, and give birth to this drifting land." Granting to
them an heavenly jewelled spear, they [thus] deigned to charge
them. So the two Deities, standing upon the Floating Bridge
of Heaven,³ pushed down the jewelled spear and stirred with
2
9 For explanatory notes which are printed in small type in the
original, small type is likewise used in the translation.
1 For this rendering of the Japanese title Mikoto see Introduction,
p. xviii, last paragraph.
2 The characters translated "jewelled spear are 沼​矛​,whose
proper Chinese signification would be quite different. But the first
of the two almost certainly stands phonetically for or E,-the
syllable nu, which is its sound, having apparently been an ancient
word for "jewel" or "bead", the better-known Japanese term being
tama. In many places the word "jewel" (or "jewelled") seems to be
used simply as an adjective expressive of beauty. But Motowori and
Hirata credit it in this instance with its proper signification, and the
translator always renders it literally, leaving the reader to consider it
to be used metaphorically if and where he pleases.
3 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 break-
water just above water-level.
در
22
((
[VOL. IV.
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
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.5
[SECT. IV.—COURTSHIP OF THE DEITIES THE MALE-WHO-INVITES
AND THE FEMALE-WHO-INVITES.]
Having descended from Heaven onto this island, they saw
to the erection' of an heavenly august pillar, they saw to the
erection of an hall of eight fathoms.2 Tunc quæsivit [Augustus
Mas-Qui-Invitat] a minore sorore Augustâ Feminâ-Qui-Invitat:
4 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
onomatopxia koworo-koworo. The meaning may also be "till it made
a curdling sound." But though the character, "to make a noise,"
sanctions this view, it is not the view approved by the commentators,
and is probably only written phonetically for a homonymous word
signifying "to become," which we find in the parallel passage of the
"Chronicles."
* Yes.—W.G.A.
5 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.
1 The original of this quasi-causative phrase, of which there is no
other example in Japanese literature so far as the translator's reading
goes, is interpreted by Motowori in the sense of the English locution
to which it literally corresponds, and it has here been rendered accord-
ingly, though with considerable hesitation. Hirata does not approve
of Motowori's view; but then the different text which he here adopts
imposes on him the necessity of another interpretation. (See his
"Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. II, pp. 39–40.)
2 The original word hiro (written) is defined as the distance
between the hands when the arms are outstretched.
The word ren-
dered "hall" may also be translated "palace."-The text of the parallel
passage of the "Chronicles" is "they made the Island of Onogoro
the central pillar of the land,”—a statement which seems more rational-
and more in accordance with general tradition than that of these
"Records."
VOL. IV.]
23
VOL. I. SECT. IV.
"Tuum corpus quo in modo factum est?" Respondit dicens:
"Meum corpus crescens crevit, sed una pars est quæ non crevit
continua." Tunc dixit Augustus Mas-Qui-Invitat: "Meum
corpus crescens crevit, sed est una pars que crevit superflua.
Ergo an bonum erit ut hanc corporis mei partem quæ crevit
superflua in tui corporis partem quæ non crevit continua inser-
am, et regiones procreem?" Augusta Femina-Quæ-Invitat res-
pondit dicens: "Bonum erit." Tunc dixit Augustus Mas-Qui-
Invitat: "Quod quum ita sit, ego et tu, hanc cœlestem augustam
columnam circumenutes mutuoque occurrentes,* augustarum [i.e.
privatarum] partium augustam coitionem faciemus."3 Hâc
pactione factâ, dixit [Augustus Mas-Qui-Invitat]: "Tu a dex-
terâ circumeuns occurre; ego a sinistrâ occurram." Absolutâ
pactione ubi circumierunt, Augusta Femina-Qui-Invitat primum
inquit: "O venuste et amabilis adolescens!" Deinde Augustus
Mas-Qui-Invitat inquit: "O venusta et amabilis virgo! Post-
quam singuli orationi finem fecerunt, [Augustus Mas-Qui-Invitat]
locutus est sorori, dicens: "Non decet feminam primum verba
facere." Nihilominus in thalamo [opus procreationis] inceperunt,
et filium [nomine] Hirudinem¹ [vel Hirudini similem] peperer-
unt. This child they placed in a boat of reeds, and let it float
away. Next they gave birth to the Island of Aha.5 This
likewise is not reckoned among their children.
[SECT. V.—BIRTH OF THE EIGHT GREAT ISLANDS.]
"The
It
Hereupon the two Deities took counsel, saying:
children to whom we have now given birth are not good.
will be best to announce this in the august place of the
66
>>
May not mi tono maguwai (+) mean simply
nuptial-chamber-intercourse as opposed to irregular chance con-
nection. The author seems to take pains to represent the union of
Izanami and Izanagi as a regular marriage.—W.G.A.
3 This is Hirata's view of the import of the somewhat obscure
original (see his " Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. II, pp.
61-64). Motowori's interpretation is: “auguste in thalamo coibimus.”
4 The name in the original is Hiru-go, an instance of the fortuitous
24
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. V.
1
2
Heavenly Deities." They ascended forthwith to Heaven and
enquired 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 as before. Thereupon his
Augustness the Male-Who-Invites spoke first: "Ah! what a
fair and lovely maiden!" Afterwards his younger sister Her
Augustness the Female-Who-Invites spoke: "Ah! what a fair
and lovely youth!" Tali modo quum orationi finem fecerunt,
auguste coierunt et pepererunt a child, the Island of Ahaji,
Ho-no-sa-wake.3 Next they gave birth to the Island of Futa-na
verbal resemblances occasionally found between unrelated languages.
5 Literally "foam." It is supposed to have been an islet near
the island of Ahaji in the province of Sanuki.
6 Hiru-go was not so reckoned, because he was a failure.
1 The characters, here translated " august place" (the proper
Chinese signification is "imperial place ") are those still in common
use to denote the Mikado's palace.
2 For an elaborate account of the various methods of divination
practised by the Ancient Japanese see Note 5 to Mr. Satow's trans-
lation of the "Service of the Gods of Wind at Tatsuta" in the
"Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," Vol. VII, Pt. IV, p.
425 et seq.
"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."
3 Aha-ji signifies "foam-way," ie., "the way to Foam (Aha)-
Island,"*
on account, it is said, of its intermediate position between
the mainland and the province of Aha in what is in modern parlance
the Island of Shikoku. The author of the "Chronicles of Old Affairs"
fancifully derives the name from a haji "my shame." The etymology
of Ho-no-sa-wake is disputed; but Hirata, who in the body of Vol.
III of his "Exposition of the Ancient Histories" had already expended
much ingenuity in discussing it, gives the most satisfactory interpre-
tation that has yet been proposed in a postscript to that volume where
he explains it to signify "Rice-ear-True-Youth." Wake (sometimes
VOL. V.]
VOL. I. SECT. V.
25
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;5
the Land of Sanuki is called Prince-Good-Boiled-Rice; the
Land of Aha is called the Princess-of-Great-Food; the Land
waki or waku) is a word of frequent occurrence in the names of gods
and heroes. Whether it really signifies "youth," as Hirata believes
and as it is most natural to suppose, or whether Motowori's guess
that it is an Honorific title corrupted from wage kimi ye (lit. "my
prince elder brother," more freely "lord") remains undecided. When
it is used as a "gentile name," the translator renders it by "lord,"
as that in such cases is its import apart from the question of deri-
vation. Sa, rendered "true," may almost be considered to have
dwindled down to a simple Honorific. It is this little island which
is said by the author of the "Chronicles" to have been the caul with
which the great island of Yamato was born. Ahaji and Ho-no-sa-
wake must be understood to be alternative names, the latter being
what in other cases is prefaced by the phrase "another name for
whom."
"(
Mag
I should say Awaji originally meant the millet country, foam
being an afterthought.-W.G.A.
" and
4 Futa-na is written with characters signifying "two names
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.
5 Ye-hime. For the rendering of hiko and hime as "prince" and
princess" see Introduction, p. xviii.
6 Probably derived, as Hirata shows, from saho-ki, "pole-trees," a
tribute of polest having anciently been paid by that province. Moto-
wori adopts the unusual reading of the name given in the "Japanese
Words Classified and Explained," viz. Sanugi, with the last syllable
nigori'ed.
* Shaft trees.-W.G.A.
Spear shafts ?—W.G.A.
7 Ih-yori-hiko. The translator, though with some hesitation,
follows Motowori in looking on yori as a contraction of yoroshi, “good.”
The character used for it in the original is .
܀
26
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. V.
of Tosa is called Brave-Good-Youth.10 Next they gave birth
to the Islands of Mitsu-go" near Oki.12 another name for which
[islands] is Heavenly-Great-Heart-Youth.13
Next they gave
birth to the island of Tsukushi.14 This island likewise has one
body and four faces,15 and each face has a name. So the Land
of Tsukushi is called White-Sun-Youth;16 the Land of Toyo¹
8 Oho-ge-tsu-hime. Remember that aha signifies not only "foam"
but "millet," so that we need not be astonished to find that the
alternative designation of the island so designated is that of a food-
goddess.
9 Etymology uncertain, only fanciful derivations being proposed
by the native philologists.
10 Take-yori-wake.
11 Mitsu-go signifies "triplets," lit., "three children." The three
islets intended are Ama-no-shima, Mukafu-no-shima and Chiburi-no-
shima.
12 Oki probably here signifies offing," which is its usual accep-
tation.
13 Ame-no-oshi-koro-wake. The syllables oshi, which recur in the
names of many gods and heroes, are rendered " great" in accordance
which Motowori's plausible conjecture that they are an abbreviation.
of ohoshi (“great,” not “many" as in the later language). The trans-
lation of koro by "heart" follows a conjecture of Hirata's (Motowori
acknowledged that he could make nothing of the word), according to
which it is taken to be an abbreviated form of kokoro, "heart."
14 None but fanciful derivations of this word are suggested by the
native philologists.
15 A note to the edition of 1687 says:
"Should the word 'four'
be changed to 'five'?" For most texts enumerate five countries in
this passage with sight variations in the names, Himuka (Hiuga),
which it certainly seems strange to omit, being the fourth on the list
with the alternative name of Toyokuzhi-hine-wake, while the alter-
native name Hi is Haya-hi-wake. Motowori argues that an enumeration
of four agrees better with the context, while Moribe in his Critique
on Motowori's Commentary decides in favour of the five. There are
thus texts and authorities in favour of both views,
16 Shira-bi-wake.
<C
17 Toyo means "luxuriant" or " fertile."
"fire" or
sun."
<<
Hi appears to signify
Kumaso is properly a compound, Kuma-so, as the
•
VOL. V.]
27
VOL. I. SECT. V.
is called Luxuriant-Sun-Youth;18 the Land of Hi is called
Brave-Sun-Confronting-Luxuriant-Wondrous-Lord-Youth;19 the
Land of Kumaso is called Brave-Sun-Youth.20 Next they gave
birth to the Island of Iki,2 another name for which is Heaven's
One-Pillar.22 Next they gave birth to the Island of Tsu,23
another name for which is Heavenly-Hand-net-Good-Princess.24
Next they gave birth to the Island of Sado.25 Next they gave
birth to Great-Yamato-the-Luxuriant-Island-of-the-Dragon-Fly,26
district is often mentioned by the simple name of So. Kuma signifies
"bear," and Motowori suggests that the use of the name of this the
fiercest of beasts as a prefix may be traced to the evil reputation of
that part of the country for robbers and outlaws. He quotes similar
compounds with kuma in support of this view.
18 Toyo-bi-wake.
19 Take-hi-mukahi-toyo-kuzhi-hine-wake.
The interpretation of this
name follows Motowori.
20 Take-bi-wake.
21 Etymology uncertain, but there seems reason to suppose that
the name was originally pronounced Yiki or Yuki.
22 Ame-hito-tsu-bashira.
23 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.
6.
"" (6
24 Ame-no-sade-yori-hime. The interpretation of sade (rendered
hand-net") is uncertain. The translator has followed that sanctioned
by an ode in Vol. I of the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves” and by
a passage in the "Japanese Words Classified and Explained." Hirata
takes sa to be an Honorific and te to be the usual word for "hand,"
while Motowori gives up the name in despair.
25 Etymology uncertain.
26 Oho-yamato-toyo-aki-dzu-shima (the original of the alternative
personal name is Ama-no-mi-sora-toyo-aki-dzu-ne-wake). The etymology
of Yamato is much disputed. Mabuchi, in his "Addenda to the
Commentary on the Collection of a Myriad Leaves," derives the name
from yama-to, "mountain-gate." Motowori, in a learned discussion to
be found in his "Examination of the Synonyms of Japan," pp. 24–27,
proposes three other possible derivations, viz. yama-to, "mountain-
place," yama-to (supposed to stand for yama-tsubo and to mean
28
("
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. V.
another name for which is Heavenly-August-Sky-Luxuriant-
Dragon-fly-Lord-Youth. The name of "Land-of-the-Eight-
Great-Islands "27 therefore originated in these eight islands
having been born first. After that, when they had returned,28
they gave birth to the Island of Ko [-zhima] in Kibi,30 another
"mountain-secluded "), and yama-utsu (utsu being a supposititious.
Archaic from of uchi), “within the mountains.” Other derivations
are yama-to (IT), without the mountains,” yama-ato, "mountain-
traces” and yama-todomi, "mountains stopping," i.e. (as Moribe, who
proposes it, explains), "far as the mountains can be seen." Another
disputed point is whether the name of Yamato which here designates
the Main Island of the Archipelago, but which in the common parlance
of both ancient and modern times is the denomination on the one
hand of the single province of Yamato and on the other of the whole
Empire of Japan, originally had the wider application or the more
restricted one. Motowori and the author of the "6 Exposition of the
Foreign Notices of Japan seem to the present writer to make out
the case in favour of the latter view. Motowori supposes the name
to have denoted first a village and then a district, before being applied
to a large province and finally to the entire country. The "Island of
the Dragon-fly" is a favourite name for Japan in the language of the
Japanese poets. It is traced to a remark of the Emperor Jim-mu,
who is said to have compared the shape of the country round Mount
Hohoma to a dragon-fly drinking with its tail." Conf. also the tra-
dition forming the subject of Sec. CLVI of the present translation.
CC
27 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.
28" To the Island of Onogoro, says Motowori; but we are not
told that the god and goddess had ever left it.
#
#
The idea plainly is that the God and Goddess went on a circuit
depositing islands on their way.-W.G.A.
29 Ko means "infant" or "small." The original of the alternative
personal name is Take-hi-gata-wake. Gata (or, without the nigori,
Kata) here and in other names offers some difficulty. The translator
renders it by the equivalent of the usual Japanese signification of the
character †,"direction," with which it is written.
30 Etymology uncertain.
در
VOL. V.]
29
VOL. I. SECT. VI.
Next
name for which [island] is Brave-Sun-Direction-Youth.
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,33
another name for which is Heaven's-One-Root. Next they gave
birth to the Island of Chika,3+ another name for which is Hea-
venly-Great-Male. Next they gave birth to the Island[s] 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.)
35
[sect. vi.—birth oF THE VARIOUS DEITIES.]
BIRTH
32
་
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-
I
31 Adzuki is writen with the characters, which signify a kind
of bean (the Phaseolus radiatus); but it is possible that they represent
the sound, and not the sensë, of the name. In the alternative personal
name oho signifies "great," and hime "princess," while the syllables
nu-de are of altogether uncertain interpretation. Motowori suggests
that nu may mean moor and de (for te) "clapper-bell.”
در
32 I.e., Great Island. The word tamaru in the alternative personal
name is so obscure that not even any plausible conjecture concerning
it has been ventured and the name is therefore of necessity left un-
translated.
در
33 Hime signifies "princess or "maiden." The original of the
alternative personal name is Ame-hito-tsu-ne.
34 Etymology uncertain. Motowori would take the name in a
Plural sense as standing for the modern islands of Hirado and Go-tō
(Goto). The original of the alternative personal name is Ame-no-oshi-
wo, in which as usual, oshi is supposed to represent ohoshi (†), “great.”
35 Futa-go means "twins." The original of the alternative personal
name is Ame-futa-ya.
1 Oho-koto-oshi-wo-no-kami. "The Male-Enduring-Great-Things
would be a possible, but less good rendering. This god is identified
""
30
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. V.
((
·
prince;2 next they gave birth to the Deity Rock-Nest-Princess;³
next they gave birth to the Deity Great-Door-Sun-Youth ;*
next they gave birth to the Deity Heavenly-Blowing-Male ;5
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
by Motowori with Koto-toke-no-wo mentioned in "One account
the "Chronicles of Japan."
" of
در
2 The original Iha-tsuchi-biko-no-kami (±) is identified
by Motowori with Uha-dzutsu-no-wo (LZ) mentioned in Sect. X
(Note 18). He would interpret the first tsu (dzu) as the Genitive
particle and the second as identical with the "Honorific appellation
ji of males," which occurs in such words as Hiko-ji, Oho-to-no-ji,
etc. If this surmise were correct, the entire name would signify
Upper-Lord-Prince; but it is safer to be guided by the characters in
the text.
3 Iha-zu-bime-no-kami. Here too Motowori takes the syllable zu to
be "
connected with" the syllables tsu-tsu interpreted as above, forget-
ting apparently that the second tsu (ji) is said to occur only in the
names of males.
4 Oho-to-bi-wake-no-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 etymolo-
gists lay siege to the difficulties of their language, identifies with Oho-
naho-bi-no-kami, "the Great-Rectifying-Wondrous-Deity," mentioned
in Sect. X (Note 16).
5 Ame-no-fuki-wo-no-kami, identified by Motowori with I-buki-do-
nushi mentioned in the "Ritual of the General Purification." (See
his Commentary on this Ritual, Vol. II, pp. 29–32.)
6 Oho-ya-biko-no-kami, identified by Motowori with Oho-aya-tsu-bi
mentioned in “One account" of the Chronicles.
7 Kaza-ge-tsu-wake-no-oshi-wo-no-kami. Motowori's conjectural inter-
pretation has been followed; but both the reading and the meaning
of the original are encompassed with difficulties. Motowori identifies
this deity with Soko-dzutsu-wo mentioned in Sect. X. (Note 18), and
with Haya-sasura-hime mentioned in the "Ritual of the General
Purification."
VOL. V.]
VOL. I. SECT. VI.
31
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;10 next they gave birth to his
younger sister the Deity Princess-of-Swift-Autumn. (Ten Dei-
ties in all from the Deity Great-Male-of-the-Great-Thing to the Deity
Princess-of-Autumn.11) 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;12 next the Deity Foam-Waves;
next the Deity Bubble-Calm; Next the Deity Bubble-Waves;
next the Deity Heavenly-Water-Divider;13 next the Deity
Earthly-Water-Divider; next the Deity Heavenly-Water-Draw-
ing-Gourd-Possessor;14 next the Deity Earthly-Water-Drawing-
Gourd-Possessor. (Eight Deities in all from the Deity Foam-Prince
8 Qho-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami. The interpretation of mi as equivalent
to mochi, "possessor," though not absolutely sure, has for it the weight
both of authority and of likelihood.
9 I.e., river-mouths, estuaries, or ports. In the original Minato-
no-kami.
10 Haya-aki-dzu-hiko-no-kami.
Aki, whose proper signification is
autumn," might also by metonymy be interpreted to mean “dragon-
fly" or "Japan." Motowori, apropos of this name, launches forth on
very bold derivations and identifications with the names of other gods.
The original of the name of the sister-deity is Haya-aki-dzu-hime-no-
kami.
"
11 The text here omits the word "Swift" from this name.
12 The original names of this deity and the three that follow are
Awa-nagi-no-kami, Awa-nami-no-kami, Tsura-nagi-no-kami, and Tsura-
nami-no-kami. The interpretation of the component parts is open to
doubt, but that here adopted has the authority of Motowori and
Hirata.
The following deity is Kuni-no-mi-
13 Ame-no-mi-kumari-no-kami.
kumari-no-kami.
14 This deity and the next are in the original Ame-no-ku-hiza-mochi-
no-kami and Kuni-no-ku-hiza-mochi-no-kami. The etymology is obtained
by comparison with a passage in the "Ritual for Averting Fire" (
火​祭​詞​)
T
32
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. V.
Next they
to the Deity Earthly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-Possessor.)
gave birth to the Deity of Wind, whose name is the Deity
Prince-of-Long-Wind.15 Next they gave birth to the Deity of
Trees, whose name is Deity Stem-Elder,16 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,18
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; 19 next the Deity Heavenly-Pass-Boundary,
15 Shina-tsu-hiko-no-kami. The original of this name is explained
by Motowori, who founds his view on two passages in the "Collection
of a Myriad Leaves," to signify Prince-of-Long-Breath. But the
translator feels confident that shi-na, by him interpreted in the sense
of "long breath (or rather "long of breath") should be connected
with shi, an old word for wind which we see in ara-shi "storm-wind"),
ni-shi (“west-wind"), hi-gashi ("east wind"), and perhaps under a
slightly altered form in kaze, "wind," whereas shi nowhere occurs in
the sense of "breath." Hirata notices approvingly this etymology of
shi ("Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. III, p. 63), though
without venturing flatly to contradict his predecessor's decision as to
the import of the name in question. The difference in the meaning
is after all slight. Na is to be taken as an apocopated form of nagaki,
"long." In later times Shinato has been used as a name for the
north-west wind.
16 Such seems to be the meaning of the original Kuku-no-chi-no-
kami.
در
17 Oho-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami.
18 Kaya-nu-hime-no-kami. The etymology of the alternative personal
name (in the original Nu-dzu-chi-no-kami) is not quite certain.
19 The original of these two names is Ame-no-sa-dzu-chi-no-kami
and Kuni-no-sa-dzu-chi-no-kami. Their signification is obscure, but
the translator has, after some hesitation, followed Motowori's inter-
VOL. V.]
VOL. I. SECT. VI.
33
next the Deity Earthly-Pass-Boundary;20 next the Deity Hea-
venly-Dark-Door, next the Deity Earthly-Dark-Door;21 next
the Deity Great-Vale-Prince, next the Deity Great-Vale-Prin-
cess 22
(Eight Deities in all from the Deity Heavenly-Elder-of-the-
Passes to the Deity Great-Vale-Princess.) The name of the Deity
they23 next gave birth to was the Deity Bird's-Rock-Camphor-
tree-Boat,24 another name for whom is the Heavenly-Bird-Boat.
pretation. The words "heavenly" and "earthly" should probably be
considered as qualifying "passes.” This word “pass,” used here and
elsewhere to render the Japanese term saka* (sa), must be understood
to include lesser ascents than those very arduous ones which are alone
denoted by the word "pass" in ordinary English parlance. In the
later language of Japan the word tauge (toge) generally denotes
>>
passes properly so called, while saka is restricted to the meaning
of small ascents or hills. But this distinction is by no means strictly
observed.
CC
Saka is the Scotch "brae."-W.G.A.
an
20 Ame-no-sa-giri-no-kami and Kuni-no-sa-giri-no-kami.
Sa seems
to be rightly considered, as in the two preceding names, to be an
archaic form of saka (properly sa-ka, "hill-place "), and giri as
apocopated form of kagiri, (properly ka-giri, "place cutting"), "limit"
or "boundary." Hirata however, following the Chinese character
with which kiri is written, interprets it in the sense of "mist."
21 Ame-no-kura-do-no-kami and Kuni-no-kura-do-no-kami. Moto-
wori explains kura (,"dark") by tani (,"valley "), and to (F,
"door"), by tokoro (,"place ").
22 Such appears to be the proper interpretation of the originals of
these two names, Oho-tomato-hiko-no-kami and Oho-tomato-hime-no-
kami, tomato being plausibly referred to towomaru. It is difficult to
find an English word to represent exactly the idea, which is rather
that of a gentle fold in the mountains than of the narrower and steeper
hollow which we call a valley."
CC
23 I.e., the Prince-Who-Invites and the Princess-Who-Invites (Izana-
gi and Izana-mi).
24 Tori-no-iha-kusa-bune-no-kami. The alternative name is Ame-no-
tori-bune, from which the title of Deity is omitted. Motowori's
Commentary, Vol. V. pp. 52-53 should be consulted on the subject
of this deity.
34
(6
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. V.
Next they gave birth to the Deity Princess-of-Great-Food.25
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.
[SECT. VII.-RETIREMENT OF HER AUGUSTNESS THE PRINCESS-
WHO-INVITES.]
Through giving birth to this child her august private parts
were burnt, and she sickened and lay down.¹ The names of
the Deities born from her vomit were the Deity Metal-Moun-
tain-Prince and next the Deity Metal-Mountain-princess.2 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
3
26
""
25 Homonymous with the alternative personal name of the Island
of Aha. (See Sect. V. Note 8.)
23 Hi-no-haya-yagi-wo-no-kami.
If, as seems likely, yagi is an
incorrect reading for kagi, we should have to translate by "shining
the word here rendered "burning." The alternative names are Hi-
no-kaga-biko-no-kami and Hi-no-kagu-tsuchi-no-kami.
In "One ac-
count of the "Chronicles" and elsewhere in the "Ritual" this
fire-god is called Ho-musubi, i.e., "the Fire-Producer."
در
1" Lying down" (koyasu) is a term often used in the Archaic
language in the sense of "dying."
dying." But here it must be taken literally,
the death (“divine retirement") of the goddess being narrated a few
lines further on.
2 Kana-yama-biko-no-kami and Kana-yama-bime-no-kami. The
translation of this pair of names follows the plain sense of the charac-
ters with which they are written, and which seems appropriate
enough, coming as they do between the deity of fire and deities of
clay. Motowori however, declaring both characters to be merely
phonetic, derives kana-yama from kare-nayamasu, "to cause to wither
and suffer," and interprets the names accordingly.
This is at any
rate ingenious.
3 Hani-yasu-biko-no-kami and Hani-yasu-bime-no-kami.
VOL. V.]
35
VOL. I. SECT. VII.
her urine were the Deity Mitsuhanome and next the Young-
Wondrous-Producing-Deity.5 The child of this Deity was
called the Deity Luxuriant-Food-Princess.6 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.8)
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,9 and moreover the Leech-Child10 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
(6
4 The signification of this name is not to be ascertained. In the
text it is written phonetically, and two passages in the
Chronicles," where this deity is mentioned as
ZBRB
and
with directions in each case to read the name with
the sounds here given to it, do not help us much, except in so far as
they show that Mitsuhanome was conceived of as the deity of water
and as a female.
5 Waku-musu-bi-no-kami.
6 Toyo-uke-bime-no-kami.
7 I.e.,
"died."
8 There is here an error in the computation, as nine deities are
mentioned. The total of thirty-five deities given immediately below
is still more erroneous, as no less than forty are named in the preceding
passage. Motowori makes an ingenious effort to reconcile arithmetic
and revelation by supposing the five pairs of brothers and sisters with
parallel names to have been considered as each forming but one deity.
9 See Sect. III. This island was not born, but arose spontaneously
from drops of brine.
10 Hiru-go.
See the latter part of Sect. IV for these two names.
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.
·
36
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. V.
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,12 and
(C
11 The text here is very peculiar, the characters rendered "single
child ”being 子​之一 ​where we should expect 子​之一​人 ​or 子​一​人​.
Hirata proposes to consider, "tree," which most scholars agree in
reading ke instead of ki in this place, as phonetic for ke (E) “hair,”
and to interpret the god's words to signify that he values the child
no more than a single hair in comparison with the wife whom that
child's birth has lost for him. Moribe, in his "Examination of
Difficult Words," s.v. Ko no hito-tsu ki (Vol. I. p. 8 et seq.), ingeniously
argues that ki was an old native Japanese Auxiliary Numeral" for
animals, afterwards driven out by the somewhat like-sounding Chinese
word hiki () which is now in common use, and that the god employs
this degrading Auxiliary Numeral in speaking of his child on account
of the resentment which he feels against him. On the other hand we
gather from the "Chronicles of Japan Explained" that ✯ was used
in its natural sense as an ،،
Auxiliary Numeral" for gods and for men
of exalted rank. This seems to the translator the better view to follow
and it is supported by the use of †, hashira, as the regular "Auxiliary
Numeral" for divine personages. The parallel passage in the
"Chronicles" has simply "one infant."
And crept round her august feet and wept, thereupon there was
born.-W.G.A.
*
12 This reading is but tentative; for it is not certain that Hirata,
whose view has been here adopted, is right in regarding Konomoto
and Unewo as names of places. If we followed the older authorities,
we should have to translate thus: "The Deity that dwells at the foot
of the trees on the slope of the spur of Mount Kagu."
The ety-
mology of the name of this celebrated mountain (knows also as Ame-
no-kagu-yama or Ama-no-kagu-yama, i.e., "Heavenly Mount Kagu ")
is disputed. But Hirata's view, according to which it should be con-
nected with kago, "deer," is the most plausible. If it were established
we should be tempted to follow him in rendering by "deer-possessor
the name of the deity Kagu-tsu-chi, of whom were born the eight
gods of mountains, and whose slaying forms the title of the next
section. That the fire-deity should be connected with the mountain-
deities, and thereby with the deer who roam about the mountains and
VOL. V.]
VOL. I. SECT. VIII.
37
‚,, ཀ-
So he
whose name is the Crying-Weeping-Female-Deity."
buried the divinely retired¹4 Deity the Female-Who-Invites on
Mount Hiba¹5 at the boundary of the Land of Idzumo¹6 and
the Land of Hahaki."7
[SECT. VIII. THE SLAYING OF THE FIRE-DEITY.]
Then His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites, drawing the
ten-grasp* sabre¹ 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 multitu-
dinous rock-masses were: the Deity Rock-Splitter,2 next the
Deity Root-Splitter, next the Rock-Possessing-Male-Deity.3
The names of the Deities that were next born from the blood
furnish the hunter with a motive for penetrating into their recesses,
is of course but natural. The character with which Kagu is written
signifies "fragrant "; but it has been suggested that the Japanese word
may be connected with an expression signifying "heaven-descended,"
in allusion to the supposed origin of the mountain as related in an
old geographical work (now lost) treating of the Province of Iyo.
13 Naki-saha-me-no-kami. The sense of the second word of the
compound is "marsh" or "stream"; but Motowori seems right in
considering the character to be here used phonetically as an ab-
breviation of isaha from isatsu, "to weep."
14 I.e., dead.
15 Etymology uncertain.
16 For this name see Sect XIX. Note 6.
17 Etymology uncertain.
*
Or ten spans long.-W.G.A.
1 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 sabre ten hand-breadths long. The length of sabres and
of
beards was measured by such "grasps
grasps" or "hand-breadths.”
†The sabre is curved, but the ancient Japanese sword was straight.
-W.G.A.
2 The original names of this deity and the next are Iha-saku-no-
kami and Ne-saku-no-kami.
3 Or the Rock-Elder-Male-Deity, i.e., the Male Deity the Elder of
38
[VOL. V.
„KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
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.
8
the Rocks, if with Motowori we regard the second tsu of the original
name Iha-tsutsu-no-wc-no-kami as being equivalent to chi or ji, supposed
to be "the honorific appellation of males" elsewhere rendered "elder."
The translation in the text proceeds on the assumption that this tsu
represents mochi. The purport of the name remains much the same
whichever of these two views be adopted.
4 Explained by reference to the parallel passage of the "Chronicles"
through a character signifying "the knob at the end of the guard of
the sword."--(Williams' "Syllabic Dictionary.")
I have seen in the Tokio Museum an ancient sword the hilt of
which ended in a ring, and a definition of given in the Shoki
Shukai) is "sword-ring."-W.G.A.
5 Mika-haya-bi-no-kami. Motowori seems to be right in regarding
mika as equivalent to ika, the root of ikameshiki, "stern," "awful,”
and bi as the root of buru, a verbalising suffix.
6 Hi haya-bi-no-kami.
*
The character in the Shoki is Hiru, to parch, to scorch, to
dry in the sun.-W.G.A.
7 Take-mika-dzu-chi-no-wo-no-kami, written with the characters
PIŻEJ. The translator has without much hesitation followed
Motowori's interpretation.
8 Take-futsu-no-kami. The next name is Toyo-futsu-nc-kami. Futsu
is interpreted in the sense of "the sound of snapping" by reference
to a passage in the "Chronicles" where it occurs written both ideo-
graphically and phonetically in the name of the deity Futsu-no-mi-tama.
9 The etymology of both these names is obscure. Kura, the first
element of each compound, signifies "dark."
VOL. V.]
VOL. I. SECT. VIII.
39
The name of the Deity that was born from the head of
the Deity Shining-Elder who had been slain was the Deity
Possessor-of-the-True-Pass-Mountains.10 The name of the Deity
that was next born from his chest was the Deity Possessor-of-
Descent-Mountains.¹¹ The name of the Deity that was next
born from his belly was the Deity Possessor-of-the-Innermost
Mountains.12 The name of the Deity that was next born from his
private parts was the Deity Possessor-of-the-Dark-Mountains.
The name of the Deity that was next born from his left hand¹³
was the Deity Possessor-of-the-Dense [ly-Wooded]-Mountains.
The name of the Deity that was next born from his right
hand¹3 was the Deity Possessor-of-the-Outlying-Mountains.
The name of the Deity that was next born from his left foot™
was the Deity Possessor-of-the-Moorland-Mountains. The
name of the Deity that was next born from his right foot¹ was
10 This is the explanation of the original name Ma-saka-yama-tsu-
mi-no-kami which is given in the "Secret of the Chronicles of Japan,”
and is approved by the later commentators.
11 Odo-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami.
The English rendering is uncertain,
as it rests only on a conjecture of Motowori's, deriving odo from ori-do
(T), "descending place," way down.
12 The original names of this and the following five deities are:
Oku-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, Kura-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, Shigi-yama-tsu-
mi-no-kami, Ha-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, Hara-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami and
To-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami. Shigi, here translated "dense," seems to be
almost certainly a contraction of shigeki, which has that signification.
Ha-yama is a term for which it is hard to find an exact English
equivalent. It denotes the lesser hills or first visibly rising ground
forming the approach to an actual mountain-range. The signification
of to in the last name of the set is disputed. Mabuchi takes it in the
sense of "gate." The translator prefers Motowori's view; but after
all, the difference in meaning does not amount to much. A third
derivation proposed by Motowori is tawa-yama, i.e. "mountains with
folds.'
برد
See the Nihongi on this passage.—W.G.A
13 Or "arm."
14 Or "leg."
40
VOL VI.]
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
the Deity Possessor-of-the-Outer-Mountains.
(Eight Deities in
all from the Deity Possessor-of-the-True-Pass-Mountains to the Deity
Possessor-of-the-Outer-Mountains.)
So the name of the sword
with which [the Male-Who-Invites] cut off [his son's head]
was Heavenly-Point-Blade-Extended, and another name was
Majestic-Point-Blade-Extended.15
[SECT. IX. THE LAND OF HADES.]
A
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.¹ So
when from the palace she raised the door and came out to
meet him,² His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites spoke, saying:
"Thine Augustness my lovely younger sister! the lands that I
15 These two names are in the original Ame-no-wo-ha-bari and Itsu-
no-wo-ha-bari. Their import is not absolutely clear, but they seem to
designate a weapon broad towards the point, such as is represented in
the illustrations given in Vol. I, pp. 19-20 and Vol. II, pp. 4-5 of the
Tokiha-Gusa.”
((
r
1 The characters in the original which are here rendered Hades
are, lit. "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 with the characters
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 (“ Tōga,” art. Idzumi) that the word may really be
but a mispronunciation of Yama, the Sanscrit name of the Buddhist
god of hell, is however worthy of consideration; and 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 Shintō notion of the world beyond, or
rather beneath, the grave.
VOL. VI.]
41
VOL. I. SECT. IX.
"and thou made are not yet finished making; so come back!"
Then Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites answered, say-
ing: "Lamentable indeed that thou camest not sooner! I
"have eaten of the furnace of Hades.† 3 Nevertheless, as I
"reverence the entry here of Thine Augustness my lovely
"elder brother, I wish to return.5 Moreover I will discuss it
2 The original textƑLÓŻE seems to be corrupt,
and Motowori, unable to make anything of F, leaves without
any Japanese reading (see the remarks in his Commentary, Vol. VI.
pp. 5-6).
Mr. Aston, in the version of this passage given in the
Chrestomathy appended to his "Grammar of the Japanese Written
Language," follows Motowori in not translating but does not
allude to the difficulty.
This character should I think be read agari, a 'temporary burying
place,' but this does not remove the whole difficulty. See the Nihon
Shoki in this passage.-W.G.A.
† A wide-spread idea that once having eaten of the food of a
place one is bound to remain ?-W.G.A.
3 I.e., "of the food of Hades." It would be more obvious (fol-
lowing 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 ‚¹ a place for cooking,"
((
As in the Nihongi.-W.G.A.
4 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 honour you do me,”
"I am sorry you should have taken the trouble."
CC
a furnace."
("
5 Q.d. "with thee to the land of the living."
more-
6 The original here has the character . which signifies
over" as in the translation, and Motowori's proposed emendation to
has for it the authority of no manuscript or earlier printed edition. In
his "Records of Ancient Matters with the Ancient Reading" he
actually substitutes this very new reading, accompanying it in kana
with the Japanese words ashita ni, “in the morning." But what is to
become of the text if we are at liberty to alter it to suit our con-
venience, for there is more than one other pasage where I is
similarly used?
42
(c
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VI.
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
belly dwelt the Black-Thunder, in her private parts dwelt the
Cleaving-Thunder, in her left hand dwelt the Young-Thunder,
in her right hand dwelt the Earth-Thunder, in her left foot¹¹
dwelt the Rumbling-Thunder, in her right foot dwelt the
Couchant-Thunder ;-altogether eight Thunder-Deities had
been born and dwelt there.12 Hereupon His Augustness the
(C
7 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. Conf. Note 23 to this Section.
8 Literally "the male pillar," i.e. the large tooth of which there
is one at each end of the comb.
9 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 a native" 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.
10 Or 66 arm."
11 Or "leg."
12 The Japanese names of the eight Thunder-Deities are: Oho-
ikadzuchi, Ho-no-ikadzuchi, Kuro-ikadzuchi, Saku-ikadzuchi, Waki-ika-
dzuchi, Tsuchi-ikadzuchi, Nara-ikadzuchi and Fushi-ikadzuchi. Moribe,
VOL. VI.]
43
VOL. I. SECT. IX.
he
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-dress¹4 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 sabre that was augustly girded on him,
fled forward brandishing it in his back hand;15 and as they
still pursued, he took, on reaching the base of the Even Pass
of Hades,16 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
in his Critique on Motowori's Commentary, has some observations on
the appropriateness of each of these names which the student will do
well to consult if the work should be published.*
The Nihongi makes eight of these.--W.G.A.
* Why not "produced"? The Nihongi has "changed into."--W.G.A.
13 Yomo-tsu-shiko-me.
14 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 homony-
mous, and indeed the former is probably but a specialised acceptation
of the latter.
CC
15 I.e. brandishing it behind him.
16 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.
See also Note 27 to this Section.
44
(6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VI.
to the peaches: "Like as ye have helped me, so must ye help
"all living people" in the Central Land of Reed-Plains¹8 when
"they shall fall into troublous circumstances and be harassed!"
and he gave [to the peaches] the designation of Their
Augustnesses Great-Divine-Fruit.19 Last of all his younger
sister Her Augustness the Princess-Who-Invites came out her-
self in pursuit. So he drew a thousand-draught rock,20 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;2¹ and Her Augustness the Female-
Who-Invites said: "My lovely elder brother, thine August-
17 The three characters here rendered “people are
evidently (Motowori notwithstanding) meant to be equivalent to the
common Chinese expression, which has that signification. The
word translated "living" means literally "present," "visible."
""
*Yes. It is applied to people in this actual visible world as opposed
to the gods and spirits who cannot be seen and is the expression used
in the corresponding passage of the Nihongi.-W.G.A.
18 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. Yama-
zaki 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 centre of the universe. This is also the
view taken by the other earlier scholars.
19 Oho-kamu-dzu-mi-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.
20 I.e., a rock which it would take a thousand men to lift.
VOL. VI.]
45
VOL. I. SECT. IX.
ness! If thou do like this, I will in one day strangle to
“death a thousand of the folks of thy land." Then His August-
ness 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.22 In this
"manner each day a thousand people would surely die, and
"each day a thousand and five hundred people would surely
"be born." So Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites is
called the Great-Deity-of-Hades 3 Again it is said that, owing
to her having pursued and reached [her elder brother], she is
called the Road-Reaching-Great-Deity.24 Again the rock with
which he blocked up the Pass of Hades is called the Great-
Deity-of-the-Road-Turning-back,25 and again it is called the
21 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. Motowori's "Commentary," Vol. VI, pp. 29–
30 and Vol. X, pp. 52-55, should be consulted for an elaborate
discussion of the various interpretations which they may be made to
bear. 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."
""
22 I.e., “I will cause fifteen hundred women to bear children."
(For the custom of erecting a separate hut for a woman about to be
delivered see Introduction p. xxxii.)
23 Yomo-tsu-oho-kami. On this rather embarrassing statement Moto-
wori 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.") Conf.
Note 7 to this Section.
(6
24 Chi-shiki-no-oho-kami. [This is Motowori's reading. We might
also read Michi-shiki-no-oho-kami.] Motowori conclusively proves that
reaching" is the signification of the word shiki which is here so
translated. That it was already obscure at the time of the compilation
of these " Records" is however shown by the fact that it is written
syllabically in the first instance, and with a "borrowed character
(i.e., a homonymous word) in the second.
25 Because the goddess was turned back by it on the road where
""
46
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VI.
So what was
27
Blocking-Great-Deity-of-the-Door-of-Hades.26
called the Even-Pass-of-Hades is now called the Ifuya-Pass in
the Land of Idzumo.
[SECT. X. 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!¹* So I will perform the purification of my august
person."
So he went out to a plain [covered with] ahagi²
at a small river-mouth near Tachibana³ in Himuka in [the
(C
The original is Chi-gaheshi
she was pursuing her brother-husband.
[or Michi-gaheshi]-no-oho-kami.
26 Sayari-masu-yomi-do-no-oho-kami.
27 Ifuya-zaka. Moribe in his "Idzu-no-chi-waki" conjectures that
Ifuya may be derived from Yufu-yami, "evening darkness," an ety-
mology which has at least the merit of suiting the legend.
* That I have.-W.G.A.
1 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.
+ Exclamation.-W.G.A.
2 This botanical name is identified by Arawi Hakuseki and Hirata
with the modern hagi, or "bushclover" (lespedeza of various species).
The received opinion used to be that the awoki (Aucuba Japonica) was
here intended.
3 Tachibana is understood to be the general designation of treės
of the orange tribe. (See however Sect, LXXIV, Note 7.) Here it
is used as a proper name.
4 This name, which signifies "sun-confronting," was not unnat-
urally 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.
<<
VOL. VI.]
VOL. I. SECT. X.
47
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.5
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 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.¹º
8
9
5 In our text Tsuki-tatsu-funa-do." But funa should almost certainly
be ku-na and the name (which has here been translated accordingly)
is then illustrated by the more extended version of this myth which
is given in the "Chronicles," where we read that the god (probably
addressing his sister) threw down his staff with the words:
"Come
no further."
"Stand" must be understood in a Transitive sense: the
god stood his staff up by thrusting it into the sand.
Fu of funa may be a Verb meaning "to pass" containing the
same root as heru. Funada and Kunado would then have the same
signification. Was there a practice of setting up a post to warn people
not to approach too closely where a harai was being performed?-W.G.A.
6 This is Moribe's explanation (“Idzu-no-Chi-waki." Vol. IV, p.
44) of the meaning of the original name Michi-no-naga-chi-ha-no-kami,
the syllable ha of which is considered by him to be an alternative
form of ma (, "space"). It is however a great crux and Motowori
confesses his inability to explain it satisfactorily. Other views as to
the import of the syllable in question will be found in the Jin-dai
no maki Mo-sh ho-gusa," Vol. II, p. 29.
*C
7 This seems to be the meaning of the original name, if we retain
the reading Toki-okashi-no-kami. See however Motowori's remarks in
loco.
8 Wadzurahi-no-ushi-no-kami.
9 Chi-mata-no-kami.
10 Aki-guhi-no-ushi-no-kami. The English rendering of this obscure.
name proceeds on the assumption that Motowori is correct when he
48
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VI.
12
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 foregoing¹³ list from
the Deity Come-Not-Place down to the Deity Inter-
mediate-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
(6
proposes to consider kuhi as equivalent in this place to kuchi, “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.
11 Or "arm."
12 The names of this deity and the five who follow are in the
original Oki-zakaru-no-kami, Oki-tsu-nagisa-biko-no-kami, Oki-tsu-kahi-
bera-no-kami, He-zakaru-no-kami, He-tsu-nagisa-biko-no-kami and He-
tsu-kah:-bera-no-kami. The word ".wash," by which for want of a
better one the Substantive nagisa has been rendered, must be under-
stood to signify the part nearest to the strand of the sea or of a
river, the boundary of the waves. The third and sixth of this set
of names, in which the syllables kahi-bera (here represented by
"Intermediate Direction") offer a good deal of difficulty, have been
translated in accordance with Motowori's explanation of their probable
meaning.
13 Lit. " 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," "fol-
lowing."
(C
VOL. VI.]
49
VOL. I. SECT. X.
These
washed, there was first born the Wondrous-Deity-of-Eighty-
Evils, and next the Wondrous-Deity-of-Great-Evils.¹4
two Deities are the Deities that were born from the filth [he
contracted] when he went to that polluted, hideous land.15 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,16 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,18 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
į
14 The names of these two deities in the original are Ya-so-maga-
tsu-bi-no-kami and Oho-maga-tsu-bi-no-kami.
15 Viz. to Hades.
16 The names of these two deities in the original are Kamu-naho-
bi-no-kami and Oho-naho-bi-no-kami.
-
17 Idzu-ne-me-na-kami. The word Idzu is incomprehensible, unless
indeed, following Motowori, we identify this goddess with the god
and goddess Haya-aki-dzu-hiko and Haya-aki-dzu-hime mentioned in
Sect. VI. Note 10, and consider idzu as standing by apheresis for
ak-dzu.
<<
18 The original names of this deity and the five who follow are
Soko-tsu-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami, Soko-dzutsu-no-wo-no-mikoto, Nika-tsu-watu-
tsu-mi-no-kami, Naka-dzutsu-no-wo-no-mikoto, Uha-tsu-wata-tsu-mi-no-
komi and Uha-dzutsu-no-wo-no-mikoto. There is the usual doubt as to
the signification to be assigned to the syllable tsu in the second, fourth
and last of these names. If it really means, not elder but pos-
sessor," we should be obliged to translate by "the Bottom-Possessing-
Male," etc.
>>
"
50
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VI.
Adzumi.19 So the Chiefs of Adzumi are the descendants of
His Augustness Utsushi-hi-gana-saku,20 a child of these Ocean-
Possessing Deities.21 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.22 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.24
The name
23
19 Adzumi no murazhi. This name is said by Motowori to be taken
from that of a place in the province of Shinano. Bnt Moribe shows
that at any rate the etymology of the word may be traced to ama-tsu-
mochi, "possessors of fishermen."
20 It is impossible to translate this name which, according to Moto-
wori, is derived from those of two districts in Shinano to which the
word utsushi (for utsutsu, "present or "living") is prefixed.
21 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
e are forced to translate this passage in the Plural; and yet how
could one child have three fathers?
"C
>>
22 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."
23 Ama-terasu-oho-mi-kami (K). The reading terasu, which
is established by the authority of the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves"
and by almost universal usage, must not mislead the student into
imagining that the Verb, because it is Causative in form, has a
Causative meaning which would require some such English translation
as "Heaven-Illuminating.” The Causative form is simply Honorific,
and the two words ama terasu signify, as Motowori explains, "shining
in heaven."
24 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 trans-
lator has followed Mabuchi's view as quoted by Motowori, and which
is supported by the fact that, from classical times down to the present
VOL. VI.]
VOL. I. SECT. XI.
51
of the Deity that was next born as he washed his august nose
was His Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness.25
The fourteen Deities in the foregoing list from the Won-
drous-Deity-of-Eighty-Evils down to His Swift-Inpetuous-
Male-Augustness are Deities born from the bathing of
his august person,
[SECT. XI-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 jewel-
string' forming his august necklace, he bestowed it on 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-Store-house-Shelf-Deity.2 Next he said to His
day, tsuku-yo or tsuki-yo has been a word in common use to denote a
fine moonlight night. It 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. The characters 月​讀​,月​弓​,and 月夜​見​,with
which the name is variously written, seem all phonetic unless we
might take the second set to mean the crescent (lit. "moon-bow").
25 Take-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto. Susa, which is sometimes read
Sosa, is rendered by the word impetuous' in accordance with
Mabuchi's view as quoted by Motowori. The first member of this
""
(6
1 I.e., "the string of jewels."
Introduction, p. xxxv.
دو
compound name is frequently omitted."
*
But possibly the derivation from Susamu may have suggested
some features of the myths connected with him. See Idzumo Fudoki
Vol. III, 77, the Kana edition, from which it may be gathered that
Susa no wo is only a description. Susa being the seat of fire worship.—
W.G.A.
For these so-called "jewels" see
52
“KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VII.
Augustness Moon-Night-Possessor:
"Do Thine Augustness
rule the Dominion of the Night:"3 Thus he charged him.
Next he said to His-Brave-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness:
"Do Thine Augustness rule the Sea-Plain."
[SECT. XII-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 [their father]
had deigned to charge them, His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-August-
ness 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.2 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.3* 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
4
5
2 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 store-house.
3 Yoru-no-wosu-kuni.
4 Una-bara.
1 See Sect. VIII, Note 1.
<t
2 Lit, in front of his heart."
3 Sic in the original, to the perplexity of commentators.
The God being the Sea-God perhaps it is meant that by his
weeping he wasted away his own substance, i.e., the sea, the rivers,
and all moisture everywhere so as to leave everything dry.-W.G.A.
4" Flies in the fifth moon" is the received interpretation of the
original term sa-bahe. Conf. sa-tsuki, the old native name for the fifth
moon.
5 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 endeavoured to
preserve the vagueness of the original Japanese, which leaves it
doubtful at first sight whether the flies or the deities should be
VOL. VII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XIII.
53
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 Dis-
"tant 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.12
""
[SECT. XIII.—THE AUGUST OATH.]
So thereupon His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness said:
If that be so, I will take leave' of the Heaven-Shining-Great-
(C
There is an almost
regarded as the logical subject of the Verb.
identical passage near the beginning of Sect. XVI.
6 Lit. "a myriad things," a Chinese phrase for totality.
7 The Chinese character for the First-Personal Pronoun used here
and below by this deity is the humble one
signifying literally
"C
servant." The commentators read it simply "I."
8 The Japanese authorities simply read 'Mother." But the
character t, which is used in this place, specially designates a mother
who is deceased.
9 I.e., Hades. The translation follows Motowori's explanation of
the original term Ne-no-kata-su-kuni, which is obscure.
10 I.e., say the commentato1s, "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.
11 Derivation unknown.
12 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. It is also known as Chika-tsu-Afumi, i.e., "the Nearer
Afumi," in contradistinction to Toho-tsu-fumi (in modern pronunciation
Tōtōmi), i.e., “Distant Afumi," a province further to the East.
modern pronunciation of Afumi is Omi.
1 The English locution "to take leave" exactly represents the
Chinese character here used which, from having the sense of " asking
permission," has come to mean "bidding adieu."
•
The
54
((
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL VII.
""
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 no good intent.3 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
4
5
((
2 He was her younger brother.* But see what is said on the
subject of names expressive of relationship on p. xli of Introduction.
The phonetic characters are here used to represent, "elder
brother."
The Nihongi has the Chinese character for younger brother,
rendered by nase no mikoto in the Kana gloss.--W.G.A.
<<
3 Literally "heart," here and elsewhere.
4 Or "hand,"
The original is here obscure, but the translator has, as usual,
followed the Chinese characters as for 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. For a discussion of the various interpretations to
which this phrase descriptive of the Sun-Goddess's ornaments may
be subjected, see Note 4 to Mr. Satow's third paper on the "Rituals"
in Vol. IX, Pt. II, p. 198 of these "Transactions," and Moribe's
"Examination of Difficult Words," Vol. II. pp. 4-5, s.. Ya-saka-ni
no iho-tsu no mi sumaru no tama. 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.
""
VOL. VII.]
55
VOL. I. SECT. XIII.
P
9
[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,¹0+ 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 enquire the cause of my
"wailing and weeping, I said: 'I wail because I wish to go
"to my deceased mother's land,'-whereupon the Great-August
Deity said: Thou shalt not dwell in this land,' and deigned
"to expel me with a divine expulsion. It is therefore solely
"with the thought of taking leave of thee and departing, that
"I have ascended hither. I have no strange intentions."
Then the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity said: "If that
((
"(
C
6 Hirata supposes this additional quiver to have been slung in
front.
7 Motowori's long note on the expression taka-tomo, to be found
in Vol. VII, pp. 39-40 of his “ Commentary" seems to prove that
"high-sounding elbow-pad" ( being written phonetically for ) is
the most likely meaning,-these pads, of which one was worn on the
left elbow, having been made of skin. Arawi Hakuseki however takes
in its literal sense of "bamboo," and Moribe suggests the take (1)
which occurs so often in proper names with the signification of
"bold," "brave," or "stout."
Does this not mean simply that she brandished it top upwards,
i.c., in a position for shooting? furi being an adverb qualifying tateru
and indicating a swift motion. cf. furikayeru etc.-W.G.A.
<<
8 The reading yu-hara, here rendered top [of the bow]" is
doubtful, and yu-hadzu, "bow-notch," has been proposed as an emen-
dation.
9 I.e.,
both legs penetrated into the ground up to the thigh,” a
proof of the vigour with which she used her limbs in stamping.
10 Lit. "bubble-snow."
* Or the foam-like snow?—W.G.A.
56
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VII.
"be so, whereby shall I know the sincerity of thine intentions?"
Thereupon His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness replied, say-
ing: "Let each of us swear," and produce children."* So as
they then swore to each other from the opposite banks of the
Tranquil River of Heaven, the august names of the Deities
that were born from the mist [of her breath] when, having
first begged His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness to hand her
the ten-grasp sabre which was girded on him and broken it
into three fragments, and with the jewels making a jingling
sound¹³ having brandished and washed them in the True-Pool-
Well of Heaven,14 and having crunchingly crunched them, the
11 I.e., "pledge our faith," "bind ourselves," in order to show
forth the sincerity of our intentions.-Hirata has a long note on the
word ukehi, here rendered swear (elsewhere as a Substantive,
"oath") which the student will do well to consult. It is contained
in his "Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. VII, pp. 61–63.
According to the Nihonshoki the oath was to prove the sincerity
of his intentions. If the children were male his intentions were to
be considered good, but if female, otherwise.-W.G.A.
12 Ame-no-yasu-kaha (according to Motowori's reading me-no-ya-u-
no-kaha), our Milky Way. The "Chronicles of Old Matters of
Former Ages" perhaps preserve the true etymology of the word by
writing it Ama no ya-se kaha, i.e., "the Heavenly River of eight cur-
rents (or reaches)." This would mean simply "a broad river." The
text literally says: "having placed the Tranquil River of Heaven in
the middle," etc., but the sense of the clause is that given in the
translation.
13 These words seem, as Motowori says, to have been erroneously
brought in here from the next sentence, where they come in appro-
priately.
<<
<<
در
Rinsed furi one description of the style of washing.-W.G.A.
14 Ame-no-ma-na-wi. The interpretation adopted is that which
has the authority of Motowori and Hirata. Perhaps only "Heavenly
Well" is intended. The above authorities warn us that the word wi,
well," was not in ancient days restricted to its modern sense, but
was used to designate any place at which water could be drawn, and
Motowori thinks that Heaven contained several such. That mentioned
of the Tranquil
in the text seems to have been a pool in the bed
River of Heaven.
7
VOL. VII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XHI.
57
:
Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity blew them away, were
Her Augustness Torrent-Mist-Princess,15 another august name
for whom is Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Island-of-the-
Offing; next Her Augustness Lovely-Island-Princess, 16 another
august name for whom is Her Augustness Good-Princess; next
Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Torrent.¹7 The august name
of the Deity that was born from the mist [of his breath] when,
having begged the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity to hand
him the augustly complete [string] of curved jewels eight feet
[long],-of five hundred jewels, that was twisted in the left
august bunch [of her hair], and with the jewels making a
jingling sound having brandished and washed them in the
True-Pool-Well of Heaven, and having crunchingly crunched
them, His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness blew them away,
was His Augustness Truly-Conqueror-I-Conquer-Conquering-
Swift-Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears. The august name of the
15 This is the interpretation of the original name Ta-kiri-bime-no-
mikoto which is proposed by Moribe. It is less far-fetched, and
agrees better with the name of the sister deity Princess-of-the-Torrent,
than do the other explanations that have been attempted. The alter-
native name is Oki-tsu-shima-no-mikoto.
16 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-zhima, i.e., “Temple
Island." The alternative name is Sa-yori-bime-no-mikoto, in which w
is an Ornamental Prefix not calling for translation.
17 Tagi-tsu-hime-no-mikoto.
18 Masa-ka-a-katsu-kachi-hayabi-ame-no-oshi-ho-mimi-no-mikoto.. 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. Thus Prince Umayado (commonly called
Shō-toku Tai-sh) had also the name of Ya-tsu-mimi no Tai-shi AĦ
bestowed upon him on account of his extraordinary intelligence.
Is it not therefore simpler in all cases to allow to the word this its
د.
→
(C
58
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VII.
་་
Deity that was born from the mist [of his breath] when again,
having begged her to hand him the jewels that were twisted
in the right august bunch [of her hair], and having crunchingly
crunched them, he blew them away, was His Augustness Ame-
no-hohi.19 The august name of the Deity that was born from
the mist [of his breath] when again, having begged her to
hand him the jewels that were twisted in her august head-
dress, and having crunchingly crunched them, he blew them
away, was His Augustness Prince-Lord-of-Heaven.20 The
august name of the Deity that was born from the mist [of his
breath] when again, having begged her to hand him the jewels
that were twisted on her left august arm, and having crun-
chingly crunched them, he blew them away, was His August-
ness Prince-Lord-of-Life.22 The august name of the Deity that
was born from the mist [of his breath] when again, having
begged her to hand him the jewels that were twisted on her
right august arm," and having crunchingly crunched them, he
blew them away, was His-Wondrous-Augustness-of-Kumanu.23
(Five Deities in all.)
21
-
natural meaning? The proper names in mi do however undoubtedly
offer some difficulty, and Motowori scarcely seems content with his
own derivation of the troublesome syllable. Oshi, as in other cases,
is taken to represent ohoshi, "great"; and after much hesitation the
translator has followed Motowori in regarding ho likewise as an
abbreviated form of that word.
Mimi is the name given to certain governors of provinces by
the Chinese writers quoted in the Isho Nihon Den.-W.G.A.
19 Ame-no signifies "of Heaven" or "heavenly.” The syllables
hohi are incomprehensible.
20 Ama-tsu-hiko-ne-no-mikoto.
21 Or "hand.”
22 Iku-tsu-hiko-ne-no-mikoto.
23 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 (see Sect. XIX, Notes 1 and 2).
The
VOL. VII.]
59
VOL. I. SECT. XIV.
[SECT. XIV. 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 seed¹
"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 Augustness Torrent-
Mist-Princess, the Deity born first, dwells in the Inner temple of
Munakata.2 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 temple³
of Munakata. These three Deities are the three Great Deities4
held in reverence by the Dukes of Munakata.5 So His August-
name is written with the characters, "bear moor." The native
commentators however interpret it as a corruption of Komori-nu, F,
"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.
رد
((
1 I.e., the origin.
2 A place in the province of Chikuzen. The name signifies either
"breast-shape" or "body-shape."
3 Or "sea-shore temple."
4 Or "the Great Deities of the three shrines."
5 Munakata no kimi. Remember that all the names in this and
similar lists are hereditary "gentile names (see Introduction, p. xviii),
and that "Duke" and the other titles used in this translation to
designate them must only be regarded as approximations towards
giving the force of the Japanese originals, which are themselves by
no means always clear, either etymologically or historically. Indeed
Motowori in a chapter entitled "Kuni no Miyatsuko" () in his
Tama-Katsuma," Vol. VI, p. 25, remarks that the distinctions ob-
taining between the various titles of Kimi, Wake, Murazhi, etc., are
>>
60
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VII.
ness Brave-Rustic-Illuminator, child of His Augustness Ame-
no-hohi, one of the five children born afterwards (this is the
ancestor of the Rulers of the Land of Idzumo,' of the Rulers of the
Land of Muzashi,³ of the Rulers of the Upper Land of Unakami,⁹ of
the Rulers of the Lower Land of Unakamı,10 of the Rulers of the
no longer to be ascertained, if indeed they were ever sharply drawn,
and that Kuni no Miyatsuko (here rendered "Rulers of the Land”)
seems to have been a general term including all the rest, and roughly
corresponding to the modern title of Daimiō.-It must be well under-
stood that all these names, though properly and originally denoting
an office, were inherited as titles, and ended (after the custom of
conferring new ones had died out) by being little more than an extra
surname appended to the surname proper (uji). This kind of quasi-
official quasi-titular surname is what is called by the Japanese a
kabane, which the translator, for want of a better equivalent, renders
by "gentile name." Motowori's learned note in Vol. XXXIX, pp.
14-15 of his Commentary, should be consulted for a full exposition
of this somewhat intricate subject, on which there has been much
misapprehension, chiefly owing to the want of a fitting Chinese
character to denote the word kabane.
6 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 foot-notes, 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 Nomina-
tive. The name in the original of the ancestral deity whose children
are here enumerated is Take-Hira-Tori-no-mikoto and the interpretation
thereof in the sense given in the translation is Motowori's, Hira-tori
being supposed by him to stand for Hina-teri.
7 Idzumo-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko.
8 Muzashi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko.
Musashi does not take the nigori.
9 Kami-tsu- Unakami-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Unakami was a part of
what forms the modern province of Kadzusa. The name probably
signifies "on the sea."
10 Shimo-tsu-Unakami-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko.
In classical and modern usage
>
VOL. VII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XIV.
61
Land of Izhimu,li of the Departmental Suzerains of the Island of
Tsu¹2 and of the Rulers of the Land of Toho-tsu-Afumi.13)
The next,
His Augustness Prince-Lord-of-Heaven (is the ancestor of the
Rulers of the Land of Ofushi-kafuchi,4 of the Chiefs of Nukatabe-no-
yuwe,15 of the Rulers of the Land of Ki,16 of the Suzerains of Tanaka¹7 in
Yamato, of the Rulers of the Land of Yamashiro, 18 of the Rulers of
the Land of Umaguta,19 of the Rulers of the Land of Kihe20 in Michi-
11 Izhimu-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Izhimu (given in the "Japanese
Words Classified and Explained" as Izhimi) was a portion of the
modern province of Kadzusa. The etymology of the name is unknown.
12 Tsushima-no-agata-no-atahe.
13 Toho-tsu-afumi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. In modern times Toho-tsu-
afumi has been contracted to Tohotafumi and is pronounced Tōtōmi.
The name signifies distant fresh sea" (i.e., "distant lake "), the
province which bears it being thus designated in reference to a large
lagoon which it contains, and in contradistinction to Chika-tsu-afumi,
near fresh sea," the name of the province in which lies Lake Biwa.
In modern times the latter has come to be known simply as Afumi
(pronounced Omi), and the original connection of ideas between its
name and that of Tōtōmi is lost sight of.
(C
14 Ohoshi-kafuchi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko.
Ohoshi-kafuchi (in modern
times pronounced Ōchikōchi) signifies "within the great rivers.”
men-
15 Nakatabe-no-yuwe-no-murazhi. The meaning of this name is not
certain, but yuwe seems to be the word for "bathing woman
tioned in Sect. LXXI (Note 11). See Motowori's remarks in Vol.
XXIV, p. 56 of his " Commentary" and the story of the origin of
the name given in the "Catalogue of Family Names," Vol. II, pp, 8–9
(edit. of 1834.)
""
16 Ki-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Ki signifies "tree," and the province.
doubtless received this name from its forests.
Motowori supposes
the character to have been lost in this place, and reads Ubaraki
(the modern Ibaraki), a portion of the province of Hitachi. See Vol.
VII, pp. 75-76 of his “ Commentary."
17 Tanaka-no-atahe. The word ta-naka signifies "in the middle of
the ricefields."
18 Yamashiro-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Yama-shiro signifies "behind
the mountains," though it is now, by a play upon words, written with
characters signifying "mountain-castle."
19 Umaguta-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko.
Umaguta is a portion of the
62
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KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VIII.
"
no-Shiri,21 of the Rulers of the Land of Suhau,22 of the Rulers of
Amuchi, in Yamato, of the Departmental Suzerains of Takechi, of
the Territorial Lords of Kamafu,25 and of the Rulers of Sakikusabe26).
£3
[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, he
broke down the divisions of the ricefields laid out by the
Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity, filled up the ditches, and
modern province of Kadzusa. The etymology of the name is not
known.
20 Kihe-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. The etymology of the name and the
position of the place are equally obscure.
21 The modern province of Echigo, or perhaps any not well defined
district in the north of the Main Island. (See Section LX, Note 20.)
22 Suhau-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. The etymology of Suhau is not
known; but the name sounds Chinese.
23 Amuchi-no-miyatsuko. The derivation of Amuchi is unknown.
24 Takechi-no-agata-nushi. Takechi means "high market" or "high
town."
25 Kamafu-no-inaki. Kamafu was a portion of Afumi. Motowori's
suggestion that the name may be derived from kama (gama),
frog," does not seem a happy one.
"C
a bull-
26 Sakikusabe-no-miyatsuko. Sakikusa-be means literally "lily clan,”
sakikusa, the old name for the lily (or one species of lily) being
literally "the luckplant." The story of the origin of this cognomen
Catalogue of Family Names," Vol. II, p. 9.
is to be found in the
1 Literally "if one speak from this.”
2 The character used is H, which in Chinese does not necessarily
signify a rict-field. But in Japanese it seems to have been always
limited to this narrower meaning, to which likewise the context here
clearly points.
VOL. VIII.]
63
VOL. I. SECT. XV.
•
5
moreover strewed excrements3* in the palace where she partook
of the great food.¹ 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 drunken-
" ness. 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 occupy6] 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
"C
66
<<
* See the offences enumerated in the Oho-harahi norito.-W.G.A.
(For translation of this norito see T.A.S.J. reprints Vol. II. 1927.)
3 In the original written, 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."
† What Motoori says is that mari means to pass either excrements
or urine.-W.G.A.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
CC
7 The character used is, 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.
Is it not possible that Imi may havè meant "taboo," an ancient
form of our "No admittance except on business"?-W.G.A.
64
"KO-JI-KI
""
OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VIII.
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.11
10
[SECT. XVI. THE DOOR OF THE HEAVENLY ROCK DWELLING.]
S
1
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,2 and retired, Then
the whole Plain of High Heaven was obscured and all the
Central Land of Reed-Plains darkened. Owing to this,
eternal³ night prevailed. Hereupon the voices of the myriad
Deities were like unto the flies in the fifth moon as they
8 Written with characters signifying literally "garment-house," but
the meaning, as understood by the native commentators, is that given
in the text.
9. This character is taken by the native commentators in the
sense of, mune, "ridge-pole."
10 I.e., it is supposed, beginning at the tail. That this was con-
sidered criminal may be seen by comparing Sect. XCVII, Note 3.
11 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.
1 Motowori says that the word "rock need not here be taken
literally. But it is always (and the translator thinks rightly) so under-
stood, and the compound considered to mean a cave in the rocks,
which is also the expression found in the " Chronicles" (##).
2 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 one of the metal hooks of which mention
is made in Sect. LXV (Note 7).
In my copy the section ends here.-W.G.A.
""
3 Toko-yo, here properly written, and a few lines lower down
semi-phonetically.
4 Motowori supposes
(c
myriad" to be a copyist's error for “evil.”
This clause is a repetition of one in Sect. XII.
VOL. VIII.]
65
VOL. I. SECT. XVI.
swarm and a myriad portents of woe arose. Therefore
did the eight hundred myriad Deities assemble in a divine
assembly in the beds 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,10 calling in the smith Ama-tsu-
ma-ra," charging Her Augustness I-shi-ko-ri-do-me to make
12
""
5 The parallel passage in the Chronicles has “eighty myriads.”
6 The Japanese word kahara, translated "bed," is thus defined in
Dr. Hepburn's Dictionary, 2nd Edit. s.v. kawara: That part of the
stony bed of a river which is dry except in high water."
CC
7 Omohi-kane-no-kami. "He included in his single mind the
thoughts and contrivances of many," says Motowori.
8 I.e., as is generally believed, the barndoor fowl.
"C
9 The text has the character, "iron," which Hirata reads
ma-gane, lit. true metal," the common Japanese term being kuro-gane,
lit. "black metal." Motowori prefers to read simply kane,
"metal"
in general. The main text of the parallel passage in the "Chronicles"
omits to mention the metal of which the mirror was made; but
"One account " has the character, "metal" in general, often in
Chinese, but rarely if ever in old Japanese, with the specific sense of
"gold." The "Chronicles of Old Matters" alone, which are of very
doubtful authenticity, say that the mirror was made of copper.
(Copper was not discovered in Japan till the eight century of the
Christian era, a few years before the discovery of gold.) The best
and most obvious course is to adhere to the character in the text,
which is, as above stated "iron."
But was known. Hakudo , white copper, is frequently
mentioned in the Nihongi, the Kana reading being masumi, “clear."
-W.G A.
10 I.e., the mines. The original expression is Ame no kana-yama.
11 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 "seashore." (It should be remarked that
<<
1
1
66
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KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VIII.
#1
a mirror, and charging His Augustness Jewel-Ancestor¹³ to
make an augustly complete [string] of curved jewels eight feet
[long], of five hundred jewels," and summoning His August-
ness Heavenly-Beckoning-Ancestor-Lord' and His Augustness
Grand-Jewel,16 and causing them to pull out with a complete
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." Hirata identifies this god with
Ama-no-ma-hito-tsu-no-mikoto, His Augustness Heavenly-One-Eye," who
is however not mentioned in these "Records." Obvius hujus nominis
sensus foret "Cœlestis Penis," sed nullius commentatoris anctoritate
commendatur.
Unlikely.-W.G.A.
12 This name is written in the Chronicles with characters
signifying Stone-Coagulating-Old-Woman, which however seem to be
as merely phonetic as those in the present text (PE).
Motowori proposes the interpretation of "Again-Forging Old-Woman "
(MIŁK, I-shikiri-tome) which is supported by a tradition preserved
in the " Gleanings of Ancient Story," where it is related that the
mirror, not having given satisfaction at first, was forged a second
time. There is a long note on the subject of this name in Hirata's
Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. IX, p. 56, where that
author propounds the novel opinion that I-shi-ko-ri-do-me was not a
goddess at all, but a god.
13 Tama-noya-no-mikoto. The "Chronicles write this name with
characters signifying "Jewel-House," but such a reading seems less
good.
"C
#:
etc.
CA
در
>>
14 See Sect. XIII, Note 5.
15 Ame-no-ko-ya-ne-no-mikoto, also read Ama-no etc. and Ama-tsu
The signification of the syllables ko-ya, rendered "beckoning
ancestor in accordance with Motowori's view connecting the name
with the share taken by the god who bore it in the legend here
narrated, is obscure. Mr. Satow thinks that Koya may be the name
of a place (see these "Transactions" Vol. VII, Pt. IV, p. 400).
16 Futo-tama-no-mikoto. The name is here rendered in accordance
with the import of the Chinese characters with which it is written.
Motowori, however, emits a plausible opinion when he proposes to
consider tama as an abbreviation of tamuke, "holding in the hands as
""
VOL VIII.]
67
VOL. I. SECT. XVI.
pulling the shoulder [-blade] of a true stag from the Heavenly
Mount Kagu,18 and take cherry-bark¹ from the Heavenly
Mount Kagu, and perform divination,20 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 branches22 the mirror eight
feet [long], and taking and hanging upon its lower branches
23
an offering,” in connection with what we are told below about this
deity and Ame-no-ko-ya-ne holding the symbolic offerings.
17 The word "true" (ma) here and below is not much more than
an Honorific.
18 We might also, though less well, translate by "Mount Kagu in
Heaven." This would suit the view of Motowori, who is naturally
averse to the identification of this Mount Kagu with the well-known
mountain of that name in Yamato (see Sect. VII, Note 12). But of
course an European scholar cannot allow of such a distinction being
drawn.
19 Or perhaps the bark of the common birch is intended. The
word in the original is haha-ka.
20 See Mr. Satow's already quoted note in Vol. VII, Pt. II, p. 425
et seq, and more especially pp. 430-432, of these "Transactions.”
In order to roast the shoulder-blade with.-W.G.A.
21 In Japanese saka-ki. It is commonly planted in the precincts of
Shinto temples.
""
22 We might also translate in the Singular to a middle branch,"
in order to conform to the rigid distinction which our language draws
between Singular and Plural.
23 A note to the edition of 1687 proposes to substitute the characters
AR for AR, and a note in the original tells us to read them not
ya-ta,† but ya-ata. Hereupon Motowori founds his derivation of ya-ta
from ya-atama, "eight heads," and supposes the mirror to have been,
not eight feet in length, but octangular, while Moribe, who in the
case of the jewels accepts the obvious interpretation "eight feet
[long]," thinks that the mirror had "an eight-fold flowery pattern'
(ya-hana-gata) round its border. But both these etymologies are
unsupported by the other cases in which the word ya-ta occurs, and
>>
68
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VIII.
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,25 and His Augustness Heavenly-Beckoning-Ancestor-
Lord prayerfully reciting grand liturgies,26 and the Heavenly
Hand-Strength-Male-Deity" standing hidden beside the door,
and Her Augustness Heavenly-Alarming-Female28 hanging [round
her] the heavenly clubmoss from the Heavenly Mount Kagu as
a sash,29 and making the heavenly spindle-tree her head-dress,30
are rendered specially untenable by the fact of the mirror and curved
beads being spoken of together further on as the AR (Sect.
XXXIII, Note 20).
If the reading yata is accepted, I prefer the interpretation "8
spans" ta=te, "hand," or perhaps "8 cubits."-W.G.A.
22 In rendering the original word nigi-te (here written phonetically,
but elsewhere with the characters ), the explanation given by
Tanigaha Shisei, and indeed suggested by the characters themselves,
has been followed. Motowori's view does not materially differ, but
he considers "pacificatory" or softening" to be equivalent to soft "
applied to the offerings themselves, which consisted of soft cloth, the
syllable te of nigi-te being believed to be a contraction of tahe which
signifies cloth. The white cloth in ancient times was made of the
paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), and the blue of hemp.
25 The original word is written with the same character as the te
of nigi-te, translated "offerings " above.
"C
CC
26 Or in the Singular "a grand liturgy," or "ritual."
27 Ame-no-ta-jikara-wo-no-kami.
28 Ame-no-uzume-no-mikoto. The translator has followed the best
authorities in rendering the obscure syllables uzu by the word "alarm-
ing." Another interpretation quoted in Tanigaha Shisei's "Perpetual
Commentary on the Chronicles of Japan" and adopted by Moribe in
his "Idzu no Chi-waki," is that uzu means head-dress, and that the
goddess took her name from the head-dress of spindle-tree leaves
which she wore. The character, with which the syllables in
question (here written phonetically) are rendered ideographically in
the "Chronicles,” signifies "metal head-gear," "flowers of gold or
در
silver."
<<
29 Tasuki,
a cord or sash passed over the shoulders, round the
back of the neck, and attached to the wrists, to strengthen the hands
VOL. VIII.]
69
VOL. I. SECT. XVI.
and binding the leaves of the bamboo-grass of the Heavenly
Mount Kagu in a posy for her hands, 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 privatas partes.33 Then the
32
<<
"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."
(E. Satow).
30 I.e., making for himself a head-dress of spindle-tree leaves.*
*
The club-moss seems a more likely material than the spindle
tree for a head-dress-ide Motoori. Later writers mention a Hikage-
Kadzura, never (?) a Misaki-Kadzura.-W.G.A.
+ And laying bottom upward a sounding-board.-W.G.A.
31 The original of these words, uke fusete, is written phonetically,
and the exact meaning of uke, here rendered "sounding-board," is
open to doubt.
The parallel passage in the "Chronicles" has the
character, which signifies a "trough," " manger or "tub," and
the commentators seem therefore right in supposing that the meaning
intended to be conveyed in both histories is that of some kind of
improvised wooden structure used for the purpose of amplifying
sound.
CC
details.
در
* Why not a tub, sans phrase?—W.G.A.
32 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.
33 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
M
70
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KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. VIII.
•
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Plain of High Heaven shook, and the eight hundred myriad
Deities laughed together. Hereupon the Heaven-Shining-Great-
August-Deity was 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-Beckon-
ing-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 rope34 along at her august
back, and spoke, saying: “Thou must not go back further in
"than this!" So when
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.35
<<
34 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 manu-
factured are still used in certain ceremonies and are called shime-naha,
a corruption of the Archaic term. Motowori's explanation shows that
this is more likely to be the proper signification of the word than
"back-limiting-rope" (shiri-he-kagiri-me-naha), which had been pre-
viously suggested by Mabuchi with reference to its supposed origin
at the time of the event narrated in this legend.
35 Motowori plausibly conjectures the character in the concluding
words of this passage to be a copyist's error for, and the translator
has accordingly rendered it by the English word "again."
again." As it
stands, the clause
, though making sense, does not read like
the composition of a Japanese.
VOL. VIII.]
71
VOL. I. SECT. XVII.
[SECT. XVII.—THE AUGUST EXPULSION OF HIS-IMPETUOUS-
MALE-AUGUSTNESS.]
But
Thereupon the eight hundred myriad Deities took counsel
together, and imposed on His-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 even her fundament, and made them
up into all sorts [of dishes], which she offered to him.
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,³
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.
4
5
2
(C
1 I.e.,
an immense fine." The student should consult Motowori's
elaborate note on this passage in Vol. IX, pp. 1-5 of his Commentary.
Tables of gifts are mentioned in Sect. XXXVII, Note 7 and Sect.
XL, Note 13.
191
2 Ohc-ge-tsu-hime-no-kami. This personage (but without the title
of "Deity") has already appeared in Section V. (Note 8) as the
alternative personal name of the Island of Aha.
3 Panicum Italicum.
4 Phaseolus Radiatus.
5 Or less probably "wheat."
*Is the Japanese O-mugi really "barley?"
wheat "
-a different thing?--W.G.A.
Is it not
"bearded
6 Soja Glycine.
7 Kami-musu-bi-mi-oya-no-mikoto, the same deity as the one men-
tioned at the beginning of these "Records" under the shorter title of
Kami-musu-bi-nc-kami. (See Sect. I. Note 6.)
72
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. IX.
..
[SECT. XVIII. THE EIGHT-FORKED SERPENT]
So, having been expelled, [His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-
Augustness] descended to a place [called] Tori-kami' at the
head-waters of the River Hi2 in the Land of Idzumo. At this
time some chopsticks³ 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
4
6
((
JAN
1 Written with the character, "bird's hair," but these must
surely be phonetic. In the "Chronicles" the same name is written
鳥​上​.
2 Or Hii, the chief river in Idzumo. The name is supposed by
some to have been derived from the name of the god Hi-hayabi (see
Section VIII, Note 6).
3 Or in the Singular, "a chopstick."
4 Literally "had placed a young girl between them," a similar
construction to that in Sect. XIII, (Note 12).
5 The humble character
"servant" is used by the old man
for the First Personal Pronoun.
6. Being generally used antithetically to F, "Heaven Deity,"
it seems better to translate the characters thus than by "Country Deity"
CC
or Deity of the Land." (See Section I, Note 11).
"One
7 Oho-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, first mentioned in sect. VI, (Note 17).
8 Ashi-nadzu-chi, the wife's name being Te-nadzu-chi.
account in the "Chronicles" gives Ashi-nadzu-te-nadzu (F)
as the name of the old father alone, while the mother is called Inada-
no-miya-nushi Susa-no-ya-tsu-mimi. (Inada-no-miya-nushi signifies
"Mistress of the Temple of Inada; the signification of the second
compound, which forms the name properly so called is not clear, but
should probably be interpreted to mean "Impetuous-Eight-Ears," the
word susa, "impetuous," containing an allusion to the name of her
divine visitor, and "eight ears being Honorific.)
>>
"
VOL. IX.]
VOL. I. SECT. XVIII.
73
10
"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 Koshi¹0 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 aka-
kagachi," it has one body with eight heads, and eight tails.
"Moreover on its body grows moss, and also chamæcyparis¹²
"and crpytomerias. 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 here called akakagachi is the
<<
<<
(C
<c
9 Kushi-[I]nada-hime, Inada (i.e., ina-da, "rice-field") being the
the name of a place. Kushi signifies not only "wondrous but
comb," and is indeed here written with the character for "comb
, so that there is a play on the word in connection with the
incident of her transformation into a comb which is mentioned
immediately below, though most authorities agree in considering
to be here used phonetically for, which is the reading in the
Chronicles." Moribe, however, in his " Idzu no Chi-waki suggests
the etymology Kush -itadaki-hime() i.e., "Princess [used as] a
comb [for] the head."
"
در
""
در
10 Derivation quite obscure. Motowori quotes an absurd etymology
given in the "Japanese Words Classified and Explained," which iden-
tifies the name of Koshi with the Past Tense of the Verb kuru, "to
come"! There is a district (kohori) named Koshi in the modern
province of Echigo; but Koshi was down to historical times a
somewhat vague designation of all the north-western provinces,-
Echizen, Kaga, Noto, Etchiu, and Echigo. A tradition preserved in
the "Chronicles" tells us that it was meant to denote the Island of
Yezo (or rather, perhaps, the land of the Yezo, i.e., the Ainos). The
expression in the first Song in Sect. XXIV, and other similar ones
in the early literature show that it was not looked upon as a part of
Japan proper.
11 See Note 13.
12 A coniferous tree, the Chamaecyparis obtsusa, in Japanese hi-no-
ki. The cryptomeria is Cryptomeria japonica.
74
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. IX.
L
modern hohodzuki¹3) 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,¹4
"but I know not thine august name." Then he replied, saying:
"I am elder brother¹5 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 eight-fold refined liquor. Also make a fence
13 The winter-cherry, Physalis Alkekengi.
14 For the word "reverence" here and a few lines further on,
conf. Sect. IX, Note 4.
15 He was her younger brother; but see Introduction, p. xlii.
16 In Japanese sake, and archaically k, written with the character
and generally translated "rice-beer," but by Dr. Rein "rice-brandy"
(Reis-brannt-wein). The modern sake resembles the Chinese 'huang
chiu (). If we translated it by "rice-beer," we should of course
have to render by "to brew" the Verb kamu or kamosu () here
rendered "to distil."* It should be mentioned that Professor Atkin-
son who, like Dr. Rein, has studied the subject specially, uses the
word "brewing; but apparently no English term exactly represents
the process which the liquor undergoes in the course of preparation.
A curious question is suggested by the fact that the old Japanese
word for "6 distilling" or "brewing" liquor is homonymous with the
Verb "to chew." But there is not, beyond this isolated verbal
resemblance, any documentary evidence in favour of the Japanese
ever having practised a method of making liquor which still obtains
in some of the South Sea Islands." One account" of the Chronicles
of Japan makes Susa-no-wo say "Take all the fruits, and distil liquor.”
Kamu is surely "brew," not "distil." The process seems to be
to add to the malt first water, next fresh malt to the result of this
operation, and so on for eight times, the liquor thus gaining in strength
every time.
A still is too complicated an apparatus for these primitive
times, nor have I seen one in a Japanese brewery.-W.G.A.
***
در
VOL. IX.]
VOL. I. SECT. XVIII.
75
7
"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 eight-fold refined liquor, and
"wait." So as they waited after having thus prepared every-
thing 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 sabre, 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 sharp great
sword [within]. So he took this great sword, and, thinking it
a strange thing, he respectfully informed the Heaven-Shining-
Great - August - Deity.19 This is the Herb - Quelling Great ·
18
("
((
17 The author doubtless intended, as Motowori suggests, to speak
only of eight platforms, one at each gate, and not of sixty-four.
But what he actually says is as in the translation.
-
† Azuki, the modern sajiki in a theatre.-W.G.A.
* A conjecture of Motoori.-W.G A.
18 See Section VIII, Note 1.
19 The text is not quite clear, but the above gives the interpreta-
tion to which the words most naturally lend themselves. Motowori,
influenced by the parallel passage in the Chronicles," which says
explicitly that the sword itself was sent up to the Sun-Goddess, reads
the passage thus: "thinking it a strange thing, he sent it up with a
message to the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity"; and Mr. Satow
follows him in thus translating (see Note 4 to Ritual 8, Vol. IX, Pt.
II, pp. 198-200 of these "Transactions," where the whole of this
legend is translated with one or two slight verbal differences from
the version here given). In the opinion of the present writer,‡ Hirata's
arguments in favour of the view here taken are conclusive (see his
Sources of the Ancient Histories," Section LXXII, in the second
part of Vol. III. pp. 66-67). That the sword afterwards appears at
76
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. IX.
((
Sword.20
[SECT. XIX.—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,² 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 built³ the palace of
Suga, clouds rose up thence. Then he made an august song.
That song said:5
4
"Eight clouds arise. The eight-fold fence
"of Idzumo makes an eight-fold fence
the temple of the Sun-Goddess in Ise (see end of Section LXXXII),
by the high-priestess of which it is bestowed on the legendary hero
Yamato-take, is not to the point in this connection, as it is not
necessary that all the parts of a myth should be perfectly consistent.
I agree.-W.G.A.
20 Kusa-nagi no tachi. For the applicability of this name see
Sect. LXXXIII.
1 I.e., “I feel refreshed." The Japanese term used is suga-sugashi,
whence the origin ascribed to the name of the place Suga. But more
probably the name gave rise to this detail of the legend.
2 The real derivation of Suga is unknown, all the native com-
mentators accepting the statement in the text, and Motowori supposing
that up to the time of the Deity's arrival it had borne the name of
Inada. We may perhaps conjecture some connection between Suga
and Susa-no-wo ("Impetuous Male," see Motowori's Commentary,
Vol. IX, p. 49), and it may be mentioned that the "Eight-Eared
Deity of Suga" is also mentioned as the "Eight-Eared Deity of Susa."
3 Or "began to build."
4" Ode" is another rendering of the Japanese term uta, which
has been used by the present writer and by others. Uta being how-
ever connected with utafu, "to sing," it seems more consistent to
translate it by the English word “ song."
>>
5 Or perhaps rather "in that song he said."
VOL. IX.]
77
VOL. I. SECT. XIX.
•
*
"for the spouses to retire [within]. Oh!
"that eight-fold fence.”
6 This difficult song has been rather differently rendered by Mr.
Aston in the Second Appendix to his "Grammar of the Japanese
Written Language" (2nd Edition), and again by Mr. Satow in the
note to his translation of the Ritual already quoted. Mr. Aston
(premising that he follows Motowori's interpretation) translates it thus:
Many clouds arise:
"The clouds which come forth (are) a manifold fence:
"For the husband and wife to retire within
<<
I.e.-
<<
They have formed a manifold fence:
"Oh! that manifold fence!"
Mr. Satow's translation is as follows:
"Many clouds arise.
"The manifold fence of the forth-issuing clouds
"Makes a manifold fence
"For the spouses to be within.
99%
"Oh! that manifold fence.'
In any case the meaning simply is that the multitudinous clouds
rose up like a fence or screen behind which the newly-married deities
might retire from public gaze, and Moribe suggests that the repeti-
tions are an after-addition made to bring up to the usual number of
thirty-one syllables what were originally but the three lines—
<<
"The uprising clouds even, to shut up the
spouses, make an eight-fold fence.”
}
Tachi-idzuru kumo mo
Tsuma-gome ni
Ya-he-gaki tsukuru yo!
د.
(See his discussion on this song in the "Idzu no Koto-waki,
Vol. I, pp. 1-3)—The present writer has already stated in the Intro-
tion (see p. lxix), his reasons for always rendering the native word for
<<
eight" (ya) by "eight," instead of by "many " or numerous," as
is done by the two eminent scholars above quoted. With regard to
the word Idzumot which they, in deference to the opinions of the
native commentators, render by "clouds which come forth or forth-
issuing clouds (the Chinese characters with which the word is
written having that signification), the present writer cannot persuade
(C
رد
،،
78
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XI.
Then he called the Deity Foot-Stroking-Elder and said:
"Thee do I appoint Headman' of my palace;" and moreover
bestowed on him the name of Master-of-the-Temple-of-Inada,
Eight-Eared-Deity-of-Suga.
himself that such a corruption as idzumo for ide-kumo either retained
at the time of the composition of the song, or should now be credited
with, the signification which this its supposed etymology assigns to
it. The etmology moreover is far from being established, and in this,
as in many other cases, the Chinese characters used to write the name
of the province of Idzumo may well have rested on nothing more
than a vague similarity of sound, and probably no Europcan scholar
would endorse the opinion of the native commentators, to whom the
"Records " are a sacred book, that the province of Idzumo received
its name from this very poem. On the other hand, we need have no
difficulty in conceding that the Pillow-Word ya-kumo-tatsu, by which
Idzumo is preceded in poetical compositions, did probably here
originate.--This song is in the "Chronicles" only quoted in a note,
for which reason some authorities dispute its antiquity. In the note
in question, we find the reading -gome (the "Records" have -gomi),
i.e., the Transitive form instead of the Intransitive.
If this were
adopted, the translation would have to run thus:…………..“The eight-fold
"fence of Idzumo makes an eight-fold fence to shut up the spouse[s?]
"in ;" and probably "spouse" should be understood in the Feminine
to mean "wife."
دد.
The regularity of this poem as to metre is suspicious; most of
the ancient poetry departs from the 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 rule. The punning,
too, suggests a late origin. I suggest that Idzumo as the name of a place
means awful or sacred quarter.-W.G.A.
† While I adhere to the translation given by me, there is no doubt
a punning allusion to the name of the province Idzumo which is lost
in my translation. (A later suggestion: Why not take Idzumo as the
same as idzure mo, 'each," a pun being of course meant ?)---W.G.A,
<<
7 Obito, written with the Chinese character, while the Japanese
word is probably derived from oho-bito, "great man."
great man." When used, as
it often is, as a "gentile name," the translator renders it by Gran-
dee."
8 Inada-no-miya-nushi Suga-no-ya-tsu-mimi-no-kami. It should be
stated that Motowori, as usual, objects to the view that mimi signifies
J
VOL. IX.]
79
VOL. I. SECT. XX.
(6
Quare. quum incepit in thalamo [opus procreationis] cum
Mirâ-Herâ-Inadâ, procreavit Deum nomine Eight-Island Ruler.¹
And again, having wedded the Divine - Princess-of-Great-
Majesty, daughter of the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor, he
begot children: the Great-Harvest Deity and the August-
Spirit-of-Food. The elder brother the Deity Eight-Island-
Ruler wedded Princess-Falling-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees,5
<C
[SECT. XX. THE AUGUST ANCESTORS OF THE DEITY-MASTER-OF-
THE-GREAT LAND.]
cars (its proper meaning) in this name. But he has no better
explanation to offer, and the Chinese characters give us ya-tsu mimi,
"eight ears." The author of the "Tokiha-gusa" ingeniously proposes
to consider ya-tsu mimi as a corruption of yatsuko mi mi (X)
servant august body," but this cannot be seriously entertained
(Conf. Sect. XIII, Note 18).
66
1 Ya-shima-zhi-nu-mi. Ya-shima means
eight islands." The
syllables zhi-mu-mi are obscure, but the translator has little doubt that
Motowori takes zhi to be an
(C
ruler fairly represents their import.
apocopated and nigori'ed form of shiru, to rule," nu to be an apoco-
pated form of nushi, "master," and mi to be an apocopated form of
the Honorific termination mimi.” Tanigaha Shisei considers zhinu
to stand for shidzumuru, "to govern," which comes to the same thing
so far as the sense is concerned.
2 Kamu-oho-ichi-hime. The rendering of Oho-ichi as "Great
Majesty rests on a plausible conjecture of Hirata's, who proposes to
identify ichi with idzu (). Motowori thinks that Oho-ichi should
be taken as the name of a place; but this seems less good.
3 Oho-toshi-no-kami, written, the obvious rendering of
which would be " great year." But the Japanese term toshi is believed
to have originally signified, not "year" in the abstract, but that
which was produced each year, viz., the harvest (conf. toru, “to take ").
4 Uka-no-mi-tama.
(C
در
در
""
<<
5 Ko-no-hana-chiru-hime, so called, says Motowori, because she
probably died young, as a blossom that falls from the tree. We
might however perhaps take the Verb chiru in a Causative sense, and
consider the name to signify "the Princess-Who-Causes-the-Flowers-
of-the-Trees-to-Fall." A sister of this goddess appears in the pretty
legend narrated in Sect. XXXVII under the parallel name of the
80
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. IX.
daughter of the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor, and begot a
child: the Deity Fuha-no-moji-Ku-nu-su-nu.6
This Deity
wedded Princess Hikaha,' daughter of the Deity Okami, and
begot a child: Water-Spoilt-Blossom-of-Fuka-buchi.º This
Deity wedded the Deity Ame-no-tsudohe-chi-ne,10 and begot a
child: the Deity Great-Water-Master." This Deity wedded
the Deity Grand-Ears,¹2 daughter of the Deity Funu-dzu-nu,¹²
and begot a child': the Deity Heavenly-Brandishing-Prince-
Lord.¹ This Deity wedded the Young-Princess-of-the-Small-
Princess - Blossoming - Brilliantly-Like - the - Flowers-of-the-Trees. Sec
Note 3 to that Sect.
6 Fuha-no-moji-ku-nu-su-mu-no-kami.
The import of this name
is quite uncertain. Fuha however seems to be the name of a place.
7 Hi-kaha-hime. Hi-kaha (lit. "sun-river") is supposed to stand
for the name of a place in Musashi, which is however written "ice-
river" and not H), the old Japanese words for "ice" and
"sun" being homonymous.
8 See Sect. VIII, (Note 9), where the name is given as Kura-okami.
9 Fuka-buchi-no-midzu-yare-hana. If Fuka-buchi were ascertained
to be not, as is supposed, the name of a place, we should have to
render it "deep pool," and the whole would mean in English "Water-
Spoilt-Blossom-of-the-Deep-Pool."
10 Ame-no-tsudohe-chi-ne-no-kami.
In this name nothing is clear
but the first three syllables, which signify "heavenly." But if
Mabuchi's conjecture as to the meaning of the rest were accepted,
we should have to translate the whole by "Heavenly-Assembling-
Town-Lady,"
11 This is the meaning plausibly assigned by Motowori to the
original O-midzu-nu-no-kami.
12 Fute-mimi-no-kami, plausibly conjectured by Tominobu to stand
for Futo-mimi, etc., which gives the sense here adopted,
13 Funu-dzu-nu-no-kami. Motowori believes Funu to be the name
of a place, and interprets the name to signify "Master of Funu."
But this seems highly uncertain.
14 Ame-no-fuyu-kinu-no-kami (Motowori's reading) or Ama-no, etc.
(Hirata's reading). The translation of the name follows Hirata's ex-
planation, which is based on Motowori's, and according to which the
characters (“winter garments") in this text, and read Fuki-
VOL. X.]
81
VOL. I. SECT. XXI.
Country,15 daughter of the Great-Deity-of-the-Small-Country,16
and begot a child: the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land,"
another name for whom is the Deity Great-Name-Possessor,18
and another name is the Deity-of-the-Reed-Plains,19 and another
name is the Deity of Eight-Thousand-Spears,20 and another
name is the Deity-Spirit-of-the-Living-Land. In all there
were five names.22
[SECT. XXI.—THE WHITE HARE OF INABA.]
So this Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land had eighty Deities
his brethren; but they all left the land to the Deity Master-
me in the "Chronicles," are merely phonetic, while the meaning is
derived from a comparison of the sounds given by each. Though
himself believing in the soundness of Hirata's conclusion, the taanslator
must admit that it is not indisputable.
(C
15 Sasu-kuni-waka-hime, or Sashi-kuni, etc. The former reading,
which Hirata adopts, seems best. The meaning of sasu, here rendered
small," is open to doubt.
16 Sasu-kuni-oho-[no-]kami, or Sashi, etc. The syllable no in the
Japanese reading seems to be a superfluous addition of the modern
commentators.
17 Oho-kuni-nushi-no-kami.
18 Oho-na-muji-no-kami, to which Tominobu proposes to give the
sense of
Great Hole-Possessor," in connection with the story of the
mouse-hole in which he took refuge from the fire lit by the Impetuous-
Male-Deity (Susa-no-wo) for his destruction (see Sect. XXIII). But
the interpretation followed in the translation is the most likely as
well as the orthodox one, this Deity being entitled the possessor of
a Great Name or of Great Names on account of his renown in
Japanese mythic story.
19 Ashi-hara-shiko-wo-no-kami.
put by metonymy for Japan.
20 Ya-chi-hoko-no-kami.
21 Utsushi-kuni-tama-no-kami.
CC
The "reed-plains "
reed-plains" are doubtless
The name must be understood to
mean 'Spirit of the Land of the Living," and to be antithetical to
that of one of his fathers-in-law, the Impetuous Male-Deity (Susa-
no-wo) who became the god of Hades.
22 Or "he had five names."
82
(C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
[VOL. X.
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 Yakami¹ in Inaba,2 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,³ [they found] a
naked hare lying down. Then the eighty Deities spoke to the
hare, saying: "What thou shouldst 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 intructions 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
4
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
(C
((
(C
1 Yakami-hime. The etymology is uncertain.
2 The name of a province not far from that of Idzumo. The
word may possibly, as Motowori suggests, be derived from ina-ba, y
"rice-leaves."
3 Keta-no-saki. The etymology of the name seems uncertain.
The meaning of the word keta is "the cross-beams of a roof, the
yards of a sail." But perhaps Keta and keta may be nothing more
than homonyms of independent origin.
Spur?-W.G.A.
4 Not far from the coast of Idzumo and of Inaba.
5 See Translator's Introduction, p. xxxvii, Note 41.
VOL. X.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXII.
83
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."
((
C
[SECT. XXII.-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
6 Literally "to its original skin"; that is to say that its skin
would again be covered with fur.
7 Motowori and Moribe agree in considering that the word
"white" means "bare" in this place, and the latter in his Critique
of the former's Commentary quotes examples which show that their
view is probably correct.
1 It must be understood that in the meantime they had arrived
at her dwelling and begun to court her.
84
((
[VOL. X.
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
ז
3
of Tema² 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 burnt a large stone like unto a boar, and rolled
it down. Then as [they] drove it down and [he] caught it,³
he got stuck to and burnt 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,
A
5
2 Etymology unknown.
3 The text is here concise to obscurity, but yet there ought not
to be much doubt as to the author's intention.
4 The text has the character, signifying properly grand-
parent," but frequently used in Archaic Japanese writings in the sense
of "mother." It is then read oya, which the English word "parent"
exactly represents.
5 Kami-musu-bi-no-mikoto. See Sect. I, Note 6.
6 Kisa-gahi-hime. The kisa-gahi here mentioned is the modern
aka-gah', a cockle, the Arca inflata.
7 Umugi-hime. The umugi here mentioned is the modern hama-
guri, a clam of the family Mactride, the Cytherea Meretrix.
8 The character used is, "collected," 'gathered together."
But the combined authority of Mabuchi, Motowori and Hirata obliges
us either to consider it a copyist's error for, "scorched," or else
to believe that in early times in Japan the two characters were used
interchangeably.
9 Or "nurse's". 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 Kisa-gahi, (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.
""
(C
<<
VOL. X.]
85
VOL. I. SECT. XXII.
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.11 Then on Her Augustness his.
10
•
· 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 :12 "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-
Prince13 in the land of Ki.14 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.
We shall be justified in applying an inverse interpretation to the
legend.
10 The original of this clause,, or according to
another reading, etc. is a great crux to the native commentators,
who can make sure neither of the exact sense nor of the Japanese
reading of the first two characters, which seem to be ideographic for
three others occuring immediately below, , which are themselves
of doubtful import. An elaborate discussion of the question will be
found in Hirata's "Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. XVII.
pp. 25-27. The general sense at all events is that here given.
11 The characters, here rendered "tortured him to death."
are by the modern commentators read uchi-koroshiki, which simply
means killed [him].”
<<
<<
12 Literally "to her child."
13 Oha-ya-biko-no-kami. This Deity is identified with the Deity
I-dakeru mentioned in the " Chronicles" as a son of Susa-no-wo (the
Impetuous-Male Deity"), and as the introducer into the Island of
Tsukushi in particular and into all the "Eight Great Islands" of
Japan of the seeds of plants and trees. Motowori's note on this name
in Vol. X, pp. 28-29, is worth consulting, though his idea of con-
necting the agricultural and arboricultural renown of the Deity bearing
it with the name of the province of Ki is doubtless quite fanciful.
14 I.c., "the land of trees (木 ​國​). Later the character was
•
در
86
[VOL. X.
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
""
[SECT. XXIII. 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-Prineess³ came
out and saw him, and they exchanged glances and were mar-
ried, 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
<<
<<
replaced by, which in Sinico-Japanese has the same sound ki,
while a second one, #, was added in order to conform to an edict
of the Empress Gem-miyō (A. D. 713) to the effect that all names of
places were to be written with two Chinese characters, as was usual
in China and Korea. The second character in this case simply carried
on the i sound with which the first ends, so that the name became
Kii.
1
CC
Literally, to the child.” The words placed in brackets, and
which are not to be found in either of the early printed editions, are
supplied in accordance with a suggestion of Moribe's contained in his
Critique of Motowori's Commentary. Motowori himself had supplied
the words "Her Augustness his august parent spoke to him,” which
seem less appropriate. It is true that one MS. is quoted by Moto-
wori as favouring his view; but such authority is insufficient, and the
mistake, moreover, peculiarly easy for a copyist to make (mi oya for
oho-ya).
2 I.e., the Palace.
((
3 This is Motowori's view of the import of the original name
Suseri-bime, which he connects with susumu, “to advance,"
to press
forward," and explains by reference to the bold, forward conduct of
the young goddess.
4 One of the alternative names of this Deity, who is mostly
mentioned by one of his other four designations, for a list of which
see Sect. XX. (Notes 17 to 21).
VOL. X.]
87
VOL. I. SECT. XXIII.
sleep in the snake-house. Hereupon his wife, Her Augustness
the Forward-Princess, gave her husband a snake-scarf,5 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 burnt 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,10 and crying. Her
5 I.e., “a scarf by waving which he might keep off the snakes."
Similarly the "centipede and wasp-scarf" mentioned a little farther
on must be understood to mean "a scarf to ward off centipedes and
wasps with.”
6 The word hachi, translated "wasp," is a general name including
other insects of the family of Vespida.
7 I.e., "arrow." The original expression is nari-kabura (It's ),
which has survived in the modern language under the modified form
of kabura-ya, defined in Dr. Hepburn's Dictionary as "an arrow with
a head shaped like turnip, having a hole in it, which causes it to hum
as it flies." It was used in China in the time of the Han dynasty.
"rat."
8 Or
9 The translator cannot think of any better English equivalents
for the child-like onomatopeias hora-hora and subu-subu of the Japan-
ese original.
10 The edition of 1687 reads the two characters (here trans-
88
("
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. X.
*
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,¹¹ 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 tree12 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,13
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,15 as also his heavenly speaking-lute,16 and ran out.
14
lated "mourning implements,") mo-gari no sonahe, i.e., "preparations
for the funeral." Such preparations are detailed in the latter part of
Sect. XXXI.
11 This is Mabuchi's interpretation, as quoted by Motowori, of the
expression ya-ta-ma no oho-muro-ya. Motowori's own view it that
ya-ta stands for ya-tsu, which would give us in English "an eight-
spaced large room." The character,
(( space " has been in later
times used as a measure of length (six Japanese feet). Altogether the
precise meaning of the expression is not quite clear, but the general
sense is a "large spacious room.”
12 Aphananthe Aspera, also sometimes called Celtis Muku.
13 I.e., "a rock which it would require five hundred men to lift."
14 Iku-tachi (EJ), supposed by Motowori to be "a sword
"having the virtue of conferring long life upon its possessor."
15 Iku-yumi-ya (4).
16 Ame no nori-goto (X), so called because, as will be seen in
Sect. XCVI, divine messages were conveyed through a person playing
on the lute. Hirata, in his "Exposition of the Ancient Histories,"
invents the reading ame no nu-goto (FR), "heavenly jewelled lute."
*
VOL. X.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXIII.
89
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-brethren¹8
"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 120 become the Deity Master-of-the-
"Great-Land;2 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 Uka23 in the nethermost rock-bottom,
"and make high the cross-beams to the Plain-of-High-Heaven,
19
""
(C
17 See Sect. IX (Note 16).
18 They were not born of the same mother. The Chinese charac-
ters in the text() imply, properly speaking, that the eighty
brethren of the Great-Name-Possessor were the sons of concubines.
But Motowori denies that such is the Japanese usage with regard to
the characters in question.
19 Or "hills."
20 The word in the next is ore, an insulting equivalent Second
Personal Pronoun. If we were translating into German, we might
perhaps approximately represent its force by "er."
21 Thus, according to this legend, "Master-of-the-Great-Land'
(Pho-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.
22 The characters, which are here used, designate specifically
the chief or legitimate wife, as opposed to the lesser wives or con-
cubines.
23 Uka-no-yama. No satisfactory etymology of Uka is forthcoming.
""
90
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XI.
"and dwell [there], thou villain !”’24 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,25 he did pursue them till they were swept
into every river, and then he began to make the land.26
Quamobrem Hera Yakami, secundum anterius pactum, [cum
eo] in thalamo coivit. So he brought her with him; but,
fearing his consort the Forward Princess, she stuck into the
fork of a tree the child that she had borne, and went back.
So the child was called by the name of the Tree-Fork-Deity,29
and another name was the Deity-of-August-Wells.29
[SECT. XXIV. THE WOOING OF THE DEITY-OF-EIGHT-THOUSAND- ·
SPEARS.]
A
-
This Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears,' when he went
forth to woo the Princess of Nuna-kaha³ in the land of Koshi,
24 I.e., "Firmly planting in the rock the pillars forming the foun-
"dation 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”!
25 Or "hill."
26 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 Sect IX, p. 35, 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 » (kabane).
<C
27 Q.d., to Inaba.
28 Ki-no-mata-no-kami.
29 Mi-wi-no-kami.
در
:
He is supposed to have benefitted the country
by digging wells in many places.
1 In this Section, the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land is spoken
of under this alias (See Sect. XX, Note 20).
2 The characters here, in accordance with the reading of
the commentators, rendered by the words "went forth," are Honorific,
being only properly applied to the progresses of a sovereign.
!
1.
VOL. XI.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXIV.
91
on arriving at the house of the Princess of Nuna-kaha 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 backwards
"and forwards 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
66
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
((
CC
((
they were sick! Oh! swiftly-flying heaven-
"racing messenger, the tradition of the
thing, too, this !”
(6
3 Nuna-kawa-hime.
Nuna-kaha or Nu-na-kaha ("lagoon-river ")
is supposed to be the name of a place in the province of Echigo.
How annoying! what a nuisance !-W.G.A.
4 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
endeavours, the mountain-side 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.
92
((
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XI.
66
Then the Princess of Nuna-kaha, without yet opening the
door, sang from the inside saying:-
(C
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 (Conf. Sect. V, Note 27).-
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
Shiwori 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. A very ancient and curious Chinese book entitled
the "Mountain and Sea Classic (), the modern editions of
which contain extremely droll illustrations of fabulous creatures, tells
us of a bird called the "white nuye (), which is "like a pheasant,
"with markings on its head, white wings, and yellow feet, and whose
(C
flesh is a certain cure for the hiccough." The characters and,
with which, as well as with, the word nuye is variously written,
seem to be unauthorized.-The line here (following Motowori and
Moribe's view) rendered "Would that I could beat them till they
were sick!" will also bear the interpretation formerly proposed by
Keichiyu, Would that I could beat them till they left off!"-The
last five lines, here rendered "Oh! swiftly-flying heaven-racing mes-
senger," etc., are extremely obscure. It is possible that ishi tafu ya
(rendered "Oh! swiftly flying," in deference to Motowori's and
Moribe's view) may be but a meaningless refrain. "Heaven-racing
messenger is tolerably certain. Of the rest it is not easy to make
sense. Motowori proposes to credit the five lines in question with
the following general meaning: "May this song like a mèssenger,
С.
run down to future agès, preserving for them the tradition of this
“event!” Moribe, in his Critique of Motowori's Commentary, supposes
the lines in question to be an addition made by the official singers,
who in later times sang these songs as an accompaniment to dances.
Whatever their origin and proper signification, it is plain that they
had come to be used as a refrain, from which the first two lines were
sometimes omitted, as we see in some of the songs further on.
CC
در
+
در
"">
VOL. XI.]
93
VOL. I. SECT. XXIV.
(C
(6
"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. Afterwards 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 morn-
((
((
4
5 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
"cannot yet be thine. Yet do not die of despair; for I will soon
"comply with their desires."-The word nuye-kusa (here rendered
drooping plant," in accordance with the views of the commentators)
is a Pillow-Word of somewhat obscure derivation.-The word chidori
(rendered "dotterel" throughout this translation) denotes in its modern
acceptation, according to Messrs. Blakiston and Pryer, “any kind of
"sandpiper, plover, or dotterel." Its proper and original signification
is, however, greatly debated by the commentators, and some think
that it is not the specific name of any kind of bird, but stands simply
by apocope for tachi-dori, “rising bird," thus designating any kind of
small bird that rises and flies along near the beach.-The word na-
dori (here, in accordance with Moribe's view, rendered “gentle bird”)
is taken by Motowori to mean simply "gentle," "compliant." But
both the construction and the context seem to impose on
us the
interpretation here given. Keichiyu, in his "Kō-gan Shō," interprets
the whole passage differently; but in order to do so he, without
sufficient authority, changes the readings of the text into wa tori,
my bird," and na tori, "thy bird."-The refrain is the same as in
the previous song.
<<
6 There is no break, in the text; but the commentators rightly
consider the following to be a separate poem.
<<
94
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XI.
""
ing 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 August-
"ness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears!
"The tradition of the thing, too, this!”
Quamobrem eâ nocte non coierunt, sed sequentis diei
nocte auguste coierunt.
<<
(6
[SECT. XXV. 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:
<<
M
"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
7 The import of this very plain-spoken poem needs no elucida-
tion.-Nubatama (here rendered " true jewels of the moor") is the
Pillow-Word for things black or related to darkness.
The " true
jewels of the moor are supposed to be the jet-black berries of the
hiafugi (pron. hiōgi. Ixia chinensis). The whole etymology is, however,
not absolutely certain.-Of which of the two lovers the words " com-
ing radiant" with "smiles " are spoken, is not clear; but they
probably refer to the male deity, as do the white arms, strange though
such an expression may appear as applied to a man. The goddess
represents herself and her lover as using each other's arms for pillows.
The word "jewel-arms means simply "beautiful arms."
""
¹ I.e., chief wife.
در
VOL. XI.]
95
VOL. I. SECT. XXV.
1
(6
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
((
((
(C
(6
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 younger 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
(6
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!”
? 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 colour 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 words hata tagi (rendered in
accordance with Motowori's view by "raise my fins") are supposed
to signify 'raise my sleeve." If the last syllable were found in any
text written with a character not requiring the use of the nigori in
96
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XI.
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
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. Be-
"neath the fluttering of the ornamented
fence, beneath the softness of the warm
coverlet, beneath the rustling of the
<<
(C
(C
(C
CC
the Japanese transcription, we should get the more satisfactory reading
ha tataki, i.e., "beat my wings;" but the syllable in question does
not seem to be anywhere so written.-The "madder is in the
original akane, here written (but doubtless only through the error of
some copyist) atane. The words rendered sought in the mountain
fields" might also be translated "sown in the mountain fields,"
magishi, "sought," and makishi, sowed being thought to be con-
vertible.-The words "my beloved" represent the Japanese itokoya
no, whose meaning is obscure and much disputed.-The words "when
I am led away" must be understood as if they were Active, instead
of Passive, signifying as they do "when I lead away my retinue of
followers."-The eulalia (Eulalia japonica) is a long kind of grass very
often alluded to in the later classical poetry. The words “on the
mountain " represent the Japanese words yama-to no, in accordance
در
Men d
در
means
with Motowori's and Hirata's view of the meaning of the latter (ILI
處 ​or 山​本​). The prima facie interpretation of "in the province of
Yamato," which Keichiyu adopts, will not bear investigation. It is
not quite clear whether "the mist of the morning shower"
mist separate from the rain, or is simply a phrase for the rain-drops
themselves. Motowori adopts the former opinion.-"Young herbs,"
waka-kusa, is the Pillow-Word for "spouse,"-newly married youths
and maidens being likened to the fresh-grown grass. The refrain is
an abbreviated form of that found in the two previous poems.
VOL. XI.]
97
VOL. I. SECT. XXVI,
"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 out-
"stretched legs, will we sleep. Lift up the
"luxuriant august liquor!”
"C
((
4
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.5
[SECT. XXVI. THE DEITIES THE AUGUST DESCENDANTS OF THE
DEITY MASTER-OF-THE-GREAT-LAND.]
So this Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land wedded Her
(C
3 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 shorc, I shall be left solitary if thou depart.".
The ornamented fence" is supposed to mean "a curtain round the
sleeping place."-The latter part of the poem (excepting the concluding
phrase) is a repetition of lines that have already occurred in the last
ode of Sect XXIV (note 7). The word tate-matsurase (here rendered
"lift up") occasions some difficulty. It properly signifies "present to
a superior;" but here it must be taken to mean "partake of," as the
goddess is speaking to her spouse himself, unless indeed we suppose
the final words of the song to be a command addressed to one of her
attendants to present the cup to their common lord and master.
4 This is the probable and generally accepted meaning of the
original of this clause, which is written phonetically.
5 Explained by Moribe to mean, with reference to the whole
story, "conversation about divine events." Motowori proposes to
supplement the character, "song," to the two () in the text,
and to take the three together as designating the nature of the
preceding songs, in accordance with the usage in other cases,—“Rustic
Songs," "Courtiers' Songs," etc. If this view were adopted, we
should have to translate by "Divine Converse Songs."
98
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MAITERS. [VOL. XI.
Augustness Torrent-Mist-Princess, the Deity dwelling in the
inner temple of Munakata,¹ and begot children: the Deity Aji-
shiki-taka-hiko-ne,2 next his younger sister Her Augustness
High-Princess,3 another name for whom is Her Augustness
Princess Under-Shining. This Deity Aji-shiki-taka-hiko-ne is
he who is now called the Great August Deity of Kamo.5
Again the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land wedded Her August-
ness Princess Divine-House-Shield and begot a child: the
Deity Thing-Sign-Master.' Again he wedded the Deity Bird-
1 See Sect. XIII, Note 15 and Sect. XIV, Note 2.
2 Aji-shiki-taka-hiko-ne-no-kami. The meaning of the first two
members of this compound name is altogether obscure: Taka-hiko-ne,
signifies "high-prince lord."
3 Taka-hime-no-mikoto. Taka-hime is suppossd by Hirata to be a
mutilated form of Taka-teru-hime, "High-Shining-Princess," which
would make the two names of this personage properly complementary.
4 Shita-teru-hime-no-mikoto. This goddess is popularly supposed
to have been extremely beautiful, whence perhaps the name, which
might be taken to imply that her beauty shone forth from under her
garments as in the case of So-towori-hime (see Sect. CXXXVII,
Note 9).
5 Because there worshipped. The etymology of Kamo is not clear.
6 Kamu-ya-tate-hime-no-mikoto. The translation here follows the
Chinese characters. Another proposal of Motowori's is to regard the
syllables ya-tate as a corruption of iya-taka-teri, "more and more
high shining," which would give us for the whole name in English
“Divine-More-and-More-High-Shining-Princess."
7 I.e.,
"the Deity who gave a sign of the thing he did." The
Japanese original is Koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami. The translation of the
name here given follows Motowori' interpretation, which takes it to
contain an allusion to the act by which its bearer symbolized his
surrender of the sovereignty of the land to the descendant of the
Sun-Goddess. Lengthened forms of the name are Ya-he-koto-shiro-
nushi-no-kami ("the Deity Eight-Fold-Thing-Sign-Master") and Tsumi-
ba-ya-he-koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami, the first three syllables of which
latter are obscure. Both of the lengthened forms are supposed to
contain a reference to the manifold " green branches" mentioned in
the legend referred to,-that, viz., which forms the subject-matter of
Sect. XXXII,
VOL. XI.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXVI.
99
ì
8
Ears, daughter of the Deity Eight-Island-Possessor, and begot
a child: the Deity Bird-Growing-Ears.10 This Deity wedded
Hina-teri-nakata-bichi-wo-ikochini," and begot a child: the
Deity Land-Great-Wealth. 12 This Deity wedded the Deity
Ashi-nadaka,13 another name for whom is Princess-Eight-Rivers-
8 Tori-mimi-no-kami. Motowori suggests that tori, "bird," may
be but the name of a place in Yamato.
9 Ya-shima-muji-no-kami. "Possessor" is the probable meaning
of muji, regarded here and elsewhere as an alternative from of mochi.
Motowori suggests that Yashima may be meant for the name of a
district in Yamato, in which case both this god and his daughter
would have been named from the places of their birth or residence,
which are near each other in the same province.
10 Tori-naru-mi-no-kami. The above interpretation, which is pro-
posed by Motowori, seems more acceptable than "Bird-Sounding-Sea,”
which the Chinese characters yield, Tori, "bird," if taken above to
be the name of a place, must be likewise so considered here.-Moto-
wori reasonably conjectures that a clause to the following effect is
here omitted: 'He wedded such and such a princess, daughter of
"such and such a Deity, and begot a child: the Deity Take-mi-na-
'gata" [i.e., probably Brave-August-Name-Firm] (See Sect. XXXII,
Note 21). Hirata's text, in his "Exposition of the Ancient Histories,"
is 娶​高志​之​沼​河​比​賣命​而​今生​給​之​子​謂​御​穗​須​美​命​亦名​健​御
​名​方​神
​<<
11 The text is here evidently corrupt, and Motowori proposes to
read either Hina-teri-nukata-bichi-wo-no-kami no musume Iko-chini-no-
kami, which would give us in English "the Deity Ikochini, daughter
of the male Deity Hina-teri-nukata-bichi," or else to take the whole
as the father's name, and to suppose that the name of the daughter
has been accidentally omitted. Hina-teri means "Rustic Illuminator,"
and the name resembles that of a deity mentioned in Sect. XIV,
Note 6.
Nukata and Bichi (or Hiji, reversing the position of the
nigori) are supposed to be names of places. Ikochini is altogether
obscure.
12 Kuni-pshi-tomi-no-kami, oshi, as in other instances, being consi-
dered a contraction of ohoshi, "great."
13. Ashi-nadaka-no-kami. It is not clear whether this is a personal
name or, as Motowori supposes, the name of the place where the
100
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XI.
and-Inlets,¹ and begot a child: the Deity Swift-Awful-Brave-
Sahaya-Lord-Ruler.15
This Deity wedded Princess Luck-
Spirit,16 daughter of the Deity Heavenly-Awful-Master," and
begot a child: the Deity Awful-Master-Prince.18 This Deity
wedded Princess Hina-rashi, daughter of the Deity Okami,20
and begot a child: the Deity Tahiri-kishi-marumi.21 This
Deity wedded the Deity Princess-Life-Spirit-Luck-Spirit,22
daughter of the Deity Waiting-to-See-the-Flowers-of-the-Holly,23
19
<
goddess resided. He quotes places named Ashidaka and Ashida; but
this hardly seems satisfactory. In any case the name remains obscure.
14 Ya-kaha-ye-hime. The translation follows the meaning of the
Chinese characters with which the name is written. It is, however,
also open to us to consider Yaka-ha-ye as a corruption of iya-ko-haye,
more and more flourishing."
15 Haya-mika-no-take-sahaya-ji-nu-mi-no-kami. The syllables sahaya
are obscure, and Motowori's proposal to consider them as the name
of a place has only been followed in the translation for want of
something more satisfactory.
-
16 Saki-tama-bimė.
17 Ame-no-mika-nushi-no-kami.,
18 Mika-nushi-hiko-no-kami.
19 Hina-rashi-bime. Motowori takes Hina to be the name of a
place, and rashi to be an apocopated form of tarashi or some such
word. But this is mere guesswork.
20 Okami-no-kami. See Sect. VIII, Note 9.
21 Tahiri-kishi-marumi-no-kami. The meaning of this name is quite
obscure. Motowori throws out the suggestion that Tahiri may stand
for Tari-hiri and Kishi-marumi for Kizhima-tsu-mi,—Tari-hiri and
Kizhima being names of places, and tsu-mi, as usual, being credited
with the signification of "possessor."
2? Iku-tama-saki-tama-hime.
23 Hihira-gi-no-sono-hana-madzu-mi-no-kami. The interpretation of
the name here given is conjectural as far as the words "waiting to
see" (taken on Tominobu's authority to be the most likely meaning
of madzu-mi) are concerned. Motowori suggests that hihira-gi no may
be but a sort of Pillow-Word, and not part of the actual name at all,
and the remaining characters corrupted, Hihira-gi rendered “holly,"
is properly the Olea Aquifolia.
VOL. XI.]
101
VOL. I. SECT. XXVI,
and begot a child; the Deity Miro-na-mi.24 This Deity wedded
Princess Awo-numa-nu-oshi,25 daughter of the Deity Master-
of-Shiki-yama,26 and begot a child: the Deity Nunoshi-tomi-
tori-naru-mi,27 This Deity wedded the Young-Day-Female-
Deity, 28 and begot a child: the Deity Heavenly-Hibara-Great-
Long-Wind-Wealth.29 This Deity wedded the Deity Toho-tsu-
ma-chi-ne, daughter of the Deity Heavenly-Pass Boundary,
and begot a child: the Deity Toho-tsu-yama-zaki-tarashi.22
30
26 Shiki-yama-nushi-no-kami.
24 Miro-na-mi-no-kami. Meaning obscure. Miro is supposed by
Motowori to be the name of a place, and na and mi to be Honorific
appellations.
25 Awo-numa-nu-oshi-hime. Meaning obscure.
name of a place in Echizen.
31
Shiki-yama is supposed to be the
27 Nunoshi-tomi-tori-naru-mi-no-kami.
Nunoshi is supposed to be
the name of a place, and identical with Nunoshi, which forms part of
the mother's name. Motowori takes tomi to be an Honorific, and
Tori, as previously in the case of the deities Tori-mimi and Tori-naru-
mi (See Notes 8 and 10), to be the name of another place. The
translator would prefer to take both words in their common significa-
tion, and (leaving nunoshi aside as incomprehensible) to render the
rest of the name thus: "Wealth-Bird-Growing-Ears."
28 Waka-hiru-me-no-kami.
29 Ame-no-hibara-oho-shi-na-domi-no-kami.
Motowori supposes
Hibara to be the name of a place, a view which the translator has
adopted for want of a better.
30 Toho-tsu-ma-chi-ne-no-kami.
Motowori supposes Tohotsu to be
the name of a place, and the remaining syllables to be Honorifics.
31 See Sect. VI. Note 20.
32 Toho-tsu-yama-zaki-tarashi-no-kami. Toho-tsu (lit. "distant") and
yama-zaki ("mountain-cape ") are both considered by Motowori to be
names of places. Tarashi signifies "perfect" or "perfection." We
might perhaps render the name thus: "Perfection-of-the-Distant-
Mountain-Cape."
•
33 I.e., "seventeen generations of Deities." But the construction is
curious. Motowori points out that there is here an error in the
computation, as the text enumerates but fifteen generations. The
names of the gods and goddesses mentioned in this section offer
102
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XII.
>
From the above-mentioned Deity Eight-Island-Ruler down
to the Deity Toho-tsu-yama-zaki-tarashi are called the
Deities of seventeen generations.33
[SECT. XXVII.—THE LITTLE-PRINCE-THE-RENOWNED-DEITY.]
So when the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land dwelt at the
august cape of Miho¹ in Idzumo, there came riding on the
crest of the waves in a boat of heavenly Kagami³ a Deity
dressed in skins of geese** flayed with a complete flaying, who,
unusual difficulties. Motowori says that it is with hesitation that he
proposes many of his interpretations, and it is with still greater hesi-
tation that the translator has accepted them.
1 Not to be confounded with the better known Miho in Suruga.
The derivation of the name seems uncertain.
64
2 The character used is, which properly denotes an ear of rice
or other grain.
++
3 What plant the author intends by this name is not quite certain.
The characters and are variously used to write it in the
native works of reference, where also we learn that it probably
corresponds to the plant known in different provinces of modern
Japan as chichi-gusa, tombo-no-chichi. kagarahi and gaga-imo. We may
best understand the Ampelopsis serianæfolia to have been intended, as
the plant is described as having a berry three or four inches long
shaped like a towel-gourd (hechima), so that, if scooped out, it would
fairly resemble a boat in miniature.
4 All the authorities are agreed in considering the character,
goose," to be a copyist's error; but there is no agreement as to the
character which should be substituted for it. Hirata reads, "wren"
changing the phonetic. "Wren" also is the reading in “One account"
of the "
Chronicles," and Moribe, commenting thereon in his “Idzu
no Chi-Waki," thinks that "wren" must have been the bird originally
intended by the framers of the tradition. Motowori, following a
suggestion of the editor of 1687, prefers to consider the radical for
"bird" to have been put by mistake for the radical for "insect,"
and reads which signifies "moth," especially the "silkworm moth."
Motowori, however, proceeds to give to the character in question the
Japanese reading of hi-mushi (lit. "fire-insect," i.e. "ephemera "),
which is not warranted. The proper Japanese reading is hihiru. The
:
·
VOL. XII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXVII.
103
when asked his name, replied not; moreover the Deities who
accompanied him, though asked, all said that they knew not.
Then the toad5 spoke, saying: "As for this, the Crumbling
"Prince will surely know it." Thereupon [the Deity Master-
of-the-Great-Land] summoned and asked the Crumbling-
Prince, who replied, saying: "This is the Little-Prince-the-
"Renowned-Deity,' the august child of the Deity-Producing-
"Wondrous-Deity." So on their then respectfully informing"
His Augustness the Deity-Producing-Wondrous-August-Ances-
best would seem to be to adopt the reading, "moth."
The only reason is that goose-skin is thought too large for
such a very small god whose boat is a gourd. This does not seem
sufficient. The "moth" seems purely hypothetical. There is really no
necessity to make the moth fit the conveyance. Dean Swift does not
do so.-W.G.A.
5 The original word is tani-guku. Its derivation and the name of
the species which it denoted are alike unknown. Indeed we might
equally well translate by “frog.”
6 Kuye-biko. The interpretation of the name here adopted is
Motowori's. Tominobu takes Kuye to be the name of a place, and
the personage in question to have been the inventor of scarecrows,
whence the tradition connected with his name.
7 Sukuna-biko-na-no-kami, or without the nigori, Sukuna-hiko-na-
no-kami. The interpretation of the name here followed is that pro-
posed by Motowori, but not followed by Hirata and Moribe, who
prefer to consider it antithetical to that of Oho-na-muji, "the Great-
Name-Possessor."
8 First mentioned in Sect. I, Note 6. Immediately below, hist
name is given in the lengthened form.
9 Motowori (who, strange to say, is followed by Hirata,—conf.
Sect. XVIII, Note 18) interprets the two characters E (here in
accordance with general usage taken to signify "respectfully informed”)
as “informed and took up," thus making it appear that the diminu-
tive deity was personally taken up to Heaven. Surely a recollection
of the parallel passage in the “Chronicles,” which says that “
senger was sent up to inform the Heavenly Deities," should have
preserved the commentators from thus offending against both grammar
and common sense.
a més-
104
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
[VOL. XII.
"This is truly my child.
He among
(6
tor, he replied, saying:
my children is the child who dipped between the fork of my
hand.10 So do he and thou become brethren, and make and
"consolidate this land." So from that time forward the two
Deities the Great-Name-Possessor and the Little-Prince-the-
Renowned-Deity made and consolidated this land conjointly.
But afterwards the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity crossed
over to the Eternal Land.¹2 So [the Deity here] called the
(C
10 I.e., "slipped away between my fingers." In the legend as
given in the “Chronicles," the father explains more particularly that
the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity had been a bad boy who ran
away.
11 For an explanation of this expression see Sect. XXIII, Notė 26.
12 Toko-yc-no-kuni (# ). Some kind of Paradise or Hades is
meant, as is proved by innumerable references in the early literature
of Japan and we may suppose the idea to have been borrowed from
the Chinese or through them from Buddhism, and to have been
afterwards vaguely located in some distant country. In Sect. LXXIV
we are told of the orange having been brought from the "Eternal
Land" by Tajima-mori, who is said to have been of Korean extrac-
tion. Korea, which is to the west of Japan, and the Buddhist paradise
in the west might well be confounded by tradition, though it is
equally open to discussion whether Southern China or even the
Loochoo Islands might not have been thus vaguely designated. In
any case it was a distant place, imperfectly known, though specifically
named. In the " Chronicles," Tajima-mori is made to say that it is
"the retreat of Gods and Fairies, and not to be reached by common
men."-Motowori's immense note on this word (see Vol. XII, pp.
10-13 of his Commentary) is a specimen of the specious arguments
by which he endeavours to ward off from the Early Japanese the
imputation of ever having borrowed any ideas from their neighbours.
He would have us believe that Toko-yo is derived from soko yori.
"thence" (!) and that the name simply dénotes foreign countries in
general. This is on a par with the opinion emitted by Arawi Haku-
seki in his “Ko-shi Tsū,” to the effect that the “Eternal Land was
simply a place in the province of Hitachi. The latter good old
commentator apparently founded himself on no better reasons than
his general rejection of supernatural or otherwise perplexing details,
>>
VOL. XII.]
105
VOL. I. SECT. XXVIII.
Crumbling Prince, who revealed the Little-Prince-the-Renow-
ned-Deity, is what is now [called] the scarecrow in the mountain
fields. This Deity, though his legs do not walk, is a Deity
who knows everything in the Empire.13*
[SECT. XXVIII. THE AUGUST-LUCK-SPIRIT-THE-AUGUST-
<<
WONDROUS-SPIRIT.']
Thereupon the
Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land lamented
himself, and said: "How shall I alone be able to make this
"land? Together with what Deity can I make this land ?"
At this time there came a Deity illuminating the sea. This
Deity said: "If thou wilt lay me to rest³ well, I can make it
"together with thee. If not, the land cannot be made." Then
the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land said : "If that be so,
what is the manner of reverently laying thee to rest?" He
replied, saying: Reverently worship me on Yamato's green
and the fact that one of the characters with which the name of the
province in question is written is, which also forms part of the
name of Toko-yo-no-kuni.
•
13 Literally "everything beneath Heaven." "Beneath Heaven "
(F), i.e., “all that is beneath the Heavens," is a common Chinese
phrase for the Chinese Empire, which was in ancient days not unna-
turally supposed by its inhabitants to form the whole civilized world.
The expression was borrowed by the Japanese to designate their one
country. But its use by them had not the same plea of ignorance of
other civilised lands, as they were acquainted with China and Korea,
and had thence obtained nearly all the arts of life.
This statement puzzles the commentators.—W.G.A.
1 In the " Chronicles," this is given as the designation of the
Deity who came over the sea, and Motowori therefore adopts it as
the heading of this Section.
2 For an explanation of this expression see Sect. XXIII. Note 26.
3 I.e., "if thou wilt build me a temple." Ths original might also
be rendered "if thou wilt worship before me," or "at my shrine,"
or "if thou wilt establish a temple to me.
106
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'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XII.
"fence, the eastern mountain's top."4 This is the Deity who
dwells on the top of Mount Mimoro.5
[SECT. XXIX. THE AUGUST CHILDREN OF THE GREAT-HARVEST-
DEITY AND OF THE SWIFT-MOUNTAIN-DEITY.]
So the Great-Harvest-Deity wedded the Princess [of?]
Inu,' daughter of the Divine-Life-Producing-Wondrous-Deity,2
and begot children: the Deity August-Spirit-of-the-Great-Land,³
next the Deity of Kara, next the Deity Sohori,5 next the
Deity White-Sun, next the Sage-Deity." (Five Deities.) Again
6
4 I.e., on Mount Mimoro which stands as a protecting fence in
the eastern part of the province of Yamato. Awo-kaki-yama, "green
fence mountain," became a proper name used alternatively for Mount
Mimoro (or, according to the later pronunciation, Mimuro). In like
manner Himukashi-yama (in the later language Higashi-yama) "eastern
mountain," has by some been considered to be a proper name.
5 I.e., "august house;" so called probably from the temple of the
deity.
1 Inu-hime. Motowori supposes Inu to be the name of a place.
The word properly signifies "dog."
2 Kamu-iku-musu-bi-no-kami.
3 Oho-kuni-mi-tama-no-kami.
4 Kara-no-kami, #, Kara signifies Korea or China, and the
Deity thus named appears in the "Chronicles "under the name of
I-so-takeru (“Fifty-fold-Valiant), of whom it is related that he was
taken over to Korea by his father Susa-no-wo (the "Impetuous-Male).
5 Sohori-no-kami. The etymology is not clear. Hirata derives the
name from a Verb soru, "to ride," "to go in a boat," in connection
with the story (mentioned in the preceding note) of I-so-takeru
having been taken over to Korea. According to this view, Sohori,
like Kara-no-kami, would be an alternative name of I-so-takeru. But
the derivation is hazardous, to say the least.
6 Shira-hi-no-kami. Motowori supposes shira hi () to be a
copyist's error for mukahi (H). The latter, however, does not
make satisfactory sense, and Tominobu proposes to invert the charac-
VOL. XII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXIX.
107
he wedded the Refulgent-Princess, and begot children: the
Deity Great-Refulgent-Mountain-Dwelling-Grandee,¹0 next the
August-Harvest-Deity. Again he wedded Princess Ame-shiru-
karu-midzu,¹² and begot children: the Deity Oki-tsu-hiko,"
13
next Her Augustness Oki-tsu-hime,14 another name for whom
9
ters, thus: ], which means "sun-confronting." Motowori suggests
that the word may, after all, be but the name of a place.
7 Hizhiri-no-kami, written with the characters. The first of
these is defined as signifying him who is intuitively wise and good,
i.e., the perfect sage. But perhaps we should in Archaic Japanese take
the term hizhiri in what is its probable native etymological sense,
viz. "sun-governing" (hi-zhiri, ), a title properly applied to the
□
Japanese Emperors as descendants of the Sun-Goddess, and of which
the character, which is used of the Chinese Monarchs, is only an
equivalent in so far as it, too, is employed as an Honorific title.
8 Viz. from the August-Spirit-of-the-Great-Land to the Sage-
Deity inclusive.
9 Kagayo-hime.
10 Oho-kaga-yama-to-omi-no-kami. The translation follows Hirata's
interpretation, which nearly agrees with that proposed by Mabuchi.
11 Mi-toshi-no-kami. For the meaning of harvest" attributed to
the word toshi see Sect. XX, Note 3.
12 Ame-shiru-karu-midzu-hime. The name might tentatively be
translated thus: Heaven-Governing-Fresh-Princess-of-Karu. Motowori
suggests that ame-shiru may be but a sort of Pillow-Word for the rest
of the name. Ama-tobu is, however, the only Pillow-Word for Karu
found in the poems. After all, Karu may not here be the name of
a place at all.
13 Oki-tsu-hiko-no-kami. The translator ventures to think that the
names of this deity and the next might simply be rendered (in accor-
dance with the first character,, entering into their composition)
"Inner Prince" and "Inner Princess " or "Prince of the Interior "
and “
'Princess of the Interior." Motowori however suggests that
Okitsu may be the name of a place, while Hirata derives the names
from oki-tsuchi, “laid earth," finding therein a reference to the furnace
(made of clay) mentioned immediately below
14 Oki-tsu-hime-no-mikoto.
Jun
•
108
(6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XII.
is the Deity Great Furnace-Princess :15-this is the Deity of
the Furnace¹ held in reverence by all people. Next the Deity
Great-Mountain-Integrator," another name for whom is the
Deity-Great-Master-of-the-Mountain End:18 this Deity dwells
on Mount Hiye19 in the land of Chika-tsu-Afumi,20 and is
likewise the Deity dwelling at Matsu-no-wo24 in Kadzunu,22
who uses the whizzing barb.23* Next the Deity-of-the-Fire-in-
15 Oho-be-hime-no-kami.
16 Kama-no-kami (h). The "furnace means the "kitchen."
Neither Motowori nor Hirata informs us that the immense popularity
of this Goddess, as well as her name, can clearly be traced to China.
17 Oho-yama-kuhi-no-kami. The meaning of kuhi, here (as in the
case of Tsunu-guhi and Iku-guhi, see Sect. II, Note 4) rendered by
the word "integrator," is open to doubt.
18 Yama-suwe-no-oho-nushi-no-kami.
(C
ور
Motowori supposes the word
suwe, end," to have the signification of “ top."
19 As it stands, the etymology of this name is not clear. In later
times the mountain was called Hi-yei ( . But whether the, to
outward appearance, native name Hiye is but a corruption of this
Chinese one, or whether it be true that the latter (on this hypothesis.
bestowed on account of its likeness in sound to the native designation)
was not used till the end of the eighth or beginning of the ninth
century, as is commonly stated, is difficult to decide.
(C
20 I.e.,
Close-Fresh-Sea." Afumi (modern pron. Ömi, for aha-
um) alone signifies "fresh sea," i.e., "lake." This province contains
the large lake commonly known as Lake Biha (Biwa), but anciently
simply called "the Fresh Sea," as being the lake par excellence of
Japan. When one of the eastern provinces received, on account of a
large lagoon or inlet which it contains, the name of Toho-tsu-Afumi
(in modern pronunciation Totomi), i.e., "Distant-Fresh-Sea." the epithet
Close was prefixed to the name of the province nearer to the ancient
centre of government.,
21 I.e., Pine-tree-Declivity.
22 I.e., Pueraria-Moor.
23 This passage) must be corrupt. Mabuchi
proposes to insert the character before, and to understand the
author to have meant to tell us that the deity was worshipped with
arrows, that is to say, that arrows were offered at his shrine. Moto-
wori's proposal to consider as an error for or it, and to
VOL. XII.]
109
VOL. I. SECT. XXIX.
the-Yard;24 next the Deity Asuha;25 next the Deity Hahigi;26
next the Deity Refulgent-Mountain-Dwelling-Grandee;27 next
the Deity Swift-Mountain-Dwelling;28 next the High Deity-of-
the-Fire-in-the-Yard;29 next the Great-Earth-Deity, another
رو
Є0
interpret the clause thus: "the Deity who was changed into an
arrow is also worthy of notice. But a further suggestion of his to
read for and to interpret thus: "the Deity of the Red Arrow,"
seems best of all when taken in connection with the tradition, which
he quotes from the "Topography of Yamashiro," to the effect that
this god took the shape of a red arrow to gain access to his mistress
Tama-yori-hime, such a transformation being one of the common-
places of Japanese myth.
Why barb and not simply arrow-head? An arrow-head has two
barbs.-W.G.A.
that in note 10.
24 Niha-tsu-hi-no-kami.
The interpretation of this name here
adopted is not Motowori's, who takes hi in the sense of "wondrous,"
but Hirata's. The latter author makes it clear that this deity (for
whom Niha-taka-tsu-hi-no-kami, i.e., "the High-Deity-of-the-Fire-in-
the-Yard," is but a slightly amplified designation) was none other
than the above-mentioned Deity of the Kitchen, and his name an
inclusive one for the pair of deities Oki-tsu-hiko and Oki-tsu-hime.
25 Asuha-no-kami. The signification of this name is obscure, and
Motowori's proposal to derive it from ashi-niha, "foot-place," because
the god in question may be supposed to protect the place on which
people stand, is not altogether convincing, In fact he himself only
advances it with hesitation. It should be added, however, that Hirata
stamps it with his special approval, as he does also Motowori's
derivation of the following name, Hahigi.
26 Hahigi-no-kami. Obscure, but ingeniously derived by Motowori
from hahi-iri-gimi, i.e., "entering prince," the deity in question being
supposed to have been the special protector of the entrances to
houses, and to have thence received his name. Mr. Satow has trans-
lated it in the Rituals as 'Entrance Limit."
27
Kaga-yama-to-omi-no-kami.
The name is almost identical with
28 Ha-yama-to-no-kami.
The interpretation of the name is that
proposed by Motowori, and which seems tolerably satisfactory.
29 Niha-taka-tsu-hi-no-kami. See Note 24.
30 Oho-tsuchi-no-kami.
110
[VOL. XII.
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
name for whom is the Deity August-Ancestor-of-Earth.31
(Nine Deities.32)
In the above paragraph the children of the Great-Harvest-
Deity, from the Deity August-Spirit-of-the-Great-Land
down to the Great-Earth-Deity, are altogether sixteen
Deities.
The Deity Swift-Mountain-Dwelling wedded the Deity
Princess-of-Great-Food, and begot children: the Deity Young-
Mountain-Integrator 35 next the Young-Harvest-Deity;96 next
his younger sister
sister the Young-Rice-Transplanting-Female-
Deity;37 next the Water-Sprinkling-Deity;38 next the Deity-of-
the-High-Sun-of-Summer, 39 another name for whom is the
Female-Deity-of-Summer ;40 next the Autumn-Princess; next
31 Tsuchi-no-mi-oya-no-kami.
32 This number is obtained if (as is perhaps permissible from a
Japanese point of view) we consider Oki-tsu-hiko and Oki-tsu-hime as
forming a single deity. Otherwise there are ten. A similar remark
applies to the number sixteen mentioned immediately below.
33 See Note 28.
34 See Sect. V, Note 8. The fact that this goddess is related to
have been previously killed (see Sect. XVII) causes Motowori some
embarrassment.
35 Waka-yama-kuhi-no-kami.
36 Waka-toshi-no-kami. Motowori proposes (considering this name
in connection with the four that follow) to take waka-toshi in this
place in the signification of "the first sprouting" of the young rice.
The five deities whose birth is here mentioned seem collectively to
represent the natural succession of agricultural operations throughout
the year.
37 Waka-sa-na-me-no-kami.
38 Midzu-maki-no-kami.
39 Natsu-taka-tsu-hi-no-kami. Motowori's interpretation of hi as
"wondrous" is perhaps as good as that here adopted, according to
which it signifies “sun." His view would give us in English “the
Summer-High-Wondrous-Deity."
40 Natsu-no-me-no-kami.
41 Aki-bime-no-kami.
VOL. XIII.]
111
VOL. I. SECT. XXX.
薄
​.42
the Deity Stem-Harvest ; next the Deity Lord-Stem-Tree-
Young-House-Rope.4
43
In the above paragraph the children of the Deity Swift-
Mountain-Dwelling, from the Deity Young-Mountain-
Integrator down to the Deity Lord-Young-House-Rope,"
are altogether eight Deities.
("
[SECT. XXX.—THE AUGUST DELIBERATION FOR PACIFYING THE LAND.]
The Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity commanded, say-
ing:
"The
Luxuriant-Reed-Plains-the-Land-of-Fresh-Rice-
“ears-of-a-Thousand-Autumns, of Long-Five-Hundred-Au-
"tumns¹ is the land which my august child His Augustness
Truly - Conqueror - I - Conquer - Conquering - Swift - Heavenly -
Great-Great-Ears shall govern." Having [thus] deigned to
charge him, she sent him down from Heaven.3 Hereupon His
Augustness Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears, standing on the Float-
"C
G
42 Kuku-toshi-no-kami. The word kuku, "stem," seems to allude to
the length of the well-grown rice.
43 Kuku-ki-waka-muro-tsuna-nc-no-kami.
Motowori supposes this
god to have been the protector of houses, and interprets the name to
denote the beams, and the ropes with which the beams were bound
together. The word here read tsuna, “rope," is written with the
character,, and might perhaps be rendered "pueraria." But as in
early times the tendrils of such creeping plants formed the only
substitute for rope, the two renderings come to have very nearly the
same signification.
44 The name is here abbreviated in the original to Waka-muro-
tsuna-ne-no-kami.
1 Toyo-ashi-hara-no-chi-aki-no-naga-i-ho-aki-no-midzu-ho-no-kuni,
i.c., freely rendered, “ever fruitful Japan with its reed-covered plains
and its luxuriant ricefields."
2 See Sect. XIII, Note 18. Henceforward this tremendous name
is mostly abbreviated to me-ng-oshi-no-mimi (probably signifying
(C
Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears.")
3 So in the original. The sense, however, is rather "told him to
descend from Heaven;" for he did not actually go further than the
top of the "Floating Bridge," and never came down to earth.
112
C
‘(·
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIII.
ing Bridge of Heaven, said: "The Luxuriant-Reed-Plains-
"the-Land-of-Fresh-Rice - ears-of-a-Thousand-Autumns,-of
Long-Five-Hundred-Autumns is painfully uproarious,—it is.”
With this announcement, he immediately re-ascended, and infor-
med the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity. Then the High-
August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity and the Heaven-Shining-
Great-August-Deity commanded the eight hundred myriad
Deities to assemble in a divine assembly in the bed of the
Tranquil River of Heaven," and caused the Deity Thought-
Includer to think [of a plan], and said: "This Central Land*
"of Reed-Plains is the land with which we have deigned to
charge our august child as the land which he shall govern.
"So as he deems that violent and savage Earthly Deities are
"numerous in this land, which Deity shall we send to subdue
"them?" Then the deity Thought-Includer and likewise the
eight hundred myriad Deities took counsel and said:
"The
"Deity Ame-no-ho-hi; is the one that should be sent." So
they sent the Deity Ame-no-ho-hi; but he at once curried
favour with the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land, and for three
years brought back no report.
10
<<
<<
4
4 See Sect, III, Note 3.
5 The words "it is" stand for ari keri in the original. Conf.
Sect. X, Note 1.
6 Taka-mi-musu-bi-no-kami, first mentioned at the very commence-
ment of the work. In this legend this god's name is constantly
coupled with that of the Sun-Goddess, who alone, up to this point,
had appeared as the ruler of Heaven.
7 See Sect. XIII, Note 12.
8 See Sect. XVI, Note 7.
9 The meaning must be, as Motowori suggests, that the story
was told first, and the Deity Thought-Includer asked for his advice
after he had heard it.
Chinese touch.-W.G.A.
10 See Sect. I, Note 11.
11 See Sect. XIII, Note 19.
VOL XIII.]
113
VOL. I. SECT. XXXI.
""
[SECT: XXXI.—THE HEAVENLY-YOUNG-PRINCE.]
་
Therefore the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity
and the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity again asked all
the Deities, saying: "The Deity Ame-no-ho-hi, whom we
"sent down to the Central Land of Reed-Plains, is long of
bringing back a report.¹ Which Deity were it best to send
'on a fresh mission ?”2 Then the Deity Thought-Includer
replied, saying: “The Heavenly-Young-Prince,³ son of the
"Deity Heaven's-Earth-Spirit' should be sent." So they be-
stowed on the Heavenly-Young-Prince the heavenly true deer-
bow and the heavenly feathered arrows,5 and sent him.
Thereupon the Heavenly-Young-Prince, descending to that
land, at once wedded Princess Under-Shining, daughter of
the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land,' and moreover, planning
how he might gain [possession of] the land, for eight years
brought back no report. So then the High-August-Producing-
Wondrous-Deity and the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity
again asked all the Deities, [saying]: "The Heavenly-Young-
"Prince is long of bringing back a report.8
Which Deity
6
shall we send on a fresh mission to enquire the cause of the
1 Literally, "long brings back no report."
2 Literally, “to send again." The same expression occurs below.
3 Ame-waka-hiko. All the commentators agree that it is in order
to express disapprobation of this god's wickedness that the title of
Deity or Augustness is never coupled with his name.
4 Ama-tsu-kuni-tama-no-kami.
5 Ame-no-kako-yumi and ame-no-haha-ya. In Sect. XXXIV these
weapons are mentioned under the slightly altered names of ame-no-
hazhi-yumi (“heavenly vegetable wax-tree bow") and ame-no-kaku-ya´
("heavenly deer-arrows.") A large bow made of vegetable wax-tree
(Rhus succedanea) wood, and arrows with broad feathers, are supposed
to be intended.
6 Shita-teru-hime. See Sect. XXVI. Note 4.
7 Oho-kuni-nushi-no-kami. See Sect. XX, Note 17
8 Literally, "long brings back no report."
114
“KO-JI-KI
""
OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIII.
Heavenly-Young-Prince's long tarrying?" Thereupon all the
Deities and likewise the Deity Thought-Includer replied, say-
ing:
"The pheasant the Name-Crying-Female should be
"sent," upon which [the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-
Deity and the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity] charged
[the pheasant], saying: "What thou shalt go and ask the
Heavenly-Young-Prince is this: The reason for which thou
"wast sent to the Central Land of Reed-Plains was to sub-
"due and pacify the savage Deities of that land. Why for
eight years bringest thou back no report?” So then the
Crying-Female, descending from Heaven, and perching on the
multitudinous [-ly-branching] cassia-tree at the Heavenly-
Young-Prince's gate, told him everything according to the
mandate of the Heavenly Deities. Then the Heavenly-Spying-
Woman,"¹ having heard the bird's words, spoke to the Heavenly-
Young-Prince, saying: "The sound of this bird's cry is very
"bad. So thou shouldest shoot it to death." On her [thus]
66 6
(6
(6
9 Na-naki-me. If the view here taken of the meaning of the
Japanese expression be correet (it is that preferred by Motowori and
Hirata), the pheasant would seem to have been supposed to cry out
its own name,—in Archaic Japanese kigishi. The syllables na naki me,
however, lend themselves equally well to the interpretation of " name-
less female," and are in the "Chronicles" found written with charac-
ters having that signification. Another reasonable opinion is that the
name should be connected with the tradition mentioned further on
of the pheasant having been the mourner (lit. "crying female," naki-
me) at the funeral of the Heavenly-Young-Prince.
In this case the
word na,
name," would have to be considered redundant, and it
will be observed that, the next time the name is mentioned, we find
simply naki-me, "crying female," without the syllable in question.
<<
10 Katsura-no-ki, variously written,,,, and phoneti-
cally. Though it is not absolutely certain what tree is
Intended, the weight of authority and of probability is in favour of
its being the cassia, which plays a part in Chinese mythology. In
modern parlance the katsura is a tree whose Latin name is Cercidi-
phyllum japonicum.
11 Ama-no-sagu-me.
}
:
VOL. XIII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXXI.
115
12
urging him, the Heavenly-Young-Prince at once took the hea-
venly vegetable wax-tree bow and the heavenly deer-arrows
bestowed on him by the Heavenly Deities, and shot the phea-
sant to death. Then the arrow, being shot up upside down¹2
through the pheasant's breast, reached the august place where
the Heaven-Shining-Great-Angust-Deity and the High-Integra-
ting-Deity13 were sitting in the bed of the Tranquil River of
Heaven. This "High-Integrating-Deity" is another name for
the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity. So, on the High-
Integrating-Deity taking up the arrow and looking at it [he
saw that] there was blood adhering to the feathers of the
arrow. Thereupon the High-Integrating-Deity, saying: "This
"arrow is the arrow that was bestowed on the Heavenly-
"Young-Prince," showed it to all the Deities, and said: "If
"this be an arrow shot at the evil Deities by the Heavenly-
Young-Prince in obedience to our command, let it not hit
"him. If he has a foul heart, let the Heavenly-Young-Prince
14
perish by this arrow." With these words, he took the
arrow and thrust it back down through the arrow's hole,15 so
that it hit the Heavenly-Young-Prince on the top of his breast¹6
as he was sleeping on his couch, so that he died. (This is the
("
"C
12 This expression, as Motowori explains, signifies only that, as
the arrow was shot from below straight up at a pheasant perching on
a branch overhead, the feathers, which are properly considered to
form the top part of the arrow, were naturally underneath.
13 Taka-gi-no-kami. The name is writen with the characters *
, which, taken ideographically, would give us in English "High-
Tree-Deity." But the translator has little doubt but that Motowori
is correct in considering to be here used phonetically, and the
syllable gi, which it represents, to be a contraction of guhi (for kuhi),
itself derived from kumu, and best rendered by the Verb "to inte-
grate."
14 In Japanese magare, lit. turn aside," "become crooked," i.c.,
come to a bad end."
15 I.e., through the hole in the bottom of the sky through which
the arrow had entered, or which the arrow had made for itself.
16 Literally "high breast-hill.”
(C
CC
116
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIII.
"(
origin of [the saying] Beware of a returning arrow.'17) Moreover
the pheasant returned not. So this is the origin of the modern
proverb which speaks of the pheasant as sole messenger.'
So the sound of the wailings of the Heavenly-Young-Prince's
wife Princess Under-Shining, re-echoing in the wind, reached
Heaven. So the Heavenly-Young-Prince's father, the Deity
Heaven's-Earth-Spirit, and his wife and children' who were in
heaven, hearing it, came down with cries and lamentations,
and at once built a mourning-house there, and made the wild
goose of the river" the head-hanging bearer,22 the heron the
918
17 The sentence placed between brackets is supposed by Motowori
to be an addition to the text made by some copyist who had in his
mind the parallel passage of the "Chronicles." In the "Records of
Ancient Matters Revised" the two characters answering to our word
'beware" are omitted, and the resulting meaning is: "This was the
origin of the practice of sending back arrows," ie., of shooting an
enemy with the arrow he had himself just used.
<<
18 The import of the proverb seems to be that an embassy should
always consist of more than one person. This is Motowori's view,
based on his interpretation of the character as hita, which he
identifies with hito, "one"; and it agrees well with the story in the
text. Hirata, who, in his Exposition of the Ancient Histories,"
following the version of the legend given in the "Chronicles," narrates
two pheasant embassies,—the male bird being sent first and (as it did
not return) the female afterwards,-takes the character in the proper
sense belonging to it in Chinese, and interprets the words of the
proverb to mean "the pheasant's hurried embassy."
19 I.e., the wife and children of the Heavenly-Young-Prince, who
had been left behind by him in Heaven when he went on his embassy
to Idzumo.
20 I.e., in the place where he died.
The " mourning house" was
used to keep the corpse in till it was finally buried.
21 Some of the commentators believe this bird to be a separate
species, and Moribe, who says that he saw one at the estuary near
Kuhana in Ise, describes it as "rather slenderer than an ordinary
wild goose, with longer legs and a higher back." If we accepted this,
the better English translation would be "river wild goose."
22 The original of this expression (kisari-mochi) is very obscure
J
VOL. XIII.]
117
VOL. I. SECT. XXXI.
broom-bearer, the kingfisher the person of the august food,
the sparrow the pounding-woman,23 the pheasant the weeping
woman; and having thus arranged matters, they disported
themselves24 for eight days and eight nights,* At this time the
Deity Ajishiki-taka-hiko-ne¹5 came and condoled on the mourn-
ing for the Heavenly-Young-Prince, whereupon the Heavenly-
Young-Prince's father and wife who had come down from
Heaven bewailed themselves, saying: "My child is not dead,
"no! My lord is not dead, no!" and with these words clung
to his hands and feet, and bewailed themselves and lamented.
The cause of their mistake was that the two Deities closely
25
•
even in the “Chronicles," by whose ideographic reading the translator
has been guided, and being here written phonetically become more
conjectural still. The most likely opinion is that it signifies one
bearing on his head the food to be offered to the corpse, though if
this view be adopted, the office of the mourner in question may seem
to resemble too closely that of the kingfisher. The latter has however
been supposed to have brought fish, while the goose may have brought
Another proposal is that the goose brought the food and the
kingfisher cooked it, while the sparrow, as mentioned below, perfor-
med the intermediate operation of pounding the rice. (See Motowori's
elaborate note on this word in Vol. XIII, pp. 47-48 of his Commen-
tary).
rice.
23 Or simply, "the pounder.”
24 The parallel passage of the "Chronicles" tells us that " they
wept and wailed and sang† for eight nights."
The words "wail and sing" are probably a compound, they are
joined by a line in the Japanese. Sang dirges?-W.G.A.
See paper on early Japanese history p. 54. Mourning lasts for
some ten days only, during which time the members of the family
weep and lament, while their friends come singing, dancing and
making music.-W.G.A.
25 See Sect. XXVI, Note 2. He was brother to the Heavenly-
Young-Prince's wife.
26 The author of the "Perpètual Commentary on the Chronicles
of Japan" tells us that these tears were tears of joy. Doubtless
such is the meaning of the text; yet the repetition of the words
"bewailing" and "lamenting" is curious.
118
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIV.
resembled each other in countenance: so therefore they made
the mistake. Thereupon the Deity Ajishi-ki-taka-hikc-ne was
very angry, and said: "It was only because he was my dear
"friend that I came to condole. Why should I be likened to
"an unclean dead person?"--and with these words he drew
the ten-grasp sabre27 that was augustly girded on him, and cut
down the mourning-house, and kicked away [the pieces] with
his feet. This was on what is called Mount Mourning28 at
the source of the River Awimi29 in the land of Minu.0 The
great sword with which he cut [the mourning-house to pieces]
was called by the name of Great-Blade-Mower,31 another name
by which it was called being the Divine-Keen-Sabre.32 So
when the Deity Aji-shiki-taka-hoko-ne flew away in his anger,
his younger sister Her Augustness the High-Princess in order
to reveal his august name, sang, saying:
(C
27 See Sect. VIII, Note 1.
28 Mo-yama. No such mountain is now known.
29 Awimi-gaha. No such river is now known. According to the
characters with which it is written the name signifies "Knot-grass-
Seeing River."
30 Afterwards called Mino. This province probably received its
name, as the author of the "Explanation of Japanese Names suggests,
from mi nu, i.c., three moors," from the large moors of Kagami,
Awo, and Seki-ga-hara which it contains. The modern commentators
prefer to derive it from ma nu,
"C true moor."
31 Oho-ha-kari. The name might also be rendered "Great-Leaf-
Mower." The translator has followed Hirata in omitting the nigori
from the syllable ka.
32 Kamu-do-tsurugi.
33 The meaning of the Song is: "Oh! this is Aji-shiki-taka-hiko-
whose refulgence, similar to that of the jewels worn by the
ne,
"Oh! 'tis the Deity Aji-shiki-Taka-Hiko-Ne
"traversing two august valleys with the re-
"fulgence of august assembled hole-jewels, of
"the august assembled jewels worn round
"her neck by the Weaving Maiden in
"Heaven !''33
>>
VOL. XIV.]
119
VOL. I. SECT. XXXII.
This Song is of a Rustie Style.24
(6
[SECT. XXXII.-ABDICATION OF THE DEITY MASTER-OF-THE-
GREAT-LAND.]
Hereupon the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity said:
"Which Deity were it best to send on a fresh mission ?”
Then the Deity Thought-Includer and likewise all the Deities
said: "He who is named the Deity Majestic-Point-Blade-
"Extended and dwells in the Heavenly Rock-Dwelling by the
Weaving Maiden in Heaven, shines afar across hills and valleys.”-
The translator does not follow those commentators who emend ana-
dama, "hole-jewels" to aka-dama, "red," i.e., "resplendent jewels,"
as the frequent reference in this and the other ancient books to the
string on which beads were strung, and the presence in ancient
tombs, etc. of numbers of such beads with holes drilled through
them (they are now known by the name of kuda-tama, i.e., “tube-
jewels,") renders such an emendation unnecessary.
The "
Weaving
Maiden in Heaven" is evidently, notwithstanding Motowori's endea-
vour to disprove the fact, the Chinese Chih Nu, a personification of
Lyra, to whom there are countless allusions in Chinese literature,
and who also became a frequent theme of the later Japanese poets.
<"
>>
34 Or, barbarous style." Motowori endeavours to explain away
the various names of styles of Songs found in the early literature by
asserting that they are simply derived from the initial words of the
Song in question, and that, for instance, in the present case, the title
of Rustic Song was bestowed on the poem only because in the
"Chronicles it is coupled with another which lends itself to such
an interpretation. Moribe gives his sanction to this view; but, though
it is difficult to explain many of the titles on any other theory, the
translator thinks that it cannot be accepted as generally satisfactory
in the face of the numerous cases which contradict it, and of which
its supporters can give no satisfactory explanation. The whole subject
of the titles, of the manner of singing, etc., of the ancient poems is
indeed involved in obscurity.
1 Literally, "to send again."
2 Itsu-no-wo-ha-bari no kami. We have already seen (Sect. VIII,
Note 15) this name (minus the title of Deity) as the appellation of
•
#
120
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIV.
,
1
source of the Tranquil River of Heaven, is the one that
"should be sent; or if not this Deity, then this Deity's child,
"the Brave-Awful - Possessing - Male-Deity,³ might be sent,
"Moreover, owing to this Deity Heavenly-Point-Blade-Exten-
"ded having blocked up and turned back the waters of the
Tranquil River of Heaven, and to his dwelling with the road
"blocked up, other Deities cannot go [thither]. So the Hea-
venly-Deer-Deity should be sent specially to ask him.” So
then the Heavenly-Deer-Deity was sent to
to ask the Deity
Heavenly-Point-Blade-Extended, who replied, saying: "I will
obey, and will respectfully serve you. Nevertheless on this
"errand ye should send my child, the Brave-Awful-Possessing-
Male-Deity," [and with these words] immediately offered
[his son to the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity]. So the
Deity Heavenly-Bird-Boat was attached to the Brave-Awful-
Possessing-Male-Deity, and they were sent off. Therefore
(C
((
((
((
A
the sword with which Izanagi ("the Male-Who-Invites ") decapitated
his son Kagu-tsu-chi ("Shining Elder ") for having by his birth
caused the death of Izanami ("the Female-Who-Invites "). This
sword's alternative name appears immédiately below as the alternative
name of this deity,-Ame-no-wo-ha-bari-no-kami, i.e., "the Deity Hea-
venly-Point-Blade-Extended." Motowori's gloss to the effect that the
deity was the spirit of the sword has no warrant from the text.
3 Take-mika-dzu-chi-no-wo-no-kami. See Sect. VIII, Note 7.
4 Here, as in Sect. IX. (Note 6) the character L, moreover,"
occurs where some other Conjunction would seem more appropriate
both in Japanese and in English. We may here understand it to be
used for "but."
"deer" is
5 Ame-no-kaku-no-kami. The interpretation of kaku as
Hirata's, See his "Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. XXII,
p. 6, and conf. the remarks on Mount Kagu in Sect. VII, Note 12 of
this translation.
6 Literally, "in this road."
7 The First Personal Pronoun is here represented by the humble
character, "servant."
8 See Sect. VIII, Note 7.
9 Tori-bune-no-kami.
See Sect. VI, Note 24.
4
VOL. XIV.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXXII.
121
14
((
these two Deities, descending to the little shore of Inasa¹¹ in
the land of Idzumo, drew their swords ten hand-breadths
long, 12 stuck them upside down13 on the crest of a wave, seated
themselves cross-legged on the point of the swords, and asked
the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land, saying: "The Heaven-
Shining-Great-August-Deity and the High-Integrating-Deity
"have charged us and sent us to ask, [saying]: 'We have
deigned to charge our august child with thy dominion, the
"Central Land of Reed-Plains, as the land which he should
C6 C govern. So how is thy heart?'"'15 He replied, saying:
“I¹ am unable to say. My child the Deity Eight-Fold-Thing-
"Sign-Master" will be the one to tell you; but he is gone to
Cape Miho¹ to pursue birds and catch fish, and has not yet
"returned." So then the Deity Bird-Boat was sent to sum-
mon the Deity Eight-Fold-Thing-Sign-Master, who, on being
graciously asked, spoke to the Great Deity his father, saying:
"I will obey. [Do thou¹] respectfully present this land to
"the august child of the Heavenly Deity;"—and thereupon
he trod on [the edge of] his boat so as to capsize it, clapped
his heavenly departing hands in the fence of green branches,
606
""
10 The word "little" is merely a sort of Honorific Expletive.
<C
11 The true etymology of this word is doubtful; for Motowori's
proposal to derive if from ina se, supposed to mean no or yes"
(), in allusion to the question here put to the Deity Master-of-
the-Great-Land is a mere fancy, and does not provide for the alter-
native forms Itasa and Isasa, which occur in other documents.
12 See Sect. VIII, Note 1.
13 I.e., as Motowori explains, hilt downwards.
14 The "Chronicles" say that they "squatted."
15 I.e., "What sayest thou to this our decree?”
16 Here and below the humble character, "servant," is used for
the First Personal Pronoun.
17 Ya-he-koto-shiro-nu-shi-no-kami.
Sect. XXVI, Note 7.
18 See Sect. XXVII, Note 1.
19 Or,
"We will."
For this difficult name see
122
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIV.
and disappeared.20 So then they asked the Deity Master-of-
the-Great-Land, saying: "Thy son the Deity Thing-Sign-
"Master has now spoken thus. Hast thou other sons who
"should speak?" Hereupon he spoke again, saying: "There
"is my other son, the Deity Brave-August-Name-Firm.21 There
"is none beside him." While he was thus speaking, the
Deity Brave-August-Name-Firm came up, bearing on the tips
of his fingers a thousand-draught rock,22 and said: "Who is
"it that has come to our land, and thus secretly talks ? If
"that be so,23 I should like to have a trial of strength. So I
"should like to begin by taking thine august hand.'
"" So on
his letting him take his august hand, his touch at once turned
it into an icicle, and again his touch turned it into a sword-
blade.24 So then he was frightened and drew back. Then on
20 I.e., He capsized his boat and himself into the sea, the place
being one where (as is still done in Japan) a large space of shallow
water had been fenced in with posts, and stuck over with branches
of trees, a single opening being left for fish to enter by,-then clapped
his hands in token of departure, and sank to the bottom.—This is
Hirata's interpretation of the passage, which is a difficult one, and is
differently understood by Motowori, whom Mr. Satow has followed in
one of his notes to the Rituals (see Vol. VII, Pt II, p. 122 of these
"Transactions"), rendering it thus: "He then trod upon the edge
"of his boat so as to overturn it, and with his hands crossed back to
"back (in token of consent), transformed his boat into a green fence
<6
of branches, and disappeared." A careful comparison of the remarks
in Motowori's Commentary (Vol. XIV, pp. 16-19) with those in
Hirata's "Exposition of the Ancient Histories (Vol. XXII, pp. 50-
55) and with the text itself, as also with the text of the parallel
passage in the
Chronicles," has however left no doubt in the mind
of the translator that Hirata's view is the correct one.
21 Take-mi-na-gata-no-kami.
that proposed by Motowori.
·
>>
The interpretation of the name is
22 I.e., a rock which it would take a thousand men to lift.
23 This expression seems here, as Motowori says, to be used in
the sense of "Come on!" It has survived in the modern word
saraba, which sometimes has that meaning.
24 I.e., the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male-Deity's hand turned first
-
VOL. XIV.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXXII.
123
("
I
the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male-Deity wishing to take the
hand of the Deity Brave-August-Name-Firm, and asking per-
mission to take it in return, he grasped and crushed it as if
it were taking a young reed, and cast it aside, upon which/
[the Deity Brave-August-Name-Firm] fled away. So when
[the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male-Deity] pursuing after him,
came up with him at the Sea of Suha25 in the land of Shi-
nanu,26 and was about to slay him, the Deity Brave-August-
Name-Firm said: "I will obey. Slay me not.
Slay me not. I will go to
no other place but this, neither will I go against the com-
"mand of my father the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land.
"will not go against the words of the Deity Eight-Fold-Thing-
"Sign-Master. I will yield up this Central Land of Reed-
"Plains according to the command of the august child of the
Heavenly Deities.” So they returned again, and asked the
Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land [saying]: "Thy children the
'two Deities the Deity Thing-Sign-Master and the Deity
"Brave-August-Name-Firm have said that they will follow and
"not go against the commands of the august child of the
Heavenly Deities. So how is thy heart?" Then he replied,
"saying: According as the two Deities my children have said,
"I too will not go against them. In accordance with the
[heavenly] command, I will at once yield up this Central
(6 Land of Reed-Plains. But as to my place of residence, if
(C
..
((
("
ye will make stout the temple-pillars on the nethermost
rock-bottom, and make high the cross-beams to the Plain of
High Heaven like the rich and perfect august nest where the
("
CC
into an icicle and next into a sword-blade on being touched by the
Deity Brave-August-Name-Firm, to the alarm and hurt of the latter.
25 I.c., the Lake of Suha. No satisfactory etymology of the name
is forthcoming.
26 In later times called Shinano. The usual derivation of the
word is that which connects it with shina-zaka, "mountainous ascents,
--an appropriate enough name for the province in question.
It is,
however, more probably derived from shina, the name of a tree
resembling the lime (Tilia cordata) and nu or no, moor."
((
""
124
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIV.
august child of the Heavenly Deities rules the succession of
"Heaven's sun, and will deign to establish me, I will hide in
"the eighty (less than a hundred) road-windings, and wait on
"him.
Again, as for my children the hundred and eighty
Deities, if the Deity Eight-Fold-Thing-Sign-Master will be
"the Deities' august rear and van and will respectfully serve
them, there will be no disobedient Deities."27 Having thus
spoken [he hid himself.28 So in accordance with his word,9]
they built a heavenly august abode on the shore of Tagishi
("
CC
(C
((
27 I.e., “If ye will build me a temple founded on the nethermost
"rocks and reaching up to Heaven like unto the august residence of
"the Heavenly Deity who is coming to replace me as sovereign
upon earth, I will vanish to Hades, and serve him there; and as for
the Gods my children, none of them will rebel against their new
Lord, if the Deity Thing-Sign-Master be accepted as the protector
"of his escort."-Some of the expressions in the original stand in
need of explanation. Su, here rendered "nest" in accordance with
the character employed in writing it, may mean “lattice” (), and
refer to the lattice-work over the hole in the chimney of the roof.
The "succession of Heaven's sun" (in Japanese amatsu hi-tsug)
means the inheritance of the sovereignty of Japan, or of Idzumo.
Momotaradzu ("less than a hundred ") is the Pillow-Word for ya-se,
Weighty," and for some other words; it must be disregarded in
making sense of any sentence in which it occurs. The "eighty road-
windings" signify, says Motowori, "an immensely long way," and
are here meant for the long road leading to Hades or for Hades itself
(Conf, Sect. XCVI, Note 7). In rendering the last sentence of the
passage (that commencing 'Again, as for my children," etc,), which
is particularly vague, the translator has been guided by Motowori's
opinion, which seems the most satisfactory one. It must be under-
stood that the deities whose rear and van the Deity Thing-Sign-
Master is to become, are those who are about to escort the new
sovereign down from heaven.
"C
28 I.e., disappeared.
(4
<<
<<
31
29 The passage placed within brackets is supplied by Motowori to
fill up an evident omission in the text.
30 Literally "little shore." See Note 10 to this Section.
31 The derivation of Tagishi is doubtful; but conf. Sect. LXXXIX,
VOL. XIV.]
125
VOL. I. SECT. XXXII.
24
in the land of Idzumo; and the Deity Wondrous-Eight-Spirits,32
grandson of the Deity of Water-Gates, was made butler to
offer
up the heavenly august banquet, when, having said
prayers, the Deity Wondrous-Eight-Spirits turned into a cor-
morant, went down to the bottom of the sea, took in his
mouth red earth from the bottom, made eighty heavenly
platters, and, cutting sea-weed35 stalks, made a fire-drill mortar,
and made a fire-drill pestle out of stalks of komo, and drilled
out fire, saying: "This fire which I have drilled will I burn
36
((
until, in the Plain of High Heaven, the soot on the heavenly
"new lattice of the gable of His Augustness the Wondrous-
"Divine-Producer-the-August-Ancestors hang down eight hand-
"breadths; and as for what is below the earth, I will bake
"down to the nethermost rock-bottom, and, -the fishing
"sailors, who spread their thousand-fathom ropes of paper-
"mulberry and angle, having with many shouts drawn in and
Note 2. Motowori remarks that we seem to have here the old name
of the place now known only, on account of the temple which it
contains, as Kidzuki no Oho-yashiro, i.e., "the pestle-hardened great
shrine."
"C
32 Kushi-ya-tama-no-kami.
Motowori proposes to consider tama
as
a contraction of tamuke, offering," and to take the name to
signify "the Deity of Wondrous Increasing Offerings." Hirata's
interpretation, which is followed in the translation, seems better, as
the term eight spirits" or eight [fold] spirit" accords with the
religious role attributed to this Deity without necessitating any hazar-
dous philological conjectures. The actual character used to write the
disputed word is E, "jewel."
33 See Sect. VI. Note 9.
CC
CC
34 The word "when" must be understood resumptively, as signi-
fying that the way in which he carried out his task was by turning
into a cormorant, making platters, etc.
35 It is uncertain whether the word me (), here rendered sea-
weed, is a general designation or the name of a particular species.
36 Supposed to be the same as, or similar to, the modern hon-
dahara (Halochloa macrantha).
37 Kumu-musu-bi-mi-oya-no-kami.
126
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIV.
"landed the large-mouthed small-finned perch, -I will offer up
"the heavenly true fish-food so that the split bamboos bend."
So the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male-Deity re-ascended [to
38 The translator has followed Moribe in the interpretation of the
first part and Hirata in the interpretation of the latter part of this
extremely difficult passage, which is a crux to all the commentators,
but whose general sense at least is this: "I will continue drilling
"fire for the God's kitchen, until the soot hangs down from the roof
"of the temple of the Ancestral Deity in Heaven above, and until
"the earth below is baked down to its nethermost rocks; and with
"the fire thus drilled will I cook for him the fish brought in by the
fishermen, and present them to him in baskets woven of split bam-
"boos which will bend beneath their weight."-Another plausible
interpretation of the original expression rendered by these last two
words is that they are simply the Pillow-Word for towowo-towowo ni,
"bending." The rope with which the fishermen are supposed to
have angled is described in detail by Hirata ("Exposition of the
Ancient Histories," Vol. XXIV. p. 21) as a long rope from which
other strings, each with a hook attached, depended, and is said by
him to be still in use in the provinces of Shimofusa (Shimōsa) and
Hitachi. The "lattice of the gable must be understood to mean
bamboo lattice covering a hole beneath the gable, which served as a
chimney. Motowori's remarks on this passage will be found in Vol.
XIV. pp. 39-42 of his Commentary, and Moribe's on the words to-
daru ama no nihi-su (rendered "on the heavenly new lattice of the
gable" in his "Examination of Difficult-Words," Vol. II, pp. 26–29 ;
the latter especially are well worth perusal by the student. Mr.
Satow, in one of the notes to his translation of the Rituals, (See Vol.
İX, Pt. II, p. 209 of these "Transactions"), gives a somewhat diver-
gent rendering of this passage, following, as he does, the interpretation
given by Motowori. It is as follows: "The fire which I have drilled
"will I burn until the soot of the rich and sufficing heavenly new
nest of the PARENT Kami-musubi in heaven hangs down many hand-
"breadths long, and the earth below will I bake down to its bottom-
"most rocks, and stretching a thousand fathoms of paper-mulberry
"rope, will draw together and bring ashore the fisherman's large-
"mouthed small-finned suzuki, [and] will offer up the heavenly fish-
"food on bending split bamboos."
"C
(C
""
I
VOL. XV.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXXIII.
127
Heaven], and reported how he had subdued and pacified the
Central Land of Reed-Plains.
[SECT. XXXIII.—THE AUGUST DESCENT FROM HEAVEN OF HIS
AUGUSTNESS THE AUGUST GRANDCHILD.]
Then the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity and the
High-Integrating-Deity commanded and charged the Heir
Apparent² His Augustness Truly-Conqueror-I-Conquer-Swift-
Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears [saying: "The Brave-Awful-Pos-
"sessing-Male-Deity] says that he has now finished pacifying
"the Central Land of Reed-Plains. So do thou, in accordance
"with our gracious charge, descend to and dwell in and rule
"" over it."
Then the Heir Apparent His Augustness Truly-
Conqueror-I-Conquer-Conquering-Swift-Heavenly-Great-Great-
Ears replied, saying: "While 14 have been getting ready to
“descend, there has been born [to me] a child whose name
"is His Augustness Heaven-Plenty-Earth-Plenty-Heaven's-Sun-
“Height-Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty. This child should be
5
<C
1 Taka-gi-no-kami. See Sect. XXXI, Note 13.
2 It will be remembered that this god was son of the Sun-goddess
(or of her brother Susa-no-wo, "the Impetuous Male ";-see Sect.
XII, Note 18, and also the first two sentences of Sect. XIV and the
first sentence of Sect. XV). The characters rendered "Heir Apparent"
are, which form the usual Chinese equivalent of that term, and
were borrowed by the Japanese. Motowori's reading of them as Hi-
tsugi no miko, “Prince of the Sun's Succession," has no authority but
his own patriotic fancy.
3 For this tremendous name see Sect: XIII Note 18.
4 The humble character, "servant" is used for the First Per-
sonal Pronoun.
5 Ame-nigishi-kuni-nigishi-ama-tsu-hi-daka-hike-ho-no-ni-nigi-no-mi-
koto. Excepting as regards the final gi of ni-nigi, which it is surely
better with Hirata to consider as helping to form the word nigi,
plenty," than to take it as a separate word signifying "lord," as
Motowori does, the translation follows Motowori's interpretation of
the various component parts of this tremendous name, which is
128
(C
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XV.
•
"sent down.” [As for this august child,' he was augustly
joined to Her Augustness Myriad-Looms-Luxuriant-Dragon-
fly-Island-Princess, daughter of the High-Integrating-Deity,
8
mostly abbreviated to its latter portion. It is precisely to this latter
portion (the syllables hiko-ho-no-nigi) that considerable doubt attaches.
Ho might mean "fire" rather that "rice-ears," and Motowori himself
suggests that ni-nigi should perhaps be regarded as a corruption of
nigi-kahi, "plentiful spikes of grain," rather than as "ruddy plenty."
About the meaning of the rest of the name there cannot be much
doubt. "Heaven's Sun Height" must be understood as an honorific
designation signifying "high as the sun in heaven.”
6 The translator puts this sentence between brackets because it is
an evident interruption of the main story. Indeed the edition of
1687 prints it as a note to the text. The grammar of it is curious, as,
on a first reading, one would be tempted to suppose that " this
child," ie., His Augustness Ame-nigishi-kuni-nigishi-ama-tsu-hi-daka-
hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi, was the father of Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi. But the latter
name is but an abbreviated form of the former, and the god could
not be his own father. The meaning rather is (and such a construc-
tion is not so forced in Japanese as it sounds in English): "As for
the parentage of this child, he was born of the marriage [of His
Augustness Truly-Conquerer-etc.] with Her Augustness Myriad-Looms-.
etc. Princess ". There is, however, real confusion in the traditional
genealogy, as the "Chronicles" make the deity in question father to
His Augustness Heavenly-Rice-ear-Ruddy, instead of younger brother.
7 Viz. His Augustness Truly-Conqueror-etc.
8 Yorodzu-hata-toyo-aki-dzu-shi-hime-no-mikoto. Mabuchi, as quoted
by Motowori, suggests that yorodzu, “myriad," should be connected
with the word yoroshi "good," as signifying an extreme degree, the
ne plus ultra. But, though perhaps a good guess at the origin of the
word, it need not affect our estimate of its actual signification. The
translator has, however, followed Mabuchi in considering the syllable
shi as an apocopated form of shima, “island,” and Aki-dzu-shi [ma] as
having its usual signification of "Dragon-fly Island" (more literally
"Island of the Autumn Insect) rather than accept Motowori's explan-
ation of shi as representing the Verb chijimu, "to be puckered," and
of the whole compound aki-dzu-shi as signifying "crape like dragon-
flies' wings," Not only is there no mention of crape in other pas-
VOL. XV.]
129
VOL. I. SECT. XXXIII.
9
and begot children: His Augustness-Heavenly Rice-ear-
Ruddy, and next His Augustness Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-
Plenty.10] Therefore, in accordance with these words, they laid
their command on His Augustness Prince Rice-ear-Ruddy-
Plenty, deigning to charge him with these words:
"This
"Luxuriant Reed-Plain-Land-of-Fresh-Rice-ears" is the land
"over which thou shalt rule." So [he replied]: "I will
"descend from Heaven according to your commands." So
when His Augustness Prince-ear-Ruddy-Plenty was about to
descend from Heaven, there was at the eight-forking road of
Heaven a Deity whose refulgence reached upwards to the Plain
of High Heaven and downwards to the Central Land of Reed-
Plains. So then the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity and
the High-Integrating Deity commanded and charged the Hea-
venly-Alarming-Female-Deity¹² [saying]: "Though thou art
"but a delicate female, thou art a Deity who conquers in
13
facing Deities.¹ So be thou the one to go and ask thus:
"This being the road by which our august child is about to
"descend from Heaven, who is it that is thus there ?' ":4 So
to this gracious question he replied, saying "I am an Earthly
(C
sages of these "
Records," but the derivation does not, to say the
least, recommend itself on philological grounds.
9 Ame-no-ho-akari no mikoto. The word rendered "ripe" will
bear equally well the interpretation of "red."
10 Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi, the abbreviated form of the name in Note 5.
11 Toyo-ashi-hara-nc-midzu-ho-no-kuni. This periphrastic synonym
of Japan has appeared under a slightly shorter form in Sect. IX
(Note 18).
12 Ame-no-udzu-me-no-kami, the goddess whose loud, bold merri-
ment was the chief cause of the Sun-Goddess emerging from her
retreat in the cavern (see Sect. XVI, Note 28).
13 I.e., "Thy brazen-facedness allows thee to stare others out of
countenance, and make them uneasy."
14 Between this sentence and the next, the Alarming-Female-Deity
must be supposed to have gone on her embassy and to have delivered
the message with which she had been entrusted.
15 Written, literally "servant.”
130
"C
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XV.
"Deity named the Deity Prince of Saruta.16 The reason for
"my coming here is that, having heard of the [intended]
"descent of the august child of the Heavenly Deities, I have
come humbly to meet him and respectfully offer myself as
"His Augustness's vanguard."7 Then joining to him His
Augustness Heavenly-Beckoning-Ancestor-Lord, His Augustness
Grand-Jewel, Her Augustness Heavenly-Alarming-Female, Her
Augustness I-shi-ko-ri-do-me, and His Augustness Jewel-
Ancestor,18 in all five chiefs of companies, they sent him down
from Heaven. Thereupon they joined to him the eight-feet
[long] curved jewels and mirror that had allured [the Heaven-
Shining-Great-August-Deity from the Rock-Dwelling,20] and
also the Herb-Quelling-Great-Sword,¹ and likewise the Deity
19
(C
16 Saruta-biko no kami. This is Motowori's reading. The more
usual reading is Earuda-hiko, transposing the nigori. Hirata prefers
to read Sada-biko, and takes Saruta or Sada to be the name of a
place, which indeed seems the most acceptable view.
The name
actually signifies "monkey field." Motowori's interpretation of its
import is a marvellous example of Japanese etymological gymnastics
(see Vol. XV, p. 16 of his Commentary). Moribe's derivation from
Sari-hate-hiko () is no better.
17 Or "guide."
18 For these five names and for the Deity Thought-Includer and
the [Heavenly-] Hand-Strength-Male-Deity mentioned a few lines
further on, see Sect. XVI, Notes 15, 16, 28, 12, 13, 7, and 27 respec-
tively.
19 Tomo-no-wo. This expression is here taken to refer to the
various offices assumed by the five deities in question at the time of
the withdrawal of the Sun-Goddess into the cave. It signifies pro-
perly the head of a company.
20 The allusion is to the story in Sect. XVI. Moribe, in his
Critique on Motowori's Commentary, points out that it was only the
mirror which allured the goddess from the cave. In the Japanese
original of this passage, however, even more than in the English
translation, the expression "that had allured" is made to refer to
both objects.
21 Obtained from the tail of the Serpent of Koshi. See the story
in Sect. XVIII.
*
VOL. XV.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXXIII.
131
·
Thought-Includer, the Hand-Strength-Male-Deity, and the
Deity Heavenly-Rock-Door-Opener22 of Eternal Night,23 and
charged him thus: "Regard this mirror exactly as if it were
"our august spirit, and reverence it as if reverencing us."24
Next did they say: "Let the Deity Thought-Includer take in
hand our affairs, and carry on the government." These two
Deities are worshipped at the temple of Isuzu 25
The next,
the Deity of Luxuriant-Food,26 is the Deity dwelling in the
("
22 Ame-no-iha-to-wake no kami. Hirata observes that this must not
be considered as the name of an independent Deity, but be taken
simply as an alternative name of Ame-no-ta-jikara-wo-no-kami (the
Heavenly-Hand-Strength-Male-Deity "). The part taken by this
Deity in the legend narrated in Sect. XVI seems a sufficient warrant
for such an opinion, though a little lower down in this Section the
two are again mentioned separately.
(
23 Toko-yo. These words, which, according to the rules of Japan-
ese construction, are placed at the commencement of the clause, must
be understood to apply either to the three gods collectively or to the
first-mentioned (the Deity Thought-Includer) alone.
24 Or "worshipping before us," or "in our presence." The
strictly logical concordance of an English sentence makes it appear as
if the mirror were to be taken to represent the spirit of both Deities
whose names are the subjects of the first clause. In Japanese,
however, all such concordances are much more loosely observed, and
it is only the spirit of the Sun-Goddess that we must understand to
be here intended.
25 Isuzu (literally "fifty bells," or else perhaps the name of a kind
of grass with which the neighbourhood may originally have been
overgrown) is the name of the site of the "Inner Temple" of Ise.
It is in the Japanese text preceded by the Pillow-Word saku-kushiro,
literally "rent bracelet.” See Mabuchi's "Dictionary of Pillow-
Words
""
8.1.
26 Toyo-uke-nc-kami, the same as Toyo-uke-bime (sée Sect. VII,
Note 6). The mention of this goddess in this place is curious, as
she would not seem to be connected with the legend. Motowori,
however, supposes that it is through some accidental omission that
she does not figure in the list of deities said to have accompanied
the heaven-descended Sovereign.
132
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'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XV.
28
outer temple of Watarahi.27 The next, the Deity Heavenly-
Rock-Door-Opener, another name for whom is the Wondrous-
Rock-True-Gate-Deity, and another name for whom is the
Luxuriant-Rock-True-Gate-Deity, this Deity is the Deity of
the August Gate.29 The next, the Deity Hand-Strength-Male,
dwells in Sanagata.30 Now His Augustness the Heavenly-
Beckoning-Ancestor-Lord (is the ancestor of the Nakatomi Chief-
tains); His Augustness Grand Jewel (is the ancestor of the Imibe
Headmen); 2 Her Augustness the Heavenly-Alarming-Female
(is the ancestress of the Duchesses of Saru33); Her Augustness I-
shi-ko-ri-do-me (is the ancestress of the Mirror-Making Chieftains);
-
34
27 This name signifies meeting when crossing" or crossing to
meet," and is connected by the commentators with an unimportant
tradition, for which see Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XV. p. 48.
((
(C
28 These two names are in the original Kushi-iha-ma-do-no-kami
and Toyo-iha-mado-no-kami. The tradition in the Gleanings of
Ancient Story" makes them two separate deities.
29 Viz. of the gate or gates of the Imperial Palace.
30 Etymology obscure.
31 Nakatomi no Murazhi. Nakatomi is taken by Motowori to be a
contraction of naka-tori-omi, and by Mabuchi to be a contraction of
naka-tsu-omi, either of which may be freely rendered " middlemen,"
'intercessors," referring to the religious functions which were heredi-
tary in this family. (See Commentary on the Ritual of the
General Purification,” Vol. II. pp. 2–3.)
66
CC
(C
32 Imibe no obito. Imibe is derived from imu, "to avoid," i.e., to
abstain from," and mure, a flock" or "collection of persons, a
clan," and refers to the religious duties of this hereditary class of
priests, which naturally required their avoidance of all ceremonial
uncleanness. The word "priest" would fairly, though freely, repre-
sent the meaning of the compound.
33 Saru me no kimi. For the traditional origin of this name see
Sect. XXXV. These "duchesses" were priestesses: but it is a matter
of dispute between the commentators whether the title was simply an
official one, or hereditary in the female line.
..
CC
(C
در
34 Kagami-tsukuri no murazhi. Of this family nothing would seem
to be known.
VOL. XV.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXXIV.
13.3
His Augustness-Jewel-Ancestor (is the ancestor of the Jewel-
Ancestor Chieftains).35
[SECT. XXXIV. THE AUGUST REIGN IN HIMUKA OF HIS
AUGUSTNESS PRINCE RICE-EAR-RUDDY-PLENTY.]
¹ So then [the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity and the
High-Integrating-Deity] commanded His Augustness Heaven's-
Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty; and he, leaving the Heavenly
Rock-Seat, pushing asunder the eight-fold heavenly spreading
clouds, and dividing a road with a mighty road-dividing, set
off floating shut up in the Floating Bridge of Heaven, and
3
4
35 Tama-no-ya (or Tama n'Oya) no murazhi. But the name should
probably be Tama-tsukuri no murazhi, i.e., “Jewel-Making Chieftains,"
a "gentile name " which is found in the later literature. Perhaps,
however, we should understand both this name and the previous one
to be simple inventions by means of which divine ancestry was
claimed for the hereditary guilds of jewellers and mirror-makers.
1 Motowori makes Sect. XXXIV commence here, and it seems
on the whole best to follow him in so doing, as the entire period of
the reign on earth of the first of the heaven-descended gods is thus
included in one Section. On the other hand, the "Descent from
Heaven," which gives its name to the preceding Sect, cannot properly
be said to be accomplished until the end of this first sentence of
Sect. XXXIV. It will be remembered that the Japanese name of
this first deity-king is (in its abbreviated and most commonly used
form) Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi.
((
commanded,”
beginning of the
Motowori proposes to suppress the character,
in this clause, and the character, "and," at the
next, and to take the Prince as the subject of the whole sentence.
This would be convenient; but the characters and are in all
the texts.
3 I.c., his place in Heaven. The original Japanese of the term is
ama-no-iha-kura.
4 The translator has adopted, the interpretation proposed by
Hirata, the only commentator who gives an acceptable view of this
extremely difficult clause, which Motowori admitted that he did not
understand. It must be remembered that Hirata identifies the
134
((
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XV.
5*
descended from Heaven on to the peak of Kuzhifuru which is
Takachiho in Tsukushi.5 So His Heavenly Great Wondrous
Augustness and His Augustness Heaven's-Round-Eyes,' bothⓇ
taking on their backs the Heavenly rock-quivers, taking at
their side the large mallet-headed swords,10 taking in their
((
Floating Bridge of Heaven" with the "Heavenly Rock-Boat." (For
details see his "Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. XXVII,
pp. 31-32).
5 Tsukushi, anciently the name of the whole of the large island
forming the South-Western corner of Japan, and Himuka (in modern
pronunciation Hiuga), one of the provinces into which that island is
divided, have already been mentioned in Sect. V, Note 14 and Sect.
X, Note 4 respectively. It is uncertain whether the mountain here
named is the modern Takachiho-yama or Kirishima-yama, but the
latter view is generally preferred. Kuzhifuru is explained (perhaps
somewhat hazardously) as meaning "wondrous," while Taka-chi-ho
signifies "high-thousand-rice-ears."
*Takachiho in Himuka in Tsukushi.—W.G.A.
6 Ame-no-oshi-hi no mikoto. The interpretation is only conjectural.
7 Ama-tsu-kume no mikoto. The traditional origin of this curious
name will be found below in the third and fourth Songs of Sect. LI
(see Note 21 and 22 to that Section), where the "sharp slit eyes" of
of this worthy are specially referred to. But Moribe seems to prove
that kume is in reality not a personal name at all, but simply the old
term for "army," through a misconception of the original import of
which has arisen the idea that Oho-kumo and Oho-tomo were two
distinct personages.
The elaborate and interesting note on this sub-
ject in his "6
Examination of Difficult Words," Vol. II, pp. 46-55 is
well worth consulting. The only point in which the present writer
differs from him is with regard to the etymology of the word kume,
which Moribe connects with kumi, "a company," and kuma, “a
bravo," whereas in the opinion of the former it is probably nothing
more nor less than an ancient mispronunciation of the Chinese word
chün (í) modern Japanese gun, "army," "troops."
9 The Auxiliary Numeral here used is that properly denoting
human beings, not deities,-futari (CN), instead of futa-hashira
(二​柱​).
9 In Japanese ama no iha-yugi.
10 This is the generally received interpretation of the obscure
VOL. XV.]
135
VOL. I. SECT. XXXIV.
hands the Heavenly vegetable-wax-tree bow," and clasping
under their arms the Heavenly true deer-arrows, stood in his
august van in respectful attendance. So His Heavenly-Great-
Wondrous-Augustness (is the ancestor of the Ohotomo Chieftains);¹2
His Augustness Heaven's-Round-Eyes (is the ancestor of the
Kume Lords).¹? Thereupon he said: "This place is opposite
"to the land of Kara.14 One comes straight across to the
"august Cape of Kasasa ;15 and it is a land whereon the mor-
ning sun shines straight, a land which the evening sun's
"sunlight illumines. So this place is an exceedingly good
place."16
Having thus spoken, he made stout the temple-
(6
CC
original term kabu-tsuchi (or kabu-tsutsui) no tachi, the parallel term
ishi-tsutsui being understood to mean a mallet-headed sword made
of stone." (Both names appear below in the Song at the end of
Sect. XLVIII, Note 4). Moribe, however, in his "Idzu no Chi-waki,"
rejecting the opinion that any part of the swords were made of stone,
explains kabu-tsutsui in the sense of "broad-tempered" and ishi-tsutsui
in that of "hard-tempered."
11 For the bows and arrows here mentioned see Sect. XXXI,
Note 5.
<<
<<
12 Ohotomo no murazhi, a common gentile name" down to his-
torical times. Oho-tomo means numerous companies or large
tribe,” in allusion, as Moribe supposes, to the force of which the
personage here mentioned was the general.
13 Kume no atahe. Conf. Note 7.
14 Or Kan according to the Sinico-Japanese reading. We might
render it in English by Korea. The Chinese character is .
15 Etymology uncertain. An alternative form of this name, which
is preserved in the "Chronicles," is Nagasa, which Hirata thinks may
stand for Nagasaki.
16 This is the sense of the original Japanese text of this passage
as literally as it can be rendered, and so the older editors understood
it. Motowori however, though not daring actually to alter the charac-
ters, assumes that they are corrupt, and in his kana rendering gives
us this instead: Thereupon, passing searchingly through a bare-
"backed empty country, he arrived at the august cape of Kasasa, and
"said: "This land is a land whereon the morning sun shines straight,
"
"")
""
<<
' etc.' His evident reason for wishing to alter the reading is simply
136
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVI.
•
pillars on the nethermost rock-bottom, and made high the
cross-beams to the Plain of High Heaven," and dwelt there.
[SECT. XXXV. THE DUCHESS OF SARU.]
So then he charged Her Augustness the Heavenly-Alarm-
ing-Female [saying]: "Do thou, who wast the one to make
"known this Great Deity Prince of Saruta who respectfully
“served as my august vanguard,' respectfully escort him [back];
"and do thou likewise bear the august name of that Deity,
"and respectfully serve me.” Wherefore the Duchesses of
Saru bear the name of the Male Deity the Prince of Saruta,
and the women are Duchesses of Saru.2
[SECT. XXXVI. THE DEITY PRINCE OF SARUTA AT AZAKA.]
Now when this Deity Prince of Saruta dwelt at Azaka,¹
1
and solely to conceal the fact that Korea is mentioned, and mentioned
in a not unfriendly manner, in the traditional account of the divine
age, i.e., long before the epoch of its so-called revelation and conquest
by the Empress Jin-gō (see Sects. XCVI to XCVIII). That the
parallel passage of the "Chronicles" lends some sanction to his view
is no excuse for so dishonest a treatment of the text he undertakes
to commentate; for the "Records" and the "Chronicles" often differ
greatly in the accounts they have preserved. One of Motowori's
arguments is that, as Kasasa is said to have been in the province of
Hiuga, it could not have been opposite to Korea, seeing that Hiuga
faces east and not west. He here forgets that a little later on in his
own same Commentary (Vol. XVII, p. 86) he asserts that Hiuga in
ancient times included the provinces of Ohosumi and Satsuma, the
latter of which does face west.
17 I.e., he built himself a palace to dwell in (Conf. Sect. XXXII,
Note 27).
1 See Sect. XXXIII from a little before Note 11 to Note 17.
2 Q.d., instead of the men being Dukes, as would be more
natural. The title was confined to females (see Sect. XXXIII, Note
33).
1 Etymology unknown.
1
VOL. XVI.]
VOL. I. SECT. XXXVI.
137
he went out fishing, and had his hand caught by a hirabu
shell-fish, and was drowned in the brine of the sea.
2
So the
name by which he was called when he sank to the bottom
was the Bottom-Touching-August-Spirit;3 the name by which
he was called when the sea-water gurgled up was the Gurgling-
Up-August-Spirit; the name by which he was called when
the bubbles formed was the Bubble-Bursting-August-Spirit.5
Thereupon [Her Augustness the Heavenly-Alarming-Female],
having escorted [back] the Deity Prince of Saruta, came back,
and at once drove together all the things broad of fin and the
things narrow of fin,' and asked them, saying:
"Will ye
"respectfully serve the august son of the Heavenly Deities?"-
upon which all the fishes declared that they would respectfully
serve him. Only the bèche-de-mer said nothing. Then Her
Augustness the Heavenly-Alarming-Female spoke to the bèche-
2 What species was denoted by this ancient name is not clear;
but one of Motowori's suggestions, to the effect that it may have
been identical with the modern sarubc-gahi (a shell of the family
Arcade, probably Arca subcrenata), the origin of whose name would.
thus be traced up to the mythological age, is at least ingenious.
3 Soko-doku-mi-tama.
4 Tsubo-tatsu-mi-tama.
5 Aha-saku-mi-tama.
Saku might be translated by “opening,"
forming," etc. It is the same word as that used to express the
blossoming of a flower.
..
6 The characters rendered
came back are 遝​到​. Motowori
and Hirata believe to be put erroneously for, which would give
the sense of "arrived there," and would thus enable us to locate the
episode of the fishes at Ise instead of in Hiuga, which would better
suit the concluding clause of this Section narrating the participation
of the Duchesses of Saru in the first-fruits of the province of Shima.
If the word Shima however here means, not the province of that
name, but simply “islands" in general, there is nothing to be gained
by the proposed emendation, which has moreover no sanction from
any text; and it may be added that no notice is to be found in any
history of the custom here said to have existed.
7 Ie; all the fishes both great and small.
tr
""
138 "KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVI.
de-mer, saying:
"Ah! this mouth is a mouth that gives no
reply!"—and [with these words] slit the mouth with her
stiletto.8 So at the present day the bèche-de-mer has a slit
mouth. Wherefore [from august reign to] august reign, when
the offerings of the first-fruits of Shima are presented [to the
Emperor, a portion of them] is granted to the Duchesses of
Saru.
[SECT. XXXVII. THE CURSE OF THE DEITY GREAT-MOUNTAIN-
POSSESSOR.]
<<
G
Hereupon His Augustness Heaven's-Sun-Height-Prince-
Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty met a beautiful person at the august
cape of Kasasa, and asked her whose daughter she was.
She
replied, saying: "I am a daughter of the Deity Great-
"Mountain-Possessor,' and my name is the Divine-Princess-
"of-Ata,2 another name by which I am called being Princess-
Blossoming-Brilliantly-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees." Again
8 Literally, "small string-sword," supposed to have been so called
from its having been carried inside the garments, attached to the
under-belt.*
*The tsuchi-ningio have usually a very short sword not unlike
an Aino knife, which is apparently suspended by one or two cords
from the girdle.—W.G.A.
9 The smallest of the Japanese provinces, situated to the East of
Ise. The name signifies "island," and it is posible that it ought here
to be taken in that sense as a common noun.
1 See Sect. VI, Note 17.
2 Kamu-ata-tsu-hime. Ata is a place in Satsuma.
3 Or "Tree" Ko-no-hana-saku-ya-hime. Perhaps (though there
is no native authority for doing so) we might rather understand saku
as a Causative in intention, though not in form, and render the name
thus: "Princess-Causing-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees-to-Blossom." The
tree alluded to is doubtless the cherry. The deity is now worshipped
as the goddess of Mount Fuzhi (Fusiyama), and in common parlance
the last member of the compound forming her name does not receive
the nigori,-hime instead of bime. The syllable ya has no signification
▾
·
VOL. XVI.]
139
VOL. I. SECT. XXXVII.
""
he asked: "Hast thou any brethren ?" She replied, saying:
"There is my elder sister, Princess-Long-as-the-Rocks." Then
he charged her, [saying]: "Ego sum cupidus coiendi tecum.
"Tibi quomodo videtur ?" She replied, saying: "I am not
"able to say. My father the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor
"will say.'
So be sent a request [for her] to her father the
Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor, who, greatly delighted, res-
pectfully sent her off, joining to her her elder sister Princess
Long-as-the-Rocks, and causing merchandise to be carried on
tables holding an hundred.? So then, owing to the elder
sister being very hideous, [His Augustness Prince-Rice-ear-
Ruddy-Pienty] was alarmed at the sight of her, and sent her
back, only keeping the younger sister Princess-Blossoming-
Brilliantly-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees, whom he wedded for
one night. Then the Deity-Great-Mountain-Possessor was
covered with shame at Princess Long-as-the-Rocks being sent
back, and sent a message [to His Augustness Prince-Rice-ear-
Ruddy-Plenty], saying: "My reason for respectfully presenting
"both my daughters together was that, by sending Princess-
Long-as-the-Rocks, the august offsprings of the Heavenly
Deity, though the snow¹0 fall and the wind blow, might live
10
<<
เC
5
in this and similar names. It will be remembered that there was
another sister named "Princess-Falling-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees.
(See Sect. XX, Note 5.)
4 Or perhaps, though written, the original expression were
here better rendered by "sisters."
5 I.e., as enduring as the rocks. The original name is Iha-naga-
hime,
6 The character used here and immediately below for the First
Personal Pronoun is, "servant."
7 I.e., every kind of goods as a dowry for his daughters.
8 The usual word child (7) is employed in the text; but it here
almost certainly has, as Motowori suggests, a more extended meaning,
and signifies the posterity of the Sun-Goddess or of Prince-Rice-ear-
Ruddy-Plenty generally, i.e., the Emperors of Japan.
The vaguer
term offspring" is therefore nearer to the author's intention.
(C
9 I.e., either of the Sun-Goddess or of Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-
140. ((
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVI.
\66
eternally immovable like unto the enduring rocks, and again
"that by sending Princess - Blossoming - Brilliantly-Like-the-
"Flowers-of-the-Trees, [they] might live flourishingly like unto
the flowering of the blossoms of the trees: to insure this,"
"I offered¹2 them. But owing to thy thus sending back¹3
"Princess Long-as-the-Rocks, and keeping only Princess-Blos-
"soming-Brilliantly-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees, the august
13
offspring of the Heavenly Deity shall be but as frail¹ as the
"flowers of the trees." So it is for this reason that down to
the present day the august lives of Their Augustnesses the
Heavenly Sovereigns¹5 are not long.
((
((
Plenty. There is no difference in the sense, whichever of these two
deities we take the speaker to refer to. The Sun-Goddess was his
ancestress, and he was ancestor of the Japanese Emperors.
10 Or ((
snow and rain," the reading being uncertain.
11 Or "having sworn this," or "pledged [myself to the accom-
plishment of] this.”
1 The Chinese characters used are those properly denoting the
presenting of tribute.
13 Motowori proposes an emendation in this passage of to
4, which would not materially alter the sense.
14 The precise meaning of the syllables a-ma-hi-no-mi, here rendered
by the words 'but as frail" in accordance with Motowori's and
Moribe's tentative interpretation, is extremely obscure. The parallel
passage in the "Chronicles" is 2, i.e., "fading and falling
like the flowers of the trees."
15 The characters rendered Heavenly Sovereign" are, a
common Japanese designation of the Emperor. It would, especially
in the later volumes of this work where the expression is repeated on
almost every page, be more convenient to translate by the single
word "
Emperor." But the commentators lay great stress on the high
significance of the component portions of the title, which, they con-
tend, was not borrowed from China, but was first used in Japan. It
is first met with in Chinese history in the middle of the seventh
century of our era, just early enough indeed for it to have been
borrowed before the time of the compilation of these "Records."
But as there was no difficulty in putting together the two component
parts "Heavenly, Sovereign," it is possible that the contention of the
(6
•
VOL. XVI.]
141
VOL. I. SECT. XXXVIII.
[SECT. XXXVIII. THE AUGUST CHILD-BEARING OF PRINCESS-
BLOSSOMING-BRILLIANTLY-LIKE-THE-FLOWERS-
OF-THE-TREES.]
So later on Princess - Blossoming - Brilliantly - Like - the-
Flowers-of-the-Trees waited on¹ [His Augustness Prince Rice-
ear-Ruddy-Plenty], and said: "I am pregnant, and now the
time for my delivery approaches. It is not fit for me to be
"delivered of the august offspring of Heaven privately;³ so I
"tell thee." Then [His Augustness Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-
Plenty] said: "Princess-Blossoming-Brilliantly! what! pregnant
"after one night 5 It cannot be my child. It must surely be
"the child of an Earthly Deity." Then she replied, saying:
"If the child with which I am pregnant be the child of an
Earthly Deity, my delivery will not be fortunate. If it be
"the august child of the Heavenly Deity,' it will be fortunate ;”
-and thereupon she built a hall eight fathoms [long] without
doors, went inside the hall and plastered up [the entrance]
8
:((
-
Japanese commentators is correct. The ancient pure native term
seems to have been Sumera-mikoto, for which Mr. Satow has proposed
the rendering of "Sovran Augustness."
(C
">
1 More literally came to "; but the character which is employed
implies that her visit was to a superior.
2 Written with the character, a "concubine or "handmaid,”
a common self-depreciatory equivalent of the First Personal Pronoun
in Chinese, when the speaker is a woman.
3 I.e., "secretly," "without telling thee."
4 In this one instance only is the name thus abbreviated. Moto-
wori supposes it to be on account of the scorn implied in the god's
words,
5 Literally, "one sojourn."
6 See Sect. I. Note 11. Here of course one of the gods of the
same country-side is meant.
7 I.e., "thy child and the Sun-Goddess descendant."
8 That is to say that it remained doorless after she had, as stated
immediately below, plastered up the entrance.
142
((
[VOL. XVI.
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
10
with earth; and when the time came for her delivery, she set
fire to the hall and was delivered.9 So the name of the child
that was born when the fire was burning most fiercely was
His Augustness Fire-Shine (this is the ancestor of the Hayabito,
Dukes of Ata);¹¹
11 the name of the child born next was His
Augustness Fire-Climax ;12 the august¹³ name of the child born
next was His Augustness Fire-Subside, 14 another name for
There is no ambiguity in
9 Viz. of child, not from the flames.
the Japanese expression.
10 Ho-deri-no-mikoto.
11 Hayabito-ata-no-kami. Ata is, as has been already stated in Note
2 to Sect. XXXVII, the name of a place in Satsuma Haya-bito
(“swift men,” “bold men," literally, if we follow the Chinese characters
“falcon-men ") was an ancient designation of the inhabitants of the
south-western corner of Japan which was subsequently divided into
the provinces of Satsuma and Ohosumi, and came by metonymy to be
used to denote the province of Satsuma itself, for which reason it
remained as the Pillow-Word for the word Satsuma even after the
exclusive use of this latter name had been established. In after times
the hayabito (also contracted to hayato and haito) were chiefly known
as forming the Infantry of the Imperial Guard, a curious choice of
provincials for which mythological sanction was invoked. They are
also said to have furnished the performers of a symbolic dance men-
tioned at the end of Sect. XLI (see Note 3 to that Sect.). In later
Sections of this work, the translator has ventured to render hayabito
by man-at-arms."
"C
12 Ho-suseri-no-mikoto.
13 The Honorific is doubtless prefixed in this case and not in the
others, because it was to this prince or deity that the Imperial House
traced its descent. Motowori's kana reading, which prefixes Honorifics
to all such names indifferently, obliterates this delicate distinction.
14 Ho-wori-no-mikoto. The derivation of this name is less clear
than that of his elder brothers. Motowori's proposal to consider it
as a corruption of ho-yohari, "fire weakening," is however plausible;
and as this triad of names is evidently intended to paint the stages
in the progress of the conflagration, the import of the third must be
something very like what Motowori suggests, even if his guess at the
original form of the word be not quite correct. The names of all three
brethren differ more or less in the parallel passage of the "Chronicles."
น
VOL. XVII.]
143
VOL. I. SECT. XXXIX.
whom is His Augustness Heaven's-Sun-Height-Prince-Great-
Rice-ears-Lord-Ears¹5 (three Deities15 [in all]).
C
[SECT. XXXIX. THE AUGUST EXCHANGE OF LUCK.]
CC
So His Augustness Fire-Shine was a prince who got his
luck on the sea, and caught things broad of fin and things
narrow of fin. His Augustness Fire-Subside was a prince who
got his luck on the mountains, and caught things rough of
hair and things soft of hair. Then His Augustness Fire-Subside
said to his elder brother His Augustness Fire-Shine: "Let
us mutually exchange, and use each other's luck." [Neverthe-
less], though he thrice made the request, [his elder brother]
would not accede [to it]; but at last with difficulty the mutual
exchange was obtained. Then His Augustness Fire-Subside,
undertaking the sea-luck, angled for fish, but never got a single
fish; and moreover he lost the fish-hook in the sea. There-
upon his elder brother His Augustness Fire-Shine asked him
for the fish-hook, saying: "A mountain-luck is a luck of its
own, and a sea-luck is a luck of its own. Let each of us
"now restore [to the other] his luck." To which the younger
(6
<<
15 Ama-tsu-hi-daka-hiko-ho-ho-de-mi-no-mikoto. The interpretation of
the last four members of this compound name is extremely doubtful.
16 The actual word in the text is not kami, deity," but its
Auxiliary Numeral hashira.
1 For the archaic Japanese word sachi, here rendered "luck,"
there is no satisfactory English equivalent. Its original and most usual
signification is "luck," "happiness;" then that which a man is lucky
in or skilful at,—his "forte;" and finally that which he procures by
his luck or skill and the implements which he uses in procuring it.
The exchange negociated below was doubtless that of the bow and
arrows of one deity for the other deity's fish-hook.
2 I.e.,
"Some men are naturally good hunters, and others naturally
"good fishermen. Let us therefore restore to each other the imple-
ments necessary to the successful following of our respective avoca-
"tions."-The clause rendered "Let each of us now restore to the
"other his luck" is a little confused in the original; but the kana
(C
144 ((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVII.
brother His Augustness Fire-Subside replied, saying: "As for
"thy fish-hook, I did not get a single fish by angling with it;
"and at last I lost it in the sea.' But the elder brother
""
required it of him [the more] urgently. So the younger brother,
breaking his ten grasp sabre³ that was augustly girded on him,
made [of the fragments] five hundred fish-hooks as compen-
sation; but he would not take them. Again he made a
thousand fish-hooks as compensation; but he would not receive
them, saying: “I still want the real original fish-hook."
[SECT. XL. -THE PALACE OF THE OCEAN-POSSESSOR.]
Hereupon, as the younger brother was weeping and lament-
ing by the sea-shore, the Deity Salt-Possessor' came and asked
him, saying: "What is the cause of the Sky's-Sun-Height's2..
weeping and lamentation?” He replied, saying: "I had
<<
readings both old and new agree in interpreting it as has here been
done.
3 See Sect. VIII, Note 1.
1 Shiho-tsuchi no kami. The view of the meaning of this name
which has here been taken is founded on the persistent use in all
documents of the character, salt," to write the first element of
the compound, and of varying characters to write the syllables tsu and
chi, an indication that the latter are to be taken phonetically and may
therefore be interpreted to signify tsu mochi, "possessor of," as in
numerous other instances. The fact that this god is known as the
god of salt-manufacturers (see Tanigaha Shisei's "Perpetual Com-
mentary on the Chronicles of Japan" Vol. VII, p. 3) adds another
reason for rejecting both Motowori's far-fetched derivation of the
name from Shiri-oho-tsu-mochi, Great Possessor of Knowledge,” and
his assertion that it denotes no individual deity, but any one gifted
with superior wisdom..
(C
2 Sora-tsu-hi-daka.
It will be remembered that Ama-tsu-hi-daku,
Heaven's-Sun-Height," was the first part of Prince Fire-Subside's
alternative name (see Sect. XXXVIII, Note 15). The distinction
between these two almost identical appellations would seem to be
that the former is used of the Heir Apparent, the latter of the reign-
ing sovereign. Both were therefore equally applicable to Prince Fire-
<<
VOL. XVII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XL.
145
(<
"exchanged a fish-hook with my elder brother,3 and have lost
"that fish-hook; and as he asks me for it, I have given him
many fish-hooks as compensation; but he will not receive.
them, saying, 'I still want the original fish-hook.' So I weep
"and lament for this." Then the Deity Salt-Possessor said:
"I will give good counsel to Thine Augustness;”—and there-
with built a stout little boat without interstices, and set him
in the boat, and instructed him, saying: "When I shall have
pushed the boat off, go on for some time. There will be a
"savoury august road;5 and if thou goest in the boat along
"that road, there will appear a palace built like fishes' scales,
"--which is the palace of the Deity-Ocean-Possessor. When
thou reachest the august gate of that deity['s palace], there
"will be a multitudinous[-ly branching] cassia-tree' above the
"well at its side. So if thou sit on the top of that tree, the
"Sea-Deity's daughter will see thee, and counsel thee."
following [these] instructions, [His Augustness Fire-Subside]
went a little [way], and everything happened as [the Deity
6
So
<<
<<
Subside; and while that which he eventually bore is mentioned
where his names are first given, he is naturally spoken of in this place,
when his father may be supposed to have been still living, by that
variation of the name properly marking the Heir Apparent. These
names, Ama-tsu-hi-daka and Sora-tsu-hi-daka, will be met with again
below applied to other personages.
3 I.e., “I had received a fish-hook from my elder brother in
exchange for a bow." The text is here concise to obscurity.
4 I.e., as is supposed, a punt or tub made of strips of bamboo
plaited so tightly that no water could find its way in between them.
"C
5 I.e., simply “a pleasant road." Michi, "a road" is properly a
compound,-mi-chi, "august road," the single syllable chi being the
most archaic Japanese word for "road." It is in this place written,
showing that the etymology was not yet quite forgotten at the time
of the compilation of these "Records." Generally, however, through-
out the work we have or alone.
6 See Sect. VI, Note 8, where the Adjective "Great" is prefixed
to the name.
7 See Sect. XXXI, Note 10.
146
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVII.
9
Salt-Possessor] had said; and he forthwith climbed the cassia-
tree, and sat [there]. Then when the handmaidens of the
Sea-Deity's daughter Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess, bearing jewelled
vessels, were about to draw water, there was a light in the
well. On looking up, there was a beautiful young man. They
thought it very strange. Then His Augustness Fire-Subside
saw the handmaidens, and begged to be given some water.
The handmaidens at once drew some water, put it into a
jewelled vessel, and respectfully presented it to him. Then,
without drinking the water, he loosened the jewel at his august
neck, took it in his mouth, and spat it into the jewelled vessel.
Thereupon the jewel adhered to the vessel, and the hand-
maidens could not separate the jewel [from the vessel]. So
they took it with the jewel adhering to it, and presented it to
Her Augustness Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess. Then, seeing the
jewel, she asked her handmaidens, saying: "Is there perhaps
some one outside the gate?" They replied, saying: "There
"is some
one sitting on the top of the cassia-tree above our
"well. It is a very beautiful young man. He is more illus-
"trious even than our king. So, as he begged for water, we
respectfully gave him water; but, without drinking the water,
"he spat this jewel into [the vessel]. As we were not able to
<<
<<
8 Toyo-tama-bime.
9 The character, properly "light," "refulgence," is here taken
by Motowori in the precisely opposite sense of "shadow" (the parallel
passage in the "Chronicles" having, "human shadow"), and
his view is absolved from unreasonableness by the fact of the con-
fusion between light and shade which has always existed in Japanese
phraseology. Thus hi-kage may signify either "sunlight " or " a shadow
cast by the sun." It is safest, however, to adhere to the Chinese
characters employed by the author; and in this special instance we
may well suppose him to have intended to say that a celestial light
shone from the body of the god in question. Such an idea is not
foreign to classical Japanese ways of thought and expression.
also Sect. XLVI, Notes 9-10.*
*These seem to me quite decisive.-W.G.A.
VOL. XVII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XL.
147
10
*
separate this [from the other], we have brought [the vessel]
"with [the jewel] in it to present to thee." Then Her August-
ness Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess, thinking it strange, went out to
look, and was forthwith delighted at the sight. They exchanged
glances, after which she spoke to her father, saying: "There
"is a beautiful person at our gate."
Then the Sea-Deity
himself went out to look, and saying, "This person is the
"Sky's-Sun-Height, the august child of the Heaven's-Sun-
Height," led him into the interior [of the palace], and
spreading eight layers of rugs of sea-asses'12 skins, and spread-
ing on the top other eight layers of silk rugs, and setting him
on the top of them, arranged merchandise on tables holding
an hundred,13 made an august banquet, and forthwith gave him
his daughter Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess in marriage. So he
dwelt in that land for three years. Hereupon His Augustness
Fire-Subside thought of what had gone before, and heaved
one¹5 deep sigh. So Her Augustness Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess,
hearing the sigh, informed her father, saying: "Though he
"has dwelt three years [with us], he had never sighed; but
"this night he heaved one deep sigh. What may be the cause
" of it ?" The Great Deity her father asked his son-in-law,
14
((
(4
KE
(C
as an initial Particle, "So as we
10 Or, taking the character
were not able to separate [one from the other]."
The Chinese character indicates something more than pleasure.
W.G.A.
11 See Note 2 to this Section.
12 This is a literal translation of the Chinese character, by
which the Archaic word michi, here written phonetically, is elsewhere
represented. Perhaps the sea-lion (Otaria arsing) or a species of seal
may be intended.
13 See Sect. XXXVII, Note 7.
14 Literally, "thought of the first things."
15 As the character for "one" is thrice repeated in this passage,
Motowori is probably right in saying that it should be given its proper
signification, and the translator therefore renders it by the Numeral
one" rather than by the Indefinite Article “a."
.
148 ((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVII.
saying: "This morning I hear my daughter speak, saying:
Though he has dwelt three years [with us], he had never
sighed; but this night he heaved one deep sigh.' What
may the cause be? Moreover what was the cause of thy
"coming here ?" Then [His Augustness Fire-Subside] told
the Great Deity exactly how his elder brother had pressed him
for the lost fish-hook. Thereupon the Sea-Deity summoned
together all the fishes of the sea, great and small, and asked
them, saying: "Is there perchance any fish that has taken this
"fish-hook ?” So all the fishes replied: "Lately the tali¹6
"has complained of something sticking in its throat" preventing
"it from eating; so it doubtless has taken [the hook]." On
the throat of the tali being thereupon examined, there was
the fish-hook [in it]. Being forthwith taken, it was washed
and respectfully presented to His Augustness Fire-Subside,
whom the Deity Great-Ocean-Possessor then instructed, saying:
"What thou shalt say when thou grantest this fish-hook to
"thine elder brother [is as follows]. This fish-hook is a big
"hook, an eager hook, a poor hook, a silly hook. '18 Having
CCC
CC C
((
16 Prounced tai in modern parlance. Perhaps we should rather
read aka-dahi, “red tahi," as in the parallel passage of the "Chro-
nicles." Both these fishes belong to the family Sparoidci, the former
being the Pagrus cardinalis, the latter probably the P. major.†
* Does not the term tai include both varieties? The "Chronicles
akame.-W.G.A.
have
(
<<
17 Or, "of a fish-bone in its throat."
#
The version of the imprecation given in Vol. II p. 38 of the
Chronicles" (pp. 97 and 98 Aston's translation) is much more intelligible
than this. Cf. also Vol. II p. 41 of Nihongi (pp. 100 and 101 Aston's
translation).-W.G.A.
18 Tanigaha Shisei, quoting from Urabe no Kaneyoshi, comments
thus on the parallel passage in the " Chronicles," where the whole of
this legend is given several times in slightly varying forms: "By big
"hook is meant one that will not serve its purpose [because too big];
"eager signifies that which [endeavours to, but] cannot advance; silly
"meant unintelligent: hence we have a hook which, not serving its
purpose, will be of no use whatever, but rather a road to lead [him
CC
""
VOL. XVII.]
VOL. I. SECT. XL.
149
[thus] spoken, bestow it with thy back hand.19 Having done
"thus, if thine elder brother make high fields,20 do Thine
Augustness make low fields; and if thine elder brother make
"low fields, do Thine Augustness make high fields. If thou
“do thus, thine elder brother will certainly be impoverished
"in the space of three years, owing to my ruling the water.
"If thine elder brother, incensed at thy doing thus, should
"attack thee, put forth the tide-flowing jewel2 to drown him.
"If he express grief, put forth the tide-ebbing jewel to let
"him live. Thus shalt thou harass him." With these words,
[the Sea-Deity] gave [to His Augustness Fire-Subside] the
tide-flowing jewel and the tide-ebbing jewel,—two in all,—and
forthwith summoned together all the crocodiles,22 and asked
them, saying: "The Sky's-Sun-Height, august child of the
Heaven's-Sun-Height, is now about to proceed out to the
Upper-Land.23 Who will in how many days respectfully
<<
<<
(C
("
"who possesses it] to poverty. Poor outwardly, and inwardly silly,
"he will be the most useless creature in the Empire." It should be
noted, however, that Motowori interprets in the sense of "gloomy,"
and Moribe in the sense of "drowning," the phonetically written and
obscure word obo, here rendered "great."
19 I.e., "with thy hand behind thy back." This is supposed by
the commentators to have been a sort of charm by which evil was
averted from the person of him who practised it, and they point out
that Izanagi (the "Male-Who-Invites ") brandished his sword behind
him when he was pursued by the hosts of Hades (see Sect. IX,
Note 15).
20 By "high fields" and " low fields" are meant respectively up-
land rice-fields where the rice is planted in the dry, and paddy-
fields" properly so called, where the rice perpetually stands in the
water. Different varieties of rice are used for these different methods
of culture.
21 Shiho mitsu tama. The "tide-ebbing jewel" mentioned in the
next sentence is in the Japanese shiho hiru tama.
22 See Introduction p. xxxvii, Note 41.
23 Uha tsu kuni, LE.
150 "KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
[VOL. XVII.
escort him, and bring back a report.”2 So each according
to the length of his body in fathoms spoke, fixing [a certain
number of] days,—one of them, a crocodile one fathom [long],
saying: "I will escort him, and come back in one day." So
then [the Sea-Deity] said to the crocodile one fathom [long]:
"If that be so, do thou respectfully escort him. While crossing
"the middle of the sea, do not alarm him.” Forthwith he
seated him upon the crocodile's head, and saw him off. So
[the crocodile] respectfully escorted him home in one day, as
he had promised. When the crocodile was about to return,
[His Augustness Fire-Subside] untied the stiletto" which was
girded on him, and, setting it on the crocodile's neck,28 sent
[the latter] back. So the crocodile one fathom [long] is now
called the Deity Blade-Possessor.29
$6
[SECT. XLI.—SUBMISSION OF HIS AUGUSTNESS FIRE-SHINE.]
Hereupon [His Augustness Fire-Subside] gave the fish-hook
[to his elder brother], exactly according to the Sea-Deity's
words of instruction. So thenceforward [the elder brother]
became poorer and poorer, and, with renewed savage intentions,
came to attack him. When he was about to attack [His
Augustness Fire-Subside, the latter] put forth the tide-flowing
jewel to drown him; on his expressing grief, he put forth
24 I.e., "Which of you will most speedily escort him home to the
upper world, and bring back news of his safe arrival there ?"
25 Written with the respectful character, "servant.”
26 There is in this sentence a character,, which is hard to
explain if read moshi, "if," as usual in Japanese. Probably, however,
it simply stands for k, “thou," and we might translate thus:
"While
thou art crossing," etc.
(6
27 See Sect. XXXVI, Note 8.
28 I.e., probably, tying it round the crocodile's neck.
29 Sahi-mochi-no-kami. "Blade" is the probable signification of
sahi or sabi, though this particular proper name is written in the
"Chronicles ""
with the Chinese character, "hoe" or "mattock."
Here the syllables sa hi are written phonetically.
VOL. XVII.]
VOL. I. SECT XLII.
151
the tide-ebbing jewel to save him. When he had thus been
harassed, he bowed his head,' saying: "I henceforward will
"be Thine Augustness's guard by day and night, and respect-
"fully serve thee." So down to the present day his various
posturings when drowning are ceaselesly served up.³
<<
[SECT. XLII.--THE PARTURITON-HOUSE OF CORMORANTS'
FEATHERS.]
Hereupon the Sea-Deity's daughter Her Augustness Luxu-
riant-Jewel-Princess herself waited on' [His Augustness Fire-
Subside], and said: "I am already with child, and the time
"for my delivery now approaches. But methought that the
august child of an Heavenly Deity ought not to be born in
1 I.e., "did humble obeisance by prostrating himself on the ground."
The Old Printed Edition has instead of, and the kana
gloss kamugahe-mansu, i.e., "reflected and said" but this reading,
though interesting, is less good.
2 Written with the humble character, "servant.”
3 I.e., "Prince Fire-Shine's descendants the Hayabito (see Sect.
XXXVIII, Note 11) still constantly perform before the Court dances
and posturings symbolical of the antics which their divine ancestor
went through for the amusement of his younger brother, after the
latter had saved him from drowning. "One account in the "Chro-
nicles" relates these antics at full, telling us that they represented
the straits to which he was put as the waters gradually rose higher
and higher; and we learn from other passages in the same work and
in the "
Chronicles of Japan Continued" that the Hayabito did really
down to historical times combine the office of Court Jesters with that
of Imperial Guardsmen.
1 For
"waited on" see Sect. XXXVIII, Note 1. The word
"herself" ( midzukara) has no particular force or meaning in the
Japanese original, where it is simply placed in imitation of the
Chinese style.
2 See Sect. XXXVIII, Note 2.
3 Or "of the Heavenly Deity," i.e., "thyself." But it seems better
to understand the speaker to intimate that it would be unfitting for
one who properly belonged to Heaven to be born in the sea, which
was another country or kingdom.
152
<<
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVII.
6
"the Sea-Plain.4 So I have waited on thee here.' 995 Then
forthwith on the limit of the waves upon the sea-shore she
built a parturition-hall, using cormorants' feathers for thatch.
Hereupon, before the thatch was completed,' she was unable
to restrain the urgency of her august womb. So she entered
the parturition-hall. Then, when she was about to be delivered,
she spoke to her husband, [saying]: "Whenever a foreigner
"is about to be delivered, she takes the shape of her native
"land to be delivered.9 So I now will take my native shape
"to be delivered. Pray look not upon me!" Hereupon [His
Augustness Fire-Subside], thinking these words strange, stealth-
ily peeped at the very moment of delivery, when she turned
into a crocodile eight fathoms [long], and crawled and writhed
about; and he forthwith, terrified at the sight, fled away.
Then her Augustness Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess knew that he
had peeped; and she felt ashamed, and, straightway leaving
the august child which she had borne, she said: "I had
"wished always to come and go across the sea-path." But thy
10
8
4 I.e., in the sea.
5 Literally, come out and arrived."
6 It has been noticed in the Introduction, p. xxxii, that in Early
Japan a parturient woman was expected to build for herself a special
hut in which to give birth to her child.
<<
7 Or, completely put on; literally, "thatched [so as] to meet."
8 The text here has H, "prince," literally "sun-child," and so
the older editors understood the expression. The translator, however,
prefers Motowori's view, according to which the character should
be supplied, and the whole read phonetically as hikoji, "husband," a
word which occurs again a few lines further on.
I.e., she assumes the shape proper to her in her native land.
10 According to the parallel passage of the Chronicles," she
turned into a dragon. "One account" however agrees with our text.
<<
11 The original of this passage is rather confused; but the inter-
pretation here adopted from the Old Printed Edition is more natural
than Motowori's, according to which the Verbs are to be taken in a
Causative sense, to the following effect: "I had always wished to let
people come and go across the sea-path." Probably it was only in
VOL. XVII.]
153
VOL. I. SECT. XLII.
"having peeped at my [real] shape [makes me] very shame-
"faced,"12—and she forthwith closed the sea-boundary,13 and
went down again." Therefore the name by which the august
child whom she had borne was called was His Augustness
Heaven's - Sun - Height - Prince - Wave - limit - Brave - Cormorant -
Thatch-Meeting-Incompletely.15 Nevertheless afterwards, al-
though angry at his having wished to peep, she could not
restrain her loving heart, and she entrusted to her younger
sister Jewel-Good-Princess, on the occasion of her nursing
the august child," a Song to be presented [to His Augustness
Fire-Subside]. The Song said:
16
"As for red jewels, though even the string
[they are strung on] shines, the aspect of
"C
order to make this clause fit in better with the following sentence,
in which we are told that the crocodile-princess. "closed the sea-
boundary," and with the fact that there is at present no path leading
to the Sea-God's palace, that Motowori was induced to sanction such
a view of the grammar of this passage.
12 This is Motowori's interpretation of the clause, he having
emended F, "action," "doing," which is found in the older editions,
to F, "shame-faced." (The edition of 1687 mentions, "strange,"
as an alternative reading.) If we followed the older reading, we should
have to translate thus: "thy having peeped at my [real] shape is an
outrageous action.”
* Cf. Nihongi Vol. II. p. 35, (p. 95 Aston's translation).-W.G.A.
13 I.e., the boundary dividing the dominions of the Sea-God from
the world of men.
14 Viz., to the Sea-God's palace.
15 Ama-tsu-hi-daka-hiko-nagisa-take-u-gaya-fuki-ahezu no mikoto. The
older editors read ahasezu for ahezu, i.e., “causing to meet,” instead of
"meeting." Moribe, in his Critique on Motowori's Commentary,
would have us believe that the name comes from umi-ga kayohi fuki-
ahezu ), ie., "going and coming on sea and land
"and being unable to suckle "!
(AKA),
16 Tama-yori-bime.
17 I.e., of Jewel-Good-Princess nursing the child. The mother did
not return to the upper world, and so sent this poetic message by
her sister, who had consented to act as the child's nurse.
154
("
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVII.
"[my] lord [who is] like unto white jewels
"is [more] illustrious."18
CC C
So His Augustness- Prince - Great - Rice-ears - Lord - Ears20
dwelt in the palace of Takachiho for five hundred and eighty
years.2! His august mausoleum22 is likewise on the west of
Mount Takachiho.
((
Then her husband replied by a Song, which said:
"As for my younger sister, whom I took to
("
sleep [with me] on the island where light
"the wild-duck, the birds of the offing, I
"shall not forget her till the end of my life."19
18 “The meaning of the Song," says Motowori, "is this: 'Al-
though red jewels are so charming that the very string [whereon
"they are strung] doth shine, the august aspect of my lord, who is like
"unto white jewels, is still more lovely.' Thus does she express her
loving feelings."-Moribe supposes the "red jewels" (or “jewel”
in the Singular) to be meant for the child, than whom her husband
is yet dearer to her heart. The word kimi, here etymologically
rendered "[my] lord," is commonly used in the sense of “ thou,"
especially in poetry.
19 I.e., “I shall never forget thee who wast my wife in the realm
of the Sea-God. The "birds of the offing" are a description of the
wild duck, used as a Pillow-Word for their. name. In the same
manner the whole phrase, "where light the wild-duck, the birds of
the offing," may be taken simply as a "Preface" to the word "island.”
The Sea-God's dwelling is called an island, because it is beyond the
The words yo no koto-goto ni, here in deference to the views of
the best commentators rendered by "till the end of my life," will
also bear the interpretation of "night by night."
sea.
20 The alternative name of the deity Fire-Subside.
21 Probably the writer means us to understand that the total age
reached by this deity was five hundred and eighty years. This is the
first mention in these "Records" of anything approaching a datė.
The way in which it is recorded resembles that in which the chronicle
of each Emperor's reign is brought to a close in the later volumes
of the work.
•
VOL. XVII.]
155
VOL. I. SECT. XLIII.
[SECT. XLIII. THE AUGUST CHILDREN OF HIS AUGUSTNESS
CORMORANT-THATCH-MEETING-INCOMPLETELY.]
<<
1
His Augustness Heaven's-Sun-Height-Prince - Wave-limit-
Brave-Cormorant - Thatch - Meeting - Incompletely wedded his
maternal aunt Her Augustness Jewel-Good-Princess, and begot
august children named: His Augustness Five-Reaches; next
His Augustness Boiled-Rice;2 next His Augustness August-
Food - Master :3 next His Augustness Young-August-Food-
Master, another name for whom is His Augustness Luxuriant-
August-Food-Master,5 and another name is His Augustness
Divine-Yamato-Ihare-Prince.6* So His Augustness August-
22 The character might also be rendered by the simpler word
grave." But neither it nor its Japanese reading misasaki arė ever
used except honorifically of the Imperial tombs, and "mausoleum
seems therefore a more suitable English equivalent.
1 Itsu-se-no-mikoto. The "reaches" are the reaches of a river; at
least this seems the most natural view to take of the meaning of the
name. Motowori and Moribe, however, consider it to be a corruption
of idzu-shine, to which they assign the signification of "powerful
rice." Excepting for the fact of its bringing this name into harmony
with the three that follow, and which all relate to food, there seems
little to recommend so far-fetched a derivation.
2 Ina-hi-no-mikoto. If Motowori's derivation of the name from
ina-ihi is correct, it might be rendered with greater exactness "Rice-
Boiled-rice," ine denoting rice in the husk and hi the same when
boiled.
3 Mi-ke-nu-no-mikoto. This name has been translated in accordance
with Motowori's interpretation of the syllables that compose it.
4 Waka-mi-ke-nu-no-mihoto. Conf. preceding Note.
5 Toyo-mi-ke-nu-no-mikoto. Conf. Note 3.
6 Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko-no-mikoto. Yamato being the name of
the province where this prince, the first Emperor of the so-called
"human age," fixed his capital, it appropriately forms part of his
name. For a discussion of the etymology of the word Yamato, see
Scct. V, Note 26. Ihare, a word which is said to signify "assem-
bling," is the name of a village in that province.
Four deities.-W.G.A.
156
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVII.
Food-Master, treading on the crest of the waves, crossed over
to the Eternal Land." His Augustness Boiled-Rice went into
the Sea-Plain, it being his deceased mother's land.
7 See Seet. XXVII, Note 12.
8 See Sect. XII, Note 8.
.
VOL. XVIII.]
157
VOL. II. SECT. XLIV.
VOL. II.
4
[SECT. XLIV.-REIGN OF THE EMPEROR JIM-MU² (PART I.— HIS
PROGRESS EASTWARD, AND DEATH OF
HIS ELDER BROTHER).]
The two Deities His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko³*
and his elder brother His Augustness Itsu-se, dwelling in the
palace of Takachiho, took counsel, saying: "By dwelling in
"what place shall we [most] quietly carry on the government
"of the Empire ?5 It were probably best to go east." Forth-
with they left Himuka on their progress' to Tsukushi.
So
1
¹ Literally, “Middle Volume," there being three in all. See
Author's Preface, Note 1.
2 Jim-mu signifies "divine valour." It is the "canonical name
of the Emperor Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko (see Introduction, p. xvi).
3 In the preceding Section this name was rendered “Divine-
Yamato-Ihare-Prince." But in the translation of Vols. II and III of
this work, the Japanese proper names are not Englished, unless there
bé a special reason for so doing. (See Introduction, pp. xx and
xxi).
""
a
Granting that there is any truth in the story of Jim-mu Tenno
he could not have been called "Yamato etc., until he had con-
quered that part of the country. Why should a Kyushu chieftain have
"Yamato" in his name? It seems to have been invented by someone
who lived in the days when "Yamato " had become a national designa-
tion and it was therefore introduced into the name of the national hero.
Compare, Yamato Take no mikoto. The Nihongi says his youthful
name was Sano, and that Kamu, etc., was a title given him after he
had conquered Yamato.-W.G.A.
4 See Sect. XXXIV, Note 5.
5 See Sect. XXVII, Note 13.
6 See Sect. X, Note 4.
7 The Japanese expression here used is one which exclusively
denotes an Imperial Progress, and not the movements of lesser people.
It recurs perpetually in this and the following Volume.
7
#
158 (6
14
‘KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVIII.
when they arrived at Usa in the land of Toyo, two of the
natives, whose names were Usa-tsu-hiko and Usa-tsu-hime"
built a palace raised on one foot,12 and offered them a great
august banquet. Removing thence, they dwelt for one year
at the palace of Wokada13 in Tsukushi. Again making a
progress up¹ from that land, they dwelt seven years at the
palace of Takeri¹5 in the land of Agi.16 Again removing, and
making a progress up from that land, they dwelt eight years
at the palace of Takashima" in Kibi.18 So when they made.
their progress up from that land, they met in the Hayasuhi¹9
Channel a person riding towards them on the carapace of a
tortoise, and raising his wings as he angled. Then they called
to him to approach, and asked him, saying: "Who art thou?"
20
8 See Sect. V, Note 14.
9 Etymology uncertain.
10 See Sect. V, Note 17.
10
11 I.e., Prince of Usa and Princess of Usa.
12 In the original E-, read ashi hito-tsu agari no miya. The
parallel passage of the "Chronicles" has - which is directed to
be read in the same manner. £ (hashira) however means, not “foot,"
but "pillar"; and the commentators understand. both passages to
allude to a single pillar, which supported the weight of the entire
building,—either as being in the middle of it, or (as Motowori opines)
by standing in the water, the edifice, according to this view, being
built on a river-bank overhanging the stream.
13 This name signifies "hillock rice-field.”
14 Q.d., towards Yamato, the province where the capital was eventu-
ally fixed. In Japanese, as in English, people are said to go up to
the capital and down to the country.
15 Etymology uncertain.
16 Etymology uncertain. This name is better known (without the
nigori of the second syllable) as Aki. Aki is one of the provinces on
the northern shore of the Inland Sea.
17 This name signifies "high island."
18 Etymology uncertain. Kibi is the name of a province.
19 This name signifies "quick sucking."
20 I.e., as Motowori supposes, beckoning by waving his sleeve.
VOL. XVIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. XLIV.
159
Again they
He replied, saying: "I am an Earthly Deity."2
asked him, saying: "Knowest thou the sea-path ?" He replied,
saying: "I know it well." Again they asked him, saying:
"Wilt thou follow and respectfully serve us?" He replied,
saying: "I will respectfully serve you." So they pushed a
pole23 across to him, drew him into the august vessel, and
forthwith conferred on him the designation of Sawo-ne-tsu-
hiko.24
(This is the ancestor of the Rulers of the land of Yamato).'5
So when they went up from that land they passed the Nami-
haya26 Crossing, and brought up at the haven of Shirakata.27*
21 The First Personal Pronoun is represented by the humble
character, "servant."
22. See Sect, I, Note 11. Motowori wishes us here to understand
this expression to mean "I am a Deity (i.e., a person) of the country-
side." But there is no sufficient reason for departing from the
precedent of rendering the characters, which are constantly used
antithetically to F, by "Earthly Deity" (as opposed to "Heavenly
Deity"). Motowori likewise proposes to append to this sentence the
clause “and my name is Udzu-biko," which is found in the "Chron-
icles." The name may be taken to signify "precious prince.”
23 The characters
are evidently, as Motowori says, meant to
represent the Japanese word sawo, "pole," though they do not properly
convey that meaning. Probably they are corrupt.
Cf. Nihongi.-W.G.A.
24 I.e., if we suppress the syllable ne, which seems to be either
Expletive or Honorific, the "prince of the pole.”
25 Yamato no kuni no Miyatsuko.
26 This is the reading of the name preferred by Mabuchi and
Motowori; but the usual from Naniha seems to be at least as well
supported by early documentary evidence. The "Chronicles" tell us
that the place was called Nami-haya, i.e., "wave-swift," in allusion
to the strong current which the Emperor Jim-mu here encountered;
and at the present day it is still a dangerous place for navigation.
The name properly denotes the water at the mouth of the River
Yodo, on which stands the modern town of Ohosaka (Ōzaka), for
whose name Naniha is still often used as a poetical synonym.,
"wave-flowers," and "dangerous waves," are alternative ways of
writing it.
The water on the bar at the mouth.-W.G.A.
160
"(
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVIII.
At this time Nagasune-hiko28 of Tomi29 raised an army, and
waited to go out to fight [against them]. Then they took the
shields that had been put in the august vessel, and disembarked.
So they called that place by the name of Tate-dzu.30 It is
what is now called the Tadetsu of Kusaka.31 Therefore when
fighting with the Prince of Tomi,32 His Augustness Itsu-se
was pierced in his august hand by the Prince of Tomi's
hurtful arrow.93 So then he said: "It is not right for me,
27 Motowori says that he cannot explain the etymology of this
word; but "white sandbank" would seem a simple and obvious
derivation. The Shirakata here mentioned is, according to Motowori,
that situated in the province of Idzumo.i
Awa-Kumo.
Pillow-Word?-W.G.A.
+ Impossible.-W.G.A.
28 I.e., the Prince of Nagasune. A plausible interpretation of naga-
sune would be "long-shank," which would give us Prince Long-Shank
as the name of the worthy here mentioned; but the "Chronicles
state that Nagasune was properly the name of a place. The characters
with which it is written, moreover, signify not exactly "long shank,"
but “long marrow,” a designation which would have no evident per-
sonal applicability.
29 A legend in the "Chronicles connects the name of this place
with the word tobi, “a kite,” it being there related that a miraculous
gold-coloured kite came and perched on the Emperor Jim-mu's bow,
and helped him to the victory. Probably the legend grew out of the
name of Tobi, which is obscure and may have had nothing to do with
a "kite" originally.
در
>>
30 I.e., "shield-haven." But conf. next Note.
31 The real etymology of Tade-tsu seems to be "knot-grass-haven,"
and probably Taka-tsu (for Taketsu), which is mentioned in Sect. LXIX,
Note 29, is but another form of the same name. Kusaka is a well-
known name in the annals of early Japan. Its signification is obscure,
and characters (HT), with which it is written, are particularly curious.
There were two Kusakas, one in the province of Kahachi and the
other in Idzumi.
32 Viz., Nagasune-biko.
33 The wording of the original
2 is very curious.
Motowori reads it Tomi-biko ga ita-ya-gushi wo ohashiki. Immediately
VOL. XVIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. XLIV.
161
มู
<<
an august child of the Sun-Deity, to fight facing the sun.
"It is for this reason that I am stricken by the wretched
"villain's34 hurtful hand. I will henceforward turn round, and
"smite him with my back to the sun." Having [thus] decided,
he, on making a progress round from the southern side, reached
the sea of Chinu, and washed the blood on his august hand:
so it is called the sea of Chinu. Making a progress round
from thence, and arriving at the river-mouth of Wo³ in the
land of Ki,38 he said: "Ah! that I should die stricken by
"the, wretched villain's hand!" and expired 9 as a valiant man.40
So that river-mouth was called the river-mouth of Wo.41 The
mausoleum, too, is on Mount Kama2 in the land of Ki.
35
<<
below we have 貧賤​奴​之​痛​手​.
‡ Cf. Nihongi.—W.G.A.
34 The character is X, properly “slave.”
35 The most likely derivation of this name is from ch'-numa,
"eulalia lagoon," the fact that it will also bear the interpretation of
"blood-lagoon" being probably but a coincidence of which the
mythopoeic faculty took advantage.
36 Here written with characters signifying "blood-lagoon."
37 The characters rendered "river-mouth" are KF, literally
water-gate;" but here, as elsewhere, "river-mouth seems to be
the signification meant to be conveyed. Rivers in Japan, even at the
present day, do not bear one continuous name along their entire
course, and there would be nothing unnatural in the fact of the water
at the mouth of the river having a special designation. One of the
significations of wo is "man," and the legendary etymology of the
name given immediately below rests on the assumption that such is
the meaning of wo in this place. Even Motowori, however, is not
satisfied with it, and it is probably erroneous.
38 See Sect. XXII, Note 14.
39 The Chinese character, which is here used, is one that
specially denotes the demise of an Emperor.
40 Probably the sense meant to be conveyed is that he expired
with a gesture of anger and defiance.
41 Here written, “man.” Conf., Note 37.
42 Kama-yama, i.e., “furnace-mountain.”
162
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVIII.
[SECT. XLV. EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART II.—THE CROSS-SWORD
SENT DOWN.FROM HEAVEN).]
K
So when His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko made
a progress round from thence, and reached the village of
Kumanu,' a large bear came out of the mountain,2 and forth-
with disappeared into it.* Then His Augustness Kamu-yamato-
ihare-biko suddenly fainted away, and his august army likewise
all fainted and fell prostrate. At this time Takakurazhi³
(this is the name of a person) of Kumanu came bearing one
cross-sword to the place where the august child of the Deity
1 This name signifies bear-moor." The name is now generally
pronounced Kumano.
2 Motowori ingenously conjectures the text of this passage
, which makes no sense, to be a copyist's error for ŒŒU,
which gives the meaning rendered in the translation. The running
hand form of might well be mistaken for that of the character.
The editor of 1687 is less happy in his conjecture that the character
intended may be, "crocodile." This incident of the bear was
thought important enough by the compiler for a mention of it to be
inserted in his Preface. (See p. 6).
* The mention a few lines further on of Arafura Kami savage
Deities as the enemies of Jim-mu Tenno, on this occasion would
point to a different emendation of the term. Kuma is perhaps an
epithet of a savage tribe. Cf. Kumaso. Even the present reading
"Great Bear-plain," as the name of a tribe of hairy men is not wholly
preposterous. Kuma means savage sometimes.—W.G.A.
3 The signification of this name is not clear. Taking zhi as an
apocopated nigori'ed form of the Postposition shita, we might suppose
taka-kura-zhi to signify "under the high store-house in allusion to
the legend which forms the subject of this Section.
There are,
however, reasons for doubting this etymology (see Motowori's Com-
mentary, Vol XVIII, p. 48). In the Preface we have simply Takakura,
without the final syllable zhi; but the omission of zhi in that place
is almost certainly to be accounted for on euphonic grounds.
4 This note to the original is believed to be an an interpolation.
5. Motowori avers the character, "cross," has no im-
portance, and should be neglected in reading. But this assertion seems
در
VOL. XVIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. XLV.
163
7
was lying prostrate, and presented it to him, upon which the
august child of the Heavenly Deity forthwith rose up, and
said: "How long I have slept!" So when he accepted the
cross-sword, the savage Deities of the mountains of Kumanu
all spontaneously fell cut down. Then the whole august army,
that had been bewildered and had fallen prostrate, awoke and
rose up.
So the august child of the Heavenly Deity asked
him how he had got the cross-sword. Takakurazhi replied,
saying: "I was told in a dream that the two Deities the
"Heaven - Shining - Great - Deity and the High Integrating
Deity commanded and summoned the Brave-Awful-Possessing-
Male-Deity, and charged him [thus]: The Central Land
“of Reed-Plains is painfully uproarious,—it is." Our august
"children must be ill at ease. As [therefore] the Central
“Land of Reed-Plains is a land which thou specially sub-
"'duedst, thou the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male-Deity shalt
"descend [thither].' Then he replied, saying: I12 will not
"descend [myself], but I have the cross-sword wherewith I
specially subdued the land. (The name by which this sword
"is called is the Deity Thrust-Snap;13 another name by which it is
9
<
(6
((
C6 C
<
gratuitous in the face of, for instance, such a Chinese locution as
. We may be justified, perhaps, in paying no special heed to the
Numeral (C
one" in this place, which Motowori neglects in his kana
reading of the text.
6 I.e., they fell down cut to pieces before they had even been cut
at with this wonderful sword.
7 The character, "august," which should form the penultimate
member of this compound name, is here omitted.
8 See Sect. I, Note 5.
9 See Sect. VIII, Note 7.
10 See Sect. IX, Note 18.
11 Conf. Sect. X, Note 1.
12 The humble character, "servant," is here used.
>>
13 Sazhi-futsu no kami. The translator follows Tanigaha Shisei in
considering sazhi (Tanigaha Shisei in his "Perpetual Commentary
reads sashi without the nigori) to mean “thrust." For the rendering
of futsu as "snap" in this and the two following names conf. Sect.
164 "KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVIII.
#
"called is the Deity Awful-Snap,14 and another name for it is the
"August-Snap-Spirit.15 This sword dwells in the temple of the
"Deity of Isonokami.) The manner in which I will send
'6
(
this sword down will be to perforate the ridge of [the
"roof of] Takakurazhi's store-house," and drop it though!'
{So the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male-Deity instructed me,
"saying: 'I will perforate the ridge of [the roof of] thy
“store-house, and drop this sword through.18)
So do thou,
"with the good eyes of morning,19 take it and present it to
"the august child of the Heavenly Deity.' So on my search-
"ing my store-house early next morning in accordance with
"the instructions of the dream, there really was a cross-sword
"there. So I just present this cross-sword to thee."
"C
(6
[SECT. XLVI.-EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART III.-THE GIGANTIC
CROW AND GODS WITH TAILS).]
"Then His¹ Augustness the Great-High-Integrating-Deity
again commanded and taught, saying: 'August son of the
VIII, Note 8. Moribe, however, in his "Idzu no Chi-waki," asserts
that futsu is but an alternative form of futo, “broad,”
thick," or
"vast," as shown by the existence of the phrase ma-futsu no kagami,
(C
a true vast mirror.”
14 Mika-futsu no kam'.
15 Futsu no mi tama.
覽
​""
16 The name of this place, which is in the province of Yamato,
seems to signify "above the rock." It is well known as the Pillow-
Word for the syllables furu.
<<
17 Properly what is known to Anglo-Orientals as a godown."
18 The sentence here placed between braces is proposed by Moto-
wori to supplement an evident lacuna in the text.
19 Or, "luckily with morning eyes." Motowori remarks that, even
in modern times, special joy is felt at a good discovery made in the
morning.
1 The intention of the writer is here obscure, but he probably
meant the following passage to form part of the dream, as is the case
in the parallel passage of the "Chronicles." The inverted commas
are therefore continued in the translation.
VOL. XVIII.]
165
VOL. II. SECT. XLVI.
##
> ""
(0 C
Heavenly Deity! make no progress hence into the interior.
"The savage Deities are very numerous.
I will now send
"from Heaven a crow eight feet [long]. So that crow eight
"feet [long] shall guide thee. Thou must make thy progress
following after it as it goes.' So on [His Augustness
Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] making his progress following after
the crow eight feet [long] in obedience to the Deity's instruc-
tions, he reached the lower course of the Yeshinu³ river where
there was a person catching fish in a weir. Then the august
child of the Heavenly Deity asked, saying: "Who art thou?”
He replied, saying: "15 am an earthly Deity and am called by
666
4*
(c
::
2 The characters A† (ya-ta-garasu), with which the original
of this expression. is written, combined with the mention in the
Preface of the " great crow," have determined the translator to adopt
the interpretation favoured by Tanigaha Shisei, viz., a crow eight feet
[long]." Motowori understands the expression to mean an eight-
headed crow.” For the arguments on both sides see the "Perpetual
Commentary on the Chronicles of Japan," Vol. VIII, p. 16, and
Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XVIII, pp. 60-62, and Vol. VIII, pp.
34-38. See also for the translation of a parallel passage Sect. XVI,
Note 23.
† Vide,- Wamiōshō beginning.
3 Better known by the classical and modern form of the name,
Yoshino. It seems to signify "good moor." Yoshino, which is in the
province of Yamato, has from the earliest times been renowned for
the beauty of its cherry-blossoms, and also figures largely in the early
and medieval history. Motowori points out geographical difficulties.
in the Imperial progress as here detailed. In the "Chronicles," the
verisimilitudes of the journey are better observed.
**
4 The character, here rendered "weir" for want of a better
word, is defined as signifying "a bamboo trap for catching fish."
Fish-trap ?--W.G.A.
5 The first Personal Pronoun is here represented by the humble
character,"servant." The other tailed deity mentioned immediately
below uses the same expression.
6 See Sect. I, Note 11 and Sect. XLIV, Note 22, for the con-
siderations that make it better to translate thus than to render by
"I am a Deity of the Land"
7
166
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XVIII.
8
"the name of Nihe-motsu no Ko." (This is the ancestor of the
Cormorant-Keepers of Ada). On [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-
ihare-biko] making his progress thence, a person with a tail³
came out of a well. The well shone. Then [His Augustness
asked: "Who art thou ?” He replied, saying: "I am an
"Earthly Deity, and my name is Wi-hika.10" (This is the
ancestor of the Headmen of Yeshinu)." On his forthwith entering
the mountains,¹2 His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko again
met a person with a tail. This person came forth pushing the
cliff's apart.
Then [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko]
asked: "Who art thou ?" He replied, saying: "I am an
Eathly Deity, and my name is Iha-oshi-waku no Ko. I heard
[just now that the august son of the Heavenly Deity was
making his progress. So it is for that that I have come to
"meet thee." (This is the ancestor of the Territorial Owners of
Yeshinu). 13 Thence [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko]
penetrated over on foot to Uda.¹
So they say: "The
14
Ugachi of Uda.”:5
<<
(C
(C
((
7 I.e., “Offering-Bearing Child.” Here and elsewhere the word
ko, child," as part of a proper name, should be understood as a
kind of Honorific, employed probably in imitation of Chinese usage.
8 Ada no U-kahi. This must be understood to be a "gentile
name (kabane). The etymology of Ada is uncertain. The practice of
fishing with the help of cormorants, though now almost obsolete,
seems to have been very common in Japan down to the Middle Ages.
9 Commenting on a similar passage a little further on, Motowori
naïvely remarks: "It appears that in very ancient times such persons
were occasionally to be met with.” It should be added that they
are also mentioned in Chinese literature.
>>
10 I.e., "Well-Shine."
11 Yeshinu no obito. For Yeshinu sée Note 3.
12 I.e., disappearing among the mountains.
13 Yeshinu no kuzu. Kuzu is a contraction of kuni-nushi (properly
E, with which characters the name is found written at the com-
mencement of Sect. CVIII, though elsewhere the semi-phonetic
rendering or is employed).
14 Etymology obscure.
15 Uda no ugachi. The meaning of the sentence is:
"Hence the
-
VOL. XIX.]
167
VOL. II. SECT. XLVII.
1
<<
[SECT. XLVII. EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART IV.—THE UKASHI BRETHREN).]
So then there were in Uda. two persons, Ukashi the
the Elder Brother and Ukashi the Younger Brother.'
So [His
Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] sent the crow eight feet
[long] in advance to ask these persons, saying: "The august
"child of the Heavenly Deity has made a progress [hither].
"Will ye respectfully serve him?" Hereupon Ukashi the
Elder Brother waited for and shot at the messenger with a
whizzing barb* to make him turn back. So the place where
the whizzing barb fell is called Kabura-zaki.2 Saying that
he intended to wait for and smite [His Augustness Kamu-
yamato-ihare-biko], he [tried to] collect an army. But being
unable to collect an army, he said deceitfully that he would
respectfully serve [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko], and
built a great palace,3 and in that palace set a pitfall, and waited.
Then Ukashi the Younger Brother came out to [His Augustness
Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] beforehand, and made obeisance, say-
ing: "Mine elder brother Ukashi the Elder Brother has shot at
"and turned back the messenger of the august child of the
Heavenly Deity, and, intending to wait for and attack thee, has
'[tried to] collect an army; but, being unable to collect it, he has
Co
name of the Ugachi of Uda." Ugachi signifies "to penetrate." But
the etymology seems a forced one, and Motowori is probably correct
in identifying this "gentile name" with that of Ukashi, mentioned in
the next sentence.
1 Ye-ukashi and Oto-ukashi, Ukashi, as in the other compounds.
where it occurs, is probably in reality the name of a place.
etymology is doubtful.
Its
Arrow.-W.G.A.
2 I.e., Barb Point or Cape.
3 Or, hall.
4 The original has a respectful expression, which is elsewhere
translated "waited on."
5 The First Personal Pronoun is represented by the respectful
character, "servant."
:
168
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIX.
11
"built a great palace, and set a gin within it, intending to wait
"for and catch thee. So I have come out to inform [thee of this]."
Then the two persons His Augustness Michi-no-Omi,' ancestor
of the Ohotomo Chieftains, and His Augustness Ohokume,9
ancestor of the Kume Lords, 10 summoned Ukashi the Elder
Brother and reviled him, saying: "Into the great palace which
“thou¹¹ hast built to respectfully serve [His Augustness Kamu-
yamato-ihare-biko], be thou the first to enter, and declare
"plainly the manner in which thou intendest respectfully to
serve him ;”—and forthwith grasping the hilts of their cross-
swords, playing with their spears,13 and fixing arrows [in their
bows], they drove him in, whereupon he was caught in¹ the
gin which he himself had set, and died. So they forthwith
pulled him out, and cut him in pieces. So the place is called
Uda-no-Chihara.¹ Having done thus, [His Augustness Kamu-
(6
66
8
-
6 Literally, "spread." This gin is supposed to have been of the
kind whose top closes down after the man or animal has fallen into
it.
7 I.e., "C
Grandee of the Way." This "gentile name " is said in the
"Chronicles " to have been bestowed on this worthy in consideration
of his services as a guide to his master the Emperor on the occasion
of the latter's progress eastward.
8 See Sect. XXXIV, Note 12.
9 I.e., perhaps “Great Round Eyes," supposed to be a descendant
of His Augustness Ama-tsu-kume (see however Sect. XXXIV, Note 7
for a discussion of the etymology of Kume).
10 See Sect. XXXIV, Note 13.
11 The expression i ga, here rendered " thou," is, as Motowori
remarks, "extremely hard to understand," and its interpretation as an
insulting form of the Second Personal Pronoun is merely tentative.
Perhaps the text is corrupt.
12 The insulting Second Personal Pronoun ore is hère employed.
13 Here again we have an expression written phonetically and of
uncertain import. The translator has followed Motowori in tentatively
rendering it according to the ideographic reading of the parallel
passage of the "Chronicles."
14 Literally "struck by."
15 I.e., Uda's Blood-Plain."
VOL. XIX.]
VOL. II. SECT. XLVII.
169
yamato-ihare-biko] bestowed on his august army the whole of
the great banquet presented [to him] by Ukashi the Younger
Brother. At this time he sang, saying:
<<
"C
16 This Song is unusually difficult of comprehension: and the
latest important commentator, Moribe, seems to show satisfactorily
that all his predecessors, Motowori included, more or less misunder-
stood it. He had at least the advantage of coming after them, and
the translator has followed his interpretation excepting with regard to
isukuhashi, the Pillow-Word for "whale," which is here rendered
valiant," in accordance with the traditional view of its signification.
The soba tree is identified by Motowori with the kaname-mochi,
“Photinia glabra." The saka-ki, taken together with its Prefix ichi
(here rendered "vigorous ") is supposed in this place to signify, not
the usual Cleyera japonica, but another species popularly known as
the bishiya-gaki, whose English or Latin name the translator has
failed to ascertain. It has a large berry, whereas the soba has a small
one.—The following is the gist of Moribe's exposition of the general
signification of the Song: "If for Ukashi's mean design to kill the
'Emperor in a gin there be sought a term of comparison in the
"whales and woodcock forming the Imperial banquet, then in lieu of
“the woodcock that he expected to catch in the trap that he set, that
"great whale, the Imperial host, has rushed up against it. Again if,
"The woodcock, for which I laid a wood-
"cock-snare and waited in the high castle
((
of Uda, strikes not against it; but a
"valiant whale strikes against it. If the
“elder wife ask for fish, slice off a little like
"the berries of the standing soba; if the
"younger wife ask for fish, slice off a
quantity like the berries of the vigorous
“sakaki.”16
("
<<
re
as the fishermen's wives might do, your (i.e., you soldiers') wives
“ask you for fish, then let each of you give to his elder wife, of
"whom he must have grown weary, only a small and bony portion,
"and to his younger wife, who is doubtless his heart's favourite, a
"good fleshy piece. So jocular a guess at the penchants of the young
"warriors excites their ardour, which they give vent to in the
following shouts."
170
"C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIX.
17
Ugh! pfui! dolt! This is saying thou
"rascal. Ah! pfui! dolt! This is laugh-
'ing [him] to scorn."
(C
((
So Ukashi the Younger Brother (he is the ancestor of the
Water-Directors of Uda).18
[SECT.XLVIII.-EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART V,-THE EARTH-SPIDERS
OF THE CAVE OF OSAKA).]
When [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] made his
progress, and reached the great cave of Osaka,' earth-spiders2
"C
17 Some of the Japanese originals of this string of Interjections
are of uncertain import. The translator has been guided by Moto-
wori's conjectures, with which Moribe mostly agrees. The exclama-
tions are supposed not to form part of the actual Song, but to
proceed from the mouths of the Imperial soldiers. The words
rendered “this is saying thou rascal" (such is apparently their mean-
ing) and those rendered "this is laughing [him] to scorn seem to
be glosses as old as the text, which had already become obscure in
the eighth century. They are not written altogether phonetically."
"}
Omitted in the Nihongi.-W.G.A.
18 Uda no Mohitori. This tribe or guild of water-directors was
entrusted with the charge of the water, the ice, and the gruel used
in the Imperial household. In later times the word Mohitori was
corrupted to Mondo.
1 The etymology of this name is not clear, but readers will of
course not confound it with that of the modern town of Ohosaka
(Ūzaka). The character rendered "cave" is, which signifies simply
apartment;" but the traditional reading is muro, which means a
cave or pit dug in the earth. That the latter is the idea which the
author wishes to convey becomes clear by comparison with a great
number of passages in the older literature. For a more particular
discussion of this subject see Mr. Milne's paper entitled "Notes on
Stone Implements from Otaru and Hakodate," published in Vol. VIII,
Part I of these "Transactions," p. 76 et seq., where a number of
passages relative to the “earth-spiders are likewise brought together.
2 Tsuchi-gumo, generally written, but here semi-phoneti-
cally. There is little doubt that by this well-known name, which
""
دو
VOL. XIX.]
171
VOL. II. SECT. XLVIII.
with tails, [namely] eighty bravoes, were in the cave awaiting
him. So then the august son of the Heavenly Deity com-
manded that a banquet be bestowed on the eighty bravoes.
Thereupon he set eighty butlers, one for each of the eighty
bravoes, and girded each of them with a sword, and instructed
the butlers, saying: "When ye hear me sing, cut [them down]
"simultaneously." So the Song by which he made clear to
them to set about smiting the earth-spiders said:
<<
((
3
"Into the great cave of Osaka people have
"entered in abundance, and are [there].
Though people have entered in abundance,
"and are [there], the children of the augustly
"powerful warriors will smite and finish them
"with [their] mallet-headed [swords], [their]
"stone-mallet [swords]: the children of the
has given rise to much conjecture, a race of cave-dwelling savages or
a class of cave-dwelling robbers is intended. Motowori supposes that
their name had its origin in a comparison of their habits with those
of the spider. But it were surely more rational to regard it as a
corruption of tsuchi-gomori, "earth-hiders," a designation as obvious.
as it is appropriate. The "Chronicles describe one tribe of them
<<
as
being short in stature, and having long arms and legs like pigmies."
For a further discussion of the subject see Motowori's Commentary,
Vol. XIX, pp. 30-31, the "Perpetual Commentary on the Chronicles
of Japan," Vol. VIII, p. 35, the “ Tou-ga,” Vol. XX, s.v. kumo and
the "Examination of Difficult Words," Vol. II, pp. 55 et seq.
Pit-dwelling. Muro can hardly be both "cave" and pits," the latter
only, I think, is the correct word. I have seen at Oyama a pit about four
feet deep and perhaps 12 feet square, roofed with thatch on a wooden
framework, for the accommodation of pilgrims; also in Korea I have
seen a smaller pit used as a dwelling, strong oil-paper taking the
place of thatch, vide Satow and Hawes' Guide Book, 1884 edition, p. 207,
where the ladder necessary to go down into such a pit is mentioned.
The muro of gardeners at the present day are pits covered with a
roof.-W.G.A.
""
† But is not kumo really the same word, "the hider."?-W.G.A.
3 The original term is takeru (), which might also be rendered
bandit," or "robber chief."
172
""
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIX.
¡
M
augustly powerful warriors, with [their].
"mallet-headed [swords], [their] stone-mallet
"[swords], would now do well to smite."4
Having thus sung, they drew their swords, and simulta-
neously smote them to death.
(6
[SECT. XLIX.-EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART VI.—THE PRINCE OF
TOMI AND THE SHIKI BRETHREN).]
After this, when about to smite the Prince of Tomi,¹ he
sang, saying:
"The children of the augustly powerful
army will smite and finish the one stem
"of smelly chive in the millet-field, the
"stem of its root, both its root and shoots."
2
"(
4 The import of this poem is too clear to stand in need of
explanation. The word mitsumitsushi, here rendered "augustly power-
ful" in accordance with Moribe's view, is understood by Motowori
to mean "perfectly full," in allusion to the fully or perfectly round
eyes of the deity Kume, to whose name he supposes there to be a
reference. Mabuchi, on the other hand, explains the word to signify
"young and flourishing." But Moribe's view both of this and of the
import of kume as "warriors" seems so greatly preferable to any
other, that the translator has not hesitated to follow him (conf. Sect.
XXXIV, Note 7). The "children of the warriors are of course
the warriors themselves. With regard to the signification of the two
kinds of swords here mentioned it has, however, been thought best
to adhere to the usual view, and Note 10 to Sect. XXXIV should be
referred to.
1 See Sect. XLIV, Notes 28 et seq. The apparent want of sequence
in this portion of the narrative is not noticed by Motowori. We
might endeavour to harmonize it by supposing that after having slain
the "earth-spiders," etc., the Emperor Jim-mu turned round again to
fight with the Prince of Tomi, who had harassed him in the earlier
portion of his career as conqueror of Central Japan.
2 The wild chive growing among the millet is of course the enemy,
the Prince of Tomi and his host; and the gist of the Song is that
the Imperial troops will smite and destroy them root and branch.
The commentators suppose the simile to have been taken from the
در
↓
"
VOL. XIX.]
173
VOL. II. SECT. XLIX.
Again he sang:
"The ginger, which the children of the
augustly powerful army planted near the
hedge, resounds* in the mouth. I shall not
forget it. I will smite and finish it."3
((
"C
<<
"C
"C
Again he sang, saying:
"Like the turbinida creeping round the
'great rock in the sea of Ise [on which
"blows] the divine wind, [so] will we creep
"round, and smite and finish them."4
""
fields of millet which Jim-mu's troops planted for their subsistence
during the long drawn out campaigns of early days.--The stem of
its root," so ne ga moto, is a curious expression, which is perhaps best
accounted for by Moribe's supposition that we have here a pun on
Sune ga moto, 'Sune's house," Sune being a natural abbreviation of
Nagasune, the name of the Prince of Tomi (see Sect. XLIV, Note
28).
►
I.e., makes the mouth to tingle, cf. the use of the word chindo
in speaking of a perfume.-W.G.A.
3 The sense of this Song is: "I shall not forget the bitterness
of seeing my brother slain by Prince Nagasune's arrow (see the latter
part of Sect. XLIV). The word hazhikami, here rendered ginger in
accordance with Motowori's dictum, is taken by Moribe to signify
the xanthoxylon. Resounding in the mouth" is a curious phrase
here used to express bitterness.
<<
敷
​<<
4 Motowori thus paraphrases this Song: "As the innumerable
turbinida [-shells] creep round the great rock, so will I with the
'myriads of the Imperial host encompass the Prince of Tomi on
every side, that there may be no outlet whereby he can escape."
The shell here mentioned is a kind of small conch. Kumu-kaze no,
lit. "of divine wind," is the Pillow-Word for Ise, and is of disputed
derivation, as is the word Ise itself. The curious reader should rèfer
to Fujihara no Hikomaro's "Inquiry into the Meaning of the Names
of All the Provinces " sv. for the legend to which the name of Ise
and its Pillow-Word were anciently traced and other conjectures on
the point. The great rock" here mentioned is not otherwise known.
great rock may well be the Moto-seki known to ancient
i The "
174
""
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XIX.
Again when he smote Shiki the Elder Brother and Shiki the
Younger Brother,5 the august army was temporarily exhausted.
Then he sang, saying:
"As we fight placing our shields in a row,
going and watching from between the trees
(C
on Mount Inasa, oh! we are famished.
"Ye keepers of cormorants, the birds of the
"island, come now to our rescue!"*
CC
[SECT. L.-EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART VII. -THE EMPIRE PACIFIED).]
So then His Augustness Nigi-hayabi¹ waited on and said
legend. Vide Satow and Hawes' Handbook of Japan p. 176. Also Ise
Meisho near end of Vol. 5.-W.G.A.
+ Whelk?-W.G.A.
5 Ye-shiki and Otoshiki. Shiki is the name of a district in the
province of Yamato.
((
6 This Song is a request for provisions made by the Emperor to
some fishermen, who were working their cormorants along the
mountain-streams. Moribe refers it to an incident, not in the war,
but in the hunt, and interprets differently the word here, in accordance
with its usual meaning and with older authority, rendered as we
fight." He attributes to it the sense of "as we put our shields to-
gether," and thinks that the poet may have compared to shields the
trunks of the trees. According to this view, the Song should be
viewed rather as a joke. It may be mentioned that there is good
authority for considering the words tata namete, "placing shields in a
row," as a Punning Preface or Pillow-Word for words commencing
with ¿ (¿ being the Root of iru, “to shoot "), so that Moribe's explana-
tion need not involve any tautology. It seems however somewhat
far-fetched. The position of mount Inasa is uncertain, and the name
itself of obscure derivation.
*Compare Nihongi Vol. III, p. 15 (p. 119 Aston's translation):
"Then skirting the river, he proceeded westward, when there appeared
a man who had made a fish-trap and was catching fish. On the
Emperor enquiring of him, he answered and said: "Thy servant is
the son of Nihemotsu.' He it is who was the first ancestor of the
clan of U-kahi cormorant keepers of Ada." Or above p. 166.—W.G.A.
1 The component parts of this name, rendered according to the
VOL. XX.]
VOL. II. SECT. L.
175
to the august child of the Heavenly Deity: "As I heard that
"[thou], the august child of the Heavenly Deity, hadst
descended from Heaven, I have followed down to wait on
"thee." Forthwith presenting to him the heavenly symbols,2
he respectfully served him. So His Augustness Nigi-hayabi
wedded the Princess of Tomi,3 sister of the Prince of Tomi,
and begot a child, His Augustness Umashi-ma-ji.4 (He was the
ancestor of the Chief of the Warrior-Clan,5 of the Grandees of
Hodzumi,6 and of the Grandees of the Neck-Clan.)' So having
thus subdued and pacified the savage Deities, and extirpated
the unsubmissive people, [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-
biko] dwelt at the palace of KashibaraⓇ near Unebi, and ruled
analogy of that in Sect. XXXIII, Note 5, may be interpreted to
signify "Plenty-Swift." The genealogy of this god is not known.
9
2 I.e., the swords, quivers, bows, and arrows mentioned in Sect.
XXXIII, as having been brought down from Heaven by the divine
attendants of the Emperor Jim-mu's grandfather.
The syllable ya" is inexplicable, but perhaps
3 Tomi-ya-bime.
merely an Expletive.
("
*Cf. Kagu-ya-hime and others.-W.G.A.
4 The signification of this name is by no means clear; but,
rendered according to the characters with which it is written in the
"Chronicles," it would mean
Savoury-True-Hand."
This and the two following are of course
"C
5 Mononobe no murazhi.
gentile names."
6 Hodzumi no omi. Hodzumi, which is the name of a place,
signifies "rice-ears piled up.”
7 Une-be no omi. The interpretation of this name is given according
to Motowori, who explains that the members of this family,-in
particular the female members,-waited at the Emperor's table, and
wore veils over their necks when so employed. The name is commonly
corrupted to uneme.†
*Seems very improbable.-W.G.A.
8 Better known as Kashihabara. The name signifies "oak-moor,"
or rather "a place planted with oaks." This is usually, though with-
out sufficient foundation, reckoned the earliest of the historical capitals
of Japan. It is in Yamato.
9 Unebi is the name of a hill in Yamato. The etymology of the
word is obscure.
176
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XX.
((
the Empire.10
4
So when he dwelt in Himuka, [His Augustness Kamu-
yamato-ihare-biko] wedded' Princess Ahira,2 younger sister of
the Duke of Wobashi in Ata, and begot children: there were
two,5-His Augustness Tagishi-mimi, next His Augustness
Kisu-mimi. But when he sought for a beautiful maiden to
make her his Chief Empress, His Augustness Oho-kume said:
"There is here a beauteous maiden who is called the august
6%
8
[SECT. LI.-EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART VIII.—HE WEDS
I-SUKE-YORI-HIME).]
10 I.e., "ruled the Empire from his palace of Kashibara near
Unebi. For the expression F (literally "[all] beneath Heaven ”),
here rendered "Empire," see Sect. XXVII, Note 13.
1 Or, "had wedded;" for the episode here related must be sup-
posed to have taken place before Jim-mu and his army started
eastward on their career of conquest.
2 Ahira-hime. Ahira is supposed by Motowori to be the name of
a place in Satsuma. Its etymology is quite obscure.
title.
CC
3 Wobashi no kimi. Wobashi is supposed by Motowori to be the
name of a place in Satsuma. The characters with which it is generally
written mean "small bridge."
4 Ata is a place in Satsuma.
5 Or, "there were two Deities." The character employed is not
that which itself actually signifies "deity," but is the Auxiliary
Numeral for divine beings.
6 I.e., perhaps "rudder-ears."
Vide Early Japanese History, p. 57, where Mimi is an official
Kikoshimesu meaning "to govern," why should not mimi be
governor "? Oho-mimi=Governor-General.-W.G.A.
7 Motowori adduces good reasons for believing this name to be
but a slightly altered form of the preceding one, and for holding that
in the original form of the tradition there was but one child mentioned.
8 See Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XX, pp. 10-13, for the reasons
for thus interpreting the characters in the text. Elsewhere it
has generally, for the sake of convenience, been simply rendered
"Empress."
VOL. XX.]
177
VOL. II. SECT. LI.
9
((
"child of a Deity. The reason why she is called the august
"child of a Deity is that the Princess Seya-datara, daughter
of Mizokuhi¹ of Mishima," was admired on account of her
beauty by the Great-Master-of-Things the Deity of Miwa,12
qui, quum pulchra puella oletum fecit, in sagittam rubro
"[colore] fucatam se convertit, et ab inferiori parte cloaca [ad
usum] faciendi oleti virginis privatas partes transfixit. Tunc
pulchra virgo consternata est, et surrexit, et trepide fugit. Sta-
"tim sagittam attulit, et juxta thalamum posuit. Subito [sagitta]
“formosus adolescens facta est, qui cito pulchram puellam sibi
"in matrimonio junxit, et filiam procreavit nomine Hoto-tatara-
“i-susugi-hime;13 et est nomen alternativum Hime-tatara-i-suke-
"(
(6
""
(C
((
yori-hime.¹ (Id est posterior mutatio nominis, quoniam abhorruit
"facere mentionem privatarum partium). So therefore she is called
"the august child of a Deity." Hereupon seven beauteous
9 Seya-datara-hime. This signification of the name is obscure.
Motowori supposes Seya to be a place and tatara (nigori'ed to datara)
perhaps a plant written with the Chinese character, said by Dr.
Williams in his "Syllabic Dictionary" to be possibly a species of
Heterotropa.
10 It is uncertain whether this name should, or should not, be
regarded as properly that of a place. The meaning is equally obscure.
The Chinese characters with which it is here written signify "ditch-
eater," whereas those employed in the "Chronicles" signify "ditch-
stake." Perhaps both transcriptions are simply phonetic.
11 A district in the province of Tsu (Settsu). The name signifies
three islands."
12 Miwa-no-oho-mono-mushi-no-kami. This god is supposed to be
identical with Oho-kuni-nushi (the "Master of the Great Land," see
end of Sect. XX and following Sects.) The rigidly literal rendering
of the name as here given would be "the Deity Great Master of
Things of Miwa"; but the more intelligible version here given
represents the Japanese author's meaning. For the traditional etymo-
logy of Miwa see the story related in Sect. LXV.
13 Hoto significat partes privatas. Verbi tatara sensum supra ș.v.
Seya-datara-hime pertractavimus. I est vox expletiva. Susugi sensus
est "trepide fugiens." Hime indicat regiam puellam.
14 I.e., Princess Tatara-Startled-Good-Princess.
178
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XX.
maidens were out playing on the moor of Takasazhi,¹5 and
I-suke-yori-hime¹6 was among them. His Augustness Ohokume,
seeing I-suke-yori-hime, spoke to the Heavenly Sovereign in a
Song, saying:
"Seven maidens on the moor of Takasazhi
"in Yamato :-which shall be interlaced ?"17
Then I-suke - yori - hime was standing first among the
beauteous maidens. Forthwith the Heavenly Sovereign, having
looked at the beauteous maidens, and knowing in his august
heart¹ that I-suke-yori-hime was standing in the very front,
replied by a Song, saying:
((
(C
((
((
Even [after nought but] a fragment [-ary
glimpse], I will intertwine the lovely [one]
standing in the very front."9
Then His Augustness Ohokume informed I-suke-yori-
hime of the Heavenly Sovereign's decree, whereupon she,
seeing the slit sharp eyes of His Augustness Chokume, sang
in her astonishment, saying:
30
15 Etymology obscure.
16 An abbreviated form of the princess' alternative name.
17 The meaning of this Song is: "To which of the seven maidens
now disporting themselves on the moor of Takasazhi shall I convey
"the Emperor's command to come that he may make her his consort,
"and sleep with his arms intertwined in hers?"-Motowori, overlook-
ing the difference between maku, which is the word in the text, and
the nigori'ed form magu met with in some other passages, misinterprets
the last clause thus: "Which shall be sought?" He makes the same
mistake in his explanation of the next Song.
18 I.e., "having a presentiment."
19 The translation of this Song follows Moribe's exegesis. Moto-
wori interprets it thus: "Well, well!
"Well, well! I will seek the lovely one
standing in the very front." As here rendered, the little poem is
quite clear, simply a declaration on the Emperor's part that he will
make the girl standing in front his wife.
20 Sukeru-to-me, the original of the phrase here rendered "slit sharp
eyes," is obscure and variously understood by the commentators.
VOL. XX.]
179
VOL. II. SECT. LI.
(C
?
?
"Wherefore the slit sharp eyes ?"!
(C
?
?
"บ
Then His Augustness Ohokume replied by a Song, saying:
"My slit sharp eyes [are] in order to find
"the maiden immediately.”
24
So the maiden said that she would respectfully serve [the
Heavenly Sovereign].23 Hereupon the house of Her August-
ness' I-suke-yori-hime was on [the bank of] the River Sawi.26
5
Moribe supposes the god to have worn a casque with a vizor, and
the slit to have been made in the latter, and not actually in, or rather
near, the eyes. It should however be observed that, though the
Japanese word saku means "to slit," the Chinese character in the text
properly signifies "to tattoo (or brand) with ink," and is used with
that meaning at the end of Sect. CXLIX, and elsewhere in the ancient
books. The present writer, after comparing various passages in which
the term occurs, thinks that we may understand a tattooing of the
outer corners of the eyes, which would give to the latter the appearance
of being long and sharp, or, if the tattooing were very dark, of being
actually slit.
1
21 The first lines of this short poem are so hopelessly unintelligble
that the commentators are not even agreed as to how the syllables
composing them should be divided into words. For the straits to
which Motowori and his predecessors were driven in their efforts to
obtain some plausible signification, see his Commentary, Vol. XX,
pp. 27-29, and for Moribe's totally divergent interpretation see "Idzu
no Koto-waki,”" Vol. II, pp. 30–31. It is not worth while to quote
here such mere conjectures.-For the doubt attaching to the precise
signification of the words rendered by "slit sharp eyes," see the
preceding Note.
22 The signification of this Song is as plain as that of the preceding
one is obscure.
23 Q.d., as his wife.
24 This initial expression is meaningless.
25 Having become the Emperor's consort, this Honorific title is
now prefixed for the first time to her name.
26 Sawi-gaha. Sawi, as we learn from the compiler's note below,
was the name of a kind of lily.
180
"
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XX.
.
27
The Heavenly Sovereign made a progress to the abode of
I-suke-yori-hime, and augustly slept [there] one night." (The
reason why that river was called the River Sawi was that on the
River's banks the mountain-lily-plant grew in abundance. So the
name of the mountain-lily-plant was taken, and the designation of
River Sawi [bestowed]. The name by which the mountain-lily-plant
was originally called was sawi). Afterwards, when I-suke-yori-
hime came and entered into the palace, the Heavenly Sovereign
sang augustly saying:
"In a damp hut on the reed-moor having
((
'spread layer upon layer of sedge mats, we
"two slept !"28
The names of the august children thus born were: His
Augustness Hiko-ya-wi,29 next His Augustness Kamu-ya-wi-
mimi,30 next His Augustness Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi,31 (Three
Deities).32
27 Literally, one sojourn."
(C
((
28 The signification of this Song is: "Now indeed thou comest
"to share the majesty of the palace. But the beginning of our
intimacy was on that night when I came to thy humble dwelling
on the reed-grown moor where, when we slept together, we had to
"pile mat upon mat to keep out the damp."-The translator has
followed Moribe's interpretation throughout. Motowori takes in the
sense of "
ugly" the word here rendered " damp," and he and all
previous commentators give a different explanation of the words iya
saya shikite, here translated by "spreading layer upon layer." They
take them to mean spreading more and more cleanlily."
<<
<<
29 This name may signify "prince eight-wells." But the inter-
pretation of ya wi as "eight wells" in this and the following name is
doubtful.
30 This name
preceding Note.
may signify divine-eight-wells-ears.”
31 This name may signify "divine-lagoon-river-ears." But perhaps
Nuna-kaha is the name of a place.
32 The character in the next is not actually "Deity," but EE,
hashira, the Auxiliary Numeral for Deities, which is constantly
throughout these "Records" used in speaking of members of the
Imperial family.
"C
But see
VOL. XX.]
181
VOL. II. SECT. LII.
[SECT.LII. EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART IX.--TROUBLES WHICH
FOLLOWED HIS DECEASE).]
So when, after the decease of the Heavenly Sovereign,'
the elder half-brother, His Augustness Tagishi-mimi,2 wedded?
the Empress I-suke-yori-hime, he plotted how he might slay
his three younger brethren, pending which their august parent
Isuke-yori-hime lamented, and made [the plot] known to her
august children by a song. The Song said:
"From the River Sawi the clouds have risen
across, and the leaves of the trees have
"rustled on Mount Unebi: the wind is about
"to blow."5
<<
1 I.e., the Emperor Jim-mu. His decease is not otherwise
specially mentioned; but a formula at the end of the Section, which
is repeated mutatis mutandis in the case of each Emperor, tells us the
number of years he lived or reigned, and the place of his sepulture.
Throughout these "Records," much matter is often placed in the
reign of a Monarch already deceased, and which, according to our
ideas, would more naturally be narrated under the heading of his
successor.
The Japanese is sono which looks as if it was Jim-mu Tenno's
elder brother who was intended. Perhaps is a mistake for .-
J.-
W.G.A.
2 Who was the deceased Emperor's son by Princess Ahira (see
Sect. LI, Note 6), and consequently step-son to the Empress and
half-brother to her three sons.
3 This is the meaning of the Chinese character in the text.
Motowori tries to save the Empress-Dowager's reputation for conjugal
fidelity by rendering it in his kana reading by a word signifying
"raped."+
† Tawakuru is more comprehensive than "raped"; it would also
include "seduced," "had illicit intercourse with." Vol. XXX, p. 36,
verse last line " Tawake wa aumajiki hito ni au nari.” But Motowori
does speak of “rape
rape" in the Commentary.-W.G.A.
4 See Sect. XXII, Note 4.
5 The import of this metaphorical poem, taken in its context, is
too clear to need much comment. The rising of the clouds and the
182
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XX.
"(
Again she sang, saying:
When hereupon her august children, hearing and knowing
[of the danger], were alarmed and forthwith were about to slay
Tagishi-mimi, His Augustness Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi said to
his elder brother His Augustness Kamu-ya-wi-mimi: "Thy
"dear Augustness, [do thou] take a weapon, and go in and slay
Tagishi-mimi.” So he took a weapon and went in, and was
about to slay him. But his arms and legs trembled so, that
he was unable to slay him. So then the younger brother His
Augustness Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi begged [to be allowed] to
take the weapon which his elder brother held, and went in
and slew Tagishi-mimi. So again, in praise of his august
name, he was called His Augustness Take-nuna-kaha-mimi."
Then His Augustness Kamu-ya-wi-mimi resigned [in favour of]
the younger brother His Augustness Take-nuna-kaha-mimi,
saying: "I could not slay the foeman; but Thine Augustness
8
was at once able to slay him. So, though I be the elder
"brother, it is not right that I should be the superior. Where-
"fore do Thine Augustness be the superior, and rule [all]
"C
"Ah! What rests on Mount Unebi as clouds
"in the day-time, will surely blow as wind
"at night-fall, [whence] the rustling of the
"leaves !"
rustling of the leaves may be supposed to represent the murderer's
preparations, and the blowing of the wind his actual onslaught.
6 The meaning of this Song is: "The would-be murderer
remains quiet during the day-time like the clouds hanging to the
mountain-side; but at night he will burst upon you like the storm-
wind. Already I hear the leaves begin to rustle; already he is
gathering his men together.
7 The word take prefixed to the name of this prince signifies
"brave."
8 I.e., either “superior to thee,” or as Motowori understands the
phrase, "the superior of all," scil. the Emperor."
*I prefer Motowori's view. In Korea the single character
is constantly used for the king.--W.G.A
中
​VOLII. XX.]
183
VOL. II. SECT. LIII.
"beneath the Heaven. I will assist Thine Augustness, becom-
"ing a priest,10 and respectfully serving thee."
[SECT. LIII.-EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART X.-GENEALOGIES).]
So His Augustness Hoko-ya- wi (is the ancestor of the
Chieftains of Mamuta, and of the Chieftains of Teshima²). His
Augustness Kamu-ya-wi-mimi (is the ancestor of the Grandees of
Oho,3 of the Chieftains of the Tribe of Chihisako,4 of the Chieftains of the
Tribe of Sakahi,5 of the Dukes of Hi,6 of the Dukes of Ohokida,7 of the
Co
9 Though the elder brother, he here uses the humble character
B ,"servant," to show his respect and deference.
10 Literally, "a person who shuns," 7.d. who shuns all pollution,
and avoids certain food at certain seasons. Conf. the "gentile name
Imi-be commented on in Sect. XXXIII, Note 32.
1 Mamuta no murazhi. Mamuta is said to have been a place in
the province of Kahachi. The etymology of the name is obscure.
2 Teshima no murazhi. Teshima is said to have been a place in
the province of Tsu (Settsu). The name may signify ' luxuriant
island."
3 Oho no omi. Oho is said to have been a place in the province
of Yamato. The name is mostly written with characters signifying
vast" or
(C numerous."
4 Chihisako-be no murazhi. Chihisako is said to have been a place
in the province of Etchiu. But the name of this family has also
been traced to an incident mentioned in the "Newly Selected Cata-
logue of Family Names as having occurred in the reign of the
Emperor Yu-riyaku, when, owing to a verbal error, a tax was collected
in children instead of in cocoons. The monarch, amused at the
mistake, is said to have granted to the tax-collector the "gentile name
of Chihisa-ko, i.e., "Little Child."
53
""
در
در
5 Sakahi-be no murazhi. Sakahi signifies "boundary," and this
"gentile name is traced to the fact, mentioned in the "Newly
Selected Catalogue of Family Names," that the founder of the family
distinguished himself by setting up boundary-marks on the frontiers
of different provinces in the reign of the Emperor In-giyō (first half
of the fifth century of the Christian era.)
6 Hi no kimi. Hi () is the name of a province (now two
provinces) in the south-western island of Tsukushi. It is first
mentioned in Sect. V, Note 17.
184
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XX.
Dukes of Aso,8 of the Chieftains of the Granaries of Tsukushi,9 of the
Grandees of the Sazaki Tribe, 10 of the Rulers of the Tribe of Sazaki,11
of the Rulers of Wo-Hatsuse,12 of the Suzerains of Tsuke,13 of the Rulers
of the land of Iyo,14 of the Rulers of the land of Shinanu,15 of the
Rulers of the land of Ihaki in Michinoku,16 of the Rulers of the Land
of Naka in Hitachi, 17 of the Rulers of the land of Nagasa,18 of the
Ohokida is the name of a district in the
7 Ohokida no Kimi.
province of Toyo.
8 Aso no kimi. Aso is the name of a district in Higo, containing
a celebrated volcano.
9 Tsukushi no miyake no murazhi.
10 Sazaki-be no omi. This name is connected by the compiler of the
"Newly Selected Catalogue of Family Names" with that of the Emperor
Nin-toku (Oho-sazaki no Mikoto), for which see Sect. CIV, Note 18.
11 Sazaki-be no miyatsuko.
12 Wo-hatsuse no miyatsuko. This name is connected with that of
the Emperor Mu-retsu, whose name was Wo-Hatsuse no Waka-Sazaki.
13 Tsuke no atahe. Tsuke is the name of a place in Yamato.
14 Iyo no kuni no miyatsuko. For the province of Iyo see Sect. V,
Note 4.
15 Shinanu no kuni no miyatsuko. For the province of Shinanu
(Shinano) see Sect. XXXII, Note 26.
16 Michinoku no Ihaki no kuni no miyatsuko. A popular derivation
of Michinoku is from michi no kuni, "the country of the road;" but
a more likely one, sanctioned by Motowori, is from michi no oku, the
furthest or most distant part of the road" (For the word "road," as
here used, conf. Sect, LXV, Note 2). It was for many centuries, and
is still in poetry, a vague name for the entire north of Japan. Ihaki,
sometimes considered a province, and at others only ranking as a
district, formed its south-eastern portion along the Pacific sea-board.
The name seems to signify "rock (or hard)-castle."
17 Hitachi no Naka no kuni no miyatsuko. Hitachi is a province
to the south of Ihaki. Motowori quotes more than one traditional
derivation of its name, the best of which, taken from the old Topo-
graphy of the province, is hita-michi, "plain road," referring to the
level nature of that part of the country. Naka is the name of a
district. The word signifies "middle," and may have arisen from the
fact of the district bearing it being situated between two considerable
rivers.
►
VOL. XXI.]
185
VOL. II. SECT. LV.
Suzerains of Funaki in Ise,19 of the Grandees of Niha in Wohari,20
and of the Grandees of Shimada.)21
[SECT. LIV. EMPEROR JIM-MU (PART XI. HIS AGE AND
PLACE OF BURIAL).]
His Augustness Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi ruled the Empire.
Altogether the august years of this Heavenly Sovereign Kamu-
yamato-ihare-biko were one hundred and thirty-seven.' His
august mausoleum is on the top of the Kashi Spur on the
northern side of Mount Unebi.2
[SECT. LV.-EMPEROR SUI-ZIE.]
His Augustness Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi dwelt at the palace
of Takawoka in Kadzuraki,' and ruled the Empire. This
18 Nagasa no kuni no miyatsuko. Nagasa is a district in that
portion of the old province of Kadzusa which was in very early
historical times cut off to form the little province of Aha. The
import of the name is not clear.
19 Ise no Funaki no atahe.
Funaki nothing is known.
written signify "boat-tree."
20 Ohari no Niha no omi. Wohari is one of the central provinces
of Japan. The name is of uncertain origin. Niha is the name of a
district, and is of uncertain origin.
21 Shimada no omi. Shimada is the name of a district in Wohari,
and signifies "island rice-fields."
1 The author's confused style must not here mislead the student.
It is after the decease of the Emperor Jim-mu (Kamu-yamato-ihare-
biko), who attains to the age of a hundred and thirty-seven, that the
Emperor Suwi-zei (Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi) begins to rule.
2 For Unebi see Sect. LI, Note 9. Kashi signifies "oak." The
word rendered "spur" is wo.
1 In the province of Yamato. Taka-woka signifies “high mound.”
Kadzura-ki means "pueraria castle," a name accounted for by a
legend in the "Chronicles," which relates how an earth-spider was
caught in this place by means of a net made of pueraria tendrils.
Kadzuraki was the name, not only of a town, but of a district.
For Ise see Sect. XLIX, Note 4. Of
The characters with which the name is
186 <<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL XXI.
Heavenly Sovereign wedded Kaha-mata-bime, ancestress of
the Departmental Lords of Shiki,³ and begot an august child:
His Augustness Shiki-tsu-hiko-tama-de-mi (one Deity). The
Heavenly Sovereign's august years were forty-five. His august
mausoleum is on the Mound of Tsukida.5
[SECT. LVI.-EMPEROR AN-NEI.]
His Augustness Shiki-tsu-hiko-tama-de-mi dwelt in the
palace of Ukiana at Kata-shiha,' and ruled the Empire. This
Heavenly Sovereign wedded Akuto-hime, daughter of the
Departmental Lord Haye, elder brother of Kaha-mata-bime,
and begot august children: His Augustness Toko-ne-tsu-hiko-
irone,+ next His Augustness Oho-yamato-hiko-suki-tomo,5 next
3
2 I.e., the Princess of Kahamata, a place in Kahachi. The name
signifies "river fork." For the omission in this and a few other
places of the words " daughter of," etc., which might be expected
instead of "ancestress," see Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXI, p. 4.
3 Shiki no agata-mushi. Shiki is in Yamato. The signification of
the name seems to be "stone castle."
2
4 Shiki-tsu-hiko signifies "Prince of Shiki.” Motowori believes
Tamade to be in like manner the name of a place, while he interprets
mi as the common abbreviation of the Honorific(?) mimi.
5 A place in Yamato. Motowori derives the name from tsuki
(modern toki), the "ibis," and t, "rice-field."
1 In Kahachi: uki-ana signifies floating hole.” Kata-shiha is
said to signify "hard rock
"hard rock" (kata-iha); but this seems doubtful, and
the reading given by the characters in the text is not Kata-shiha, but
Kata-shiho.
2 I.e., Princess of Akuto, or Akuta, for the latter form of the
name is more common. There exists a place thus called in Settsu.
The derivation of the word is obscure.
3 Agata-nushi Haye. The reading of this name is obscurè, and its
derivation uncertain.
<<
>>
4 Irone signifies "elder brother or "elder sister." The rest of
the compound is obscure.
5 The first three elements of the compound signify "Great
Yamato Prince." The last two are obscure, but Motowori identifies
suki with shiki (see Note 3 to preceding Sect.).
VOL. XXI.]
187
VOL. II. SECT. LVI.
His Augustness Shiki-tsu-hiko.6
Of the august children
of this Heavenly Sovereign,-three Deities,-His Augustness
Oho-yamato-hiko-suki-tomo [was he who afterwards] ruled the
Empire. There were two Kings,' children of the next [brother],
His Augustness Shiki-tsu-hiko. One child (was the ancestor of
the Territorial Lords of Suchi in Iga,9 of the Territorial Lords of
Nabari,10 and of the Territorial Lords of Minu); one child,¹2 His
Augustness Wa-chi-tsumi,13 dwelt in the palace of Miwi in
Ahaji.¹4 So this King had two daughters: the name of the
14
6 I.e., "Prince of Shiki " so called, it is supposed, with reference
to the place of residence of his grandfather.
7 The character thus translated is E, of which " King" is the
original and proper signification. To judge by some other passages
in the ancient histories, it had not yet in the 8th century altogether
paled to the lesser meaning of "prince," which has belonged to it in
later times when denoting Japanese personages. It is still, as far as
possible, used to denote the rulers of all countries excepting Japan,
the zealous admirers of the native literature and institutions even
designating by it the Emperor of China, who, one would have thought,
had a special right to the more Honorific title of Emperor, which his
own subjects were the first to invent. On the whole, therefore,
"King" seems to be the most appropriate rendering. The characters
are, by analogy, rendered “Queen.”
8 The text has "descendant;" but it must here be corrupt or at
least faulty, as may be seen by the omission of the proper name.
9 Iga no Suchi no inaki. The etymology of Iga and that of Suchi
are alike obscure. See however Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXI,
p. 13, for the traditional derivation of the former. It is the name of
a small province, which in very ancient times formed part of the
province of Ise.
10 Nabari no inaki. Nabari is in Iga. The name signifies
"hiding."
11 Minu no inaki. Minu, not to be confounded with the province
of the same name, is a place in Iga. The name probably signifies
"three moors."
12 I.e., the other child.
13 Motowori reads Chichitsumi. In any case, the name remains
obscure.
14 For Ahaji see Sect. VI, Note 3. Mi-wi signifies "august well,"
188
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXI.
elder was Hahe-irone,15 and another name for her was Her
Augustness Princess Oho-yamato-kuni-are;16 the name of the
younger was Hahe-irodo.17 The Heavenly Sovereign's august
years were forty-nine. Augustum mausoleum est in privatis
partibus* Montis Unebi.18
His Augustness Oho-yamato-hiko-suki-tomo dwelt in the
palace of Sakahiwo at Karu,' and ruled the Empire. This
Heavenly Sovereign wedded her Augustness Princess Futo-ma-
waka,2 another name for whom was Her Augustness Princess
Ihi-bi, ancestress of the Departmental Lords of Shiki, and
begot august children: His Augustness Mi-ma-tsu-hiko-kawe-
4
3
[SECT. LVII.-EMPEROR I-TOKU.]
and the name is traced to the custom of bringing water from the
Island of Ahaji for use in the Imperial Palace, as mentioned in Sect.
CXXIX of the present work, and elsewhere in the early literature.
15 Irone means "elder sister." Hahe is of uncertain import, it
being written with completely different characters in the two histories.
16 Oho-yamato-kuni-are-hime-no-mikoto. Oho-yamato - kuni signifies
"the land of Great Yamato," and hime signifies princess' or
"maiden." Motowori suggests that are, which is an obscure word,
may signify “pure."
"C
17 Irodo signifies "younger sister." For hahe conf. Note 15.
18 Scil. in interiori parte montis, e. g. in spelunca. Motowori
explains the use of the term by reference to such words as foot,
where the name of a portion of the human body is applied to a
mountain. In Japanese there are others besides ashi ("foot"), such
as itadaki, hara, and koshi.
*
Vagina, womb, English good enough.-W.G.A.
1 Karu, which still remains as a village in the province of Yamato,
was famous down to the early historical days of Japan, being often
mentioned by the poets. The derivation of the name is quite uncer-
tain. Sakahi-wo probably signifies "boundary mound."
2 Futo-ma-waka-hime-no-mikoto.
The compound signifies "vast,
The name seems to signify "rice-sun-
true, and young princess."
3 Thi-bi-hime-no-mikoto.
princess."
VOL. XXI.]
VOL. II. SECT. LVIII.
189
shine,5 next His Augustness Tagishi-hiko (two Deities). So His
Augustness Mi-ma-tsu-hiko-kawe-shine [was he who afterwards]
ruled the Empire. The next His Augustness Tagishi-hiko
(was the ancestor of the Lords of Chinu,? of the Lords of Take in
Tajima, and of the Territorial Lords of Ashiwi).9
୫
The Heavenly
Sovereign's august years were forty-five. His august mauso-
leum is above the Vale of Manago by Mount Unebi.10
[SECT, LVIII.—EMPEROR KŌ-SHō.]
His Augustness Mi-ma-tsu-hiko-kawe-shine dwelt at the
palace of Waki-no-kami in Kadzuraki,' and ruled the Empire.
This Heavenly Sovereign wedded Her Augustness Princess
Yoso-taho, younger sister of Oki-tsu-yoso, ancestor of the
Chiefs of Wohari,+ and begot august children: His Augustness
2
4 See Sect. LV, Note 3.
5 The import of this name is obscure.
6 I.e., perhaps "rudder prince."
7 Chinu no wake. For Chinu see Sect. XLIV, Notes 35 and 36.
3
8 Tajima no Take no wake. Motowori tells us that no mention of
any place called Take in the province of Tajima is to be found in
any other book.
"C
9 Ashiwi no inaki. The same remark applies to this name as to
the last. The two gentile names here mentioned are equally
unknown except from this passage.
>>
10 Unebi-yama no Manago-dani. It is in Yamato, and is now called
Masago. The name signifies "a sandy place, or desert."
1 In Yamato. The name of Waki-no-kami is of uncertain deri-
vation. In the "Chronicles the Emperor Kō-shō is said to have
"dwelt at the palace of Ikegokoro at Waki-no-kami." For Kadzuraki
see Sect. LV, Note 1.
2 Yoso-tahc-bime-no-mikoto.
""
Here witten phonetically, this name
appears in the “Chronicles " written with characters according to
which the signification of "perfectly ornamented princess" should be
attributed to it.
3 The signification of this name is obscure, but it seems to be
connected in some way with that of the other sister.
4 Wohari no murazhi.
190
"
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXI.
Ame-oshi-tarashi-hiko,5 and next His Augustness Oho-yamato-
tarashi-hiko-kuni-oshi-bitos (two Deities).
Now the younger
brother, His Augustness Tarashi-hiko-kuni-oshi-bito [was he
who afterwards] ruled the Empire. The elder brother His
Augustness Ame-oshi-tarashi-hiko (was the ancestor of the Gran-
dees of Kasuga,' the Grandees of Ohoyake, the Grandees of Ahata,9
the Grandees of Wonu,10 the Grandees of Kaki-no-moto,¹¹ the Gran-
dees of Ichihiwi,12 the Grandees of Ohosaka,13 the Grandees of Ana,¹
14
the Grandees of Taki,15 the Grandees of Haguri,16 the Grandees of
8
5 I.e., "heavenly great perfect prince."
6 I.e., "great Yamato perfect prince, country great man. This
name appears in an abbreviated form in the next sentence.
7 Kasuga no omi.
Kasuga is a celebrated place in the province
of Yamato. The name is of uncertain origin, though the "Catalogue
of Family Names" gives a story referring it to Kasu-gaki (), i.e.,
"lees fence." The curious combination of characters with which
Kasuga is written,-,-may be traced to the Pillow-Word haru-
hi no (# ɑ Z) which was not unnaturally prefixed to a name which
so much resembled the Verb kasumu, "to be misty."
8 Ohoyake no omi. Ohoyake is a place in Yamato.
signifies "great granary."
9 Ahata no omi. Ahata is a place in Yamashiro.
signifies "millet-field."
10 Wonu no omi. Wonu is a place in Afumi. The name signifies
"little moor. 33
11 Kakinomoto-no-omi.
،،
Kaki-no-moto signifies "at the bottom of
the persimmon-tree," and the name is said by the compiler of the
Catalogue of Family Names" to have been granted to this family
in allusion to a persimmon-tree which grew near their gate. This
name was rendered illustrious in the eighth century by the poet
Kakinomoto Hitomaro (see the present writer's "Classical Poetry of
the Japanese," p. 217 et seq.).
12 Ichihiwi no omi. Ichihiwi is in Yamato. The name may signify
"oak-well."
13 Ohosaka no omi. Ohosaka is a place in Bingo. The name
signifies "great hill, or pass."
14 Ana no omi. Ana is a department in Bingo. The name signifies
"hole" or "cave."
15 Taki no omi. Taki is a district in Tamba. The name, which
The name
The name
20
VOL. XXI.]
VOL. II. SECT. LIX.
191
Chita, the Grandees of Muza,18 the Grandees of Tsunuyama,19 the
Dukes of Ihitaka in Ise,20 the Dukes of Ichishi,2¹ and the Rulers of
the Land of Chika-tsu-Afumi).22
The Heavenly Sovereign's august years were ninety-three.
His august mausoleum is on Mount Hakata23 at Waki-no-kami.
[SECT. LIX.-EMPEROR KŌ-AN.]
His Augustness
Oho-yamato-tarashi-hiko-kuni-oshi-bito
dwelt in the palace of Akidzushima at Muro' in Kadzuraki,
and ruled the Empire. This Heavenly Sovereign wedded his
niece Her Augustness Princess Oshika,2 and begot august
children: His Augustness Oho-kibi-no-moro-susumi,³ next His
is a common one in Japan, means "waterfall
16 Haguri no omi. Haguri is a district in Wohari. The signifi-
cation of the name is obscure.
17 Chita no omi. Chita is a district in Wohari. The signification
of the name is obscure.
18 Muza no omi. Muza is a district in Kadzusa. The name seems
to be a corruption of the Chinese words, "warlike archer."
19 Tsunuyama no omi. The family, the place, and the signification
of the name are alike obscure.
20 Ise no Ihitaka no kimi. Ihitaka is the name of a district, and
is traced to the signification of "abundant rice."
21 Ichishi no kimi. Ichishi is a district in Ise.
The signification
""
of the name is obscure.
22 Chika - tsu - Afumi no kuni-no-miyatsuko.
see Sect, XXIX, Note 20.
Aki-dzu-shima,
23 In Yamato. The signification of the name is obscure.
1 In Yamato. Muro signifies "cave" or "pit."
"the Island of the Dragon-Fly," is frequently used as an alternative
name of Japan (see Sect. V, Note 26). See also the Emperor Yu-
riyaku's song given in Sect. CLVI.
2 Oshika-hime-no-mikoto. The name Oshika, which is obscure,
appears in the "Chronicles under the form of Oshi, which has
generally been interpreted by Motowori (whom the translator follows)
as a corruption of ohoshi, "great." This version of the name makes
it harmonize with that of the Princess's father.
3 See Sect. LX, Note 11.
""
For Chika-tsu-Afumi
192 ((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RÉCORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXI.
So
Augustness Oho-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-futo-ni (two Deities).
His Augustness Oho-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-futo-ni [was he who
afterwards] ruled the Empire. The Heavenly Sovereign's
august years were one hundred and twenty-three. His august
mausoleum is on the Mound of Tamade.5
[SECT. LX.-EMPEROR KŌ-REI.]
His Augustness Oho-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-futo-ni dwelt at
the palace of Ihodo at Kuruda,' and ruled the Empire. This
Heavenly Sovereign wedded Her Augustness Princess Kuhashi,2
daughter of Ohome,3 ancestor of the Departmental Lords of
Tohochi, and begot an august child: His Augustness Oho-
yamato-ne-ko-hiko-kuni-kuru (one Deity), Again he wedded
Princess Chiji-haya-ma-waka of Kasuga, and begot an august
child: Her Augustness Princess Chiji-haya' (one Deity). Again
wedding Her Augustness Princess Oho-yamato-kuni-are, he
begot august children: Her Augustness Yamato-to-mo-so-
5
6
➡
4 This name seems to signify "Great Yamato's Lord Prince, the
Vast Jewel."
5 Tamade no woka. In Yamato. For this name see Motowori's
Commentary, Vol. XXI, pp. 37–38.
1 In Yamato. Iho-do signifies "hut door." Kuru-da (Kuro-da
would be the more natural reading) signifies "black rice-field."
2 Kuhashi-hime-no-mikoto. The name signifies "beautiful princess."
3 This seems to have been originally not a personal name, but
the name of a place in Wohari.
4 Tohochi no agata-nushi. Tohochi is a district in Yamato. The
name seems to signify "ten marts."
5 This name signifies "great Yamato's lord prince who rules the
land."
6 Kasuga-no-chiji-haya-ma-waka-hime. This name probably signifies
"the thousand-fold brilliant truly young princess of Kasuga." For
Kasuga see Sect. LVIII, Note 7.
7 Chiji-haya-hime-no-mikoto, i.e., probably "thousand-fold brilliant
princess."
8 Oho-yamato--kuni-are-hime-no-mikoto. See Sect. LVI, Note 16.
VOL. XXI.]
VOL. II. SECT. LX.
193
bime; next His Augustness Hiko-sashi-kata-wake;10 next His
Augustness Hiko-isa-seri-biko," another name for whom is His
Augustness Oho-kibi-tsu-hiko; next Yamato-to-bi-haya-waka-
ya-hime¹² (four Deities). Again he wedded Hahe-irodo,¹³ younger
sister of Her Augustness Princess Are, and begot august
children: His Augustness Hiko-same-ma,14 next His August-
ness Waka-hiko-take-kibi-tsu-hiko15 (two Deities).
The august
children of this Heavenly Sovereign [numbered] in all eleven
Deities (five kings and three queens) So His Augustness Oho-
yamato-ne-ko-hiko-kuni-kuru [was he who afterwards] ruled
the Empire. The two Deities His Augustness Oho-kibi-tsu-
hiko and His Augustness Waka-take-kibi-tsu-hiko together set
sacred jars¹6 at the front of the River Hi¹8 in Harima;19 and
16
9 Motowori assigns to this name the signification of 'Yamato's
hundred thousand-fold illustrious princess," and has a very long
note on the subject in Vol. XXI, p. 42, et. seq.
10 The signification of this name is not clear.
11 I.e., "prince valorously advancing prince." The alternative
name signifies "Great Prince of Kibi," and both refer to his conquest.
of the province of Kibi as related a little further on in this Section.
Motowori gives good reasons for supposing that Oho-kibi-no-moro-
susumi, i.e., "He Who Completely Advances in Great Kibi," is but
another form of the same name, erroneously inserted in the account
of the preceding reign (see Sect. LIX, Note 3).
12 I.e., perhaps "Yamato's hundred-fold wondrous brilliant young
ornamental princess." The name resembles that of the elder sister.
13 For this and the next following names see Sect. LVI, Notes 17
and 16 respectively.
14 This name is obscure, and differs from that given in the
parallel passage of the "Chronicles," where we read Sashima.
latter sounds more authentic.
The
15 I.e., "the young prince the brave prince of Kibi." This name
refers to his conquest of Kibi, as related a few lines further on.
16 I.e., earthenware jars of a moderate size, probably intended to
hold the rice-liquor offered to the gods. Being easily broken, they
were planted in the ground up to a certain height.*
The ancient jars had in very many cases rounded bottoms, so
194
"C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXI.
making Harima the mouth of the road,20 subdued and pacified
the Land of Kibi. So His Augustness Oho-kibi-tsu-hiko (was
the ancestor of the Grandees of Kamu-tsu-michi in Kibi).21 The
next, His Augustness Waka-hiko-take-kibi-tsu-hiko (was the
ancestor of the Grandees of Shimo-tsu-michi in Kibi,22 and of the
that to make them stand upright it would be necessary to plant them
in the ground.-W.G.A.
17 The probable meaning of this peculiar expression is "a bend
in the river."
18 Written with the character, K, "ice," which may however be
only phonetic. No river of this name is anywhere else mentioned
as flowing through the province of Harima, and one is tempted to
suppose that there is some confusion with the celebrated river Hi,
which figures so frequently in the Idzumo cycle of legends.
19 One of the central provinces of Japan, on the northern shores
of the Inland Sea. Some derive the name from hagi-hara, “lespedeza
moor," while others connect it with hari, a "needle." Neither ety-
mology has much to recommend it.
20 I.e., "their point of departure." It must also be remembered
that "road" came to have the sense of "circuit or "province," so
that we might translate this phrase by "the commencement of the
circuit." Conf. such denominations as Koshi no michi no kuchi, Koshi
no michi no naka, and Koshi no michi no shiri for what are in modern
parlance the provinces of Echizen, Etchiù and Echigo. The region
nearest to the capital was called the mouth, while equally graphic
designations were bestowed on the more remote districts. It was, as
we learn by comparison with a passage in the history of the reign of
the Emperor Su-jin (see Sect. LXVI, Note 13), customary thus to
plant earthenware jars in the earth at the point whence an army
started on an expedition, this being considered a means of invoking
upon it the blessing of the gods. Not only so, but down to the
Middle Ages travellers in general were in the habit of worshipping at
the shrine of the god of roads. For "road" in the sense of "circuit,”
"province," or administrative division" see Sect. LXVI, Note 2.
21 Kibi no kamu-tsu-michi no omi. Kamu-tsu-michi, i.e., “the Upper
Road
or Circuit," was the ancient name of the province of Bizen
(or of a portion of it), which formerly was a part of the land of Kibi.
(C
"C
22 Kibi no shimo-tsu-michi no omi. Shimo-tsu-michi means "the
lower road," and was the ancient name of a portion of the province
"
>>
VOL. XXII.]
195
VOL. II. SECT. LXI.
Grandees of Kasa).23 The next His Augustness Hiko-same-ma
(was the ancestor of the Grandees of Uzhika in Harima).24 The
next, His Augustness Hiko-sashi-kata-wake (was the ancestor of
the Grandees of Tonami in Koshi,25 of the Grandees of Kunisaki in
the land of Toyo,26 of the Dukes of Ihobara,27 and of the Maritime
Suzerains of Tsunuga),28 The Heavenly Sovereign's august years
were one hundred and six. His august mausoleum is at
Umasaka at Katawoka,29
[SECT. LXI. -EMPEROR KŌ-GEN.]
His Augustness Oho-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-kuni-kuru dwelt
in the palace of Sakahi-bara at Karu,' and ruled the Empire.
<<
((
of Bitchiū, which formerly was a part of the land of Kibi.
23 Kasa no omi, i.e., "Grandees of the Hat," a gentile name
which is referred by the compiler of the Catalogue of Family
Names" to an incident in the reign of the Emperor O-jin, which he
however by no means clearly relates (see Motowori's Commentary,
Vol. XXI, pp. 57–58).
"C
""
24 Harima no Uzhika no omi. Uzhika is the name of a place. It
is written with characters signifying cow and deer," but the true
derivation is quite uncertain.
25 Koshi no Tonami no omi. Tonami is a district in Etchiū. The
signification of the name is uncertain.
26 Toyo-kuni no Kunisaki no omi. Kunisaki is a district in Bungo.
The name seems to signify "land's end."
The sig-
27 Ihobara no kimi. Ihobara is a district in Suruga.
nification of the name is obscure.
28 Tsunuga no ama no atahe. For Tsunuga see Sect. CI, Notes 3
and 12. Perhaps the name should rather be rendered "the Suzerains
of Ama in Tsunuga," as Ama may, after all, as Motowori suggests,
be here the name of a place.
29 In the province ot Yamato. Kata-woka signifies “side-mound"
or "incomplete mound.” Uma-saka signifies "horse-hill" or "horse-
pass." Umasaka should perhaps be understood as the particular
designation of a portion of the ascent of Katawoka, which is men-
tioned in the "Chronicles " as the name of a mountain.
i In Yamato. For Kuru see Sect. LVII, Note 1. Sakahi-bara
signifies "boundary moor."
196 (C
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXII.
4
8
This Heavenly Sovereign wedded Her Augustness Utsu-shiko-
me,2 younger sister of His Augustness Utsu-shiko-wo,3 ancestor
of the Grandees of Hodzumi, and begot august children: His
Augustness Oho-biko,5 next His Augustness Sukuna-biko-take-
wi-gokoro; next His Augustness Waka-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-oho-
bibi? (three Deities). Again, wedding Her Augustness I-gaka-
shiko-me, daughter of His Augustness Utsu-shiko-wo, he begot
an august child: His Augustness Hiko-futsu-oshi-no-makoto.9
Again, wedding Princess Haniyasu,10 daughter of Awotama¹¹ of
Kafuchi, he begot an august child: His Augustness Take-hani-
yasu-biko¹² (one Deity). The august children of this Heavenly
Sovereign [numbered in all five Deities]. So His Augustness
Waka-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-oho-bibi [was he who afterwards]
ruled the Empire. The children of his elder brother, His
Augustness Oho-biko, were His Augustness Take-nuna-kaha-
wake¹³ (ancestor of the Grandees of Abe);14 next His Augustness
2 I.e., perhaps, "the beautiful but alarming female."
3 I.e., perhaps, "the beautiful but alarming male."
4 Hodzumi no omi. There are several places called Hodzumi in
various provinces. The name appears to signify "piling up rice-ears.”
5 I.e., "great prince."
6 I.e., "little prince-fierce-boar-heart," the boar being known for
its savage desposition.
7 Excluding the last member of the compound, this name signifies
"young-Yamato-lord-prince-great." Bibi is identified by Motowori
with the word mimi, which so often recurs in proper names (see Sect.
XIII, Note 18).
8 Motowori explains this name in the sense of "brilliant-alarming-
female," but some doubt must attach to it.
9 I.e., perhaps, "prince vast-great-truth."
10 Hani-yasu-bime, This name has already been met with in Sect.
VII, Note 3. Motowori however supposes that in this place Haniyasu
should be considered to be the name of a place in Yamato.
11 I.e., a man called " green jewel” who lived in the province of
Kafuchi.
12 Take signifies "brave." For the rest of the name see Note 10.
13 Take signifies "brave." Wake is either "young" or "lord."
For Nuna-kaha see Sect. LI, Note 31.
#
VOL. XXII.]
"
VOL. II. SECT. LXI.
197
Hiko-inakoshi-wake.15
(This was the ancestor of the Butler Gran-
dees.)16 His Augustness Hiko-futsu-oshi-no-makoto wedded
Princess Takachina of Kadzuraki," younger sister of Oho-
nabi,18 ancestor of the Chiefs of Wohari," and begot a child:
the Noble Umashi Uchi.20 (This was the ancestor of the Grandees
of Uchi in Yamashiro.)21 Again, wedding Princess Yama-shita-
kage,22 younger sister of Udzu-hiko,23 ancestor of the Rulers
of the Lord of Ki, he begot a child: the Noble Take-Uchi.25
24
14 Abe no om'. There are several places called Abe, and it is
doubtful to which of them the text here refers.
15 The signification of inakoshi seems to be "rice-chariot."
is " prince," and wake either "young" or "lord."
در
Hiko
>>
16 Kashihade no omi. This name is traditionally referred to an
incident in the reign of the Emperor Kei-kō, who is said to have
bestowed it on one of his attendants who served up to him à par-
ticularly savoury dish of shell-fish. "Butlers (perhaps the word
might also be rendered "cooks ") have been mentioned towards the
end of Sect. XXXII, and again in the legend of Jim-mu's slaughter
of the "earth-spiders related in Sect. XLVIII.
17 Kadzuraki-no-takachina-bime-no-mikoto.
The signification of
Takachina is obscure.
18 By apheresis for Oho-inabi, the form of the name given in the
"Chronicles of Old Matters of Former Ages," itself perhaps standing
by apocope for Oho-ina-biko, which would signify “great rice-prince."
19 Wohari no murazhi.
20 Umashi Uchi no sukune.
Umashi signifies "sweet," and Uch' is
the name of a place in Yamashiro.
21 Yamashiro no Uchi no omi.
22 This name may be rendered literally "the shade beneath the
mountains"; but the signification is the glow from the autumn
leaves on the mountain-side.”
23 I.e., probably "wonderful (or precious) prince."
24 Ki no kuni no miyatsuko no oyɑ.
25 Take-Uchi no sukune. Take signifies "brave," and Uchi is the
name of a district in Yamato. The common, but erroneous, reading
of this name is Take no Uchi no sukune. This celebrated personage,
who may be styled the Methuselah of Japan, is said to have lived
during the reigns of five Emperors, who themselves averaged over a
198
(6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXII.
The children of this Noble Take-Uchi [numbered] in all nine
(seven males and two females),-[namely] the Noble of Hata-no-
Yashiro,26 [who] (was the ancestor of the Grandees of Hata," of the
Grandees of Hayashi,28 of the Grandees of Hami,29 of the Grandees of
Hoshikaha,30 of the Grandees of Afumi,³¹ and of the Dukes of the
Hatsuse Tribe); next the Noble Kose-no-Wo-Kara [who] (was
the ancestor of the Grandees of Kose,34 of the Grandees of the Sazaki
Tribe,35 and of the Grandees of the Karu Tribe);36 next the Noble
Soga no Ishikaha" [who] (was the ancestor of the Grandees of
Soga,38 of the Grandees of Kahanobe³⁹ of the Grandees of Tanaka,“
31
40
hundred years of life each. His own age is variously given as 255,
260, etc., up to 360 years.
26 Hata no Yashiro no sukune. Hata and Yashiro are supposed
by Motowori to be the names of places in Yamato. Yashiro signifies
"shrine." Hata is of uncertain derivation.
27 Hata no omi.
Hayashi is the name of a place in Kahachi,
28 Hayashi no omi.
and signifies "forest."
29 Hami no omi. There is a Hami in Afumi and another in
Tamba. The signification of the name is obscure.
30 Hoshikaha no omi. Hoshikaha is a place in Yamato. The name
signifies star river."
<<
31 Afumi no om. For Afumi see Sect. XXIX, Note 20.
32 Hatsuse-be no Kimi. For Hatsuse see Sect. CXLIII, Note 8.
33 Kose no Wo-kara no sukune. Kose is the name of a place in
Yamato. The meaning of Wo-kara is obscure.
34 Kose no omi.
35 Sazakibe no omi. See Sect. LIII, Note 10.
36 Kurube no omi.
37 Soga no Ishikaha no sukune. Soga is a place in Yamato, and
Ishikaha a district in Kahachi. In cases like this it must generally
be presumed that the family had two seats, or was divided into two
branches residing in different places. Sometimes, however, the
original seat and that to which the family afterwards removed are
meant to be indicated.
38 Soga no omi. The signification of Soga is obscure.
39 Kahanobe no omi. Kahanobe is the name of a district in Settsu,
and signifies "river-bank."
40 Tanaka no omi. Tanaka is the name of a place in Yamato,
VOL. XXII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXI.
199
of the Grandees of Takamuko,4¹ of the Grandees of Woharida,42 of the
Grandees of Sakurawi,43 and of the Grandees of Kishida); next the
Noble Heguri-no-Tsuku,45 [who] (was the ancestor of the Grandees
of Heguri,4% of the Grandees of Sawara,47 and of the Uma-mi-kuhi
Chiefs);48 next the Noble Ki-no-Tsunu49 [who] (was the ancestor
of the Grandees of Ki,EO of the Grandees of Tsunu,51 and of the
Grandees of Sakamoto); next Princess Mato of Kume,53
53 next
(C
and signifies
among the rice-fields.”
41 Takamuko no omi. Takamuko seems to be the name of a place
in Echizen. Its signification is uncertain.
42 Woharida no omi. Woharida is a place in Yamato. The name
seems to mean "little ploughed field."
43 Sakurauni no omi. Sakurawi is the name of a place in Kahachi,
and signifies "cherry-tree well."
44 Kishida no omi. Kishida is a place in Yamato. The signification
of the name is not clear.
45 Heguri no Tsuku no sukune. Heguri is the name of a district
in Yamato, and is of uncertain signification. Tsuku (modern dzuku),
"owl," is a name which is referred to a tradition that will be found
in Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXII, p. 29.
46 Heguri no omi.
47 Sawara no om'. Sawara was perhaps a district in Chikuzen.
The signification of the name is obscure.
48 Uma-mi-kuhi no murazhi. The literal significance of the charac-
ters with which Uma-mi-kuhi is written is "horse august post." But
whether this name had any relation to horses, or whether it should
simply be regarded as the name of a place is quite uncertain.
49 Ki no Tsunu no sukune. Ki is the name of a province, and
Tsunu that of a district in another province, the province of Suhau
(Suwō). Conf. Note 37.
50 Ki no omi.
51 Tsunu no omi.
52 Sakamoto no omi. Sakamoto is the name of a place in Idzumi,
and signifies "base of the hill."
53 Kume no Ma-ito-hime. Kume may be, as Motowori says, the
name of a place. But see Sect. XXXIV, Note 7. In any case the
place, if it existed, was probably called after some person of the name
of Kume. The signification of Ma-ito is obscure.
200
CC
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXII.
58
Princess Nu-no-iro; next Kadzuraki-no-Nagaye-no-sotsu-biko55
[who] (was the ancestor of the Grandees of Tamade,56 of the Gran-
dees of Ikuha,57 of the Grandees of Ikuye and of the Grandees of
Agina); moreover [there was] the Noble Waku-go (the ancestor
of the Grandees of Yenuma).61 This Heavenly Sovereign's august
years were fifty-seven. His august mausoleum is on the
mound in the middle of the Pool of Tsurugi.62
<<
-
59 Agina no omi.
A
preceding name.
· 54 Nu-no-iro-hime.
The meaning of this name is obscure.
55 Kadzuraki is the already frequently mentioned name of a district
in Yamato, and Nagaye is likewise the name of a place,-whether in
Yamato or in Kahachi is not certain. It signifies "long inlet."
Motowori thinks that the syllable in this place is the same as the
so of kuma-so, and signifies "valiant" or fierce."
_
56 Tamade no omi. There is a Tamade in Yamato and another in
in Kahachi. The signification of the name is uncertain.
57 Ikuha no omi. The "Chronicles of Japan" tell us that the
original form of this name Ikuha was uki-ha, i.e., "floating leaf," and
give a story to account for it. See Motowori's Commentary, Vol.
XXII, pp. 36–37, where the reason traditionally given to explain the
fact of the name Ikuha being written with the character is also
mentioned at length.
58 Ikuye no omi. Ikuye must have been the name of a place; but
nothing is known of it.
The same observation applies to this as to the
60 Waku-go no sukune.
Waku-go signifies "young child" or
youth," an Honorific designation.
61 Yenuma no omi. Yenuma is the name of a district in Kaga,
and signifies inlet-lagoon."
1.
62 In Yamato. This pool or lake is often mentioned in the poems
of the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves" and was celebrated for its
lotus-flowers. We hear of it in the "Chronicles of Japan," as having
been dug in the reign of the Emperor O-Jin, but it was probably,
like many others, a natural pool or marsh, which was afterwards
improved. The name signifies “sabre.”
Most of the old misasagi are surrounded by an artificial lake.—
W.G.A.
54
C.
G
VOL. XXII.]
201
VOL. II. SECT. LXII.
[SECT. LXII.-EMPEROR KAI-KUWA.]
2
4
His Augustness Waka-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-oho-bibi dwelt in
the palace of Izak aha at Kasuga,' and ruled the Empire. This
Heavenly Sovereign wedded the Princess of Takanu, daughter
of Yugori the Great Departmental Lord of Taniha, and begot
an august child: His Augustness Hiko-yumusumi,5 (one Deity).
Again he wedded his step-mother, Her Augustness I-gaka-
shiko-me, and begot august children: His Augustness Mima-
ki-iri-biko-iniwe,' next Her Augustness Mima-tsu-hime (two
Deities). Again he wedded Her Augustness Oke-tsu-hime,
younger sister of His Augustness Hiko-kuni-oketsu,10 ancestor
of the Grandees of Wani," and begot an august child: King
6
9
1 For Kasuga see Sect. LVIII, Note 7. Izakaha is a place in
Yamato. The signification of the name is uncertain.
2 Takanu-hime. Takanu is the name of a district in Tango, and
signifies "bamboo moor."
3 The signification of this name is quite obscure.
4 Taniha no oho-agata-nushi. Taniha (modern Tamba) is the name
of a province (formerly including the province of Tango) in Central
Japan. It is supposed to mean "the place of rice-fields," the rice
offered at the shrine of the Sun-Goddess in Ise being brought thence.
5 Hiko signifies "prince." The other syllables of the name are
obscure.
6 See Sect, LXI, Note 8.
7 Biko (hiko) signifies "prince." The other elements of this
compound are obscure.
8 One is tempted to render this name by Princess of Mima. But
there is no authority for regarding Mima either in this or in the
preceding personal name as originally the name of a place.
9 Motowori has no explanation to offer of the syllables Oke-tsu.
Hime means "princess."
10 Hiko means "prince
prince" and kuni means “ country."
11 Wani no omi. Wani is a place in Yamato, and there is a pass
or hill of that name (Wani-zaka). The only signification belonging to
the word wani is "crocodile."
202
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
[VOL. XXII.
Hiko-imasu¹2 (one Deity). Again, wedding Princess Washi,12
daughter of the Noble Kadzuraki-no-tarumi,14 he begot an
august child: King Take-tayo-hadzura-wake¹5 (one Deity). The
august children of this Heavenly Sovereign [numbered] in all
five Deities (four Kings and one Queen). So His Augustness
Mi-maki-iri-biko-iniwe [was he who afterwards] ruled the
Empire. The children of his elder brother, King Hiko-yumu-
sumi were: King Cho-tsutsuki-tari-ne,16 next King Sanugi-
tari-ne¹7 (two Kings). There were five Deities daughters of
these two Kings. Next King Hiko-imasu wedded the Princess
of Yena in Yamashiro,18 another name for whom was Kari-
bata-tobe,19 and begot children: King Oho-mata,20 next King
Wo-mata,21 next King Noble [of?] Shibumi22 (three Deities).
12 Hiko-imasu no miko. Signification obscure.
13 Or "the Princess of Washi
Japanese Washi-hime.
14 Kadzuraki is the name of a district in Yamato, and Motowori
believes Tarumi to be the name of a place in Settsu.*
There is a Tarumi near Akashi.-W.G.A.
""
or "the Eagle Princess." In
15 Take-toyo-hadzura-wake no miko. The first two elements of the
compound signify respectively "brave" and "luxuriant," while the
last probably means "lord." The signification of hadzura is obscure.
16 Oho-tsutsuki-tari-ne no miko. Tsutsuki being the name of a
district in Yamashiro, the whole compound signifies "prince great
sufficing lord of Tsutsuki" or "prince sufficing lord of great Tsutsuki."
17 Sanugi-tari-ne no miko, i.e., “prince sufficing lord of Sanugi,"
(Sanuki,—see Sect. V, Note 6).
18 Yamashiro no Yena tsu Hime. Yamashiro is the name of a
province, and Yena that of a place in Settsu. The signification of
the latter name is obscure.
19 Motowori believes Karibata to be the name of a place, and tobe
(to-me) to signify "old woman,"
"old woman," as in the name I-shi-ko-ri-do-me,
whieh latter is however extremely obscure (see Sect. XVI, Note 12).
The signification of this name and of the
20 Oho-mata no miko.
parallel name of the younger brother is obscure.
21 Wo-mata no miko.
22 Shibumi no Sukune no miko.
a place, there being a Shibumi in Ise.
Shibumi is probably the name of
VOL. XXII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXII.
203
Again, wedding Saho-no-oho-kurami-tome,29 daughter of Take-
kuni-katsu-tome, of Kasuga,24 he begot children: King Saho-
biko;25 next King Wo-zaho;26 next Her Augustness Saho-
bime,27 another name for whom is Sahaji-hime28 (Her Augustness
Saho-bime here mentioned was consort of the Heavenly Sovereign
Ikume);29 and King Muro-biko (four Deities). Again, wedding
Okinaga-no-midzu-yori-hime,³¹ daughter of the Heavenly Deity
Mikage,32 who is held in reverence by the deacons of Mikami
in Chika-tsu-Afumi,33 he begot children: King Tatasu-michi-
23 Saho is the name of a well-known place in Yamato, and Kurami
is supposed by Motowori to be the name of a place in Wakasa.
Both names are obscure. Oho means " "great," and tome, according to
Motowori, means "old woman or simply "female." Conf. Note 19.
>>
24 Kasuga no Take-kuni-katsu-tome. Motowori supposes this to be
the name, not of the father, but the mother of the princess just
mentioned. Take signifies "brave," and kuni “land.” The meaning
of katsu is obscure.
25 Soho-biko no miko, i.e., “prince of Saho."
25 Wo-zaho no miko, i.e., "little (q.d. 'younger') prince of Saho."
27 I.e., the princess of Saho.
28 It is uncertain whether we should understand this name to
signify "princess Sahaji" or "the princess of Sahaji," but the latter
seems the more probable.
29 I.e., the Emperor Sui-nin.
30 Muro-biko no miko. Muro-biko signifies "Prince of Muro,"
Muro being a place in Yamato. It signifies "dwelling" and specifi-
cally
"cave."
31 I.e., "flourishing and good princess cf Okinaga," the latter
being the name of a place in Afumi (Omi). Its signification is not
clear.
32 Ame no Mikage no kami. The signification of Mikage is obscure,
as is also the connection between this deity and the deacons of
Mikami.
33 The signification of the name Mikami is obscure. The word
rendered "deacon" is hafuri, the name of an inferior class of Shinto
priests. See for a discussion of the etymology of the word, etc., Mr.
Satow's remarks on p. 112 of Vol. VII, Pt. II, of these Transactions.
For Chika-tsu-Afumi see Sect. XXIX, Note 20.
204 "KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXII.
>
.34
40
no-ushi, Prince of Taniha ;3 next King Midzuho-no-ma-wa-
ka; .35
next King Kamu-oho-ne,36 another name for whom is
King Yatsuri-iri-biko;" next Midzuho-no-i-ho-yori-hime; next
Mimi-tsu-hime39 (five Deities). Again, wedding his mother's
younger sister
sister Her Augustness Woke-tsu-hime, he begot
children: King Ma-waka of Oho-tsutsuki in Yamashiro ;41
next King Hiko-osu;42 next King Iri-ne43 (three Deities). Alto-
gether the children of King Hiko-imasu [numbered] in all
eleven Kings. So the children of the elder brother King
Oho-mata were: King Ake-tatsu ;44 next King Unakami45 (two
Deities). This King Ake-tatsu (was the ancestor of the Dukes of
the Homuji Tribe in Ise46 and of the Rulers of Sana in Ise47). King
34 Taniha no hiko Tatasu-michi-no-ushi no miko. The signification
of Tatasu is obscure, but we may accept it as the personal name of
the worthy here mentioned. Michi-no-ushi means "master of the
road,” i.e., “lord of the province."
35 Midzuho no ma-waka no miko, i.e., "the True Young King of
Midzuho," Midzuho being the name of a place in Afumi. It probably
means "fresh young rice-ears.”
35 Kamu-oho-ne no miko, i.e., probably, "prince divine great lord."
37 Yatsuri-iri-biko no miko.. Yatsuri is the name of a village in
Yamato, and is of uncertain origin. The signification of iri is obscure.
<<
38 I-ho signifies "five hundred" and yori probably signifies "good."
The compound may therefore be taken to mean manifoldly excellent
princess of Midzuho."
39 I.e., probably "the Princess Miwi" (Miwi-dera in Afumi).
Mi-ui signifies "three wells."
40 This name is parallel to that which has been commented on in
Note 9 to this Section.
41 Yamashiro-no-oho-Tsutsuki no ma-waka no miko. All the elements
of this compound have already appeared in this Section.
42 Hiko-osu no miko. The signification of osu is obscure.
43 Iri-ne no miko.
44 Ake-tatsu no miko.
Signification obscure.
See Sect. LXXII, Note 20.
45 Unakami no miko. See Sect. LXXII, Note 19.
46 Ise no Homuji-be no kimi. See the mention of the establishment
of this Clan at the end of Sect. LXXII.
47 Ise no Sana no miyatsuko. The etymology of Sana is obscure.
VOL. XXII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXII.
205
Una-kami (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Himeda¹³). The next
King Wo-mata (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Magari in Ta-
gima¹). The next King Noble Shibumi (was the ancestor of the
Dukes of Sasa).50 The next King Saho-biko (was the ancestor of
the Chiefs of the Kusaka Tribe51 and of the Rulers of the Land of
Kahi).52 The next, King Wo-zaho (was the ancestor of the Lords
of Kadzunu53 and the Lords of Kanu in Chika-tsu-Afumi).54 The
next King Muro-biko (was the ancestor of the Loids of Mimi in
Wakasa).5 King Michi-no-ushi wedded the Lady Masu of
Kahakami in Taniha, and begot children: Her Augustness
Princess Hibasu; next Her Augustness Princess Matonu ;58
next Her Augustness Oho-hime ;59 next King Mi-kado-waketo
(four Deities). This King Mikado-wake (was the ancestor of the
55
E6
48 Himeda no kimi. Himeda is a placé in Afumi. The signification
of the name is obscure.
در
49 Tagima no Magari no kimi. Tagima is the name of a district
in Yamato, and is of uncertain origin. Magari is the name of a place,
and means "crook or "bend."
Sasa is the name of a place in Iga, and is of
50 Sasa no kimi.
uncertain signification.
51 Kusaka-be no murazhi.
52 Kahi no kuni no miyatsuko. For Kahi see Sect. LXXXVI,
Note 1,
53 Kadzunu no wake. Kadzunu is the name of a district in Yama-
shiro, and signifies "pueraria moor."
54 Chika-tsu-Afumi no Kanu no wake. Kanu is a village in Afumi.
The name is written with characters signifying "mosquito moor.”
55 Wakasa no Mimi no wake. Mimi is the name of a village, and is
of uncertain signification.
56 Taniha no Kahakami no Masu no iratsume. Masu is of uncertain
derivation. Kahakami is the name of a village, now comprised in the
province of Tango. It signifies "river-head."
57 Hibasu-hime. The signification of this name is obscure.
58 Matonu-hime. The signification of this name is obscure.
59 I.e.,
"the younger princess."
60 This name, which is written
E, is curious, and Moto-
wori has no suggestion to make touching its interpretation.
206
(6
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXII.
Lords of Ho in Mikaha).61 Prince Midzuho-no-ma-waka, younger
brother of this King Michi-no-ushi, (was the ancestor of the
Suzerains of Yasu in Chika-tsu-Afumi).€2 The next, King Kamu-
oho-be (was the ancestor of the [Rulers of] the Land of Minu,63 of
the Rulers of the land of Motosu,64 and of the Chiefs of the Nagahata
Tribe),65 The next, King Mawaka of Oho-tsutsuki in Yama-
shiro wedded Princess Ajisaha of Mone, daughter of his
younger brother* Iri-ne, and begot a child: King Kani-me-
ikadzuchi. This King wedded Princess Takaki, daughter of
the Grandee Tohotsu of Taniha;9 and begot a child: King
Noble Okinaga." This King wedded the Princess of Takanuka
in Kadzuraki," and begot children: Her Augustness Princess
Okinaga-tarashi;72 next Her Augustness Sora-tsu-hime ;73 next
66
€8
€7
61 Mikaha no Ho no wake. Ho is the name of a district, and is
of obscure derivation. Mikaha is the name of a maritime province.
It signifies "three rivers," with reference to two large rivers which
flow through it and to another which forms the boundary between it
and the province of Wohari.
62 Chika-tsu-Afumi no Yasu no atahe. Yasu is the name of a
district, and is of uncertain origin.
63 Minu no kuni no [miyatsuko]. The word miyatsuko, which is
not in the text, is supplied in Motowori's kana reading.
64 Motosu no kuni no miyatsuko. Motosu is the name of a district
in Mino, and seems to signify "original dwelling-place."
65 Nagahata-be no murazhi. Nagahata is the name of a place in
Hitachi, and seems to signify "long loom."
This name is particularly obscure, and
66 Mone no Ajisaha-bime.
Mone probably corrupt.
By the same mother.
67 Kani-me-ikadzuchi no miko. Motowori thinks that this name
signifies 'fierce like a crab's eye," with reference perhaps to some
personal peculiarity of the prince who bore it.
68 Takaki-hime. This name is obscure and perhaps corrupt.
69 Taniha no Tohotsu omi. This name is obscure.
"L
70 Okinaga no sukune no miko. For Okinaga see Note 31 to this
Section.
71 Kadzuraki no Takanuka-hime. Takanuka is the name of a place
in Yamato. It is written with characters signifying "high brow."
72 Okinaga-tarashi-hime. Okinaga is the name of a place (see Note
VOL. XXII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXII.
207
King Prince Okinaga.74 (Three Deities. This King was the ances-
tor of the Dukes of Homuji in Kibi,75 and of the Dukes of Aso in
Harima.) Again King Noble Okinaga wedded Princess Inayori
of Kahamata," and begot a child: King Oho-tamu-saka.78
(This was the ancestor of the Rulers of the land of Tajima.)79 The
above-mentioned Take-toyo-hadzura-wake (was the ancestor of
the Grandees of Chimori,80 of the Rulers of the Oshinumi Tribe,81 of
the Rulers of the Mina Tribe.82 of the Oshinumi Tribe in Inaba,83 of
31).
Tarashi is an Honorific designation, signifying literally
"suffici-
ent," i.e., perfect," and is supposed by Motowori to have been
bestowed after death on this princess, who was the celebrated con-
queror of Korea, and is better known to fame by her "canonical
name of Jingō Kōgō.
د.
(C
73 I.e., "the princess of the sky."
74 Okinaga-hiko no miko.
75 Kibi no Homuji no kimi.
the modern province of Bingo,
76 Harima nö Aso no kimi.
uncertain origin.
77 Kahamata no Ina-yori-bime. Kahamata (“river-fork ") is the
name of a place in Kahachi. Ina signifies "rice," and yori probably
signifies "good" in this and numerous other proper names.
78 Oho-tamu-saka no miko. This name is obscure. Motowori
thinks that Tamu-saka may be the name of a place, and signifying
"winding ascent."
79 Tajima no kuni no miyatsuko. For Tajima see Sect. LXXIV,
Note 1.
Homuji is the name of a district in
and may perhaps be of Chinese origin.
Aso is the name of a place, and is of
80 Chimori no omi. Chi-mori signifies "road-keeper," and perhaps
we should translate this " gentile name by "road-keeping grandees,"
and suppose that anciently they may have performed some function in
which the bestowal of it originated.
در
81 Oshinumi-be no miyatsuko. Oshinumi is the name of a district in
Yamato, and is of uncertain import.
82 Mina-be no miyatsuko. Perhaps we should rather translate thus,
"the Rulers of Minabe," for the name is altogether obscure.
83 Inaba no Oshinumi-be. Motowori supposes a branch of this
family, which was originally established in Yamato, to have removed
to the province of Inaba.
208
"(
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIII.
L
the Lords of Takanu in Taniha,84 and of the Abiko of Yosami).95
The Heavenly Sovereign's august years were sixty-three. His
august mausoleum is at the top of the hill of Izakaha.86
[SECT. LXIII.-EMPEROR SŪ-JIN (PART I.-GENEALOGIES).]
Ilis Augustness Mima-ki-iri-biko-iniwe dwelt at the Palace
of Midzu-gaki at Shiki,¹ and ruled the Empire. This Heavenly
Sovereign wedded Tohotsu-no-ayu-me-me-kuhashi-hime,² daugh-
ter of Arakaha-to-be,3 Ruler of the land of Ki, and begot
august children:
His Augustness Toyo-ki-iri-biko,5 and next
84 Taniha no Takanu no wake. Takanu is the name of a district
in the modern province of Tango. It signifies "high moor."
85 Yosami no abiko. Yosami is the name of a place in Kahachi,
and is of uncertain origin, though the legends connect it with the
word ami, "a net" (see Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXII, pp. 81).
It is chiefly known on account of its lake or pool, which is often
mentioned in the early poetry. Abiko is a very rare "gentile name,
which in the "Catalogue of Family Names is written with the
characters, but is derived by Motowori from È, i.e.,
my
grandchildren.”
86 In Yamato. The name is of uncertain origin.
1. In Yamato. Shiki probably signifies "stone castle" (ishi-ki).
Midzugaki signifies "fresh young hedge," an Honorific designation of
the hedge round the Emperor's abode, which passed into a Proper
Name.
""
CC
>>
2 According to Motowori's exegesis, this name is a rather remark-
able instance of verbal usage, ayu-me (“trout-eyes") being not properly
part of the name at all, but only a Pillow-Word for what follows, viz.,
Me-kuhashi-hime, i.e., “Princess Beautiful Eyes." Tohotsu is thė name
of a place in the province of Ki, signifying "far harbour."
3 Arakaha is the name of a place in Ki, and signifies "rough
(ie., impetuous and dangerous) river." The syllables to-be are of
uncertain import.
Tobe, this shows that Tobe is not confined to women.-W.G.A.
4 Ki no kuni no miyatsuko.
5 Toyo signifies "luxuriant" and biko (hiko) “prince." The other
elements of the compound are obscure.
VOL. XXIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXIII.
209
7
8
9
Her Augustness Toyo-suki-iri-bime (two Deities.) Again, wed-
ding the Great Princess of Ama, ancestress of the Chiefs of
Wohari, he begot august children: His Augustness Oho-iri-
ki;⁹ next His Augustness Ya-saka-no-iri-biko; next Her August-
ness Nuna-ki-no-iri-bime; next Her Augustness Towochi-no-
iri-bime¹0 (four Deities.) Again, wedding Her Augustness
Princess Mimatsu," daughter of His Augustness Oho-biko, he
begot august chidren: His Augustness Ikume-iri-biko-isachi ;12
next His Augustness Iza-no-ma-waka ;13 next Her Augustness
Princess Kuni-kata;14 next Her Augustness Princess Chiji-
tsuku-yamato ;¹5 next Her Augustness Princess Iga;16 next His
Augustness Yamato-Hiko" (six Deities). The august children
of this Heavenly Sovereign [numbered] in all twelve Deities
(seven Kings and five Queens). So His Augustness Ikume-iri-
biko-isachi [was he who afterwards] ruled the Empire. The
next, His Augustness Toyo-ki-iri-biko (was the ancestor [of the
Dukes] of Kami-tsu-ke-nu, 18 and the Dukes of Shimo-tsu-ke-nu).19
.15
6 Bime (hime) signifies princess," and suki is identified by
Motowori with Shiki, the name of the residence of the monarch
whose daughter this princess was.
7 Oho-ama-hime. Ama is the name of a district in Wohari, and
probably signifies "fisherman."
8 Wohari no murazhi.
<<
9 The signification of this and the two following names is uncertain.
10 Towochi is the name of a district in Yamato.
"C
11 Mimatsu-hime. Signification uncertain.
12 Signification uncertain.
13 The syllables ma and waka, literally true and young" or
"truly young" are Honorific. Iza is of doubtful signification.
14 Kuni-kata-hime. Kuni means "country" and kata here probably
signifies "hard" or firm."
<c
15 Chiji-tsuku-yamato-hime.
Chiji probably means a thousand,"
and Yamato is the name of a province. Tsuku is obscure.
16 Iga-hime. Iga is the name of a district and of a province (see
Sect. LVI, Note 9).
"C
17 I.e., "Yamato Prince."
(Dukes) is supplied
18 Kami-tsu-ke-nu [no kim]. The character
by Motowori. This is the ancient form of the name now pronounced
210
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIII.
·
The younger sister Her Augustness Princess Toyo-Suki (was
high-priestess of20 the temple of the Great Deity of Ise).21 The next
brother, His Augustness Oho-iri-ki (was ancestor of the Grandees
of Noto),22 The next, His Augustness Yamato-hiko,-(in the
time of this King a hedge of men was for the first time set at the
mausoleum),23
Kōdzuke (conf. Shimo-tsu-ke-nu corrupted to Shimotsuke). The author
of the "Inquiry into the Meaning of the Names of All the Provinces "
draws attention to the curious fact that, whereas the final syllable nu
of the original word is dropped in speaking, it is the ke which is
dropped in writing--the original form of the name, as written, being
LE, whereas now only the first two of these three characters are
used. Its signification is supposed to be "upper vegetation-moor,"
ke (E) being regarded as an Archaic general term for trees and
grasses, identical with the ke that means "hairs," vegetation having
struck the early speakers of the language as being similar to the hairs
on the bodies of men and beasts.
19 Shimo-tsu-ke-nu no kimi. Shimo means "lower." For the rest
of the name see preceding Note. Both names are those of provinces.
in Eastern Japan.
20 Or more literally, "worshipped and celebrated the festivals at,"
etc.
21 Viz., of the Sun-Goddess (Ama-terasu).
22 Noto no omi. Noto, formerly a part of the province of Echizen,
is the name of the peninsula that juts out into the Sea of Japan on
the western coast of the Main Island. The etymology of the name
is obscure.
23 The meaning of this imperfectly formed sentence is: "On the
"occasion of the interment of the next prince, His Augustness
"Yamato-hiko, the custom of setting a row of the deceased prince's
"retainers round his grave and burying them alive was first intro-
"duced." For a further notice of this custom see Sect. LXXV, Note
4. According to the "Chronicles,” the "ancient" custom of burying
retainers up to their necks in the neighbourhood of their lord's grave
was abolished after this very same interment. Motowori endeavours
to reconcile the two statements by supposing that the custom was
really an old one, but that on the occasion here mentioned the number
of victims was increased to an unprecedented degree," so that, as
related in the " Chronicles," their cries, while their heads were being
VOL. XXIII.]
211
VOL. II. SECT. LXIV.
[SECT. LXIV.-EMPEROR SŪ-JIN (PART II.—A PESTILENCE IS STAID
BY OHO-TATA-NE-KO).]
(C
3
In the reign of this Heavenly Sovereign a great pestilence
arose, and the people died as if none were to be left.¹ Then
the Heavenly Sovereign grieved and lamented, and at night,
while on his divine couch, there appeared [to him] in an
august dream the Great Deity the Great-Master-of-Things,
and said: This is my august doing. So if thou wilt cause
me to be worshipped' by Oho-tata-ne-ko, the divine spirit
shall not arise,' and the land will be tranquillized.” When,
therefore, couriers were dispatched in every direction⁹ to
search for the person [named] Oho-tata-ne-ko, he was discov-
6
<<
pulled to pieces by the crows and dogs, filled the Emperor with
commiseration.
*So that for the first time they formed a hedge. But there is
something to be said for the reading which asserts "this custom first
ceased at the death of this prince."-W.G.A.
1 Literally, "about to be exhausted."
2 This expression, which recurs at the commencement of Sect.
CXLV, is difficult to explain. See Motowori's remarks in Vol. XXIII,
pp. 24-25, and again in Vol. XL. pp. 14-15, of his Commentary.
3 See Sect. LI, Note 12.
4 Literally, "my august heart."
<<
5 Or,
cause my shrine to be worshipped at.” The import of
the god's words is that he wishes Oho-tata-ne-ko to be appointed
chief priest of his temple. For the origin of this latter see the
second half of Sect. XXXII (pp. 103-105).
6 Oho signifies "great," Tata (or Tada) is taken to be the name
of a place, and the syllables ne and ko are regarded as Honorifics.
The whole name may therefore, though with some hesitation, be
interpreted to mean "the Lord of the Great [Shrine of] Tata.”
7 I.e., "the divine anger shall no longer be kindled."
8 Mounted couriers are almost certainly intended.
9 Literally, "distributed to the four sides,"-" four sides being
a Chinese phrase for every direction.
"
212
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIII.
10
ered in the village of Minu¹º in Kafuchi, and was respectfully
sent [to the Heavenly Sovereign]." Then the Heavenly Sove-
reign deigned to ask: "Whose child art thou?" He replied,
saying: "I12 am Oho-tata-ne-ko, child of His Augustness
“Taka-mika-dzu-chi [who was] child of His Augustness Ihi-
"gata-sumi,14 [who was] child of His Augustness Kushi-mi-
15
gata, [who was] child of the Great Deity the Great-Master-
of-Things by his wife Iku-tama-yori-bime, daughter of His
Hereupon the Heavenly Sove-
reign, being greatly rejoiced, commanded that the Empire
should be tranquil, and the people flourish, and forthwith
made His Augustness Oho-tata-ne-ko high-priest¹8 to worship¹9
the Great Deity of Great Miwa20 on Mount Mimoro.21 Again
16
Augustness Suwe-tsu-mimi."
(C
("
("
13
10 This name may signify either "three moors or "august moor.'
The village of Minu must not be confounded with the province of
Minu.
""
11 The characters used are those which properly denote the pre-
senting of tribute to the Monarch.
12 Here and below the First Personal Pronoun is represented by
the respectful character, “servant.”
13 See Sect. VIII, Note 7, for the explanation of this name. But
probably the deity here intended is another.
14 The etymology and signification of this name are alike obscure.
15 Motowori interprets kushi in the sense of "wondrous," and
Migata as the name of a place, which also occurs under the form of
Higata.
16 I.e,, "life-jewel-good-princess."
17 The precise signification of this name is obscure. Motowori
supposes Suwe to be the name of a place; tsu is the Genitive Particle,
and mimi the Honorific of doubtful import, whose meaning has been
discussed in Note 18 to Sect. XIII.
18 The exact meaning of the characters used to write the word
kamu-nushi (modern kannushi), here rendered "high priest," is "owner
of the Deity." Though commonly used in modern parlance to denote
any Shintō priest, it properly signifies only the chief priest in charge
of a temple, whence the odd-sounding name.
19 Or,
conduct the worship at the shrine of."
20 Viz., the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land.
For the traditional
VOL. XXIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXIV.
213
he ordered His Augustness Igaka-shikc-wo2 to make eighty
heavenly platters, and reverently to establish the shrines of
the Heavenly Deities and the Earthly Deities;23 likewise to
worship with a red-coloured shield and spear the Deity of
Sumisaka24 at Uda, and with a black-coloured shield and spear
the Deity of Ohosaka;25 likewise to present august offerings of
cloth to all the Deities of the august declivities of the hills
and to all the Deities of the reaches of the rivers, without
neglecting any.26 27 In consequence of this the pestilential
vapour ceased altogether, and the country was tranquillized.
etymology of Miwa see the legend in Sect. LXV..
21 See Sect. XXVIII, Notes 4 and 5.
22 Or Ikaga-shiko-wo. The probable meaning of this name, pro-
posed by Motowori, is (neglecting the initial letter i as expletive)
"the refulgent ugly male."
23 See Sect. I, Note 11.
24 Sumisaka probably signifies "charcoal-hill." Uda, which has
already been mentioned in Sect. XLVI, is in Yamato.
This passage
may equally well be rendered thus: "to present a red-coloured shield
and spear to the Deity of Sumisaka," and similarly in the following
clause. The meaning comes nearly to the same.
CC
25 Literally, "great hill," or great pass." It is at the boundary
of the provinces of Yamato and Kahachi, Neither Motowori nor
Tanigaha Shisei sanctions the view of the elder scholars, who fancied
they saw in the distinction of red and black some mysterious import
connected with the four cardinal points.
26 In the Old Printed Edition the text of this passage differs
slightly from that adopted by Motowori; but the meaning is exactly
the same.
27 A large lacuna here occurs in the "Old Printed Edition,” in
which the four hundred and forty-five Chinese characters forming the
original of the following part of the translation, from the words, “In
consequence of this down to the words immediately preceding
"Methinks this is a sign" on p. 217 are missing. Both the editor
of 1687 and Motowori are silent as to the manner in which they
supplied the deficiency; but it may be presumed from their silence
that the MS. authorities furnished them with what had accidentally
been omitted from the printed text.
د.
•
3
214
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIII.
((
The reason why this person called Oho-tata-ne-ko was
known to be a Deity's child, was that the above-mentioned
Iku-tama-yori-bime was regularly beautiful, whereupon a
[divine] youth [who thought] the majesty of her appearance
without comparison in the world,³ came suddenly to her in
the middle of the night. So, as they loved each other and
lived in matrimony together, the maiden ere long was preg-
Then the father and mother, astonished at their daughter
being pregnant, asked her, saying: "Thou art pregnant by
thyself. How art thou with child without [having known] a
“man ?”
She replied, saying: "I have naturally conceived
through a beautiful young man, whose name I know not,
"coming here every evening and staying with me." Therefore
the father and mother, wishing to know the man, instructed
their daughter, saying: Sprinkle red earth in front of the
nant.
4
66
[SECT. LXV.-EMPEROR SŪ-JIN (PART III.—STORY OF OHO-TATA-
NE-KO'S BIRTH).]
(C
1
1 It is not easy to render literally into English the force of the
characters
E, containing this description of the maiden's
beauty, and of E in the next clause. But it is hoped that at
least the translation represents them better than do Motowori's read-
ings kaho yokariki and kaho sugata.
2 This word, which is not in most texts, was supplied by the
editor of 1687, and is adopted by Motowori on apparently satisfactory
grounds."
* I cannot agree with this. And was not the "majestic appearance'
that of the youth, not of the maiden ?-W.G.A.
3 Literally, "in the time.”
4 The text places the word “ daughter" here, instead of in the
preceding clause. For the sake of clearness, the translator has taken
the liberty of transposing it.
surname and personal
But Motowori's simple
5 The Chinese characters are, i.e.,
(what we should call 'Christian") name."
reading na, “name," approves itself as probably nearer to the author's
intention.
<<
VOL. XXIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXVI.
215
7
+
"couch, and pass a skein of hemp through a needle, and
"pierce [therewith] the skirt of his garment." So she did as
they had instructed, and, on looking in the morning, the hemp
that had been put in the needle went out through the hole of
the door-hook, and all the hemp that remained was three
twists only. Then forthwith, knowing how he had gone out
by the hook-hole, they went on their quest following the
thread, which, reaching Mount Miwa, stopped at the shrine of
the Deity. So they knew [that Oho-tata-ne-ko was] the child
of the Deity [residing] there. So the place was called by the
name of Miwa on account of the three twists of hemp that
had remained. (His Augustness Oho-tata-ne-ko, here referred to,
was the ancestor of the Dukes of Miwa9 and of the Dukes of Kamo.) 10
5
[SECT. LXVI.—EMPEROR SŪ-JIN (PART IV.-WAR WITH KING TAKE-
HANI-YASU).]
Again in this august reign His Augustness Oho-biko' was
6 Motowori indulges in several conjectures as to the meaning of
this detail, which, it will be seen, is not referred to in the sequel,
and is therefore pointless.
*
Heso is "ball." Vide Hepburn. Probably from its shape with a
hole through it,—W.G.A.
7 The same Japanese word kagi,‡ which is used as the equivalent
of the Chinese characters, "hook," came in later times to denote
a key.
‡ I have seen ancient keys shaped thus, nearly a "hook." Kagi
always included both key and hook.-W.G.A.
""
8" Three threads are in Japanese mi ua, whence the etymology
of the name of Miwa given below in the text. The real derivation
is altogether doubtful. The shrine of Miwa was in very early times
regarded with such extraordinary reverence, that the term Oho-gami,
"Great Deity," unless otherwise qualified, was commonly understood
to refer to the god of Miwa.
† Rounds of the ball.
9 Miwa no kimi, written simply (literally, "Divine Dukes "),
another sign of the estimation in which the shrine of Miwa was held.
10 Kamo no kimi.
4
216
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIII.
sent to the circuit of Koshi,2 and his son, His Augustness
Take-nuna-kaha-wake,3 was sent to the twelve circuits to the
eastward to quiet the unsubmissive people Again Hiko-imasu
was sent to the land of Taniha to slay Kugamimi-no-mikasa5
(this is the name of a person). So when His Augustness Cho-
biko was going away to the land of Koshi, a young girl
1 See Sect. LXI, Note 5.
2 Literally, "to the road of Koshi," i.e., "to the land of Koshi."
Which provinces are intended by the "twelve circuits to the eastward"
mentioned immediately below is uncertain; but Motowori hazards the
guess that we should understand Ise (including Iga and Shima),
Wohari, Mikaha, Tohotafuni (pron. Tōtōmi), Suruga, Kahi, Idzu,
Sagami, Musashi, Fusa (the modern Kadzusa, Shimofusa, and Aha),
Hitachi, and Michinoku (a vague name for the north-eastern portions
of the Main Island of Japan). This would include the whole east
and north-east of the country. He likewise supposes the use of the
word <<
road" for circuit or province to have had its origin in the
“road" along which the Imperial officers despatched to the outlying
provinces had to travel to reach their post, and remarks very per-
tinently in another passage of his Commentary that the term road
denotes a province more especially from the point of view of its
subjugation or government. His explanation is, however, rendered
untenable by the fact that the division of the country into such
"roads" or "circuits
"circuits" was an idea evidently borrowed from the
neighbouring peninsula of Korea. At first, as in this passage, some-
what vaguely used in the sense of " province," it settled down into
the designation of "a set of adjacent provinces." Thus tha Tō-kai-
dō, or Eastern Maritime Circuit," includes fifteen provinces, the
Hoku-roku-dō or Northern Land Circuit," includes seven provinces,
and so on. Conf. Sect. LX, Note 20.
CC
3 I.e., "brave-lagoon-river-youth."
4 See Sect LXII, Note 4.
در
5 Motowori is unable to help us to any understanding of this
name,—or names,-for he suggests that the character Z, no, may be
an error for, mata ("also "), and that two individuals may be
intended. The note in the original telling us that "this in the name
of a person" might equally well be translated in the Plural,-" these
are the names of persons."
VOL. XXIII.]
217
VOL. II. SECT. LXVI.
wearing a loin-skirt stood on the Pass of Hera' in Yamashiro,
and sang, saying:
"Now then! Oh Prince Mima-ki-iri! Oh
"Prince Mi-ma-ki-iri!, Ignorant that they
to steal and slay one's life, cross back-
"wards and forwards by the back-door,
cross backwards and forwards by the front
"door and spy,-Oh Prince Mima-ki-iri!”
Hereupon His Augustness Oho-biko, thinking it strange,
turned his horse back, and asked the young girl, saying:
"These words that thou speakest, what are they?" The
young girl replied, saying: "I said nothing; I was only
"singing a song," and thereupon she suddenly vanished, none
could see whither. So His Augustness Oho-biko returned up
again [to the capital] and made a report [of the matter] to
the Heavenly Sovereign, who replied and charged him, [saying]:
"Methinks this is a sign that my half-brother, King Take-
(6
<<
6 The nature of this garment is not known. One would suppose,
from the way it is mentioned in the text, that there was perhaps
something contrary to custom in its use by a young girl.† The
parallel passage in the "Chronicles" does not mention it.
*
† Perhaps the unusual thing was that she had nothing else on,
very young girls were perhaps dressed so.--
--W.G.A.
7 Or, “Hill of Hera,”-Hera-zaka. The “Chronicles write this
name with the characters Hira-zaka, i.e., "Even Pass" or "Hill."
From this poem it would appear that Mima-ki-iri was not a
posthumous name.-W.G.A.
8 The meaning of this poem, which must be considered as one
prolonged exclamation, is: Oh my sovereign! oh my sovereign!
'Heedless or ignorant of the plots hatched against thy life near the
'very precincts of thy palace, thou sendest away thy soldiers to fight
"in distant parts. Oh my sovereign!"—It will be remembered that
Prince Mima-ki-iri was the (abbreviated) native name of the reigning
monarch, commonly known to posterity by his "canonical name of
Sūjin. The word rendered "life" is literally "thread," and the
Impersonal Pronoun "one's," used in the translation, must be under-
stood to refer to the Emperor.
>>
<<
>>
218
66
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIII.
hani-yasu, who dwells in the land of Yamashiro, is planning
some foul plot.10 [Do thou,] uncle, raise an army, and go
"[after him]." When he forthwith sent him off, joining to him
his Augustness Hiko-kuni-buku," ancestor of the Grandees of
Wani,¹ they set sacred jars on the Pass of Wani,¹³ and went
away. Thereupon, when they reached the River Wakara¹ in
Yamashiro, King Take-hani-yasu, who had raised an army,
was waiting to intercept [their passage], and [the two hosts]
stood confronting and challenging each other with the river
between them.15 So the place was called by the name of
Idomi,16-what is now called Idzumi. Then His Augustness
Hiko-kuni-buku spoke, begging the other side¹ to let fly the
first arrow.18 Then King Take-hani-yasu shot, but could not
(C
9
9 See Sect. LXI, Notes 12 and 10.
10 Literally, “foul heart.”
11 I.e., probably, "prince land-pacifier." The first element of the
compound is sometines omitted.
12 Wani no omi. Wani ("crocodile ") is the name of a place in
the province of Yamato.
13 Wani-saka. For the setting of jars conf. Sect. LX, Note 20.
14 Wakara-gaha. It is what is now called the Idzumi-gaha.
Of
Wakara we have nothing but an altogether untenable etymology given
in the parallel passage of the "Chronicles."
15 More literally, "each having put the river in the middle, and
mutually challenging."
16 I.e., "challenging." The more likely etymology of Idzumi,
which is written with the character, is source" or "spring."
"
17 The original has the very curious expression, literally,
"people of the side-building," which was a great crux to the early
editors. Motowori is probably right in interpreting it in the sense of
"the other side," i.e., "the enemy."
(6
18, literally "the arrow to be shunned, or avoided,”—but
rather, in accordance with Archaic Japanese parlance, "the sacred
arrow." Motowori says:
"At the commencement of a battle it was
"the custom for each side to let fly an initial arrow. Being the
commencement of the affair, this arrow was considered specially
“important, and was shot off reverently with prayers to the Gods,—
"whence its name."
VOL. XXIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXVII.
219
strike. Thereupon, on His Augustness Kuni-buku shooting an
arrow, it forthwith struck King Take-hani-yasu dead. So the
whole army was routed, and fled in confusion. Then the
[Imperial troops pursued] after the fugitive army as far as the
ferry of Kusuba, when, harassed by the pursuit, exierunt
[hostium]* excrementa, quæ bracis adhæserunt. Quare isti
loco impositum est nomen Kuso-bakama. In præsenti nomi-
natur Kusu-ba.19 Again, on being intercepted in their fight
and cut down, [their bodies] floated like cormorants in the
river. So the river was called by the name of U-kaha.20
Again, because the warriors were cut to pieces, the place was
called by the name of Hafuri-sono.21 Having thus finished.
[the work of] pacification, they went up [to the capital] to
make their report [to the Heavenly Sovereign].
[SECT. LXVII.—EMPEROR SŪ-JIN (PART V.—PEACE RESTORED AND
tribute levieD).]
So His Augustness Oho-biko went away to Koshi in
accordance with the previous [Imperial] commands. Then
Take-nuna-kaha-wake, who had been sent round by the east,
and his father Oho-biko met together in Ahidzu. So the
place was called by the name of Ahidzu.' Wherefore, each of
them, having settled the government of the land to which he
had been sent, made his report [to the Heavenly Sovereign].
Then the Empire was at peace and the people prosperous.
*
Surely their own, from fear.-W.G.A.
19 I.e.,
"excrementis [fa date] bracæ." But it is not at all probable
that this is the correct etymology of the name. The stream is a
small one in the eastern part of the province of Kahachi.
20 I.e.,
"cormorant-river."
21 I.e., "the garden of cutting-to-pieces."
1 A district forming the southern part of the modern province of
Ihashiro in north-eastern Japan. The derivation here given, from
ahi-dzu, “
meeting port," seems fanciful.
220
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIII.
Thereupon tribute on the arrow-notches of the men and
tribute on the finger-tips of the women was first levied.2 So
in praise of this august reign they said: "the Heavenly Sove-
reign Mima-ki, who ruled the first land."3 Again, in this
moreover the
august reign the Pool of Yosami was made;
Pool of Sakawori at Karu5 was made.
*
S
[SECT. LXVIII.-EMPEROR SŪ-JIN (PART VI. HIS AGE AND PLACE
OF BURIAL).]
..
1
The Heavenly Sovereign's august years were one hundred
and sixty-eight. His august mausoleum is on the mound at
the corner of the Yamanobe road.¹
Bow-tips" seems a preferable rendering, the Chinese character
is .-W.G.A.
2 I.e., taxes levied on the produce of the chase, by which the
men gained their livelihood, and on the domestic handiwork of the
women.
3 Motowori has a not particularly satisfactory note, in which he
endeavours to explain this obscure phrase. The word "first" should
evidently qualify the Verb "ruled," and not the Substantive "land,"
and the applicability of the saying to a sovereign, of whom it is not
recorded that he initiated anything save the taxes, is not apparent.†
The author of the "Chronicles" observes the verisimilitudes better
by applying a synonymous designation to the first "Earthly Emperor"
Jim-mu.
† Compare Chronicles V. 16. (p. 161, Aston's Translation).—W.G.A.
4 See Sect. LXII, Note 85.
5 Reference to the parallel passage of the "Chronicles" shows
that probably a couple of words are here omitted from the text, which
should read "the Pool of Karu and the Pool of Sakawori" (Karu no
ike, Sakawori no ike). Karu is the celebrated ancient capital mentioned
in Sect. LVII, Note 1. Sakawori is quite unknown except from
this notice of it, and the derivation of the name is uncertain.
1 This place, where the Emperor Kei-kō is likewise said to have
been interred, was in the province of Yamato, and the road mentioned
is supposed by Motowori to have been the highway from Hatsuse
VOL. XXIV.]
221
VOL. II. SECT. LXIX.
+
[SECT. LXIX. EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART I.-GENEALOGIES).]
His Augustness Ikume-iri-biko-isachi dwelt at the palace
of Tama-kaki in Shiki,' and ruled the Empire. This Heavenly
Sovereign wedded Her Augustness the Princess Sahaji,2 younger
sister of His Augustness Saho-biko, and begot an august child:
His Augustness Homu-tsu-wake³ (one Deity). Again, wedding
Her Augustness the Princess Hibasu, daughter of King Tatasu-
michi-no-ushi, Prince of Taniha, he begot august children:
His Augustness Ini-shiki-no iri-biko; next His Augustness
Oho - tarashi-hiko - oshiro - wake;5 next His Augustness Oho-
naka - tsu-hiko; next Her Augustness Yamato-hime; next
His Augustness Waka-ki-iri-biko (five Deities.) Again, wedding
Her Augustness Nubata-no-iri-biko, younger sister of Her
Augustness Princess Hibasu, he begot august children:
Augustness Nu-tarashi-wake;10 next His Augustness Iga-tarashi-
9
His
into the province of Yamashiro. The word Yamanobe signifies "in
the neighbourhood of the mountain" (yama no he).
1 For Shiki see Sect. LXIII, Note 1. Tama-kaki signifies “jewel
(.e., beautiful) hedge.”
2 This name and the next have already been met with in Sect.
LXII, as have those of Princess Hibasu, King Tatasu-michi, King
Oho-tsutsuki-tari-ne, Princess Kari-bata-tobe, and King Inase-biko.
3 See Sect. LXXI, Note 8.
4 The signification of this name is not clear, but Motowori iden-
tifies Shiki with the place of the same name.
5 This name seems to be a string of Honorifics signifying “great
perfect prince ruling lord."
6 I.e., “great middle prince," he being the third of five children.
7 I.e., “Yamato princess." She is a very celebrated personage in
Japanese legendary story,-high priestess of Ise and aunt of the hero
Yamato-takė. A miraculous tale is related of her birth, and she is
supposed to have lived several hundreds of years.
8 The signification of this name is obscure.
9 The signification of this name is obscure.
10 Motowori's conjectural interpretation of this name is "jewel-
perfect-lord."
D
1
222
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIV.
i
15
hiko (two Deities). Again, wedding Her Augustness Azami-
no-iri-bime,12 younger sister of Her Augustness Nubata-no-iri-
bime,13 he begot august children: His Augustness Ikobaya-
wake;14 next Her Augustness the Princess of Azami (two
Deities). Again, wedding Her Augustness Kagu-ya-hime,16
daughter of King Oho-tsutsuki-tari-ne, he begot an august
child: King Wozabe¹? (one Deity). Again, wedding Karibata-
tobe daughter of Fuchi of Ohokuni in Yamashiro,18 he begot
august children: King Ochi-wake;19 next King Ika-tarashi-
hiko;20 next King Itoshi-wake.21 Again, wedding Oto-karibata-
tobe,22 daughter of Fuchi of Otokuni, he begot august children:
King Iha-tsuku-wake; next Her Augustness Iha-tsuku-bime,
11
11 The signification of iga is obscure. The other two elements of
the compound signify "perfect prince."
12 Signification obscure.
13 Signification obscure.
14 Signification obscure. The "Chronicles" read this name Ike-
baya.
15 Azami-tsu-hime. Signification obscure.
16 I.e., probably "the refulgent princess," the syllable ya being
void of signification as in Ko-no-hana-saku-ya-hime (see Sect. XXXVII,
Note 3). This name is celebrated as that of the heroine of the fairy-
tale entitled "Tale of a Bamboo-Cutter," though there is no reason
for identifying the two personages.
17 This name is obscure, and Motowori suspects it of being
corrupt.
18 Yamashiro no ohokuni no fuchi.
Yamashiro is the name of a
province, and Ohokuni (“great land") that of a village, while Fuchi
is a personal name written with a character signifying deep pool."
19 Ochiwake no miko. Motowori derives ochi from oho, "great,"
and ch', supposed to be an Honorific, while wake is taken to mean
'lord." After all, the signification of the name remains obscure.
The name probably signifies severe
20 Ika-tarashi-hiko no miko.
(or dignified) perfect prince."
21 This name is obscure.
((
<<
22 I.e., Karibata-tobe, the younger sister.
23 This name and the next are obscure. The first of the two is
not in the older editions, but Motowori supplies what appears to be
VOL. XXIV.]
223
VOL. II. SECT. LXIX.
another name for whom was Her Augustness Futaji-no-iri-
bime24 (two Deities). The august children of this Heavenly
Sovereign [numbered] altogether sixteen (thirteen Kings and
three Queens). So His Augustness Oho-tarashi-hiko-oshiro-wake
[was he who afterwards] ruled the Empire. (His august stature
was ten feet25 two inches; the length of his august shank was four
feet one inch.) The next, His Augustness Inishiki-no-iri-biko
made the pool of Chinu;25 again he made the pool of Sayama;27
again he made the pool of Takatsu at Kusaka.2 Again he
dwelt at the palace of Kahakami at Totori,29 and caused a
thousand cross-swords20 to be made, and presented them to
the temple of the Deity of Iso-no-kami. Forthwith he dwelt
at that palace,2 and established the Kahakami Tribe.33 The
next, His Augustness Oho-naka-tsu-hiko, (was the ancestor of the
23
a lacuna in the text by adding the five characters E✯.
24 Signification obscure.
25 The actual word "feet" is not in the original, but an equivalent
Chinese measure is used.
26 Chinu no ike. The "Sea of Chinu" in the province of Idzumi,
which is the same as the "Pool" here mentioned, has been mentioned
in Sect, XLIV, Note 36.
27
Sayama no ike, in the province of Kahachi. The name probably
signifies a gorge" or "defile."
<<
28 See above Sect. XLIV, Note 31.
29 Totori (lit. "bird-catching") was in the province of Idzumi, and
the name is said to have been derived from the place having been
one of those through which Ohotaka of Yamanobe passed when pur-
suing the bird whose sight was to make Prince Homuchi-wake obtain
the power of speech. (See the story as given at the beginning of
the next Section.) The name of Kaha-kami ("head-waters of the
river"), as we learn by comparison with the parallel passage of the
"Chronicles," is to be traced to the River Udo, near whose head-
waters the palace in question is said to have been situated.
30 See Sect. XLV, Note 5.
31 See Sect. XLV, Note 16.
3? Or, “in that temple."
33 Kahakami-be.
224
(C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIV.
Lords of Yamanobe,34 of the Lords of Sakikusa,35 of the Lords of Inaki,
of the Lords of Ada,7 of the Lords of Minu in the Land of Wohari;38
of the Lords of Ihanashi in Kibi,39 of the Lords of Koromo,
40 of the
Lords of Takasuka,41 of the Dukes of Asuka,42 and of the Lords of
Mure).43 The next, Her Augustness Yamato-hime, (was high-
priestess of44 the temple of the Great Deity of Ise). The next,
King Ikobaya-wake (was the ancestor of the Lords of Anahobe at
Saho). 45 The next, Her Augustness the Princess of Azami
(was married to King Inase-biko). The next, King Ochi-wake
34 Yamanobe no wake. Yamanobe (or Yamabe) is the name of a
district in Yamato and signifies "mountain-slope,"
35 Sakikusa no wake. Of Sakikusa nothing is known. The word
means "lily."
36 Inaki no wake. Which Inaki is meant is not known, there being
several places of that name in Japan. The name is connected with
the word ine, “rice."
37 Ada no wake. Of Ada nothing is known,
38 Wohari no kuni no Minu no wake. Minu is the name of a
village, and signifies "three moors."
39 Kibi no Ihanashi no wake. Ihanashi is the name of a district
forming part of the modern province of Bizen, and seems to signify
"rockless."
40 Koromo no wake. Motowori supposes this name to be corrupt.
Koromo is the name of a village in Mikaha.
41 Takasuka no wake. Nothing is known either of the place or of
the family.
42 Asuka no kimi. It is not known where was this Asuka, which
must not be confounded with the famous Asuka mentioned in Sect.
CXXXIII, Note 11.
´etc.
*
43 Mure no wake. There are several places called Mure. The
signification of the name is obscure.
44 Or more literally, "worshipped and celebrated the festivals at,”
45 Saho no Anahobe-wake. The name Anahobe is derived from
Anaho, the name of the Emperor Yu-riyaku, and be "a tribe," it
being related in the "Chronicles" that the tribe which was established
as his "
name-proxy" was so called.
VOL. XXIV.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXX.
225
(was the ancestor of the Mountain Dukes of Wotsuki and of the
Dukes of Koromo in Mikaha).47 The next, King Ika-tarashi-hiko
(was the ancestor of the Mountain Dukes of Kasuga,48 of the Dukes of
Ike in Koshi,49 and of the Dukes of Kasugabe), 50 The next, King
Itoshi-wake (owing to his having no children, made the Itoshi Tribe51
his proxy). The next, King Iha-tsuku-wake, (was the ancestor of
the Dukes of Haguhi52 and of the Dukes of Miwo.)53
The next,
Her Augustness Futaji-no-Iri-bime (became the Empress of His
Augustness Yamato-take).
[SECT. LXX.
66
M
EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART II.-CONSPIRACY OF KING
SAHO-BIKO AND THE EMPRESS SAHO-BIME).]
When this Heavenly Sovereign made Saho-bime his Em-
press, Her Augustness Saho-bime's elder brother, King Saho-
biko, asked his younger sister, saying: "Which is dearer [to
She replied,
thee], thine elder brother or thy husband?”
46 Wotsuki no yama no kami. Wotsuki is the name of a place in
Afumi (Omi). The family name must be interpreted to signify that
they were wardens of the mountain.
47 Mikaha no Koromo no kimi.
which this is probably identical.
text.
Conf. the name in Note 40, with
Motowori suspects an error in the
Conf. the name in Note 46.
48 Kasuga no yama no kimi.
49 Koshi no ike no kimi. Nothing is known of the place or of the
family, Koshi may or may not be the northern province of that name.
50 Kasugabe no kimi. There were two places of the name of
Kasugabe (.e., "Kasuga Clan," so called perhaps after a family that
had resided there). It is not known which is here alluded to.
51 Itoshi-be. The name, which is thus restored by Motowori, is
variously mutilated in the older editions. This is the first mention
of adoption, lit. in Japanese "child-proxy making" or "name-proxy
making." The custom is perpetually referred to in the later portion
of these "Records."
Haguhi is the name of a district in Noto.
52 Haguhi no kimi.
The derivation is obscure.
53 Miwo no kimi. Miwo is the name of a place in Afumi. It
probably means "three mountain-folds."
226
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIV.
(6
saying: "Mine elder brother is dearer." Then King Saho-
biko conspired, saying. "If I be truly the dearer to thee, let
“me and thee rule the empire," and forthwith he made an
eight times tempered stiletto,' and handed it to his younger
sister, saying: Slay the Heavenly Sovereign in his sleep
"with this small knife." So the Heavenly Sovereign, not
knowing of this conspiracy, was augustly sleeping, with the
Empress's august knees as his pillow. Then the Empress
tried to cut his august throat with the stiletto; but though
she lifted it thrice, she could not cut the throat for an irre-
pressible feeling of sadness, and she wept tears, which fell
overflowing2 onto [the Heavenly Sovereign's] august face.
Straightway the Heavenly Sovereign started up, and asked the
Empress, saying: "I have had a strange dream: a violent
"shower came from the direction of Saho and suddenly wetted
"my face; again a small damask-coloured snake coiled itself
"round my neck. Of what may such a dream be the omen?”
Then the Empress, thinking it improper to dispute,³ forthwith
informed the Heavenly Sovereign, saying:
'Mine elder bro-
"ther King Saho-biko, asked me, saying, 'Which is dearer
"[to thee], thy husband or thine elder brother?" So as I
4
was embarrassed by [this] direct question, I replied, saying,
<<
1 For stiletto see above, Sect. XXXVI, Note 8. The curious
word ya-shiho-wori (A) in the text seems to have the sense of
"eight times tempered," ie., tempered over and over again, which
Motowori assigns to it. The same expression is used in Sect. XVIII
(Note 16) to denote the refining of rice-liquor.
"C
2 This word "overflowing
overflowing" is more appropriately placed in the
version of the story given in the " Chronicles," where the author
makes her tears first fill her sleeve (a common Japanese figure of
speech), and thence "overflow
on to the sleeping Monarch's face.
3 I.., seeing that it would be vain to deny the truth.
4 The First Personal Pronoun is written with the self-depreciatory
character ☀,“concubine.”
Brocade? Hepburn speaks of a nish ki hebi as a kind of
mottled snake.--W.G.A.
·
VOL. XXIV.]
227
VOL. II. SECT. LXX.
་
"Oh! mine elder brother is the dearer.' Then he charged
66
me, saying: 'I and thou will together rule the Empire; so
"the Heavenly Sovereign must be slain;'-and so saying, be
"made an eight times tempered stiletto, and handed it to me.
"Therefore I wanted to cut thine august throat; but though
"I thrice lifted [the weapon], a feeling of regret suddenly
and the tears that
((
arose, so that I could not cut thy throat,
"I wept fell and wetted thine august face. [The dream] was
"surely the omen of this." Then the Heavenly Sovereign
said: "How nearly have I been betrayed!"- and forthwith he
raised an army to smite King Saho-biko, whereupon the King
made a rice-castle to await the fray.* At this time Her
Augustness Saho-bime, unable to forget her elder brother, fled
out through the back-gate [of the palace], and came into the
rice-castle.
5 Or "enticed."
>>
6 This expression, which is repeated elsewhere, is one which has
given rise to a considerable amount of discussion. The "Chronicles
tell us expressly that "rice [-stalks] were piled up to make a castle,"
an assertion which, as Motowori remarks, is simply incredible.
therefore adopts Mabuchi's suggestion that a castle like a rice-castlet
is what is intended,—“ rice-castle" being taken to mean
"rice-store"
or "granary," such granaries having probably been stoutly built in
order to protect them from thieves.# The historian of the Tang
dynasty quoted in the "Exposition of the Foreign Notices of Japan"
says that the Japanese had no castles, but only palisades of timber.
The latter might well however have been called castles by the Japan-
ese, though they would not have been accounted such by the Chinese,
who already built theirs of stone.
He
•
+ Rice-castle also mentioned in Yū-riyaku, year 14, where a hasty
construction is rather implied. Nihongi.-W.G.A.
I cannot see the likelihood of this. Sheaves of rice piled up
might very well make a bulwark. The story shows that it was a
hastily prepared work, not at all of the nature of a rice granary. The
Nihongi says the Empress crossed over it in coming out.— W G.A.
I.., stood on the defensive. W.G.A.
228
("
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIV.
<<
((
At this time the Empress was pregnant. Thereupon the
Heavenly Sovereign could not restrain [his pity for] the Em-
press, who was pregnant and whom he had loved for now
three years. So he turned his army aside, and did not hasten
the attack. During this delay, the august child that she had
conceived was born. So having put out the august child and
set it outside the rice-castle, she caused [these words] to be
said to the Heavenly Sovereign: "If this august child be con-
"sidered to be the Heavenly Sovereign's august child, let him²
deign to undertake it." Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign
said:3
"Although detesting the elder brother, I yet cannot
repress my love for the Empress," and forthwith planned to
secure the Empress. Wherefore, choosing from among his
warriors a band of the strongest and deftest, he charged
[them, saying]: "When ye take the august child, likewise
"abduct the queen its mother. Whether by the hair or by
"the hands, or wherever ye may best lay hold of her, clutch
"her and drag her out." Then the Empress, knowing his
intention beforehand, shaved off all her hair and covered her
[SECT. LXXI.-EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART III.-BIRTH OF PRINCE
HOMU-CHI-WAKE AND DEATH OF THE CONSPIRATORS).]
1 I.e., Her Augustness Saho-bime, who was the subject of the
preceding sentence.
*
2 I.e., the Sovereign. The import of this passage is, according to
Motowori, that the Empress imagined that her own conduct might
perhaps influence the Emperor to refuse to give to the child she bore
him its proper rank,-not from doubts as to its legitimacy, but as
having a rebel mother. By undertaking" the child is of course
meant "undertaking" the care and education of it.
<<
Why not, "take charge of " ?—W.G.A.
3 Motowori supposes the Chinese character rendered "said" to be
an error, and prefers to consider this clause as containing not the
words, but the thought of the Monarch. It would certainly be more
convenient to adopt this view, if it were sanctioned by any text.
+ Nimblest?--W.G.A.
VOL. XXIV.]
229
VOL. II. SECT. LXXI.
head with the hair, and likewise made her jewel-string rotten
and wound it thrice round her arm, and moreover made her
august garments rotten by means of rice-liquor and put on
the garments as if they were whole. Having made these
preparations, she took the august child in her arms and pushed
it outside the castle. Then the strong men, taking the august
child, forthwith clutched at the august parent. Then, on their
clutching her august hair, the august hair fell off of itself; on
their clutching her august arms, the jewel-string likewise
snapped; on their clutching her august garments, the august
garments at once tore. Therefore they obtained the august
child, but did not get the august parent. So the warriors
came back [to the Sovereign], and reported, saying:
"On
account of her august hair falling off of itself, of her august
garments easily tearing, and moreover of the jewel-string
"which was wound round her august hand at once snapping,
""
4
we have not got the august parent; but we have obtained
"the august child." Then the Heavenly Sovereign, sorry and
angry, hated the people who made the jewels, and deprived
them all of their lands.4 So the proverb says: "Landless
"jewel-makers." Again did the Heavenly Sovereign cause
the Empress to be told, saying: "A child's name must be
""
given by the mother: by what august name shall this child
(C
*
* Disappointed.-W.G.A.
Seems rather hard on the jewel-makers, who cannot have been
in the rice-castle, and could not have been responsible.-W.G.A.
4 Or, as Motowori prefers to read, deprived them of all their
<<
lands."
5 There is nowhere else any reference to this saying. Motowori
supposes it to point to those who, hoping for reward, get punishment
instead, these jewellers having doubtless rotted the string on which
the beads were strung by special desire of the Empress, whereas they
ended by getting nothing but confiscation for their pains.
6 Motowori (following Mabuchi) is evidently correct in supposing
the character in this place, and again a little further on, to be a
copyist's error for, "caused," and the translator has rendered it
accordingly.
230
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIV.
..
"be called ?" Then she replied, saying: "As he was born
"now at the time of the castle being burnt with fire and in
"the midst of the fire, it were proper to call him by the
"august name of Prince' Homu-chi-wake." And again he
caused her to be asked: "How shall he be reared ?” She
replied, saying: "He must be reared by taking an august
"mother¹ and fixing on old bathing-women and young bathing-
women.11,
So he was respectfully reared in accordance with
the Empress's instructions. Again he asked the Empress,
saying: "Who shall loosen the fresh small pendant which
12
7“Prince" is here written.
8 This name may also be read Ho-muchi-wake, and is in the
"Chronicles " given as Ho-mutsu-wake while it appears as Homu-tsu-
wake at the commencement of Sect. LXIX. The first two elements
apparently signify "fire-possessing," while wake is the frequently
recurring Honorific signifying either "lord" or "young and flourishing."
9 Lit., "his days be reverently prolonged." The same expression.
is repeated thrice below.
10 I.e., foster-mother.
11 The characters
used in the original of this passage
would, if they stood alone, be of difficult interpretation. But a com-
parison with the passage in "One account " of the "Chronicles,"
which relates the nursing of Fuki-ahezu-no-mikoto, the father of the
first "
Earthly Emperor " Jim-mu, leaves no doubt that the author
intended to speak of bathing-women attached to the service of the
Imperial infant.
"Why not. " girdle "?W.G.A.
12 The words midzu no wo-himo, literally rendered "fresh small
pendant," call for some explanation. Midzu, which includes in a single
term the ideas of youth, freshness, and beauty, is here used as an
Honorific. The "small pendant" is interpreted by Mabuchi and
Motowori to signify the "inner girdle," which held together the
under-garment of either sex. The old literature of Japan teems with
allusions to the custom of lovers or spouses making fast each other's
inner girdle, which might not be untied till they met again, and the
poets perpetually make a lover ask some such question as 'When I
"am far from thee, who shall loosen my girdle?" The translator
cannot refrain from here quoting, for the benefit of the lover of
VOL. XXIV.]
231
VOL. II. SECT. LXXI.
thou didst make fast?" She replied, saying:
She replied, saying: "It were proper
"that Ye-hime and Oto-hime,13 daughters of King Tatasu-michi-
no-ushi¹ prince of Taniha, should serve thee, for these two
queens are of unsullied parentage."15 So at last [the Heavenly
Sovereign] slew King Saho-biko, and his younger sister
followed him.16
(C
"C
Japanese verse (though he will not attempt to translate them), the
two most graceful of the many stanzas from the "Collection of a
Myriad Leaves" brought together by Motowori to illustrate this passage:
"
Wagimoko ga
Yuhiteshi himo wo
Tokame ya mo :
Toyeba tayu to mo
Tada ni afu made ni.
Una-bara wo
Tohoku watarite
Toshi fu to mo :
Ko-ra ga musuberu
Himo toku na yume.
Tanigaha Shisei also appropriately quotes the following:
Futari shite
Musubishi himo wo
Hitori shite
Ware ha toki-mizhi
Tada ni afu made ha.
A literal rendering
of which would run thus: "I will not, till
we meet face to face, loosen alone the girdle which we two tied
"together."
13 I.e., the "Elder Princess and the Younger Princess."
14 Motowori is probably right in explaining tatasu as the Honorific
Causative of tatsu, "to stand" and michi no ushi as michi-nushi or kuni-
nushi, i.e., owner of the province,"
"ruler."
15 Lit., "are pure subjects."
* What about the character ?W.G.A.
16 I.e.,
was slain with him.
232
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXV.
CC
[SECT. LXXII.-EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART IV.—THE DUMB
PRINCE HOMU-CHI-WAKE).]
So the way they led about and amused the august child
was by making a two-forked boat' out of a two-forked crypto-
meria from Ahidzu in Wohari, bringing it up and floating it
on the Pool of Ichishi and on the Pool of Karu³ in Yamato,
[thus] leading about and amusing the august child. Neverthe-
less the august child spoke never a word, though his eight-
grasp beard reached to the pit of his stomach. So it was on
hearing the cry of a high-flying swan that be made his first
utterance.' Then [the Heavenly Sovereign] sent Yamanobe-no-
Ohotaka (this is the name of a person) to catch the bird.
4
So
1 From a comparison with a passage in the "Chronicles," where
the same expression occurs, one is led to suppose that the craft here
mentioned was a sort of double boat, in each half of which passengers
could sit.
2 Nothing is known of any place called Ahidzu in the province
of Wohari.
3 Karu has been mentioned in Sect. LVII, Note 1. The Pool of
Ichishi (Ichishi-no ike) is supposed by Motowori to be identical with
the better known Pool of Ihare.
4 Lit., "in front of his heart." This phrase descriptive of a long
beard has already occurred at the commencement of Sect. XII.
5 Motowori reasonably supposes the character in this sentence
to be a copyist's error for the emphatic, and the translation has
been made accordingly.
6 The original has the character, which is now applied to a
small species of swan (Cygnus minor, Pallas; Cygnus Bewickii, Yarrel).
But it is uncertain what bird is intended by the author.
7 A more or less inarticulate utterance is probably meant; but
the expression in the original is obscure.
8 Motowori supposes the Note in the original to refer only to the
word Ohotaka, while he takes Yamanobe to be the name of a place
(already mentioned in Sect. LXVIII, Note 1). The surname of Oho-
taka, signifying "great hawk," was, according to the same commentator,
given to the worthy here mentioned in consequence of the incident
VOL. XXV.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXII.
233
->
9
this person, pursuing the swan, arrived in the Land of Harima*
from the Land of Ki, and again in his pursuit crossed over to
the Land of Inaba, then reaching the Land of Taniha and the
Land of Tajima; [thence] pursuing round to the eastward, he
reached the Land of Afumi, and thereupon crossed over into
the Land of Minu; and, passing along by the Land of Wohari,
pursued it into the Land of Shinanu, and at length, reaching
in his pursuit the Land of Koshi, spread a net in the Estuary
of Wanami, and, having caught the bird, brought it up [to
the capital] and presented it [to the Sovereign]: So that
estuary is called the Estuary of Wanami. It had been thought
that, on seeing the bird again, he would speak; but he did
not speak, as had been thought.10 Hereupon the Heavenly
Sovereign, deigning to be grieved, augustly fell asleep, when,
in an august dream, he was instructed, saying: "If thou wilt
"build my temple like unto thine august abode, the august
"child shall surely speak." When he had been thus instructed,
[the Heavenly Sovereign] made grand divination to seek what
Deity's desire" this might be. Then [it was discovered that]
<<
related in the text. As the bird was not a hawk, this does not seem
very convincing, and Motowori's apparent idea that the man was
likened to a hawk because he pursued the other bird as a hawk would
do, is extremely far-fetched. It is moreover doubtful whether the
name should not be read Oho-washi (this is Mabuchi's reading),
great eagle." The "Chronicles give an altogether different name,
viz., Ame-no-yukaha-tana.
>>
·
(C
The Chronicles say that the swan was caught in the land of
Idzumo, and makes no mention of the other places.-W.G.A.
9 No such place is now known. The name may be interpreted
to mean snare-net" in allusion to this story, as stated in the next
sentence of the text.
10 The various texts and printed editions all differ slightly in their
reading of this passage, and from some it might be gathered that the
prince did indeed speak as it had been thought that he would do,
but could not speak freely. The translation follows Motowori's
emended text.
11 Literally, "heart."
234
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXV.
15
the curse was the august doing of the Great Deity of Idzumo.12
So when about to send the august child to worship [at] that
Great Deity's temple, [he made divination to discover¹³] by
whom it were well to have him attended. Then the lot fell
on King Ake-tatsu.14 So he made King Ake-tatsu swear,
saying: "If there is truly to be an answer to our adoration
"of this Great Deity, may the heron dwelling on the tree by
"the Pool of Sagisu¹ here fall [through my] oath." When
he thus spoke, the heron that had been sworn by fell to the
ground dead. Again on his commanding it to come to life
[in answer to his] oath, it then came to life again.18 Moreover
he caused to wither by an oath and again brought to life again
by an oath a broad-foliaged bear-oak on Cape Amakashi.19 Then
12 I.e., Oho-kuni-nushi, (the Master of the Great Land), the
aboriginal monarch of Idzumo, the descendant of the Sun-Goddess,
whose abdication of the sovereignty of Japan in favour of the des-
cendant of the Sun-Goddess forms the subject-matter of Sect. XXXII.
The word tatari, here written with the Chinese character and
rendered “curse,” signifies properly the vengeance of a spirit, ¿.e.,
either of a deity or of the ghost of a dead man. The word translated
doing” is literally “heart.”
13 That some such words must be supplied is evident, and the
translator has followed Mabuchi and Motowori in supplying them.
14 Lit., "King Ake-tatsu ate the divination."
<<
15 Remember that the original word ukehi combines the meanings
of our words wager," "oath," pledge," curse," etc,-being in fact
a general name for all words to which any mysterious importance
attaches.
16 Lit., a (C
<<
sign," a proof."
17 Sagisu no ike, a pool in Yamato. Sagi-su signifies "heron's
nest."
18 The reading of the characters (rendered "then") in this
passage has been a crux to all the editors. Fortunately they make
no difference to the sense,
<<
CC
<<
19 Amakashi no saki. Perhaps "Amakashi Point" would be a better
rendering if, as Motowori supposes, an inland place in the province
of Yamato is meant. It might be the point or extremity of a hill or
bluff. Ama-kashi signifies literally "sweet oak." The "broad-foliaged
VOL. XXV.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXII.
235
[the Heavenly Sovereign] granted to Prince Ake-tatsu the name of
Prince Yamato-oyu-shiki-tomi-toyo-asakura-ake-tatsu.20 So when
the august child was sent off with the two Princes, Prince
Ake-tatsu and Prince Una-kami,21 as his attendants, it was
divined22 that [if they went out] by the Nara gate,23 they would
meet a lame person and a blind person;24 that [if they went
out] by the Ohosaka gate, they would likewise meet a lame
bear-oak" mentioned immediately above is supposed by Motowori to
be the usual evergreen oak, and not any special kind. The epithet
"broad-foliaged" is not, as he remarks, specially appropriate, and he
moreover supposes the word kuma, “bear,” to be a corruption of kumi
or komori, words which would refer to the thick luxuriance of the
foliage. The dictionaries do not help us much to a decision on the
point.
20 The component parts of this tremendous name, which is happily
abbreviated to Ake-tatsu in the subsequent portions of the text, are
somewhat obscure, especially the word oyu, which reading rests only
on a conjecture of Motowori's, who emends the evidently erroneous
character to (oyu), "old." Toyo, "luxuriant," is an Honorific,
ake and tatsu signify respectively "dawn" and "rise," while the rest
seem to be names of places of which this Prince may be supposed to
have been the possessor.
₺
21 Or, the Prince of Unakami, as Unakami is the name of a place
in Kadzusa.
22 I.e., shown by divination.
23 Nara in Yamato, which is here mentioned for the first time,
was the capital of Japan from A.D. 710 to 784, and has always been
famous in Japanese history and literature. The name is derived by
the author of the "Chronicles" from the verb narasu, "to cause to
resound," the hosts of the Emperor Sū-jin having, it is said, caused
the earth to resound with their trampling when they went out to do
battle with Hani-yasu. A more probable derivation is from nara, the
name of a kind of deciduous oak, the Quercus glandulifera. The word
rendered " gate" should possibly be taken simply in the sense of
"exit" or (6
approach."
24 Or, "lame people and blind people,” a peculiarly unlucky omen
for travellers, to whom, as Motowori remarks, sound feet and good
eyesight are indispensable to carry them on their way.
25 See Sect. LXIV, Note 25.
236 (C
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXV.
person and a blind person, and that only the Ki gate,—a side
gate, would be the lucky gate; and when they started off,
they established the Homuji clan in every place they arrived
at. So when they had reached Idzumo and had finished
worshipping the Great Deity, and were returning up [to the
capital], they made in the middle of the River Hi28 a black
plaited bridge and respectfully offered a temporary palace [for
the august child] to dwell in.29 Then when the ancestor of
the rulers of the Land of Idzumo, whose name was Kihisa-
tsu-mi,30 having made an imitation green-leafed mountain,31
J
26 In the text the word gate is here, by a copyist's error, written
"moon." When the author says that the Ki gate, i.., gate or exit
leading to the provinee of Ki, is a "side-gate," he means that it was
not the one by which travellers would naturally have left the town:
-the province of Ki, indeed, is to the South of Yamato where the
capital was, whereas the province of Idzumo, whither they were
bound, was to the north-west. This road into Ki over Matsuchi-yama
is one famous in the classical poetry of Japan.
"
""
27 Homuji-be. The meaning of the clause is that they granted the
surname of Homuji to persons in every important locality through
which they passed on their journey.
C:
28 See Sect. XVIII, Note 2.
29 The signification of this passage is: "They built as a temporary
abode for the prince a house in the River Hi (whether with its
foundations actually in the water or on an island is left undetermined),
connecting it with the main land by a bridge made of branches of
of trees twisted together and with their bark left on them" (this is
here the import of the word "black"). Such bridges have been met
with by the translator in the remote northern province of Deha,
where the country people call them shiba-bashi (or, rather, in their
patois suba-bash',* i.e., "twig-bridges ").
twig-bridges"). The traveller is so likely to
fall through interstices into the stream below, that it is not to be
wondered at that they should now be confined to the rudest localities.
Hurdle-bridge.-W.G.A.
30 Motowori supposes Kihisa to be the name of a place, and tsu-mi
to stand as usual for tsu moch", "possessor," according to which view
the name would mean "lord" or possessor" of Kihisa.
(C
VOL. XXV.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXII.
237
32
placed [it] in the lower reach of the river, and was about to
present the great august food, the august child spoke, saying:
"What here resembles a green-leafed mountain in the lower
"[reach of the] river, looks like a mountain, but is not a
"mountain. Is it perchance the great court33 of the deacon34
"who holds in reverence the Great Deity Ugly-Male-of-the-
"Reed-Plains that dwells in the temple of So at Ihakuma in
"Idzumo ?"36 [Thus] he deigned to ask. Then the Kings,
who had been sent in august attendance [on him], hearing
with joy and seeing with delight,37 set the august child to
dwell in the palace of Nagaho at Ajimasa, and despatched a
£5
28
31 No book of reference with which the translator is acquainted
throws any light on this curious expression, and there is no parallel
passage in the "Chronicles to which to look for help.
32 Viz., to the Prince ("the august child"). The preparations
which Kihisa-tsu-mi is here said to have made are supposed by
Motowori to have been prompted by a desire to add beauty to the
feast. But the whole passage is very obscure.
""
33 Viz., the court in front of, or the approach to, the shrine, which
would naturally be planted with the sacred tree, the saka-ki (Cleyera
japonica), and thus justify the prince's comparison to it of the artificial
grove at which he was looking.
34 I.e., the priest attached to the worship of, etc. For "deacon
see Note 33 to Sect. LXII.
""
35 Ashihara-shiko-wo, one of the many names of the Deity Oho-
kuni-nushi (“Master of the Great Land," see Sect. XX, Note 19),
the Deity whom the Prince and his followers had just been worshipping.
36 These names cannot now be identified, and are of uncertain
etymology. Ihakuma seems, however, to mean "curve in the rock.”
One would have expected in this place, instead of these unkown
names, to find a reference to the main temple of the Deity, which
was styled Kidzuki no oho-yashiro, i.e., "the great shrine of Kidzuki.”
37 Some such words as "the changed and more intelligent appearance
of the Prince, and his attainment of the power of speech" must be
mentally supplied in order to bring out the sense which the author
intends to convey.
38 These names cannot be identified. Nagaho signifies "long rice-
ear," while ajimasa in modern usage is the name of a palm (the
238 ((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXV.
courier [to inform the Heavenly Sovereign]. Then the august
child wedded Princess Hinaga for one night. So, on looking
privately at the beautiful maiden, [he found her] to be a
serpent, at the sight of which he fled away alarmed. Then
Princess Hinaga was vexed, and, illuminating the sea-plain,⁰
pursued after them in a ship; and they, more and more
alarmed at the sight, pulled the august vessel across the
mountain-folds,41 and went fleeing up [to the capital]. There-
upon they made a report, saying: "We have come up [to
"the capital] because thy great and august child has become
"able to speak through worshipping the Great Deity." So
the Heavenly Sovereign, delighted, forthwith sent King Una-
kami back to build the Deity's temple. Thereupon the
Heavenly Sovereign, on account of this august child, established
the Totori Clan, the Torikahi Clan, the Homuji Clan, the
Ohoyuwe and the Wakayuwe.
42
Levistona Sinensis); but Motowori supposes that it formerly designated
the palmetto or some cognate tree.
39 Hi-naga-hime. The signification of the name is obscure, but it
would seem most natural to suppose it connected with the River Hi
which figures in the Idzumo cycle of legends. A proposal of Moto-
wori's to read Koye-naga instead of the traditional Hi-naga seems
scarcely to be meant in earnest. If accepted, it would give us the
meaning of fat and long princess," with reference to the story of
her being a serpent.
CC
40 It will be remembered that the Province of Idzumo is a
maritime one, and that the fugitives might be supposed to reach the
sea-shore in their flight. It is true that this is exactly the reverse of
the direction which they would be obliged to take in travelling up
to the capital, which was in Yamato.
41 I.e., the depressions or valleys separating one mountain from
another.
42 In the original Totori-be, Torikahi-be, Homuji-be, Oho- yuwe
and Waka-yuwe. All these " gentile names have a meaning con-
necting them either really or apparently with the
story above
related,-to-tori signifying "bird-catcher and tori-kahi "bird-feeder,"
while the name of the Homuji Clan is of course derived from that
""
""
VOL. XXV.]
239
VOL. II. SECT. LXXIII.
[SECT. LXXIII.—EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART V.--HIS LATER WIVES).]
}
Again, in accordance with the Empress's words, he sum-
moned Her Augustness Princess Hibasu, next Her Augustness
Princess Oto, next Her August Princess Utakori, next Her
Augustness Princess Matonu,¹ daughters of Princess Michi-no-
ushi,--four Deities in all. Now he kept the two Deities Her
Augustness Princess Hibasu and Her Augustness Princess Oho;
but as for the two Deities the younger queens, he sent them
back to their native place on account of their extreme hideous-
ness. Thereupon Princess Matonu said with mortification:
"When it is known in the neighbouring villages that, among
"sisters of the same family, we have been sent back on
“account of our ugliness, it will be extremely mortifying;
and, on reaching Sagaraka in the Land of Yamashiro, she
tried to kill herself by hanging herself from a branch of a
""
of the Prince (Homuchi or Homuji), and Oho-yuwe and Waha-yuwe
signify respectively "elder bather” and “
younger bather."
1 Hibasu-hime, Oto-hime and Matomu-hime. The first two of these
names have already appeared above, where the etymology of Hibasu
was said to be doubtful, while Oto signifies "younger sister." Matonu
has likewise already appeared, and is of uncertain derivation. Moto-
wori supposes this last name to be in this place but an alias for
Utakori, which he explains in the sense of "sad heart," with reference
to the story of this princess as here told. In any case there is con-
fusion in the legend, for in the parallel passage of the "Chronicles
five princesses are mentioned, whereas at the end of Sect. LXXI of
these "Records" the Empress is made to speak of only two. The
father's name has been already there explained.
در
2 The real derivation of this name is obscure. The ancient
(perhaps here and elsewhere supposititious ancient) form Sagari-ki
signifies "hanging-tree." Saga-raka is written, a good example
of the free manner in which some Chinese characters were anciently
used for phonetic purposes. Sau-raku, Sa-raku or Sa-gara would be
the only readings possible in the modern tongue.
3 Literally, "wished to die." Motowori supposes that her design
was frustrated by her attendants.
240
CC
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXV.
tree.
So that place was called by the name of Sagariki.
It
is now called Sagaraka. Again, on reaching Otokuni, she at
last killed herself by jumping into a deep pool. So that place
was called by the name of Ochikuni. It is now called
Otokuni.
[SECT. LXXIV.—EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART VI.—TAJIMA-MORI
BRINGS BACK THE ORANGE FROM THE ETERNAL LAND).]
Again the Heavenly Sovereign sent Tajima-mori,¹ ancestor
of the Chiefs of Miyake,2 to the Eternal Land³ to fetch the
fruit of the everlasting fragrant tree. So Tajima-mori at last
reached that country, plucked the fruit of the tree, and brought
of clubmoss eight and of spears eight 5 but meanwhile the
1
4 Written with characters signifying younger country,” but here
supposed by the author to be derived from ochi-kuni, "falling country,"
in connection with this legend.
5 Lit., "died by falling."
(6
1 The meaning of this name, which is written phonetically both
here and in the "Chronicles," has given rise to differences of opinion,
some deriving it from the name of the province of Tajima (itself of
obscure origin) and from the word mori "keeper,” while others think
it comes from tachibana, the Japanese word for orange, with reference
to the story here told. The supporters of the former view, on the
other hand, derive the word tachibana from Tajima-mori.
store " or
2 Miyake no murazhi. Whether miyake is simply the name of a·
place or whether it should be taken in the sense of
“granary,” is uncertain. If the latter view be adopted, it would
be natural to suppose that this family had originally furnished
the superintendents of the Imperial granaries. In any case it traced
its origin to a Korean source (see the "Catalogue of Family Names,"
and the genealogies in Sect. CXV).
3 See Sect. XXVII, Note 12.
4 Written in the parallel passage of the Chronicles with
characters signifying literally "timeless." The whole of this circum-
locution for the orange has indeed to be interpreted by the help of the
"Chronicles," it being here written phonetically and offering some
difficulties as it stands.
"(
CC
""
VOL. XXV.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXV.
241
1
6
Heavenly Sovereign had died. Then Tajima-mori set apart of
clubmoss four and of spears four, which he presented to the
Great Empress, and set up of clubmoss four and of spears
four as an offering at the door of the Heavenly Sovereign's
august mausoleum, and, raising on high the fruit of the tree,
wailed and wept, saying: "Bringing the fruit of the everlasting
fragrant tree from the Eternal Land, I have come to serve
"thee;" and at last he wailed and wept himself to death.
This fruit of the everlasting fragrant tree is what is now
called the orange.7
(C
[SECT. LXXV.-EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART VII.—HIS DEATH AND
THAT OF THE EMPRESS HIBASU).]
This Heavenly Sovereign's august years were one hundred
and fifty-three. His august mausoleum is in the middle of
the moor of Mitachi at Sugahara. Again in the time of the
Great Empress Her Augustness Princess Hibasu,2 the Stone-
1
">
5 This corrupt and obscure passage seems to be well restored by
Motowori, whose explanation of it is likewise as convincing as it is
ingenious. Tne expression
Tne expression "clubmoss-oranges" signifies oranges as
they grow on the branch surrounded by leaves, while “ spear-oranges
are the same divested of leaves and hanging to the bare twig. Thus
the words "clubmoss
clubmoss" and
and "spear
spear" came to be used as Auxiliary
Numerals for oranges plucked in these two different manners."
<C
*I hae my doots.-W.G.A.
6 Viz., says Motowori, Princess Hibasu, who however, according
to the account in the " Chronicles," was already dead at this time.
7 The word tachibana (written) in the text should probably be
taken as
a specific and not as a general term.
In modern usage it
designates the Citrus japonica. But it is a matter of dispute whether
the application of the term has not altered since ancient times, and
whether we should not understand by it one of the other kinds of
orange now to be found in Japan,-perhaps the Citrus nobilis.
1 Both the locality and the etymology of Mitachi are obscure.
Sugahara ("sedge-moor ") is known to be in the province of Yamato.
2 I.e., at the time of the burial of the great Empress, etc.
ور
}
242
(6 KO-JI-KI,', OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXV.
Coffin-Makers" were established, and also the Earthenware-
Masters' Clan was established. This Empress was buried in
the mausoleum of Terama near Saki.5
3 The character ("to pray ") in the text is indubitably a copyist's
error for " coffin." These stone coffins are described by Mr.
Henry von Siebold in his "Notes on Japanese Archæology" p. 5. It
must be understood that, from being the name of an office, Stone-
Coffin-Maker (Ishi-ki-tsukuri) became a
<<
gentile name."
4 Hanishi-be. The meaning of this expression becomes clear by
reference to the parallel passage of the "Chronicles," which it may
be worth while to quote at length from Mr. Satow's translation in
pp. 329-330 of Vol. VIII, Pt. III, of these Transactions: "In
“the autumn of the 32nd year, on the tsuchi no to u day of the moon,
'which rose on the ki no ye inu day, the empress Hi-ba-su hime no
"Mikoto (in another source called Hi-ba-su ne no Mikoto) died, and
"they were several days going to bury her. The Mikado commanded
"all his high officers, saying: 'We knew before that the practice of
"following the dead is not good. In the case of the present burying,
“what shall be done?' Thereupon Nomi no Sukune advanced and
"said: "It is not good to bury living men standing at the sepulchre
<
of a prince, and this cannot be handed down to posterity. I pray
"leave now to propose a convenient plan, and to lay this before the
""sovereign.' And he sent messengers to summon up a hundred of
"the clay-workers' tribe of the country of Idzumo, and he himself
"directed the men of the clay-workers' tribe in taking clay and
"forming shapes of men, horses and various things, and presented
"them to the Mikado, saying: 'From now and henceforward let it be
"the law for posterity to exchange things of clay for living men,
(6
and set them up at sepulchres.' Thereupon the Mikado rejoiced,
'and commended Nomi no Sukune, saying: 'Thy expedient plan
"has truly pleased Our heart;' and the things of clay were for the
"first time set up at the tomb of Hi-ba-su hime no Mikoto. Where-
"fore these things were called haniwa (a circle of clay). Then he sent
"down an order, saying: 'From now and henceforward, be sure to
"set up these things of clay at sepulchres, and let not men be slain.'
"The Mikado bountifully praised Nomi no Sukune, bestowed on him
"a kneading-place, and appointed him to the charge of the clay-
"workers' tribe."
7 In the province of Yamato. In the old poetry there are many
<<
(6
VOL. XXVI.]
243
VOL. II. SECT. LXXVI.
[SECT. LXXVI.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART I.-GENEALOGIES).]
The Heavenly Sovereign Oho-tarashi-hiko-oshiro - wake
dwelt in the palace of Hishiro at Makimuku,' and ruled the
Empire. This Heavenly Sovereign wedded the Elder Lady of
Inabi in Harima,2 daughter of Waka-take, Prince of Kibi,³
ancestor of the Grandees of Kibi, and begot august children:
King Kushi-tsunu-wake ;5 next His Augustness Oho-usu :6
4
plays on this word Saki, which is homonymous with the Verb "to
blossom." But whether that be its real derivation, it were hard to
say. Terama appears to signify "Budhist temple-space," an etymology
which is embarrassing to the Shinto commentators who, accepting
every word of our text as authentic history, are hard-driven to explain
how Buddhist temples could have existed in Japan before the date
assigned for the introduction of Buddhism.
Tera is a Chinese word which came to Japan through the
Corean --W.G.A.
1 In the province of Yamato. The etymology of Makimuku is
obscure. Hi-shiro, is tentatively derived by Motowori from hi, the
Chamaecyparis obtusa (a kind of conifer), and shiro, "an enclosure."
2 Harima no inabi no oho-iratsume. Inabi is also known under
the alternative form of Inami: etymology uncertain.
Waka-take signifies "young brave."
3 Waka-take Kibi tsu hiko.
4 Kibi no omi.
5 Kushi signifies "wondrous," and wake either "young." or "lord."
The meaning of tsunu is obscure.
<<
6 The names of this prince and the next signify respectively
"great foot-pestle " and "little foot-pestle," the origin of the bestowal
of which singular designations is thus related in the parallel passage of
the "Chronicles: "The Imperial child Oho-usu and His Augustness
"Wo-usu were born together the same day as twins. The Heavenly
Sovereign, astonished, informed the foot-pestle. So the two Kings
were called Great Foot-pestle and Little foot-pestle." What the import
of this passage may be is, however, a mystery both to Tanigaha
Shisei and to Motowori.
"C
در
† Is it not usu, the "mortar "? See note in the "
mortar "? See note in the "Chronicles " where
it is thought the upper and lower stones of the quern or hand-mill
are meant.-W.G.A.
244
"(
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVI.
8
11
next His Augustness Wo-usu, another name for whom is His
Augustness Yamato-wo-guna; next His Augustness Yamato-
ne-ko; next King Kamu-kushi. Again wedding Her August-
ness Princess Yasaka-no-iri,10 daughter of His Augustness Prince
Yasaka-no-iri, he begot august children: His Augustness Prince
Waka-tarashi; next His Augustness Prince Iho-ki-no-iri ;12
next His Augustness Oshi-no-wake;13
Oshi-no-wake; 13 next Her Augustness
Princess Iho-ki-no-iri.14 Children by another concubine were:
King Toyo-to-wake;15 next the Lady Nunoshiro.16 Children
by another concubine were: the Lady Nunaki; next Her
Augustness Princess Kago-yori ;18 next King Prince Waka-ki-no-
iri;19 next King the Elder Prince of Kibi-no-ye;20 next Her
9
7 Motowori supposes wo-guna to have been an archaic word for
"boy," me-guna signifying "girl." Yamato wo-guna would thus
signify "the boy of Japan," a not inappropriate designation for this.
prince, who under his later name of Yamato-take (Japan Brave, i.e.,
"the brave man of Japan") has remained as the chief legendary type
of the martial prowess of his native land,
3 I.e., Yamato Prince.
9 Kamu-kushi no miko, i.e., "divine wondrous."
10 Ya-saka no iri-bime no mikoto. The signification of this name
and of the next (Ya-saka no iri-biko no mikoto) is obscure."
* Saka from the Chinese Shaku?-W.G.A.
11 Waka-tarashi-hiko no mikoto, i.e., "young and perfect prince."
12 I-ho-ki no iri-biko no mikoto. Signification obscure.
13 Or, Oshi-wake, i.e., perhaps "Great Lord."
14 I-ho-ki no iri-bime no mikoto. Signification obscure.
15 Toyo-to-wake no mikoto, i.e., perhaps "luxuriant swift prince."
16 Nunoshiro no iratsume. Signification obscure.
17 Nunaki no iratsume. Signification obscure.
18 Kago-yori-hime no mikoto. Yori-hime probably means "good
princess." The sense of kago is very doubtful, for it may either be
the name of a place, or else identical with the Verb kagayaku “to
shine,” or with kago, a stag."
<<
19 Waka-ki no iri-biko no mikoto. The signification of this name
is obscure.
20 Kibi no ye-hiko no mikoto.
*
VOL. XXVI.]
245
VOL. II. SECT. LXXVI.
Augustness Princess Takaki; next Her Augustness Princess
Oto.22 Again wedding Princess Mi-hakashi of Himuka,23 he
begot an august child: King Toyo-kuni-wake. Again wedding
the Younger Lady of Inabi,25 younger sister of the Elder Lady
of Inabi, he begot august children: King Ma-waka 26 next
King Hiko-hito-no-oho-ye. Again wedding Princess Ka-guro,28
daughter of King Prince Sume-iro-oho-naka-tsu-hiko,29 great-
grandchild of His Augustness Yamato-take, he begot an august
30
1
21 Takaki-hime no mikoto. The meaning of takaki in this place is
not certain.
22 Oto-hime no mikoto, i.e., "the younger princess."
23 Himuka no Mi-hakashi-bime. Mi hakashi signifies "august sabre."
See Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXVI, p. 11, for a gloss on this
curious name.
"C
24 Toyo-kuni-wake no miko, i.e., perhaps "lord of the luxuriant
land," or else "lord of the land of Toyo," the Empeior Kei-kō
having, according to the account in the " Chronicles," spent some
years fighting in South-Western Japan, where the province of Toyo
is situated.
25 Inabi no waki-iratsume. See Note 2 to this Section.
26 Ma-waka no miko, i.e., "truly young prince."
<<
27 Hiko-hito no oho-ye no miko. Hiko signifies "prince," hito is
person" (or here, according to Motowori, "headman "), and oho-ye
is "great elder brother."
28 Ka-guro-hime, i.e., probably "the black-haired princess."
29 Sume-iro-oho-naka-tsu-hiko-no-mikoto. The signification of this
name is not clear. Motowori identifies sume with the like-sounding
Verb signifying "to be supreme." Oho-naka-tsu-hiko may signify
great middle prince," referring to the comparative ages of this prince
and his brethren.
30 There is here an evident error in the genealogy, as it would
make the emperor marry his own great-great-grand daughter! A guess
of the editor of 1687 that for Yamato-take we should read Waka-take
(a son of the Emperor Kō-rei) is approved by Motowori, and may be
adopted as probably correct,-i.e., (what is but little likely) if this
portion of the "Records " should eventually be proved to be historically
trustworthy. The question is discussed by Motowori in Vol. XXVI,
pp. 12-14, of his Commentary.
246
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVI.
32
child: King Oho-ye.³¹ The august children of this Heavenly
Sovereign Oho-tarashi-hiko numbered in all twenty-one kings
and queens of whom there is a register, and fifty-nine kings
and queens of whom there is no record,-eighty kings and
queens altogether, out of whom His Augustness Waka-tarashi-
hiko and also His Augustness Yamato-take, and also His August-
ness Prince I-ho-ki-no-iri,—these three Kings,-bore the name
of Heirs Apparent.33 The seventy-seven kings and and queens.
beside these were all granted Rulerships in the various lands,
or else [posts as] Lords, Territorial Lords or Departmental
Chiefs.35 So His Augustness Waka-tarashi-hiko [was he who
afterward] ruled the Empire. His Augustness Wo-usu subdued
the savage deities and likewise the unsubmissive people in
the East and West. The next, King Kushi-tsunu-wake. (was
the ancestor of the chiefs of Mamuta). The next, His August-
ness Oho-Usu, (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Mori,37 of the
Dukes of Ohota and of the Dukes of Shimada).29 The next, King
28
31 Oho-ye no miko. This name would, as Motowori remarks, appear
to have erroneously crept in here through the influence of the name
mentioned in Note 27, the whole account of this union with Princess
Ka-guro being corrupt.
32 The Japanese term (E miko) includes both males and females.
33 太子​.
34 As above remarked, the Japanese term includes both males and
females, and moreover some of the female children are specially
mentioned. The difficulty as to how females could have been appointed
to the offices here mentioned is not solved by Motowori, whose note on
this passage is evasive.
35 The four names of offices (also used as gentile names ") here
mentioned are in the original Japanese Kuni no Miyatsuko, Wake,
Inaki and Agata-nushi. (See Introduction, p. xvi.)
36 Mamuta no murazhi. (See Sect. LIII, Note 1).
37 Mori no kimi. Mori seems to be the name of a place (perhaps
in Mino); but nothing is known of this family.
33 Ohota no kimi. Ohota is the name of a place in Mino, and
signifies "great rice-fields."
39 Shimada no kimi. Shimada is perhaps the name of a place in
Wohari. It signifies "island rice-field.”
CC
VOL. XXVI.]
247
VOL. II. SECT. LXXVII.
*
Kamu-kushi, (was the ancestor of the Sakabe Abiko in the Land of
Ki,40 and of the Sakabe of Uda).41 The next, King Toyo-kuni-
wake (was the ancestor of the Rulers of the Land of Himuka).
42
[SECT. LXXVII.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART II.—THE MAIDENS
YE-HIME AND OTO-HIME).]
2
3
Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, to assure himself of
what he had heard of the beauty of the two maidens Ye-hime
and Oto-hime,¹ daughters of King Kamu-oho-ne, ancestor of
the Rulers of the Land of Minu, sent his august child, His
Augustness Oho-usu, to summon them up [to the Capital].
So His Augustness Oho-usu who had been sent, instead of
summoning them up, forthwith wedded both the maidens
himself, and then sought other women, to whom he falsely gave
the maidens' names, and sent them up [to his father]. Hereupon
the Heavenly Sovereign, knowing them to be other women,
frequently subjected them to his long glances; but, never
wedding them, caused them to sorrow. So the child that
His Augustness Oho-usu begot on wedding Ye-hime, was King
40 Ki no kuni no sakabe no abiko. For abiko see Sect. LXXII,
Note 85. Sakabe seems to signify "liquor tribe," this family and the
next having been entrusted with the management of the Imperial
feasts.
41 Uda no Sakabe, i.e., the "Liquor Tribe of Uda" (in Yamato).
42 Himuka no kuni no miyatsuko.
*This is Motowori, but is hardly satisfactory. Probably the text
is corrupt.-W.G.A.
1 I.e., the elder princess and the younger princess
2 See Sect. LXII, Note 36.
3 Minu no kuni no miyatsuko.
4 I.e., “gazed at them intently." The Classical word nagamuru,
(6
to gaze," is properly a compound of naga, "long," and miru, "to
see."
†There is no causative in the Chinese, and the 'sorrow' might be
the Tenno's. The causative form given by Motowori is probably
meant to be Honorific only.--W.G.A.
248 "KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVII.
Oshi-kuro-no-ye-hiko5 (he was the ancestor of the Lords of Unesu
in Minu).6 Again, the child that he begot on wedding Oto-
hime, was King Oshi-kuro-no-oto-hiko (he was the ancestor of
the Dukes of Mugetsu).?
[SECT. LXXVIII.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART III.—VARIOUS DEEDS).]
2
In this august reign the Labourers' Tribe¹ was established;
again, the port of Aha in the East was established; again, the
Great Butlers' Tribe was established; again, the granaries of
Yamato were established; again, the Pool of Sakate was made,
and bamboos planted on its bank.3
[SECT. LXXIX. EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART IV.—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;
5 The meaning of the syllables oshi in this name and the com-
panion one (Oshi-kuro no oto-hiko) immediately below is probably
"great" kuro is obscure; ye-hiko signifies "elder prince" and oto-hiko
younger prince.”
6 Minu no Unesu no wake. Of Unesu nothing is known.
7 'Mugetsu no kimi. Mugetsu or Muge was in the province of
Minu (Mino).
1 Such is the reasonable explanation of the original term tabe
(H) given by Motowori. It seems to have become a "gentile name."
2 Kashihade no oho-tomo-be. This “gentile name originally
denoted one who was butler, steward, or cook, in the Emperor's
household. The tradition of its origin is preserved in the “Chroni-
cles."
<<
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3 Motowori supposes that the mention both is this history and in
the "Chronicles of Japan" of the planting of bamboos on the banks
of this pool or lake should be attributed to the rarity of such a
proceeding in ancient times.
1 Viz., to attend on his Imperial father.
•
VOL. XXVII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXX.
249
(C
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 trou-
ble?" 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,³ wrapped them in matting
"and flung them away."
(C
>*
[SECT. LXXX.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART V.—YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS
THE KUMASO BRAVOES).]
Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, alarmed at the valour
and ferocity of his august child's disposition, commanded him,
saying: "In the West there are two Kumaso bravoes,¹-
"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
Augustness Wo-usu was granted by his aunt Her Augustness
Yamato-hime her august [upper] garment and august skirt;
2 I.e., "How didst thou do it?"
3 Literally, "branches."
№:
Motowori thinks he may have survived this treatment !—W.G.A.
1 I.e., presumably "bravoes at Kumaso;" but it is to be remarked
that in this and like compounds with takeru (“bravo ") the Japanese
language uses no Post-position. For Kumaso see Sect. V, Note 17.
2 Motowori seems right in interpreting "take" here and elsewhere
in the sense of "slay." But
slay." But "take" is in the text.
3 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.
4 Who was high-priestess of the temple of the Great Deity of
Ise, as mentioned in Sect. LXIX (Note 44).
+
250
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVII.
7
A
8
and, with a sabre hidden in his august bosom, he went forth.5
So, on reaching the house of the Kumaso bravoes, he saw
that near the house there was a three-fold 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 neighbour-
hood, waiting for the day of the rejoicing. Then when the
day of the rejoicingt 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.
9
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 sabre from his bosom, and
catching Kumaso¹0 by the collar of his garment, thrust the
sabre 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
11
5 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.
6 The character used is, which simply means apartment; but
see Sect. XLVIII, Note 1.
Were they not actually dwelling in it?—W.G.A.
" is in the
7 Motowori reads "New cave," but the word august
At the same time we see that this feast was intended as a
house-warming. Conf. the commencement of Sect. CLXIV.
† Merry-making? "Rejoicing" a little too comprehensive.-W.G.A.
8 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."
9 Or, according to the old reading, "mixing with the concubines."
10 I.e., the elder bravo of Kumaso.
11 The word rendered “ steps" is of doubtful interpretation.
text.
*
CC
VOL. XXVII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXX.
251
the back,12 [Prince Wo-usu] thrust the sabre through his but-
tock. Then the Kumaso bravo 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
"Yamato-wo-guna. Hearing that you two [fellows¹4], 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.15 Yet in the Land of Great Yamato there is a
man braver than we two, there is.16* 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.¹7 "
(C
((
"C
12 Or perhaps "the skin of his back or "the [beast's?] skin on
his back." But Motowori is probably right in supposing the character
,"skin" to be an error for , "with," to be construed with the
word "sabre." (In the English idiom this Particle falls away.)
i Yes.-W.G.A.
13 Written with the humble character, "servant."
14 The contemptuous Second Personal Pronoun ore is used here and
in the next clause.
15 There is Motowori's authority for thus understanding the bravo's
words. Taken still more literally, they would seem to imply that
there were no brave and strong men in the West excepting himself
and his brother.
16 The words "there is" are an attempt at rendering the termi-
nation keri of the original. See Sect. X, Note 1.
The force of Keri here is somewhat like: "Yet in the land," etc.-
"it has appeared that,"-" it has turned out that,"-" it would seem
that "—"it has come to pass that,”—“I find that.”—W.G.A.
17 I.e., “Yamato-Brave,” q.d., "the Bravest in Yamato." It is by
his name that the hero is always commonly spoken of.
Remember
•
252
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVII.
18
As soon as he had finished saying this, [the Prince] ripped
him up¹8 like a ripe melon,19 and slew him.20 So thenceforward
he was praised by being called by the august name of 20 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,22 and then went up to [the
capital].
[SECT. LXXXI.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART VI.—YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS
THE IDZUMO BRAVO).]
Forthwith entering the Land of Idzumo, and wishing to
slay the Idzumo bravo, he, on arriving, forthwith bound [him-
self 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.2 Then,
His Augustness Yamato-take, getting out of the river first, and
taking and girding on the sword* that the Idzumo bravo had
that "august child" signifies prince.
18, "broke," in the text is, as the commentators observe, an
18折
​evident error for , "ripped."
19 Or specifically, the "musk-melon."
20 The translator has followed Motowori's restoration of this pas-
sage, in which, by the transposition of the characters and, the
end of this sentence and the beginning of the next were mixed
together in the older editions.
21 Lit., "[they] praised the august name, calling him," etc.
22 Or, “of the Ana passage" (lit. door), the modern Strait of
Shimonoseki. The word ana signifies "hole," and there is a tradition
(which Motowori quotes in his note on this name in Vol. XXVII,
pp. 26-29 of his Commentary) 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.
1 The species mentioned (chihi) is the Quercus gilva.
2 See Sect. XVIII, Note 2.
*
Cross-sword.—W.G.A.
VOL. XXVII.]
253
VOL. II. SECT. LXXXII.
taken off and laid down, said: "Let us exchange swords!"
So afterwards the Idzumo bravo, getting out of the river,
girded on His Augustness Yamato-take's false sword. Here-
"Come
upon His Augustness Yamato-take, suggested, saying:
on! let us cross3 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! "4
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].
[SECT. LXXXII.—EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART VII.—YAMATO-TAKE IS SENT
TO SUBDUE THE EAST, AND VISITS HIS AUNT AT ISE).]
66
Then the Heavenly Sovereign again urged a command on
His Augustness Yamato-take, saying: "Subdue and pacify
'the savage Deities and likewise the unsubmissive people of
"the twelve roads of the East;" and when he sent him off,
"joining to him Prince Mi-suki-tomo-mimi-take,² ancestor of
3 Lit., "let us join swords." The word " suggested" () in this
sentence is an emendation of Motowori's, the text having,
"slan-
dered." The older printed editions, while retaining the character,
read it azamukite, “deceived.”
4 In its position in the present text, this Song must be taken as
an ironical lament of the Prince for the dead bravo. In the "Chro-
nicles" the time and the heroes of the episode, and the singers of
the Song are all different, and in that context the lament sounds like
a genuine one. The reader will remember what was said in the
Introduction as to the use of creepers for string. That mentioned in
the text is supposed to be the Cocculus thunbergi.
1 See Sect. LXVI, Note 2.
2Mi-suki-tomo-mimi-take-hiko.
Mi is an Honorific, mimi probably
254
66
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVII.
"the Grandees of Kibi,³ he bestowed on him a holly-wood+ ·
spear eight fathoms [long]. So when he had received the
[Imperial] commands and started off, he went into the temple
of the Great August Deity of Ise, and worshipped the Deity's
court,5 forthwith speaking to his aunt, Her Augustness Yamato-
hime, saying: "It must surely be that the Heavenly Sovereign
"thinks I may die quickly; for after sending me to smite
"the wicked people of the West, I am no sooner come up
again [to the capital] than, without bestowing on me an
"army, he now sends me off afresh to pacify the wicked peo-
ple of the twelve circuits of the East. Consequently I think
“that he certainly thinks I shall die quickly.” When he
departed with lamentations and tears, Her Augustness Yamato-
hime bestowed on him the "Herb-Quelling-Sabre," and like-
wise bestowed on him an august bag, and said: "If there
should be an emergency, open the mouth of the bag."
"C
(C
signifies "ears," and take means "brave." The words suki and tomo
are obscure.
3 Kibi no omi.
4 Properly the Olea aquifolium, which resembles holly. Motowori
supposes that an entirely wooden spear or stick is here meant to be
spoken of, and not the weapon with a metal point which is commonly
understood by the word " spear" (hoko).
5 Perhaps we should write "august court," for the characters
in the text are evidently intended for the homonymous.
The court in front of the Deity's temple is what is here alluded to,
and it would perhaps be a not unpardonable departure from the text
to insert the Preposition "at" or "in, and translate thus: wor-
shipped in the Deity's court.
* Conf. mi-maye.-W.G.A.
6 Here and below, the word
66
)):::
"thinks may be understood to
در
mean wishes."
7 Kusa-nagi no tsurugi. 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 at the end of Sect.
XVIII.
8 The use of the contents of this bag will be seen in the next
Section.
▸
VOL. XXVII.]
255
VOL. II. SECT. LXXXIII.
(C
L
[SECT. LXXXIII.—EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART VIII.—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,2 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
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
'very violent Deity."
4
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1
""
Miyazu-hime (in the "Chronicles" and in the printed editions
of these "Records previous to Motowori's written Miyasu-hime
without the nigori). Neither Motowori nor Tanigaha Shisei makes any
suggestion as to the signification of this name.
2 Wohari no miyatsuko:
3 In later times Sagami. No authority great or small has given
a satisfactory etymology of this name, though numerous and elaborate
attempts have been made to explain it.
4 In the original_hi-uchi († ‡J). Mr. Satow, who has given a
translation of this passage in a note to his third paper on the
"Rituals to be found in Vol. IX, Pt. II, p. 202 of these "Transac-
tions," renders this word by "steel." 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 near the end of Sect. XXXII, where
the fire-drill is explicitly mentioned. He also quotes an ancient ode
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▾
256 (6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVII.
<
herbage with his august sword, took the fire-striker and struck
out fire, and, kindling a counter-fire, burnt [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 burnt them. So [that place] is now called Yakidzu.6
5
[SECT. LXXXIV. EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART IX.—YAMATO-TAKE'S
EMPRESS STILLS THE WAVES).]
2
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
[Yamato-take's] Empress, whose name was Her Augustness
Princess Oto-tachibana said: "I will enter the sea instead
'of the august child.5 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
CC
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.
The word "strike," seems hardly applicable to a fire-drill.-W.G.A.
5 Remember that this word "Ruler" (Miyatsuko) had the accep-
tation 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 des-
troyed the whole Ruling Family of Sagami. The parallel passage of
the "Chronicles" has "he burnt all that rebel band, and destroyed
them."
*
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>>
<<
6 The words rendered that place are supplied by Motowori,
their omission being evidently a copyist's error. Yaki-dzu signifies
"the port of burning.”
1 I.e., "running water."
2 I.e., his consort.
Conf. Sect. LXXX, Note 5.
3 Oto-tachibana-hime no mikoto. (See Sect. XCII, Note 3.)
""
4 Written with the humble character, literally "concubine."
5 I.e., "instead of thee, the Prince."
6 More literally, "finish the government."
7 Or "mats." But the same word is used as that which must be
translated "rugs" immediately below.
VOL. XXVII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXXIV.
257
}
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] enquired of, standing
"in the midst of the flames of the fire burn-
"ing on the little moor of Sugamu, where
"the true peak pierces 1"3
So seven days afterwards the Empress's august comb drifted
onto the sea-beach,-which comb was forthwith taken and
placed in an august mausoleum which was made.
CC
8 This Song gives much trouble to the commentators, whose re-
marks (to be found in Motowori's "Commentary," Vol. XXVII, pp.
67-9, and Moribe's Idzu no Koto-waki," Vol. III, pp. 6-9) should be
consulted by the student desirous of forming an opinion of his own.
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; but almost each
individual line offers matter for doubt. Thus it is not certain whether
the Verb tohishi, here rendered "enquired of" (i.e., attended upon
q.d., by the Empress), should not rather be given the word
thou"
"thou who
as Subject, in which case the signification would be
enquiredst of [i.e., wooedst]." The word used for "thou" is the
Honorific equivalent of that Pronoun, signifying literally "prince."
Moribe disputes the propriety of considering Sagamu in this place as
the name of a province; and the word sanesashi, here translated
"where the true peak pierces" (Mt. Fuji being by some supposed to.
be thus alluded to) is of very doubtful interpretation. Motowori tells
us that the final Particles ha mo, rendered by the initial Interjection
"Oh," should here be understood as an exclamation of grief, a sig-
nification more forcible than that which usually belongs to them.
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.
*
* Nageki-kotoba is simply an interjection,-not necessarily of grief.
-W.G.A.
258
(C
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVII.
[SECT. LXXXV.-EMPEROR KEI-KO (PART X.-YAMATO-TAKE SLAYS
THE DEITY OF THE ASHIGARA PASS).]
When, having thence penetrated on and subdued all the
savage Yemishi' 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,2 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 waiting³ and striking [the deer] with a
scrap of wild chive,4* [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!”5 So that land
is called by the name of Adzuma.
Co
1 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.
(6
2 Ashigara-zaka, one of the passes from Sagami into Suruga
leading towards Mount Fuji.
3 I.e., lying in ambush.
4 Nira, the Allium odorum.
*With a scrap of the wild chive which was left over from his
meal.-W.G.A.
5 I.e.,
"Oh! my wife!" Adzuma is still used as a poetical desig-
nation of Eastern Japan. The translator doubts the correctness of
the derivation of it given in the text, although it is universally accep-
VOL. XXVII.]
259
VOL. II. SECT. LXXXVI.
1
[SECT. LXXXVI.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XI.—YAMATO-TAKE DWELLS
IN THE PALACE OF SAKAWORI).]
When, forthwith crossing over from that land out into
Kahi,' he dwelt in the palace of Sakawori,2 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:
4
"Oh! having put the days in a row, there
"are of nights nine nights, and of days ten
days!"5
((
ted and certainly fits in well with the graceful legend by which it is
here accounted for.
1 This name is identified by the native etymologists with an
homonymous Substantive signifying a place between mountains."
<<
2 The etymology of this name is uncertain. But the most likely
opinion is that it signifies "a zigzag road down a pass.”
3 I.e., since leaving the province of Hitachi, of which Tsukuha
(in modern parlance Tsukuba, with the last syllable niyori'ed) and
Nihibari (modern Nihiharu) are two districts. In the later poetry
Nihibari no is often used as a Pillow-Word for ths name of Mount
Tsukuba. The etymology of both names is uncertain, but "newly
tilled" seems to be the most probable etymology of the first of the
two.
4 Not necessarily a fire kindled for the sake of obtaining warmth,
but fire in general, including, as Motowori suggests, torches and firés
lit to drive away mosquitoes. There are frequent mentions in the
classical literature of this latter sort of fire, which may indeed still be
met with in some districts where mosquito-nets are not yet in com-
mon use.
* Continued.-W.G.A.
5 The meaning is: "On counting up, I find that we have been
ten days and nine nights."-Previous to Motowori the expression ka-ga
nabete, “having put in a row (i.e., counted) the days" was curiously
misunderstood, and subjected to various far-fetched interpretations.
There can however be no doubt but that Motowori is right.-The
260 “KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVIII.
Therefore [Yamato-take] praised the old man, and forth-
with bestowed [on him] the Rulership of the Eastern Land[s].
[SECT. LXXXVII.—EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XII.—YAMATO-TAKE Woos
PRINCESS MIYAZU).]
Having crossed over from that land into the land of
Shinanu¹ and subdued the Deity of the Shinanu pass,2 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 august liquor-cup and
presented it to him. Tunc Heræ Miyazu veli oræ adhæserunt
menstrua. Quare [Augustus Yamato-take] illa menstrua vidit
et auguste cecinit, dicens:
"Ego volui reclinare [caput] in fragili,
"molli brachiolo [tuo, quod est simile] vallo
'impingenti acutæ falci in Monti Kagu in
"cælo formato quasi cucurbita ;-ego de-
"sideravi dormire [tecum]. Sed in orâ veli
"quod induis luna surrexit."3
""
reason why the old man is said to have "completed the Prince's
song is that the former taken alone is of incomplete rhythm.†
#
Continued.-W.G.A.
† Metre; but with the old man's verse added, no verse of any
recognised metre is produced.--W.G.A.
6 Or, as Motowori would prefer to consider it, "the Rulership of
an Eastern Land,” viz., one out of the twelve Eastern provinces.
1 See Sect. XXXII, Note 26.
2 Shinanu no saka, a pass between the provinces of Shinano and
Mino which is no longer used.
3 Even taken apart from its immediate context, the import of this
Song is plain, notwithstanding Moribe's efforts to explain away its
indelicacy. The details of the first part, however, require some
comment in order to make them comprehensible to the European
reader, the words in question being those which might in English be
rendered "thy fragile, slender, delicate arm [which resembles] a post
***
VOL. XXVIII.]
261
VOL. II. SECT. LXXXVII.
Tunc Hera Miyazu augusto cantui respondit, dicens:
"Altè resplendentis solis auguste puer!
"Placidè administrationem faciens mî magne
" domine! Renovatis annis venientibus et
effluentibus, renovate lunæ eunt veniendo
"et effluendo. Sane, sane, dum te im-
"patienter exspecto, luna suâpte surgit in
"orâ veli quod ego induo!”4
<<
<<
"striking against the sharp sickle on Mount Kagu of the gourd-
'shaped heaven." In Japanese they run thus:
در
1
Hisa-kata no
Ame no Kagu--yama
To-kama ni
Sa-wataru kuhi :-
Hiha-boso
Ta-waya-gahina wo, etc.
It will he remarked that the first four lines form a Punning
Preface to the fifth. Such Punning Prefaces have not necessarily
any logical connection with what follows, as has been explained by
the present writer in a paper "On the Use of Pillow-Words and
Plays upon Words in Japanees Poetry," to be found in Vol. V, Pt. I,
pp. 79 et seq. of these "Transactions." In this particular case,
however, there is sufficient continuity of sense to warrant the con-
tinuous translation above given. The word "post," though such a
use of it is very curious, must be understood to denote not a dead,
but a living trunk, or rather the stem of some delicate plant or grass
which falls beneath the sickle of the mower on Mount Kagu in
Heaven, or, as it may better be understood, on the Heavenly Mount
Kagu [in Yamato]. "Gourd-shaped" is the translation of hisa-kata no
or hisa-gata no, the Pillow-Word for "heaven.” Its meaning is
disputed, but Mabuchi in his "Dictionary of Pillow-Words
Motowori agree in giving to it the sense here adopted (see the above-
mentioned paper
"On the Use of Pillow-Words, etc.," p. 81).
" and
4 The total sense of this Song is quite plain.-In the first lines
of it the Prince is addressed as if he were the reigning sovereign.
The words placidè administrationem faciens represent the Japanese
yasumishishi, the Pillow-Word for wa ga oho-kimi, “my great lord."
Elsewhere the English rendering "who tranquilly carries on the
262 (6
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVIII.
Quare tunc [ille] coivit [cum illâ], after which, placing in
Princess Miyazu's house his august sword "the Grass-Quelling
Sabre," he went forth to take the Deity of [Mount] Ibuki.“
[SECT. LXXXVIII.—EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XIII.—YAMATO-TAKE
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 mountain-side a
white boar whose size was like unto that of a bull.2 Then he
lifted up words, and said: "This creature that is transformed
"into a white boar must be a messenger from the Deity.4
"Though I slay it not now, I will slay it when I return,"—
and [so saying,] ascended. Thereupon the Deity caused heavy
<<
government" has been adopted. The word aratama no, rendered by
the adjective renovatis, is the Pillow-Word for sun,"
moon" and
"year," and is of not quite certain import. The interpretation here
adopted has, however, for it the weight of probability and of native
authority, Mabuchi in his "Dictionary of Pillow-Words" deriving it
from the Verb aratamaru, "to be renewed."
5 The characters in the text might also be rendered “he made a
progress," as they are those only properly applied to the movements
of a reigning sovereign. Here and elsewhere, however, they are used
in speaking of Yamato-take. (Conf. Sect. LXXX, Note 5.)
6 On the frontier of Afumi (ōmi) and Mino. Ibuki seems to
signify "blowing," in allusion, it is said, to the pestilential breath or
influence of the god by whom the place was tenanted. The word
rendered "Mount" is supplied by the editor of 1687.
1 I.e., without weapons, and specifically without the magic sword
which he had left behind in Princess Miyazu's house.
2 Or "ox," or
tween the sexes.
3 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,
4 Viz., the god of Mount Ibuki.
(C
cow," the original word not distinguishing be-
VOLII. XXVIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. LXXXIX.
263
5
6
So
ice-rain to fall, striking and perplexing His Augustness Yamato-
take. (This creature transformed into a white boar was not a mes-
senger from the Deity, but the very Deity in person. Owing to the
lifting up of words, he appeared and misled [Yamato-take.6])
when, on descending back, he reached the fresh spring of
Tama-kura-be' and rested there, his august heart awoke some-
what.8 So that fresh spring is called by the name of the
fresh spring of Wi-same.
[SECT. LXXXIX.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XIV.—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
5 Perhaps "hail" may be intended by this expression, and so
Motowori decides. But this interpretation of the term seems to agree
less well with the Song in Sect. CXLII.
6 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. He however, in the opinion of the translator, is not
happy in his alteration of the kana reading given by the editor of
1687, which latter has accordingly been followed in the English
version.
7 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. The first printed edition has Tama-
kuhi-be.
8 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) aud awaking," given to the
spring.
1 Tagi-nu. We might, following the Chinese characters, translate
thus: "and arrived on the Moor of Tagi." But the character has
in this context scarcely any meaning. The real etymology of Tagi
(in classical and modern parlance taki without the nigori) is "rapid"
or waterfall," the cascade formed by the River Yō-rō in Mino being
alluded to. The derivation in the next sentence of the text from
tagishi, supposed to mean "a rudder," is a mere fancy.
264 66
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXVIII.
"the sky, my legs are now unable to walk. They have become
"rudder-shaped."2 So that place was called by the name of
Tagi. Owing to his being very weary with progressing a little
further beyond that place, he lent upon an august staff to walk
a little. So that place is called by the name of the Tsuwe-
tsuki pass.3 On arriving at the single pine-tree on Cape
Wotsu, an august sword, which he had forgotten at that place
before when augustly eating,5 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 three-fold crooks, and very
8
(C
2 The word here rendered "rudder is tagishi, which is written
phonetically and does not occur elsewhere, except in a few Proper
Names of doubtful import. There is however some probability in
favour of the meaning assigned to it by the native commentators.
3 Tsuwe-tsuki-zaka, i.e., "the pass of leaning on a staff." It is in
the province of Ise between Yokaichi and Ishi-yakushi.
Motowori says mote mae means post, so that the translation
should be at the post of the single pine-tree.”—~W.G.A.
CC
4 Wotsu-no-saki, in the province of Ise. The name probably
signifies "harbour of the mountain declivity.”
5 The former portion of the text tells us nothing either of the
meal or of the sword here mentioned.
*
>>
6 This quaintly simple and apparently very ancient poem needs
no elucidation.
7 In Ise. Mi-he signifies "three-fold."
8 This is the literal rendering of the text. Motowori thinks,
however, that we should understand that there were various swellings
on his legs, such as would be produced if the limb were tightly tied
round with cord in three places.
VOL. XXVIII.]
265
VOL. II. SECT. LXXXIX.
9
weary." So that place was called by the name of Mihe.
When he departed thence and reached the Moor of Nobo, he,
regretting [his native] land," sang, saying:
"As for Yamato, the most secluded of
"lands Yamato, retired behind Mount
"Awogaki encompassing it with its folds, is
delightful.'
(C
<<
j
55
9912
9 Nobo-nu in the province of Ise. The name seems to signify
"the moor of mounting."
10 The Chinese character here used signifies simply "thinking of;"
but in such a context its common Japanese interpretation is "loving"
or “regretting, and so Motowori means us to understand it when
he reads shinuhashite.
#
Longing for.-W.G.A.
11 Viz., Yamato.
12 This Song and the two following form but one in the pages of
the "
Chronicles," where they appear with several vérbal 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 pran 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
་་
66
your innocent enjoyment!" In conclusion he lovingly apostrophises
the clouds which, rising up from the south-west, are, as it were,
messengers from home. The word mahoroba, rendered "secluded," is
266
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIX.
Again he sang, saying:
"Let those whose life may be complete stick
((
[in their hair] as a head-dress the leaves
"of the bear-oak from Mount Heguri,-
"those children !"
This Song is a Land-Regretting Song.13 Again he sang,
saying:
"How sweet! ah! from the direction of
"home clouds are rising and coming!"
This is an Incomplete Song." 14 At this time, his august
sickness was very urgent. Then he sang augustly, saying:
"The sabre-sword which I placed at the
a great crux to the commentators, and Motowori's "Examination of
the Synonyms of Japan," pp. 17-18, and Moribe's Idzu no Koto
Waki," Vol. III, p. 31, should be consulted by the student desirous
of forming his own opinion on the point. Another apparent difficulty
is the word gomoreru, whose position in the sentence Motowori seems
to have misunderstood. By following Moribe, and taking it as com-
pounded with the word Awogaki-yama into Awogaki-yama-gomoreru
the difficulty vanishes, and we are likewise relieved from the necessity
of supposing anything so highly improbable as that the Verb komoreru,
when not compounded, should have commenced with a nigori'ed
syllable. "Complete" signifies "healthy." Mount Heguri is preceded
in the original by tatamikomo (Moribe reads tatamigomo with the
nigori), a Pillow-Word whose import is disputed. In any case, being
a punning one, it cannot be translated. For the "bear-oak
bear-oak" see
Sect. LXXII, Note 19. Moribe labours, but without success, to
prove that "come," the last word of the translation, signifies
go,'
and imagines that the prince is expressing his envy of the clouds
which are rising and going off in the direction of the home which he
will never revisit.
""
46
66
S
13 I.e., a Song of loving regret for his native land.
14 "Incomplete Song" must be understood as the designation of
a poem of a certain number of linės, viz., three, and was probably
given by comparison with the greater length of poetical compositions
in general,*
*This seems hardly consistent with the statement on the preced-
ing page that a mutilation of the original poem is implied.-W.G.A.
VOL. XXIX.]
267
VOL. II. SECT. XC.
"maiden's bed-side alas! that sword !"15
As soon as he had finished singing, he died.
courier was despatched [to the Heavenly Sovereign.]
[SECT. XC.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XV.-YAMATO-TAKE TURNS INTO
A WHITE BIRD).]
"The Dioscorea quinqueloba crawling hither
“and thither among the rice-stubble, among
"the rice-stubble in the rice-fields encom-
passing [the mausoleum]………..
<<
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;
Then a
993
15 This poem is an exclamation of distress at the thought of the
sword which he had left with his mistress Princess Miyazu and
which, if he had had it with him, would doubtless have preserved him
from the evil influences of the god of Mount Ibuki, which were the
beginning of his end." Sabre-sword" (tsurugi no tachi) is a curious
expression, which Motowori interprets as signifying "sharp sword,"
while Moribe thinks it means "double-edged sword."
1 I.e., wives. It will be remembered that the historian habitually
mentions Yamato-take as if he had been Emperor.
2 Q.d., to the land of Ise.
3 The drift of the Song is a comparison of the helpless wanderings
of the mourners in the neighbourhood 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.
If we
were to adopt the elegant verses conjecturally supplied by
Moribe, the entire translation would run thus: "The Dioscorea
(C
' quinqueloba crawls hither and thither among the rice-stubble, among
"the rice-stubble in the rice-fields encompassing [the mausoleum];
"but though, like it, we crawl hither and thither and weep and speak
to thee, thou answerest not a word."-Moribe supposes this poem
to be the Empress's composition, and the following three to have
proceeded from the children.
<<
霉
​268
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIX.
Thereupon [the dead prince], turning into a white dotterel
eight fathoms [long], and soaring up to Heaven, flew off
towards the shore. Then the Empresses and likewise the august
children, 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 [over-
grown with] short bamboo-grass. We are
"not going through the sky, but oh! we
995
are on foot."
6
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.”
""
<<
<<
4 As usual when the word chidori (defined as "any kind of dot-
terel, 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 pronun-
ciation of haku-chō as the name of the swan. But as swans are
nowhere else mentioned is these " Records," and as moreover their
habits are not such as to accord with the legend here narrated, it will
perhaps be safer to retain "dotterel" in the translation. Heron "t
also has been suggested.
† I have observed that several of the misasagi are favourite haunts
of the white egret (paddy bird) for roosting at night and for nesting.
They are usually overgrown with trees, and are protected by a moat
and also by their sacred character. Compare Nihongi viii, 2, (pp. 217-
218 Aston's translation.)--W.G.A.
* Across.-W.G.A.
5 The signification of this Song is: "It is easy enough for thee,
"thou bird-spirit! to fly through the air. But remember that we are
on foot, and that our feet are getting torn by the short stubble of
"the bamboo-grass (Bambusa shino.)"
<<
6 When the bird flew over the sea, they too waded after it through
the waves.
7 The signification of the Song is: "As we pursue thee through
VOL. XXIX.]
269
VOL. II. SECT. XC.
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 august interment of a Heavenly Sovereign. So [the bird]
flew off from that country, and stopped at Shiki in the land
of Kafuchi.10 So they made an august mausoleum there, and
laid [Yamato-take] to rest." Forthwith that august mausoleum
9
"the sea, we sink in the waves up to our middles, and totter like the
"water-plants against which strikes the current of a great river."-
The word uwe-gusa, lit. "herbs planted," is curious; but it simply
means "herbs growing," as in the translation (conf. our word "plant").
The latter part of the poem is in the original highly elliptical.
8 The point of, this Song seems to rest on a delicate distinction
between the words hama, "beach" and iso," "seaside," which does
not obtain in the later Japanese language any more than it does in
English. Both hama and iso, "beach" and "
and "seaside," denote the
boundary-line between sea and land; but we must suppose with the
commentators that, while the former was used with special reference
to the land, the latter considered the idea (so to speak) from the point
of view of the sea. The import of the Song is therefore to upbraid
the bird for flying over the waves instead of flying along the adjacent
shore.
*
Iso seems related to ishi and iwa. The Chinese character also
contains the element "stone." Could iso therefore be "a rocky
beach," hama, corresponding rather to our word "strand"? The dot-
terel is fond of sandy places close to the sea rather than of stones
and rocks.-W.G.A.
9 I.e., says Motowori, from Ise.
10 Not to be confounded with the Shiki in Yamato, which is
written with different phonetic characters.
<<
<<
11 The Verb used in the original is shidzumeru, to repress, to
quiet," "to lay,”
to lay," "to establish," hence "to build a temple to a god,"
"to worship." The grammatical vagueness of the Japanese language
helps in all this passage to preserve the connection of ideas in a
manner which it is difficult to render in an English translation. Using
270 ((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIX.
was called by the name of the "August-Mausoleum of the
White-Bird.12 Nevertheless the bird soared up thence to hea-
ven again, and flew away.
[SECT. XCI.-EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XVI.—YAMATO-TAKE'S
BUTLER).]
During all the time that this [Prince] His Augustness
Yamato-take went about pacifying countries, Nana-tsuka-hagi,'
ancestor of the Suzerains of Kume,2 always followed and res-
pectfully served him as butler.
[SECT. XCII.--EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XVII.—YAMATO-TAKE'S
DESCENDANTS).]
This [Prince] His Augustness Yamato-take wedded Her
Augustness Princess Futaji-no-iri,' daughter of the Heavenly
Sovereign Ikume, and begot an august child: His Augustness
Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko² (one Deity). Again, wedding Her August-
no pronouns, it does not require to specialise in each instance whether
it is the bird that is meant, or Yamato-take, but the two are con-
founded together in language as they were in thought.
12 Sh'ra-tori no misasaki. According to the parallel passage of the
"Chronicles," it was not only this tomb in Kafuchi, but the previously
mentioned tomb at Nobonu, and also another in Yamato, which were
severally known by this designation.
1 The name signifies "seven-grasp shins," implying that the wor-
thy here mentioned was so big and strong as to have shins seven
hand-breadths" in length. For the use of the word " grasp" as a
measure of length, sée Sect. VIII, Note 1.
*
Spans ?-W.G.A.
2 This family has already been mentioned at the end of Sect.
XXXIV, as descended from Ama-tsu-kume no Mikoto, one of the
companions of the Emperor Jim-mu's grandfather on the occasion of
his descent from Heaven. But see Note 7 to that Sect. for the pro-
bable mistake with regard to ths origin of the name.
1 For this name see Sect. LXIX, Note 24.
2 1.e.,
the perfect middle prince," a name which is justified by
VOL. XXIX.]
VOL. II. SECT. XCII.
271
6
8
ness Princess Oto-tachibana³ who [afterwards] entered the sea,*
he begot an august child: King Waka-take (one Deity). Again,
wedding Princess Futaji, daughter of Oho-tamu-wake,' ancestor
of the Rulers of the Land of Yasu in Chika-tsu-Afumi, he
begot an august child: King Ine-yori-wake⁹ (one Deity). Again
wedding Princess Oho-kibi-take,10 younger sister of Take-hiko,
[ancestor of the] Grandees of Kibi," he begot an august child:
King Take-kahiko¹2 (one Deity). Again, wedding Princess
Kukuma-mori of Yamashiro,13 he begot an august child, King
the genealogy as given in the "Chronicles," where he is mentioned as
the second of three sons borne by this princess.
3 Oto-tachibana-hime no mikoto. Oto signifies "younger [sister],"
and tachibana is the name of the orange.
4 See the story in Sect. LXXXIV.
5 Waka-take no miko. This name signifies "young brave."
6 Futaji-hime. Signification obscure. Futaji may be the name of
a place.*
*The Nihongi makes her the same person as the princess of that
name.-W.G.A.
7 If Tamu is, as Motowori surmises, the name of a place, this
personal name signifies "Great Lord of Tamu.”
8 Chika-tsu-Afumi no Yasu no kuni no miyatsuko.
Sect. LXII, Note 62.
9 Ine-yori-wake no miko. This name probably signifies "rice-good-
lord."
For Yasu see
10 Oho-kibi-take-hime. Oho signifies "great." For the other two
elements of the compound see next Note.
66
11 The text has Kibi no omi Take-hiko, as if this worthy had been
himself the "Grandee of Kibi." Motowori however compares the
commencement of Sect. LXXXII (Note 2 and 3), and supplies the
words "ancestor of." Kibi is of course the province of that name
(the modern Bizen, Bitchiū, and Bingo), and take signifies “brave.”
12 Take-kahiko no m'ko. Take signifies "brave," kahiko is either
""
egg or cocoon," or else perhaps a corruption of some other word.
13 Yamashiro no Kukuma-mori-hime. This name is obscure. Moto-
wori identifies Kukuma with a place called Kurikuma, and mori is
probably the Verb "to guard."
272
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIX.
15
Ashi-kagami-wake¹4 (one Deity). A child by another wife was
King Okinaga-ta-wake. Altogether the entire [number] of
the august children of His Augustness Yamato-take was six
Deities. So His Augustness Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko [was he
who afterwards] ruled the Empire. The next, King Ine-yori-
wake (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Inukami¹6 and of the Dukes
of Takebe )¹7 The next, King Take-kahiko (was the ancestor of
the Dukes of Aya in Sanugi,18 the Dukes of Wake in Iyo,19 the Lords
of Towo,20 the Headmen of Masa¹ and the Lords of Miyaji.)22 King
Ashi-kagami-wake (was the ancestor of the Lords of Kamakura,23 the
14 Ashi-kagami-wake no miko. This name is written with characters
signifying "foot-mirror-[lord].'
Or kagami is " bent," "club-foot " ?-W.G.A.
15 Okinaga-ta-wake no miko. This name is obscure. Motowori
believes Okinaga to be the name of a place in Afumi, but has no
explanation to offer of ta.
16 Inukami no kimi. Inukami is the name of a district in Afumi.
Its signification is not clear.
17 Takebe no kimi. Takebe became the name of a place in Idzumo,
but it originally signified "brave tribe," the family having, as in so
many other cases, given its name to the place of its residence, instead
of being called after the latter. See the origin of the name, given in
Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXIX, pp. 35-36.
#
18 Sanugi no Aya no kimi. For Sanugi see Sect. V, Note 6. Aya
is a district in the province; the name is of doubtful origin.
For Iyo see Sect. V, Note 4. (The text
word wake is missing, but Motowori's
Wake is the name of a district in Iyo.
nothing is known.
19 Iyo no wake no kimi.
here has Ise for Iyo, and the
emendation may be accepted.)
20 Towo no wake. Of Towo
21 Masa no obito. Of Masa
22 Miyaji (Z) no wake. This is Motowori's ingenious emen-
dation of the characters in the text,, out of which it is impossible
to make a family name. Miyaji is the name of a place in the pro-
vince of Mikaha, and signifies "temple road.
nothing is known.
23 Kamakura no wake. Kamakura is the name of a district in the
province of Sagami, which became famous during the Middle Ages
as the site of an immense town,--the capital of the Shōguns, and the
centre of the feudalism which then ruled Japan. The import of the
G
VOL. XXIX.]
273
VOL. II. SECT. XCII.
Dukes of Wodzu,24 the Lords of Ihashiro25 and the Lords of Fukita.)26
The child of the next, King Okinaga-ta-wake was King Kuhi-
mata-naga-hiko.27 This King's children were: Her Augustness
Princess Ihinu-ma-guro,28 next Okinaga-ma-waka-naka-tsu-
hime,29 next Oto-hime30 (three Deities). So the above mentioned
King Waka-take wedded Princess Ihinu-ma-guro, and begot
King Sume-iro-oho-naka-tsu-hiko.31 This King wedded princess
Shibanu,22 daughter of Shibanu-iri-ki³ of Afumi, and begot a
child, Her Augustness Princess Kaguro.34 So the Heavenly
Sovereign Oho-tarashi-hiko wedded this [lady] Her Augustness
name (literally “sickle-store") is not clear, though it has been fanci-
fully explained by native etymologists.
24 Wodzu no kimi. The words no kimi are supplied by Motowori,
this name and the next being in the text run into one. Wodzu seems
to be the name of a place in Afumi, and signifies "little mart."
25 Ihashiro no wake. Motowori says that this Ihashiro is not the
province of that name, but a placc in Kishiū. The meaning of the
name is obscure.
26 Fukita mo wake. This is but Motowori's conjectural restoration
(founded on a statement in the "Chronicles of Old Matters of Former
Ages") of the name as given in the text,
.
27 Kuhimata-naga-hiko no miko. Kuhimata (modern Kumata) is
the name of a place in Settsu. The signification is obscure. Naga-
hiko means "long prince."
28 Ihinu-ma-guro-hime, i.e., "quite black princess of Ihinu," the
blackness being doubtless predicated of her hair. Ihinu is the name
of a district in Ise, aud is written with characters signifying "boiled-
rice-moor."
*
second of three.
Where everybody's hair is black this is not much of a distinc-
tion.-W.G.A.
29 For Okinaga see Note 15. Ma-waka means "
"truly young."
Naka-tsu-hime means "middle princess," referring to her being the
30 I.e., "younger princess."
31 See Sect. LXXVI, Note 29.
32 Shibanu-hime. This name is obscure.
33 Shibanu iri-ko. This name is obscure.
34 Ka-guro-hime, see Sect. LXXVI, Note 28.
274 <<
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXIX.
Princess Kaguro, and begot King Oho-ye (one Deity). This
King wedded his younger half-sister Queen Shiro-kane, and
begot children: King Oho-na-gata, and next Her Augustness
Oho-naka-tsu-hime (two Deities). So this [lady] Her August-
ness Oho-naka-tsu-hime was the august mother of King
Kagosaka and King Oshikuma.4
9
40
25
36
[SECT. XCIII.--EMPEROR KEI-KŌ (PART XVIII.—HIS AGE AND PLACE
OF BURIAL).]
This Heavenly Sovereign's august years were one hundred
and thirty-seven, and his august mausoleum is above the
Yamanobe road.¹
[SECT. XCIV.-EMPEROR SEI-MU.]
The Heavenly Sovereign Wata-tarashi-hiko dwelt at the
palace of Taka-anaho at Shiga' in Chika-tsu-Afumi and ruled
the empire. This Heavenly Sovereign wedded the Lady Oto-
35 For the confusion in this portion of the genealogy see Sect.
LXXVI, Note 30.
30 Shiro-kane no miko. Shiro-kane means "silver," but Motowori
suspects corruption in the text.
37 Oho-nagata no miko, i,e., "great prince of Nagata," the latter
being the name of a place in Settsu, signifying "long rice-field."
38 I.e., "great middle princess."
39 Literally, “ancestress.”
40 Or, “the King of Kagosaka," for it is uncertain whether Kago-
saka should or should not be regarded as the name of a place. The
etymology of the name may be kago, “a stag" and saka, “an ascent."
The original form of the name and title is Kagosaka no miko.
41 Or, "the King of Oshikuma," Oshikuma no miko. Oshikuma is
a word of doubtful etymology.
1 See Sect. LXVIII, Note 1.
¹ Shiga no Taka-anaho. Shiga is the name of a well known
district, and is of uncertain signification, as is also Taka-anaho.
Chika-tsu-Afumi see Sect. XXIX, Note 20.
For
VOL. XXX.]
VOL. II. SECT. XCV.
275
takara, daughter of Take-oshiyama-tari-ne,³ ancestor of the
Grandees of Hodzumi, and begot an august child: King
Waka-nuke (one Deity). So [the Heavenly Sovereign] raised
the Noble Take-uchi [to the office of] Prime Minister,' deigned
to settle the Rulers of the Great Countries and Small Count-
ries, and likewise deigned to settle the boundaries of the
various countries, as also the Departmental Lords of the Great
Departments and Small Departments.9 The Heavenly Sove-
reign's august years were ninety-five, and his august mausoleum
is at Tatanami near Saki.10
8
می +
2
**
[SECT. XCV.-EMPEROR CHIŪ-AI (PART I.-GENEALOGIES).]
The Heavenly Sovereign Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko dwelt at
the palace of Toyora at Anado,¹ and likewise at the palace of
2 Oto-takara no iratsume. Oto signifies "younger [sister]," and
takara is “
"treasure."
>>
3 Oshiyama is the name of a place in Ise, take signifies "brave,”
and tari and ne are Honorifics of frequent occurrence.
4 Hodzumi no omi. See Sect. LXI, Note 4.
5 Waka-nuke no miko. This name is of doubtful signification, and
Motowori suspects that it is corrupt, and that the true reading would
be Waka-take, "young-brave.',
6 See Sect. LXI, Note 25.
7XE. Motowori tries to prove that in the earliest times this
official title was simply an Honorific surname formed by prefixing the
Adjective, "great to E, a surname read "Omi" (the character
signifies properly "attendant," "subject "). Probably like other "gen-
tile names" it combined both characters, and had a tendency to
become hereditary.
8 Oho-kuni wo-kuni no kuni no miyatsuko.
9 Oho-agata wo-agata no agata nushi (AZE). Their
duties are supposed to have consisted in supervising the government
farms.
Tatanami may perhaps
Toyora (for Toyo-ura)
10 For Saki see Sect. LXXV, Note 5.
signify "putting shields is a row."
1 For Anado see Sect. LXXX (Note 22).
signifies "fertile shore."
*
276
(6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXX.
Kashihi in Tsukushi, and ruled the Empire. This Heavenly
Sovereign wedded Her Augustness Oho-naka-tsu-hime,3 daugh-
ter of King Oho-ye, and begot august children: King Kago-
saka and King Oshikuma (two Deities). Again he wedded Her
Augustness Princess Okinaga-tarashi. This Empress gave
birth to august children: His Augustness Homu-ya-wake,5 and
next His Augustness Oho-tomo-wake,6 another name for whom
was His Augustness Homuda-wake.? The reason why this
Heir Apparent was given the august name of His Augustness
Oho-tomo-wake was that when first born, he had on his
august arm [a protuberance of] flesh resembling an elbow-pad,10
whence the august name bestowed on him. By this it was
known while he was in the womb that he would rule count-
ries.11
In this august reign the granaries of Ahaji were esta-
blished.
2 This name seems to be derived from that of the evergreen oak.
It will be noticed that both these capitals are in the South-Western
Island of Kiushiu, whereas, from Jim-mu downwards, the capitals of
all the Emperors previously mentioned are either in Yamato or in
one of the adjacent central provinces.
3 For this and the three following names see Sect. XCII, and for
Okinaga tarashi Sect. LXII, Note 72.
4 Written . It is she who is celebrated in Japanese history
under the name of Jin-gō Kō-gō, and in the " Chronicles » her reign
is counted separately. In these "Records," however, the period of
her rule is considered as forming part of the reign of her son O-jin.
5 The signification of this name is obscure.
6 I.e., "great elbow-pad lord," tomo signifying "elbow-pad." The
next sentence of the text gives the traditional origin of this curious
name.
7 I.e., lord of Homuda. Homuda is supposed by Motowori and
Moribe to be the name of a place, they (apparently with reason)
rejecting as a late addition a note to the " Chronicles," which states
that homuda was synonymous with tomo "elbow-pad."
8 For "heir apparent see Sect. XXXIII, Note 2.
9 This word, says Motowori, is redundant.
10 For the use of elbow-pads in war see Sect XIII, Note 7.
11 The word rendered "rule" (shiru, ) is supplied by the editor
در
VOL. XXX.]
277
VOL. II. SECT. XCVI.
[SECT. XCVI.-EMPEROR CHIŪ-AI (PART II.—THE POSSESSION OF
KOREA DIVINELY PROMISED).]
This Empress, Her Augustness Princess Okinaga-tarashi,
was at that time' divinely possessed.* So when the Heavenly
Sovereign, dwelling at the palace of Kashihi in Tsukushi, was
about to smite the Land of Kumaso,2 the Heavenly Sovereign
played on his august lute, and the Prime Minister the Noble
Take-uchi, being in the pure court,3 requested the divine
orders. Hereupon the Empress, divinely possessed, charged
him with this instruction and counsel: There is a land to
"the Westward, and in that land is abundance of various
(6
of 1687. Motowori supplies the evident lacuna in the text by the
word "establish" (sadamuru ); but this seems less good. Motowori's
reasons for taking the word kuni ("country") in the Plural are,
however, convincing, - the three countries into which Korea was an-
ciently divided, and which are appropriately designated by the title of
San Kan (E), being evidently designated by the expression in the
text, as may be seen both by reference to the parallel passage in the
Chronicles," and also by considering that in this manner that warlike
implement the elbow-pad, with the semblance of which the young
Emperor was born, obtains its proper significance. This Emperor (for
it is he who is known as O-jin Ten-nō) is sometimes designated by
the name of the "Emperor in the Womb "
Emperor in the Womb" (F§).
1 At what time, we are not told.
*
Himeko in the Chinese historical notices of Japan was skilled
in magic, with which she deluded the people. Compare the Biblical
expression to be in the spirit," with Ki-Shin.
CC
2 See Sect. V, Note 17.
3 This is Motowori's interpretation of the obscure original word
sa-niha,† which is written phonetically. He supposes it to have been
so called as being a place used for enquiring the will of the gods,
and therefore kept clean and held in reverence.
"Place" would
perhaps represent the Japanese word niha as well as
"court" has been its usual acceptation in later times.
court," though
† Sa is phonetic, but not niha. See Notes on this word in Nihongi
IX, 2, (p. 255 Aston's translation.)—W.G.A.
<<
•
→
~
278
(6
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXX.
4
5
"treasures dazzling to the eye, from gold and silver down-
"wards. I will now bestow this land upon thee." Then the
Heavenly Sovereign replied, saying: "If one ascend to a high
place and look Westward, no country is to be seen. There
"is only the great sea;" and saying, "they are lying Deities,”
he pushed away his august lute, did not play on it, and sat
silent. Then the Deities were very angry, and said: "Altoge-
"ther as for this empire, it is not a land over which thou
oughtest to rule. Do thou go to the one road!" Hereupon
the Prime Minister the Noble Take-uchi said: "[I am filled
with] awe, my Heavenly Sovereign !
“great august lute." Then he slowly drew his august lute
to him, and languidly played on it. So almost immediately
the sound of the august lute became inaudible. On their
forthwith lifting a light and looking, [the Heavenly Sovereign]
was dead.
Continue playing thy
<<
<<
""
!
[SECT. XCVII.-EMPEROR CHIU-AI (PART III.-PREPARATIONS for
THE CONQUEST OF KOREA).]
Then, astonished and alarmed, they set him in a mortuary
4 Literally, "making gold and silver the origin."
5 Motowori tells us to understand "saying in the sense of
"thinking."
+
>>
6 As already frequently remarked, the Japanese mind does not
occupy itself much with the distinction (to us all-important) of Sin-
gular and Plural. The reason why the translator renders the word
kami by the Plural "Deities" throughout this passage is because we
learn later on that four divine personages were intended by the
author.
7 With the commentators we must accept this as an alternative
name of Hades, without being able satisfactorily to explain it. The
expression "eighty road-windings" (yaso kumade) in Sect. XXXII
(Note 27) may be compared with this one.
8 I.e., "I tremble, Sire, for the consequences of thine impiety."
*By and by,—after a little.-W.G.A.
VOL. XXX.]
279
VOL. II. SECT. XCVII.
+
3+
4
palace,¹* and again taking the country's great offerings,2 seeking
out all sorts of crimes, such as flaying alive and flaying back-
wards, breaking down the divisions of rice-fields, filling up
ditches, evacuating excrements and urine, marriages between
superiors and inferiors, marriages with horses, marriages with
cattle, marriages with fowls, and marriages with dogs, and having
made a great purification of the land, the Noble Take-uchi again
stood in the pure court and requested the Deities' commands.
Thereupon the manner of their instruction and counsel was
exactly the same as on the former day: "Altogether this land
"is a land to be ruled over by the august child in Thine
Augustness's august womb." Then the Noble Take-uchi
5
<<
1 A temporary resting-place for the corpse before interment. (See
Sect. XXXI, Note 20).
Chapel ?-W.G.A.
2 Or if, with Motowori, we take country in the Plural,
"the great
offerings of the countries," i.e., of the various countries or provinces
of Japan or of Kiushiu. These " offerings" (nusa) are the same as
those mentioned in Sect. XVI (Notes 24 and 25) under the names
nigi-te and mitegura. They consisted of cloth, for which in later
times paper has been substituted.
† Motowori well observes that tsumi includes kegare (pollutions)
ashiki waza (ill deeds) and wazawa' (calamities). But in this passage
it is unnccessary to take the word in its widest sense.-W.G.A.
3 There are different views as to the exact bearing of this curious
expression. Conf. Sect. XV, Note 10.
‡ Motowori thinks the live flaying is the same as the sakahagi which
I suppose he understands to be "wrongful" flaying.-W.G A.
? Urine is not mentioned. See page 63 of this translation, and
compare with the Oho-harahi norito translation in T. A. S. J. reprints
Vol. II, 1927. Would it not be possible to take the last of these two
characters as an ideograph? The meaning would them be com-
mitting a nuisance in a house or at a door. A comparison of the
doings of Susa-no-o favours the former of the two suppositions.—W.G.A.
4 I.e., incest between parents and children.
5 I.e., a general purification.
6 The Deities now speak to, as well as through, the Empress.
Before the quotation marks announcing their words we must under-
¡
280 ((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXX.
<<
said, "[I am filled with] awe, my Great Deities! The august
“child in this Deity's womb,' what [sort of] child may it be ?”
[The Deities] replied, saying: It is a male child." Then
[the Noble Take-uchi] requested more particularly, [saying]:
"I wish to know the august names of the Great Deities whose
"words have now thus instructed us." Forthwith [the Deities]
replied, saying: "It is the august doing of the Great-August-
"Heaven-Shining-Deity, likewise it is the three great Deities
"Bottom-Possessing-Male, Middle-Possessing Male and Surface-
Possessing-Male.⁹ (At this time the august names of these three
"great Deities were revealed.10) If now thou truly thinkest to
"seek that land, thou must, after presenting the offerings to
every one of the Heavenly Deities and Earthly Deities,12 and
"likewise of the Deities of the mountains and also of all the
"Deities of the river and of the sea, and setting our august
11
""
<<
stand some such clause as "and they added this divine charge."
would also be possible to translate the whole passage thus: "There-
upon the manner of their instruction and counsel was '[Things] being
exactly as on the former day, altogether this land,'" etc., etc.
7 I.e., in the Empress's womb. Motowori supposes that she is
thus spoken of as a Deity on account of her being at that moment
divinely possessed.
It
8 Literally, "heart."
9 Soko-dzu-tsu-no-wo, Naka-dzu-tsu-no-wo, and Uha-dzu-tsu-no-wo,
three of the deities born at the time of the purification of Izanagi
(the "Male-Who-Invites ") on his return from Hades, and known
collectively as the Deities of the Inlet of Sumi. (See Sect. X, Notes
18 and 22.) The grammar of this sentence is, as Motowori remarks,
not lucid. One would expect the author to say that it was
august doing" of all the four deities mentioned.
"the
10 I.e., says Motowori, they then first informed Take-uchi who
they were. Up to that time, it had not been known by what Deities
the Empress was possessed. Mabuchi, however, rejected this gloss as
a later addition.
11 I.e., the sacred offerings of white and blue cloth.
12 Here written with the Chinese locution, by some
rendered "the Spirits of Heaven and Earth." Conf. Sect. I, Note
11.
VOL. XXX.]
VOL. II. SECT. XCVIII.
281
spirits¹³ on the top of thy vessel, put into gourds¹ the ashes
"of the Podocarpus macrophylla tree,15 and likewise make a
quantity of chopsticks and also of leaf-platters, and must
"scatter them all on the waves of the great sea, that thou
((
16
mayest cross over." So when [she] punctually fulfilled these
intructions, equipped an army, marshalled her vessels, and
crossed over, the fishes of the sea-plain, both great and small,
all bore the august vessel" across on their backs, and a strong
favourable wind arose, and the august vessel followed the
billows.
((
("
M
[SECT. XCVIII. EMPEROR CHIŪ-AI (PART IV.—THE EMPRESS JIN-GŌ
CONQUERS KOREA).]
So the wave of the august vessel pushed up onto the
land of Shiragi,² reaching to the middle of the country. There-
13 Here, as before, the Singular would be at least as natural an
interpretation as the Plural. The three ocean-deities are supposed to
be specially referred to, and in that case, the three being easily con-
ceived as one (like the deified peaches mentioned in Sect. IX, Note
19) owing to the want of discrimination in Japanese between Singular
and Plural, we might retain the Singular in English. Altogether the
Sun-Goddess seems out of place in this passage, and it would be
satisfactory to have some authority for expunging from it the mention
of her name.
*In, on, on board of?-W.G.`.
14 Or, “into a gourd."
15 In the original maki (*). In modern parlance ma-i signifies
the P. macrophylla, as in the translation. It is however uncertain
whether that or the Chamaecyparis obtusa (both being conifers), or
simply any "true (ie., good) tree
true (i.e., good) tree" is here intended by the author.
16 I.e., broad shallow platters made of the leaves of the oak-tree,
and used for placing food on.
17 Viz., that in which the Empress herself took passage.
1 I.e., "the wave on which the august vessel was riding."
2 In Sinico-Japanese Shin-ra (), one of the three states into
which Korea was anciently divided, the other two being known in
pure Japanese as Kudara and Koma (in Sinico-Japanese Hiyaku-sai
282 “KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXX.
upon the chieftain of the country, alarmed and trembling,
petitioned [the Empress], saying: "From this time forward
"obedient to the Heavenly Sovereign's commands, I will feed
"his august horses and will marshal vessels every year, nor
"ever let the vessels' keels dry or their poles and oars dry,
"and will respectfully serve him without drawing back while
"heaven and earth shall last.' 296 So therefore the Land of
Shiragi was constituted the feeder of the august horses, and
the Land of Kudara' was constituted the crossing store. Then
the Empress stuck her august staff on the gate of the chief-
tain of Shiragi, and having made the Rough August Spirits⁹
8
and Kō-rai, and B). Shiragi is evidently a mere corruption
of the Sinico-Japanese form, which closely resembles the native
Korean Sin-la. The origin of the pure Japanese forms of the other
two names is obscure.
3 The editions previous to Motowori's have "King" (E instead
of ); but as the latter character is used in all parallel passages of
this work, we must attribute the occurrence of the former in this
single place to a copyist's error, and accuse the author rather than his
commentator of the ill-natured degradation of the Korean King into
a mere chieftain (more literally a "master").
4 The character, which is here used, is that employed in
speaking of a subject addressing his sovereign.
5 Literally "bellies."
6 Literally, "with heaven and earth."
7 See Note 2.
8 I.e., "the sea-store." The author means to say that from the
Land of Kudara tribute was to be paid with the regularity implied
by the King's asseveration to the effect that the keels, poles, and oars
of the [tribute-bearing] vessels should never remain dry.
*Planted her august staff at the gate, etc. C. the Nihongi
version.--W.G.A.
9 Ara-mi-tama, the antithetical term to which is Nigi-mi-tama,
"Gentle August Spirit." We also find Saki-mi-tama, and Kushi-mi-
tama, which signify respectively "August Luck-Spirit" and "Wond-
rous August Spirit." In this passage it must be understood that the
spirits which floated above the Imperial junk to protect it were the
"Gentle August Spirits," while the "Rough August Spirits" presided
VOL. XXX.]
283
VOL. II. SECT. XCVIII.
11
of the Great Deities of the Inlet of Sumi the guardian
Deities of the land, she laid them to rest, and crossed back.
So while this business¹2 was yet unconcluded, [the child] with
which she was pregnant was about to be born. Forthwith, in
order to restrain her august womb, she took a stone and
wound it round the waist of her august skirt,13 and the august
child was born after she had crossed [back] to the Land of
Tsukushi. So the name by which the place was called where
the august child was born was Umi.15 Again the stone which
she wound round her august skirt is at the village of Ito in
the Land of Tsukushi.
10
at the Empress's feats of arms and kept the enemy in subjection.
Motowori warns us not to fall into the mistake of supposing that the
Rough and Gentle Spirits of a god were separate individualities, they
being only, according to him, various manifestations of the same
individuality. The student is advised to consult his beautifully written
note on the subject of these spirits in Vol. XXX, pp. 72-75 of his
Commentary.
•
10 See Sect. X, Note 22.
11 Literally "established and worshipped." Motowori says that
this mention of their being laid to rest is made with an implied
reference to the journey on which the deities in question had accom-
panied the Imperial army. He also tries to prove that this laying to
rest of the deities must have occurred after the return of the Empress
to Japan, as it is not possible to suppose that the gods could find a
home in a foreign land (!). But the wording of the text is against
him.
12 Literally "government."
13 I.e., as Motowori suggests, "she wrapped the stone up, and tied
it onto the waist of her skirt in something resembling a sash.”
14 In South-Western Japan.
""
15 I.e., “bearing.” The word, however, also signifies sea.
According to the "Chronicles" the original name of the village was
Kada.
(C
16 This word signifies "thread," and would therefore, one might
think, find a more appropriate place in the legend next narrated, where
the "threads" of the Empress's garment are specially mentioned.
284
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXX.
[SECT. XCIX.*
-EMPEROR CHIU-AI (PART V.—THE EMPRESS JIN-GŌ
FISHES IN TSUKUSHI).]
Again when, having reached the village of Tamashima' in
the Department of Matsura² in Tsukushi, she partook of an
august meal on the bank of the river, it being then the first
decade of the fourth moon, she then sat on a shoal in the
middle of the river, picked out threads from her august skirt,
used grains of rice as bait, and hooked the trout in the river.
(The name by which the river is called is the Wo-gaha;5 again the
name by which the shoal is called is Kachi-do-hime.6) So down to
the present time it is an uninterrupted [custom] for women in
the first decade of the fourth moon to pick out threads from
their skirts, use grains as bait, and hook trout.
W.G.A.
*The Nihongi places this section before the Korean expedition.—
1 I.e., "jewel-island."
2 Matsura-gata. The "Chronicles” give an absurd derivation of
Matsura from the Adjective medzurashi, “astonishing," which the
Empress is supposed to have ejaculated on finding a trout hooked to
her line! The obvious etymology is matsu-ura, 'pine-beach.”
<<
3 The character in the original is (for), in Japanese iso,
which may or may not be connected with the word ishi, "stone." In
any case Motowori is not justified in saying that it must be under-
stood to mean "stone" in this place, as iso means rather a sandy
than a stony place, rising above the water level.
4 In Japanese ayu, a small species of the salmon family (Pleco-
glossus altivelis).
5 I.e...
"little river."
6 I.e., "princess of the gate of victory." But though the words
lend themselves to this interpretation, it can hardly be supposed that
such is their real etymology, and indeed the editor of 1687 draws
attention in a Note to the difficulty of accepting the statement in the
text.
VOL. XXXI.]
285
VOL. II. SECT. C.
[SECT. C.-EMPEROR CHIU-AI (PART VI.—THE EMPRESS JIN-GO
SUBDUES YAMATO).]
Hereupon, when Her Augustness Princess Okinaga-tarashi
was returning up to Yamato, she, owing to doubts concerning
the disposition¹ of the people, prepared a mourning-vessel,2*
set the august child in that mourning-vessel, and let a report
ooze out that the august child was already dead. While she
went up thus, King Kagosaka and King Oshikuma, having
heard [of the circumstance], thought to waylay her, went forth
to the moor of Toga, and hunted for an omen. Then King
Kagosaka climbed up an oak-tree, and then' a large and angry
boar came forth, dug up the oak-tree, and forthwith devoured
King Kagosaka. His younger brother, King Oshikuma, un-
daunted by this circumstance,? raised an army and lay in wait
5
6
*
1 Literally, "the hearts."
2 I.e., a boat or junk containing a coffin. We might also (adopt-
ing the interpretation given by the older editors to the character in
this passage) translate by "specially prepared a mourning-vessel."
I.e., ship.-W.G.A.
3 These two princes, who are first mentioned at the end of Sect.
XCII (Notes 40 and 41), were, according to the story, elder sons of
the late monarch Chiu-ai, and therefore step-sons of the Empress
Jin-gō and half-brothers to the young Emperor Ō-jin.
4 Literally, "wait for and catch." This "catch" is always taken
by Motowori to mean slay."
(C
Rightly, I think.-W.G.A.
5 Toga-nu. It was in the province of Settsu. The etymology of
the name is obscure.
+ Meaning, I suppose, that they hunted wild beasts in order to
judge of their fortune by the results of the chase.-W.G.A.
6 The species mentioned in the text in the Quercus serrata.
7 Motowori's conjecture that the character, "then," is a copy-
ist's error for , "saw" or "looked," seems hardly called for, and
the translator has therefore not departed from the traditional reading.
? I.e., this evil omen.-W.G.A.
286
<<
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXI.
X
14
[for the Empress], to close with the mourning-vcssel as being
an empty³ vessel. Then an army was landed from the mourn-
ing-vessel, and joined in combat [with the opposing forces].
At this time King Oshikuma made the Noble Isahi,¹0 ancestor
of the Kishi Clan of Naniha," his generalissimo;12 and on the
august side of the Heir Apparent His Augustness Naniha-ne-
ko-take-furu-kuma,13 ancestor of the Grandees of Wani, was
made generalissimo. So when [the Empress's troops] had
driven [King Oshikuma's troops] as far as Yamashiro, [the
latter] turned and made a stand, and both [sides] fought toge-
ther without retreating. Then His Augustness Take-furu-kuma
planned, and caused it to be said that, as Her Augustness
Princess Okinaga-tarashi was already dead, there was no need
for further fighting,-forthwith snapping his bowstrings and
feigning submission. Therefore King Oshikuma's generalissimo,
believing the falsehood, unbent his bows and put away his
arms. Then [the Empress's troops] picked out of their top-
knots some prepared bowstrings (one name [of the bowstrings]
was usa-yu-dzuru,¹5) stretched [their bows] again, and pursued
8 I.e., defenceless, not filied with troops.
9 Which of course was in reality no mourning-vessel, but full of
the soldiers who had just returned from conquering Korea.
10 Isahi no Sukune. Isahi or Isachi is supposed to mean "leading
elder."
11 Naniha no Kishi-be. Naniha is the old name of the sea and
river-shore on which now stands the town of Ohosaka.
The name
Kishi is said by Motowori to be properly a Korean official designation
(1), but it is one whose origin is to be sought in China.
12, Shōgurn. This is the earliest mention of this office, which,
passing from the military to the political sphere, played such a great
part in the mediæval and modern history of Japan.
13 The signification of all the elements of this compound name is
not clear, but it is partly Honorific and descriptive of the bravery of
its bearer.
14 Wani no omi (see Sect. LXII, Note 11).
15 The text is here somewhat obscure, and the note in small print
is of doubtful authenticity. If we retain it, we must understand it
#
VOL. XXXI.]
287
VOL. II. SECT. CI.
and smote [the enemy]. So [these] fled away to Afusaka,16
rallied, and fought again. Then [the Empress's troops] pur-
sued, pressed on, and defeated them, and cut to pieces that
army at Sasanami." Thereupon King Oshikuma, together with
the Noble Isahi, being pursued and pressed, got on board a
vessel and floated on the sea, and sang, saying:
Come on, my lord! rather than be stricken
((
<<
by Furu-kuma's hurtful hand, I will plunge
"like the grebe into the Sea of Afumi,-I
"will !''18
Forthwith they plunged into the sea, and died together.
[SECT. CI.-EMPEROR CHIŪ-AI (PART VII.-THE HEIR APPARENT
EXCHANGES NAMES WITH THE GREAT DEITY
IZASA-WAKE).]
So when His Augustness the Noble Take-uchi, taking with
him the Heir Apparent for the purpose of purification,' passed
*
<f
1,
"C
to mean that usa-yu-dzuru, a term whose derivation is by no means
clear, was an alternative name of the make-dzuru, i.l., prepared
bowstrings," such as they had brought with them concealed in their
top-knots.
16 I.e., "the pass [or hill] of meeting." It was on the boundaries
of the provinces of Yamashiro and Afumi.* The modern pronun-
ciation is Osaka (not to be confounded with the like-sounding name
of a well-known town in Central Japan).
The railway now passes under it in a tunnél.—W.G.A.
17 I.e., in Afumi. Mabuchi, in his "Dictionary of Pillow-Words,"
explains this name to mean
mean "bamboo-grass bénding."
following the Shim-puku-ji MS., alters the character
word Sasanami to, but without sufficient warrant.
Motowori,
before the
18 The meaning of the poem is:
.،
'Rather than fall beneath the
attacks of the enemy, let us drown ourselves in the Sea of Afumi'
(Lake Biwa).—For the expression "stricken by a hurtful hand" see
Sect. XLIV, Note 33.
1 Viz., by water, as described in Sect. X.
"
288
((
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXI.
2
through the lands of Afumi and Wakasa, he built a temporary
palace at Tsunuga³ at the mouth of the Road of Koshi' [for
the Heir Apparent] to dwell in. Then His Augustness the
Great Deity Izasa-wake,5 who dwelt in that place, appeared at
night in a dream, and said: "I wish to exchange my name
"for the august name of the august child." Then [the dreamer
of the dream] prayed, saying: ["I] am filled with awe!?
“The name shall be respectfully exchanged according to thy
command." Again the Deity charged [him, saying]:
"To-
6
morrow morning [the Heir Apparent] must go out on the
"beach; I will present my [thank-] offering for the name
"[given me] in exchange." So when [the Heir Apparent]
went out in the morning to the beach, the whole shore was
lined with broken-nosed dolphin-fishes. Thereupon the august
child caused the Deity to be addressed, saying:
“Thou
bestowest on me fish of thine august food." So again his
8
(C
2 Etymology obscure.
3 The marvellous etymology of this name which the author seems
to adopt will be found at the end of this Section (Note 12). The
compiler of the "Chronicles" is probably nearer the truth when he
derives it from tsunu-ga, "horned stag."
4 For the meaning of this curious expression see Sect. LX,
Note 20.
5 The commentators give no explanation of this one of the three
names of the deity in question. It would appear to be made up of
of a word expressive of solicitation and of a portion of the Heir
Apparent's name, thus signifying perhaps "Come on, Wake, [give me
thy name]" with reference to the legend here narrated.
6 To which of the two personages of the legend is not clear.
Motowori, however, prefers to suppose that it was to Take-uchi, as,
if the prince himself were intended, the word "dream" would pro-
bably receive the Honorific :
•
7 Or, "I reverence [thy commands]."
8 Motowori supposes that they were caught by being speared in
the nose.
9 I.e., “fish that would naturally have formed part of thine august
food." It is less good to translate by "fish for mine august food."
As usual, the original Japanese text has no Personal Pronouns to
•
VOL XXXI.]
VOL. II. SECT. CII.
289
august name was honoured by his being called the Great
Deity of August Food.¹0 So he is now styled the Food-
Wondrous-Great-Deity.¹ Again the blood from the noses of
the dolphin-fishes stank. So the strand was called by the
name of Chiura.12 It is now styled Tsunuga.
[SECT. CII.—EMPEROR CHIŪ-AI (PART VIII. --THE EMPRESS JIN-GŌ
PRESENTS LIQUOR TO THE HEIR APPARENT).]
Hereupon, when the [Heir Apparent] returned up [to the
Capital], his august parent, Her Augustness Princess Okinaga-
tarashi, distilled some waiting-liquor,' and presented it to him.
Then his august parent sang augustly, saying:
"This august liquor is not my august
liquor-oh! it is august liquor respect-
"fully brought as a divine congratulation, a
"repeated congratulation, a bountiful con-
gratulation, a reiterated congratulation, by
Small August Deity, who dwells
(6
("
"the
guide the reader; but, though Emperors are sometimes made to use
the Honorific in speaking of themselves, this is not the custom in the
case of princes, and Ō-jin is supposed to have not yet assumed the
Imperial dignity.
10 Mi-ke-tsu-oho-kami.
Motowori mentions several Deities of this
name, who were, according to him, separate beings.
11 Kehi no oho-kami. The meaning of the syllable hi, rendered by
"wondrous" in accordance with Motowori's suggestion, is not certain.
12 I..., "the strand of blood." From chi-ura Motowori is obliged
to derive Tsunuga as well as he can in order not to throw discredit
on the implied assertion of the author that the latter is but a mis-
pronunciation of the former. The true derivation of Tsunuga is
is probably from tsunu-ga "horned stag." as already stated in Note 3.
1 Machi-sake. This expression, which recurs in the poems of the
"Collection of a Myriad Leaves," signifies liquor distilled for an
absent friend by those who are awaiting his return.
*How would it do to take Kamu hogi and Toyo hogi as Accusa-
tives governed by the Verbs of the succeeding clauses ?-W.G.A.
290
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXI.
eternally, firmly standing. Partake not
shallowly! Go on! go on!”2*
Having thus sung, she presented to him the great august
liquor. Then His Augustness the Noble Take-uchi replied for
the august child and sang, saying:
"Whatever person distilled
distilled this august
liquor must surely have distilled it sing-
"ing the while with that drum on the
(( mortar, must surely have distilled it
dancing the while, for this august liquor,
"august liquor, to be ever more and more.
"joyful. Go on! go on!"3.
These are Drinking Songs.4
<<
(C
("
("
("
<<
2 The general signification of the Song is: "Think not that this
"liquor was made by me. 'Tis a present from the Small August
Deity (Sukuna-biko-na), who dwells forever in unshaken power and
"who sends it to thee with endless congratulations. Come on! come
"on! drink deeply!-Some of the expressions in this Song are a
subject of debate among the commentators. Excepting the clause
"partake not shallowly," in which the translator has adopted the
opinion of the author of the Explanation of the Songs in the
Chronicles of Japan," Moribe's interpretation has been followed
throughout. The latter critic would identify asazu ("not shallowly ")
with amasazu ("without leaving anything "). But there seems no
warrant for supposing such an elision of the syllable sa. The use of
the expressions kuruhoshi and motohoshi to express reiteration is worthy
of notice. It will be remembered that the Deity here mentioned was
the microscopic personage who came riding over the waves to share
the sovereignty of Idzumo with the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land
(see Sect. XXVII).
* Where does Kushi no Kami come in?-W.G.A.
((
† Brewed.-W.G.A.
3 This Song signifies: "Such a joyful feast must surely have
"been preceded by joyful distilling of the liquor for it. Continue to
drink, oh Prince !"-The commentators disagree on the subject of
one or two of the words of this Song, in which the translator has
followed Motowori's interpretation throughout. The words "that
drum" are the chief difficulty. Motowori supposes that drums, being
VOL. XXXII.]
291
VOL. II. SECT. CIV.
[SECT. CIII.-EMPEROR CHIŪ-AI (PART IX.—HIS DEATH AND THAT
OF THE EMPRESS JIN-GŌ).]
Altogether the august years of this Heavenly Sovereign
Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko' were fifty-two. His august mausoleum
is at Nagaye,2 near Wega,3 in Kafuchi. (The Empress died at
the august age of one hundred. She was buried in the mausoleum
of Tatanami in Saki,4)
[SECT. CIV. EMPEROR Ō-JIN' (PART 1.-GENEALOGIES).]
His Augustness Homuda-wake dwelt at the palace of Akira
at Karushima,2 and ruled the Empire. This Heavenly Sove-
reign wedded three³ queens, daughters of King Homuda-no-
در
originally unknown in Japan, were first seen by the Japanese on the
occasion of the conquest of Korea in this very reign, and thinks that
the drum would be placed by the side of the mortar during the
pounding of the rice out of which the liquor was to be made. "That
drum means the drum belonging to the pounder of the rice. The
original words so no, "that," might also be rendered by "his."
4 Literally, "liquor-rejoicing songs."
1 The Emperor Chiū-ai. The author of these "Records" not
recognizing, as does the author of the " Chronicles,” the time during
which the Empress Jin-gō held sway as a separate reign, Chiū-ai is
by a fiction supposed to have reigned down to the moment when
his posthumous son Ō-jin mounted the throne after the conquest of
Korea and of Yamato.
2 I.e., "long branch," or perhaps "long inlet.”
3 Etymology obscure.
4 Mabuchi and Motowori seem right in supposing the sentence
in small type to be an addition to the text, copied from the "Chroni-
cles." But as all the MSS. and printed editions previous to Moto-
wori's contain it, it has been retained in the translation.
1 Son of the Emperor Chiu-ai and the Empress Jin-gō.
mean
2 In Yamato. Akira signifies "brilliant." Karushima seems to
"the neighbourhood of Karu, Karu being the often mentioned
place of that name in Yamato.
3 The Auxiliary Numeral for deities is here used.
"
66
292 KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXII.
4
ma-waka, the name of one of whom was Her Augustness
Princess Takagi-no-iri;5 of the next, Her Augustness Naka-
tsu-hime; and of the next, Her Augustness Oto-hime." (The
father of these Queens, King Homuda-no-ma-waka, was the son of
His Augustness Prince Iho-ki-no-iris by his wife Shiritsuki-tome,9
daughter of the Noble Take-inada,10 ancestor of the Chiefs of Wohari.)¹¹
So the august children of Her Augustness Princess Takagi-no-
iri were: His Augustness Nukata-no-oho-waka-tsu-hiko;12 next
His Augustness Oho-yama-mori;¹³ next His Augustness Iza-no-
ma-waka;¹ next his younger sister the Lady of Ohohara ;15
next the Lady of Komuku. 16 (Five Deities). The august child-
ren of Her Augustness Naka-tsu-hime were: the Lady of
4 Homuda-no-ma-waka no miko. Homuda has already been met
with as the name of a place in Kahachi. Ma-waka signifies "truly
young." The name might therefore be rendered "truly young king
of Homuda.”
5 Takagi no iri-bime no mikoto. Motowori identifies this princess
with the Takaki-hime of Sect. LXXVI, Note 21.
6 I.e., "middle princess," she being the second of three sisters.
7 I.e., “younger princess," she being the youngest of the sisters.
8 I-ho-ki-no-iri-biko no mikoto. See Sect. LXXVI, Note 12.
9 I.e., probably "old woman of Shiritsuki." But it is not certain
that Shiritsuki is the name of a place.
10 Take-inada no sukune. In the "Chronicles of Old Matters of
Former Ages" the name is written Take-ina-dane, and it may there-
fore mean "brave-rice-seed."
11 Wohari no murazhi.
12 I.e., “great middle prince of Nukata," the latter being the name
of a place in Yamato. It is of uncertain signification.
13 I.e., "great mountain-warden." For the appropriateness of this
namè conf. Sect. CV.
14 The same name has appeared in Sect. LXIII, Note 13.
15 Ohohara no iratsume. Ohohara is the name of a place in Ya-
It signifies "great moor."
mato.
16 Komuku no iratsume. This name is written, and its reading
as Komuku is somewhat hypothetical. It is the name of a place in
Kahachi, and probably signifies "an overflowing pool of water."
A
VOL. XXXII.]
VOL. II. SECT. CIV.
293
17
Arata in Ki; next His Augustness Oho-sazaki ;18 next His
Augustness Netori.9 (Three Deities). The august children of
Her Augustness Oto-hime were: the Lady Abe;20 next the
Lady of Mihara in Ahaji;2 next the Lady of Unu in Ki;22
next the Lady of Minu.23 (Five Deities).24 Again he wedded
17 Ki no Arata no iratsume. Ki is the province of that name, and
Arata is a place in it. The latter name probably means "uncultivated
fields."
<<
18 This name signifies "Great Wren," and is thus accounted for
by the author of the "Chronicles": "On the day when the Emperor
[this Prince became the Emperor Nin-toku] was born, an owl flew
"into the parturition-hall. Next morning early, the Heavenly Sove-
reign Homuda [.e., the Emperor Ō-jin] sent for the Prime Minister
"the Noble Take-uchi, and asked him whereof this might be a sign.
"The Prime Minister replied, saying: 'It is a good omen. Moreover
yesterday, when they servant's wife was delivered of child, a wren
flew into the parturition-house, likewise a strange thing.´ Then
"the Heavenly Sovereign said: 'It is a portent from Heaven that
66 (
CC C
my child and thine should he born on the same day, and both be
"attended by a good omen. So let the names of the birds be taken,
"and each used for the name of the other [i.e., the name of the owl
"for him into whose parturition-house the wren flew, and vice-versá],
"as a covenant for the future.' So the wren's name was bestowed
"on the Heir Apparent, who was called Great-Wren Prince, and the
"owl's name was given to the Prime Minister's child, who was called
"the Noble Owl."
*The modern form of this word is sasagi.-W.G.A.
19 This name is obscure.
(C
20 Abe no iratsume. Abe is the name of several places in different
provinces, and is of obscure derivation and import.
21 Ahaji no Mihara no iratsume. The text properly has Ayuchi,
but Motowori emends this to Ahaji on the authority of the “Chroni-
cles." Mihara is the name of a district in the island of Ahaji, and
probably signifies "three moors."
22 Ki no Unu no iratsume. Ki is the province of that name, and
Unu a place in it. The latter name is of uncertain import.
23 Minu no iratsume. Minu (Mino) is the province of that name.
24" Five
Five" must here be a mistake for "four."
294 66
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXII.
31
the Princess Miya-nushi-ya-kaha-ye,25 daughter of the Grandee
Wani-no-Hifure, and begot august children: Uji-no-waki-
iratsuko ;26 next his younger sister Yata-no-waki-iratsume ;27
next Queen Medori.28 (Three Deities). Again he wedded Wo-
nabe-no-iratsume,29 younger sister of Yakaha-ye-hime, and begot
an august child: Uji-no-waki-iratsume.3 (One Deity). Again
he wedded Okinaga-ma-waka-naka-tsu-hime, daughter of King
Kuhimata-naga-hiko, and begot an august child: King Waka-
nuke-futa-mata33 (One Deity). Again he wedded the Princess of
Itowi,24 daughter of Shima-tari-ne, ancestor of the Agricultural
Chiefs of Sakurawi, and begot an august child: His August-
ness Hayabusa-wake³7 (One Deity). Again, he wedded Naga-
hime of Idzumi in Himuka, and begot august children: King
$5
36
38
25 For this name and the next see Sect. CVI, Notes 5 and 4.
26 I.e., "the young lord of Uji." Uji is the name of a district in
Yamashiro, famous in classical and modern times for its tea. The
etymology is obscure.
27 I.e., “the young lady of Yata." Yata is the name of a place in
Yamato. The etymology is obscure.
28 Medori no miko. Medori signifies hen-bird;" but the reason
for the application of so strange a name to this princess, whose for-
tunes are related at some length in Sects. CXXVI and CXXVII, does
not appear. A similar remark applies to the next name.
29 I.e., probably "the lady of the little kettle."
30 I.e.,
31 I.e.,
32 See Sect. XCII, Note 27.
33 Waka-nuke-futa-mata no miko.
34 Itowi-hime.
(C
"the young lady of Uji."
"the truly young middle princess of Okinaga.”
This name is obscure.
Itowi is the name of a place in Yamato, and is of
uncertain origin.
>>
35 Shima is probably the name of a place, while tari and ne are
the frequently recurring Honorifics rendered respectively "perfect '
and "lord" in former parts of this translation.
36 Sakurawi no ta-be no murazhi. Ta-be, rendered “ agricultural,"
is literally "rice-field tribe." Sakurawi ("cherry-well") is the name
of a place in Kahachi.
37 I.c., falcon-lord.
38 Himuka no Idzumi no Naga-hime.
Himuka is the name of a
VOL. XXXII.]
295
VOL. II. SECT. CV.
>
Oho-haye, next King Wo-haye; next Hata-bi-no-waki-ira-
tsume.41 (Three Deities). Again he wedded Princess Ka-guro,42
and begot august children: Kaharada-no-iratsume 43 next,
Tama-no-iratsume; next, Osaka-no-oho-naka-tsu-hime ;45 next,
Tohoshi-no-iratsume; next, King Kataji.47 (Five Deities). Again,
he wedded Nu-iro-me of Kadzuraki, and begot an august
child: King Iza-no-ma-waka.49 (One Deity). The august child-
ren of this Heavenly Sovereign [numbered] altogether twenty-
six (eleven Kings and fifteen Queens). Of these His Augustness
Oho-sazaki [was he who afterwards] ruled the Empire.
48
·
[SECT. CV.-EMPEROR ō-JIN (PART II.—HE DIVIDES THE INHERITANCE
BETWEEN HIS THREE SONS).]
Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign asked His Augustness
province, and Idzumi that of a district now comprised within the
limits of Satsuma. Naga-hime, literally "long princess," probably
signifies "elder princess."
Signification obscure.
39 Oho-haye no miko.
40 Wo-haye no miko. Signification obscure. The antithesis of the
Adjectives oho and wo ("great" and "small") shows however that
the names partly served to distinguish the elder from the younger
brother.
41 Waki-iratsume is "young lady." Hata-bi is incomprehensible.
42 See Sect. LXXVI, Note 28.
43 I.e., probably "the lady of Kaharada." The latter name (literally
"rice-field on the border of a river") is often met with.
44 I.e., "the jewel lady."
45 I.e.,
"the great middle lady of Osaka," the latter being the
name of a place in Yamato (see Sect. XLVIII, Note 1).
46 Motowori identifies this name with that of Koto-fushi no iratsume
in Sect. CXVII, q.v., and thinks that both this and the preceding
name have only crept into this Section by mistake.
47 Kataji no miko. Signification obscure.
48 Kadzuraki no Nu-iro-me. All the elements of this name have
already been met with several times.
49 This child has already appeared early in this Section, and the
name is here doubtless only repeated through some copyist's error.
296 “KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXII.
C
Oho-yama-mori and His Augustness Oho-sazaki,* saying:
"Which think ye the dearer, an elder child or a younger
child?" (The reason why the Heavenly Sovereign propounded this
question was because it was his intention to make Uji-no-waki-
iratsuko rule the Empire). Then His Augustness Oho-yama-mori
said: "The elder child is the dearer." Next His Augustness.
Oho-sazaki, knowing the august feeling which made the Hea-
venly Sovereign deign to ask [the question], said: "The elder
child, having already become a man, gives no trouble; but
"the younger child, not being yet a man, is the dearer."
Then the Heavenly Sovereign said: "My lord Sazaki's words
agree with my thoughts," and forthwith ordained the division
[of the inheritance] thus: His Augustness Oho-yama-mori to
administer the government of the mountains and the sea,2 His
Augustness Oho-sazaki to take and deign to report on the
government of the realm,³ and Uji-no-waki-iratsuko to rule the
succession of Heaven's sun. So His Augustness Oho-sazaki
was not disobedient to the Heavenly Sovereign's commands.5
4
<<
..
[SECT. CVI.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART III. -HE WOOS PRINCESS MIYA-
NUSHI-YA-KAHA-YE).]
One day¹ the Heavenly Sovereign, when he had crossed
over into the land of Afumi, augustly stood on the moor of
Uji, gazed on the moor of Kadzu, and sang, saying:
Satow's chronology has Oho-sasagi.--W.G.A.
1 Literally, "heart."
2 I.e., Motowori thinks, to have control over the guilds of foresters
and fishermen.
3 I.e., to act as regent or minister.
4 I.e., to inherit the empire. It will be remembered that the
Japanese Emperors claim to descend from the Sun-Goddess.
5 This statement refers proleptically to the contrary course which
was taken by the elder Oho-yama-mori.
1 Literally, "one time.”
† Gazed down.-W.G.A.
VOL. XXXII.]
297
VOL. II. SECT. CVI.
"As I look on the Moor of Kadzu in Chiba
"both the hundred thousand-fold abundant
house-places are visible, and the land's
"acme is visible."2
(C
3
4
So when he reached the village of Kohata, a beautiful
maiden met him at a fork in the road. Then the Heavenly
Sovereign asked the maiden, saying: "Whose child art thou?"
She replied, saying: "I am the daughter of the Grandee
"Wani-no-Hifure, and my name is Princess Miya-nushi-ya-
"kaha-ye."5 The Heavenly Sovereign forthwith said to the
maiden: "When I return on my progress to-morrow, I will
"enter into thy house." So Princess Ya-kaha-ye told her
father all that [had happened]. Thereupon her father replied,
saying: "Ah! it was the Heavenly Sovereign! [His com-
“mands are to be respected. My child, respectfully serve
2 According to Moribe, whose interpretation has been followed
throughout, this Song signifies: “As I gaze across from Uji to the
"Moor of Toba, I see the numerous and prosperous homesteads of
"the people, I see the most fertile portion of the country."-On
this view Chiba is identified with Toba, the name of a district; and
the word ho, rendered "acme," is taken to mean the best, highest,
most showy part of anything. For Motowori's opinion, which is that
of the older commentators as well, that chi-ba is a Pillow-Word, there
is much to be said, and if we followed it, we should have to render
the first two lines thus: As I look on the thousand-leafed pueraria-
moor," etc. (kadzu signifying "pueraria.") Motowori's explanation of
momo-chi-daru (here rendered by "hundred thousand-fold abundant")
as referring to the soot of the peasant's roofs, and of ho as signifying
a plain surrounded by mountains" seems much less good than
Moribe's interpretation of those difficult expressions.
""
3 In the district of Uji in the province of Yamashiro. The
characters with which the name is written signify "tree-flag."
4 Wani no Hifure no omi. For Wani no omi see Sect. LXII,
Note 11. The meaning of Hifure is obscure.
5 Miya-nushi-ya-kaha-hime. Miya-nushi is "priestess," or more
literally "temple-guardian.” For the rest of the name see Sect.
XXVI, Note 14, though the personages are of course meant to be
different.
298
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXII.
"him!"-and so saying, he grandly decorated the house, and
awaited [the Heavenly Sovereign's return], whereupon he came
in on the next day. So when [the father] served [the Hea-
venly Sovereign] a great august feast, he made his daughter
Her Augustness' Princess Ya-kaha take the great august liquor-
cup and present it. Thereupon, while taking the great august
liquor-cup, the Heavenly Sovereign augustly sang, saying:
“Oh this crab! whence this crab? [It is]
"a crab from far-distant Tsunuga. Whither
"reaches its sideward motion? [It has]
"come towards Ichiji-shima and Mi-shima.
"It must be because, plunging and breathless
"like the grebe, I went without stopping
"along the up and down road by the wavelets,
"that the maiden I met on the Kohata road
"has a back oh! like a small shield, a row
"of teeth like acorns. Oh! the earth of the
"Wani pass at Ichihiwi! Owing to the skin
"of the first earth being ruddy, to the last
"earth being of a reddish black, she,
"without exposing to the actual sun that
"makes one bend one's head the middle
"earth like three chestnuts, draws thickly
"down her drawn eye-brows;-the woman
"I met, the child I saw and wanted in this
66
Iway, the child I saw and wanted in that
(C way, oh! she is opposite to me at the
"height of the feast! oh! she is at my side!"8*
6 I.e., that day having passed by, the Emperor came on the next
day according to his promise.
<<
7 Motowori supposes with apparent reason that the character,
Augustness," has only crept into the text through the attraction of
the following character, "made," which it resembles in appearance.
*I should be pleased to think that the text of the bulk of the
middle part of this Song is corrupt.-W.G.A.
8 It must be understood that in this Song the Imperial singer
VOL. XXXII.]
299
VOL. II. SECT. CVI.
Ita auguste coivit [cum illâ], et procreavit filium Uji-no-
waki-iratsuko.
tr
commences by referring to what doubtless formed part of the feast,—
a crab, -and thence passes on by an imperceptible transition to allude
to his own adventure with the maiden. As the crab when alive
walked sideways, so was the Emperor zigzagging up and down the
road that lines the shore of Lake Biwa, pursuing his breathless course
like that of the busy grebe that perpetually plunges into the water,
when the maiden met him near Kohata. Beautiful indeed was she:
her back straight as a shield, her teeth like a row of acorns, and the
artificial eye-brows painted a dark colour on her forehead drawn low
down in a perfect crescent-shape. She had been careful in selecting
the clay to make the paint, rejecting the upper layer of earth, for that
was of too bright a red, rejecting likewise the lower layer, for that
was too dark, but taking the middle, which was of the correct blue
tint, and drying it, not in the fierce, but in a mildly tempered, sun-
light. And now this maiden, for whom his heart had been panting
and turning this way and that ever since the previous day, is actually
seated opposite to him, nay! at his very side, and he is feasting in
her sweet company.-Tsunuga is the name of a place in the province
of Echizen. Far-distant" is an imperfect attempt at rendering the
force of the Pillow-Word momo-dzutafu, which implies that the tra-
veller must pass through a hundred other places before reaching his
destination. "Whither reaches its sideward motion?" signifies
"whi-
"ther is it going with its sideward motion?" Ichiji-shima and
Mishima are places of which nothing is known, so that the allusion
to them is obscure. At this point Motowori's interpretation diverges
from that of Moribe, which has been followed throughout. Sasanami,
here rendered “wavelets,” is taken by him, as by the older commen-
tators, as the name of a place, and the description of the maiden's
teeth is misundertood to signify that she had a beak filled with a
row of teeth like the water-caltrop! Motowori also would here divide
the Song in two, a proceeding for which there is not sufficient war-
rant. On other minor points, too, his decisions do not seem so happy
as Moribe's. The views of both commentators will be found at
length in Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXXII, pp. 33-51, and in
Moribe's "Idzu no Koto-waki,” in loco. "Three chestnuts" (mitsu-
guri no) is a common Pillow-Word for naka, "middle," founded on
the fact, real or supposed, that one burr always contains three nuts,
whereof one of course is in the middle, between the other two,
·
300
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXII.
((
[SECT. CVII.-EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART IV.—HE GRANTS PRINCESS KAMI-
NAGA TO HIS SON OHO-SAZAKI).]
-
The Heavenly Sovereign, hearing of the beauty of Princess
Kami-naga,¹ daughter of the Duke of Muragata² in the land of
Himuka, and thinking to employ her,3 sent down for her,4
whereupon the Heir Apparent His Augustness Oho-sazaki,
having seen the maiden land* at the port of Naniha, and being
charmed with the grace of her appearance, forthwith directed
the Prime Minister the Noble Take-uchi, to intercede for him.
in the great august presence of the Heavenly Sovereign, and
make [the latter] grant to him Princess Kami-naga, whom he
had sent down for. Then on the Prime Minister the Noble
Take-uchi requesting the great commands, the Heavenly
Sovereign forthwith granted Princess Kami-naga to his august
child. The way he granted her was this:-the Heavenly
Sovereign, on a day when he partook of a copious feast,' gave
6
1 Kami-naga-hime. The name signifies "the long-haired princess."
2 Muragata no kimi. Muragata seems to signify "many towns."
3 I.e., wed her.
CC
4 Literally, summoned her up." The same phrase occurs im-
mediately below.
<<
5太子​. Mabuchi thinks that 御子​, august child," should be
substituted for the reading in the text. But Motowori insists that
the title translated Heir Apparent was anciently borne by all the sons
of an Emperor, and that consequently no emendation is called for.
* Arrive ?-W.G.A.
6 I.e., the Emperor's orders.
7 The native term translated " copious feast" is toyo no akari,
variously written with the characters 豐​明​,豐樂​,宴樂​, etc., etc. It
literally signifies "copious brightness," in allusion to the ruddy glow
which wine gives to the faces of the revellers, and henceforward
perpetually recurs in this history. In later times it specifically de-
noted the festival of the tasting of the first rice, but anciently its
meaning was not thus limited. Motowori's note on the subject, in
Vol. XXXII, pp. 57-59 of his Commentary, may be consulted with
advantage.
VOL. XXXII.]
VOL. II. SECT. CVII.
301
Princess Kami-naga the great august liquor oak- [leaf³] to
present to the Heir Apparent. Then he augustly sang, saying:
"Come on,
children! oh! the fragrant
flowering orange-tree on my way as I
"go to pluck the wild garlic,-to pluck
"the garlic, has its uppermost branches
"withered by birds perching on them, and its
"lowest branches withered through people
plucking from them. But the budding
"fruit on the middle branch, like three
"chestnuts, the ruddy maiden, oh! if
"thou lead her off with thee, it will be
"good, oh !"
Again he augustly sang, saying:
""
(C
((
Driving the dyke-piles into Lake Yosami
"where the water collects, my heart (ignor-
"ant of the pricking of the stumps of the
8 I.e., an oak-leaf which was used as a cup to sip out of. Leaf-
platters for food have already been mentioned. Motowori says that
the word kashiha* (properly the name of a deciduous oak, the Quercus
dentata) was employed to denote any kind of leaf thus used.
Has not the kashiwa a smallish leaf,—too small for this purpose?
If the authorities were not against it, I should have understood a cup
made of the wood of the kashiwa.-W.G.A.
(6
9 The whole gist of this Song is contained in the last three lines.
'The ruddy maiden, oh! if thou lead her off with thee, it will be
good,”—i.e., "thou and the maiden will form a fitting couple." All
that goes before is what is technically called a Preface," though its
bearing is so clear as to admit of translation, and even in English to
form an appropriate introduction to the Song:--It is not the stinking
garlic, but the fragrant orange that the singer has met by the way,
and it is the choicest young fruit in the very middle of the tree that
forms a suitable comparison for the lovely young girl.-With the
favourite allusion to upper, middle, and lower the reader is already
familiar, and the Pillow-Word "three chestnuts " was explained in
the note on the preceding Song (Sect. CVI, Note 8).
302
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXII.
water-caltrop, ignorant of the creeping* of
"the roots of the Brasenia peltata), being
more and more laughable, is now indeed
(C repentant "10
Having thus sung, he bestowed [her on the Heir Apparent].
So after having been granted the maiden, the Heir Apparent
sang, saying:
66
"(
*
"C
Growing ?-W.G.A.
10 The gist of the Song is :†
"I knew not that thou, my son,
"hadst conceived a secret passion for the maiden; but I am now
"conscious of my own mistake, and my foolish old heart is ashamed
"of itself." With this explanation the elaborate comparison between
the state of the monarch's mind and the condition of the peasant
driving piles for the foundation of a dyke, and having his feet either
lacerated by the stumps of the water-caltrop, or made slimy by
brushing against the roots of the Brasenia peltata at the bottom of the
water, becomes intelligible and appropriate. The word kuri, rendered
"roots," perplexed Motowori, who suggests that it may be but a
second name of the Brasenia, appended to the first; but Moribe's
suggestion that it is to be identified with kori, and taken in the
signification of "roots," though not quite convincing, is at least more
plausible. The text of this Song is corrupt in these Records and
has to be corrected by a comparison with that of the "Chronicles."
Moribe goes into an amusing ecstasy over the picture of ancient
manners which it presents, and lauds the simplicity of days when a
father and son could so peacefully woo the same maiden without
mutual concealment or disastrous consequences!
(6
The Nihongi makes this song a reply by the young Prince to
the previous one. I prefer the Nihongi.-W.G.A.
11 The meaning of this Song is: "At first I heard of the maiden
"of Kohada in the furthest parts of Himuka as one hears the distant
"thunder; but now she is mine, and we sleep locked in each other's
arms."-This Kohada in Himuka must not be confounded with the
Kohata in Yamashiro mentioned in the preceding Section. The
"Oh! the maiden of Kohada in the back of
"the road! though I heard of her like the
"thunder, we mutually intertwine [our
"arms] as pillows."11
>>
VOL. XXXIII.]
303
VOL. II. SECT. CVIII.
Again he sang, saying:
"I think lovingly ah! of how the maiden of
"Kohada in the back of the road sleeps [with
"me] without disputing.'
12
[SECT. CVIII.-EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART V.-SONGS OF THE
TERRITORIAL OWNERS OF YESHINU).]
Again, the Territorial Owners of Yeshinu,¹ seeing the
august sword which was girded on His Augustness Oho-sazaki,
sang, saying:
C
Sharp is the beginning, freezing is the end
"of the sword girded on Oho-sazaki, Oho-
"sazaki, the solar august child of Homuda,—
"[it is] chilly, chilly like the trees beneath
"the trunks of the winter trees."?
در
"back of the road means the remotest portion (conf. Sect. LX,
Note 20).
The thunder must be understood to refer to a very faint
and distant sound: the Prince had first heard of the maiden vaguely,
but now she is his and has been his for some time; for this Song
must be supposed to have been composed after the occasion of the
feast with the story of which it is here connected.
* Or else there is some confusion in the text,—not unlikely.-W.G.A.
12 The meaning of this Song is: "I love this maiden of Kohada
"in Himuka, who disputed not my desire and my father's grant, but
"willingly became my wife." It is hard to render in English the
force of the string of Particles wo shi zo mo in the penultimate line.
1 Yeshinu is the modern Yoshino, in the province of Yamato (see
Sect. XLVI, Note 3). For the title of kudzu see Sect. XLVI, Note
13, where it also occurs in connection with Yeshinu.
*Where it is spelt kuzu.-W.G.A.
<<
The Chinese character means "look up to," "to reverence," "to
revere," to regard very respectfully." The writer evidently meant
this and not simply "see.”—W.G.A.
2 According to Moribe, whose interpretation seems best to the
translator, the signification of this difficult poem is: "The sword
CC
304
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIII.
Again, having made a cross-mortar at Kashifuª in Yeshinu,
and having in that cross-mortar distilled some great august
liquor, they, when they presented the great august liquor [to
the Heavenly Sovereign], sang as follows, drumming with their
mouths :+
(C
worn by Prince Oho-sazaki, son of the Emperor Homuda (Ō-jin) is
double-edged at its upper part, and like glistening ice towards its
'point;-oh! 'tis like the icicles on the plants that cluster about the
"trunks of the dead trees in winter!" Almost every line, however
(excepting those giving the name and title of the Prince), is a subject
of controversy, and the "Kō-gan Shō" in loco and Motowori's Com-
mentary, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 2-5, should be consulted for Keichiu's,
Mabuchi's and Motowori's views on the disputed point.-The ex-
pression "solar august child" signifies
signifies "sun-descended prince," in
allusion to the supposed descent of the Japanese monarchs from the
Sun-Goddess.
<<
"We have made a side-mortar at Kashinofu,
"and in the side-mortar we have distilled
(
? If this poem were composed at the time stated, it would nega-
tive the supposition that Ōsasagi is a posthumous name.
It proves
at any rate that the author of the Kojiki did not consider it so.
3 Yoko-usu or yokusu (E). It is not plain what sort of mortar
the author intended to designate by this term.
Motowori supposes
it to mean a broad flat mortar in contradistinction to a high and
narrow one. Keichiu's view, which he quotes, to the effect that it
was a mortar that had been carved out of the block against the grain
of the wood, seems an equally good guess, where all is guess-work.
4 In the Song this same name is read Kashinofu; but the com-
mentators tell us that the Genitive Particle no ("of ") is simply
inserted for the sake of rhythm, and it is not unlikely that they are
right. The name seems to signify “[a place where] oak-trees grow."
5 See Sect. XVIII, Note 16. The character W, rendered by
distil" or "brew," according to the view which one may take of
the resulting liquor, would seem to be here used in the sense of "to
pound."
+ You cannot distil a thing in a mortar.-W.G.A.
‡ Waza wo noshite, “and making gestures.”—W.G.A.
VOL. XXXIII.]
305
VOL. II. SECT. CX.
66
some great august liquor, which do thou
"sweetly partake of, oh our lord !"3
This Song is one which it is the custom to chant down
to the present day when, from time to time, the Territorial
Owners present a great feast [to the Sovereign].
[SECT. CIX.-EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART VI.-VARIOUS DEEDS).]
1
2
In this august reign were graciously established the Fisher
Tribe, the Mountain Tribe, the Mountain Warden Tribe,3
and the Ise Tribe.* Again the Pool of Tsurugi was made.
Again there came over [to Japan] some people from Shiragi.
Therefore His Augustness the Noble Take-uchi, having taken
them with him and set them to labour on pools and embank-
ments, made the Pool of Kudara.5
[SECT. CX-EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART VII.—TRIBUTE FROM KOREA).]
Again King Shō-ko,' the Chieftain of the land of Kudara,
*
6 In this simple Song the Territorial Owners of Yoshino beg the
Monarch to deign to partake of the sake which they have made.
1 Ama-be (written and read Una-be in the Old Printed
Edition and in the edition of 1687, and perhaps better rendered
"Sea-Tribe.") The name of this guild or clan does not seem to have
remained, like the two mentioned together with it, as a gentile
name."
<<
2 Yama-be. Motowori thinks that this word has crept into the
text erroneously through the influence of that next mentioned, as the
functions of the tribes or guilds thus separately named were identical.
The differentiation may have taken place after the terms had come
to be used as (C
'gentile names.
3 Yama-mori-be.
4 Ise-be. Nothing is known of this tribe or guild.
5 Doubtless so named after the Korean labourers employed upon
it,-Kudara and Shiragi, as different parts of the same peninsula,
being confounded in thought.*
Called, in the Nihongi, “the pool of the Han men.”—W.G.A.
>>
306
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIII.
muchrundl
sent as tribute by Achi-kishi one stallion and one mare. (This
Achi-kishi was the ancestor of the Achiki Scribes.³) Again be sent
as tribute a cross-sword,+ and likewise a large mirror. Again
he was graciously bidden to send as tribute a wise man, if
there were any such in the land of Kudara. Therefore,
receiving the [Imperial] commands, he sent as tribute a man
named Wani-kishi, and likewise by this man he sent as tribute
the Confucian Analects' in ten volumes and the Thousand
Character Essays in one volume,-altogether eleven volumes.
(This Wani-kishi was the ancestor of the Fumi Grandées.9) Again
he sent as tribute two artisans,-a smith from Kara named
Taku-so¹0 and a weaver from Gol named Sai-so.12
CC
1, according to the Japanese kana spelling, Seu-ko."
† King Ahwa it was,-not Shō-ko.-W.G.A.
2. Other forms of the name are Ajiki and Atogi, and
阿​知​吉​師​.
all three are but attempts at transcribing phonetically into Japanese a
Korean name, the proper characters for which are not given. 吉士
​is not properly part of the name, but is simply an official title (
here stands for 1).
i.e.,
3 Achiki no fumi-bito. Fumi-bito abbreviated to Fubito) became a
gentile name."
4 See Sect. XLV, Note 5.
·
Wani.
*

5 Q.d., by the Japanese Emperor.
6Here written phonetically 和​邇​吉​師​,but properly 王​仁吉士​,
"the Official Wang-In." He is generally spoken of simply as
(6
7. ("Lun Yü," or according to the Japanese pronunciation
"Ron-go.")
8千字文 ​("Ch'ien Tzu Wên," or according to the Japanese
pronunciation Sen-ji-mon.") See the translator's remarks on this
subject in the Introduction, p. xlix. The "Chronicles more pru-
dently mention only "various classics."
9 Fumi no obito. Fumi signifies "any written document," so that
gentile name" is equivalent to our word "scribe.”
this "
در
·
10 0. The transliteration of this, as of all other such names
here occurring, is the Sinico-Japanese transliteration. Kara (Korea)
is written 韓​.
11(Wu, Jap. Go), one of the states into which China was
VOL. XXXIII.]
307
VOL. II. SECT. CXI.
(C
[SECT. CXI.-EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART VIII.—THE EMPEROR
INTOXICATED).]
3
Again there came over [to Japan] the ancestor of the
Hada Rulers,¹ the ancestor of the Aya Suzerains,2 and likewise
a man who knew how to distil liquor, and whose name was
Nim-pan, while another name for him was Susukori. So this
[man] Susukori distilled some great august liquor, and pre-
sented it to the Heavenly Sovereign, who, excited with the
great august liquor that had been presented to him, augustly
sang, saying:
"I have become intoxicated with the august
liquor distilled by Susukori. I have be-
"come intoxicated with the soothing liquor,
"with the smiling liquor.”5
divided during the third century of our era. A draper's shop is still
called go-fuku-ya, i.e., “Wu-garments-house" in memory of the intro-
duction of wearing apparel from that country.
12 西​素​.
¹ Hada no miyatsuko,, a "gentile name." Hada is the native
Japanese word used as the equivalent of the Chinese name, Ch'in.
Its origin is uncertain.
2 Aya no atahe M, a "gentile name." The use of Aya to re-
present the Chinese name, Han, is as difficult to account for as
is that of Hada mentioned in the preceding Note.
3. Another and more Japanese-like reading, Niho, is inven-
ted by Motowori; but the older editors read Nim-pan according to
the usual Sinico-Japanese sound of the characters. The modern
Korean reading would be In-pön.
4 Written phonetically.
* Brewed.-W.G.A.
5 Thus translated, this Song is too clear to need any explanation.
The lines, however, which are rendered by "with the soothing liquor,
"with the smiling liquor,”—in Japanese koto nagu shi we-gushi-ni,-
in reality extremely obscure, and Moribe understands them to signify,
"Oh! how difficult it is for me to speak! Oh! how ill at ease I am!"
In order to do so he has, however, to change and add to the text;
308
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIII.
£
On his walking out singing thus, he hit with his august
staff a large stone in the middle of the Ohosaka road, upon
which the stone ran away. So the proverb says: "Hard
"stones get out of a drunkard's way."
[SECT. CXII. EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART IX.-TROUBLES WHICH
FOLLOWED HIS DECEASE).]
So after the decease of the Heavenly Sovereign, His
Augustness Oho-sazaki, in conformity with the Heavenly Sove-
reign's commands, ceded the Empire to Uji-no-waki-iratsuko.
Thereupon His Augustness Oho-yama-mori, disobeying the
Heavenly Sovereign's commands, and anxious in spite thereof
to obtain the Empire, had the design to slay the Prince¹ his
younger brother, secretly raised an army, and prepared to
attack him. Then His Augustness Cho-sazaki, hearing that
his elder brother had prepared an army, forthwith despatched
a messenger to apprise Uji-no-waki-iratsuko. So, startled at
the news, [the latter] set troops in ambush by the river-bank,
and likewise, after having drawn a fence of curtains and raised
a tent on the top of the hill, placed there publicly on a
throne² one of his retainers to pretend that he was the King,³
the manner in which all the officials reverentially went and
came being just like that [usual] in the King's presence. And
4
and the translator, though not sure of being in the right path, has
preferred to follow Motowori, whose interpretation, without requiring
any such extreme measures, yet gives a very plausible sense.
6 See Sect. LXIV, Note 25.
* I don't dispute the translation, but how could he cede what he
had not?-W.G.A.
17. This is the only passage in the work where this expres-
sion occurs. Uji-no-waki-iratsuko is the personage thus designated.
2 The same expression has been in Sect. XXXI (near Note 16)
rendered "couch." The characters in the original are or
吳​床 ​胡床​‧
3 L.e., Uji-no-waki-iratsuko.
4 The Chinese phrase, "the hundred officials," is here used.
+
VOL. XXXIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. CXII.
309
moreover, preparing for the time when the King his elder
brother should cross the river, he arranged and decorated a
boat and oars, and moreover ground* [in a mortar] the root
of the Kadzura japonica, and having taken the slime of its
juice, rubbed therewith the grating inside the boat, so as to
make any who should tread on it fall down, and then himself
put on a cloth coat and trowsers, and having assumed the
appearance of a common fellow, stood in the boat holding the
oar. Hereupon, when the King his elder brother, having hid
his troops in ambush and put on armour beneath his clothes,
reached the river-bank and was about to get into the boat, he
gazed at the grandly decorated place [on the hill], thought the
King his younger brother was sitting on the throne, being
altogether ignorant [of the fact] that he was standing in the
boat holding the oar, and forthwith asked the fellow who was
holding the oar, saying: "It has been reported to me that
"on this mountain there is a large and angry boar. I wish
"to take that boar. Shall I peradventure get that boar?"
Then the fellow holding the oar replied, saying: "Thou
"canst not." Again he asked, saying: "For what reason?"
[The boat-man] answered, saying: "He is not to be got,
"however often and in however many places he be chased.
"Wherefore I say that thou canst not [catch him either]."
When they had crossed as far as the middle of the river,
[Prince Uji-no-waki-iratsuko] caused the boat to be tilted over,
(C
5 Q.d., his Augustness Oho-yama-mori.
6 The text has the character, which, in combination with the
preceding word “ oars," gives the sense of "oarsman," "boatman."
But Motowori reasonably suggests that it is an error for, the
grass-hand forms of the two characters closely resembling each other,
and making much better sense; for who would talk of "decorating
an oarsman ?”
* Or "pounded."-W.G.A.
7 A bamboo grating.
8 Literally "that king's son."
310 66
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIII.
and [his elder brother] to fall into the water. Then forthwith
he rose to the surface and floated down with the current.
Forthwith, as he floated, he sang, saying:
"Whoever is swiftest among the boatmen
"of the Uji ferry will come to me."10
Thereupon the troops that had been hidden on the river-
bank rose up simultaneously on this side and on that side, and
fixing their arrows [in their bows], let him go floating down.
So he sank on reaching Kawara Point." So on their searching
with hooks¹² the place where he had sunk, [the hooks] struck
9
9 It must be understood that Uji-no-waki-iratsuko and his men,
having planned to act thus, were on their guard, and did not fall
into the water as did Oho-yama-mori, who was taken unawares."
Oyama-Mori was probably thinking of the ukei-gari mentioned
above. He wished to judge of his luck from the answer he received.
·W.G.A.
10 This is Motowori's view of the meaning of the Song, which he
interprets as a request for help to some friendly boatman. Moribe
adopts quite a different view, and thinks that the drowning prince is
rather giving vent to sentiments of pride and defiance.
He says
(speaking in the Prince's name): "It is not that I have been cap-
"sized out of the boat into the river, but that I am swimming off
"after a pole which has fallen into the water. If there be any strong
and willing fellows among my partizans, let them swim after me.”
It must be explained that the word rendered "boatmen " in the
translation is literally "pole-takers" (or, according to Moribe's view,
<<
to take a pole"). Motowori's interpretation seems to do less violence
to the wording of the original, and Moribe's has not even the merit
of accounting for the use of the Future komu where the Imperative
kome would be what we should naturally expect.— Uji is preceded by
the, in this context, untranslatable Pillow-Word chihayaburu (see
"Dictionary of Pillow-Words," s.v.).
11 Kawara no saki. The author, in the next sentence, derives this
name from the rattling sound made by the hooks as they struck on
the armour.
But there seems a great deal to be said in favour of
Arawi Hakuseki's view that kawara is an old word itself signifying
<< armour."
12 The word kagi here used occurs elsewhere to denote the hooks
VOL. XXXIII.]
311
VOL. II. SECT. CXII.
on the armour inside his clothes, and made a rattling sound.13
So the place was called by the name of Kawara Point. Then
when they hooked up¹4 his bones the younger King sang,
saying:
14
(C
Catalpa bow, Euonymus standing by the
"ferry-bank of Uji! My heart had thought
"to cut [you], my heart had thought to
"take [you]; but at the base methought of
"the lord, at the extremity methought of the
"younger sister; grievously methought of
this, sorrowfully methought of that; and
"I co
come [back] without cutting it, the
"Catalpa bow, the Euonymus."'15
"(
"C
employed for fastening doors, and in later times took the specific
meaning of "key.”
13 Literally, "sounded kawara.”
14 The text has the characters. But Motowori says that
stands for, and that we must interpret the passage to mean that
they scratched [about to find] and take out [his corpse].
15 The signification of this Song is: "I came here meaning to
"kill thee as I might cut down and kill that Catalpa tree, that
Euonymus, growing on the river-bank. But the thought of our
"father and of thy sister (or wife) touched me with pity, and I return
"without having drawn my bow at thee."-Uji is preceded by the
untranslatable Pillow-Word chihayahito (see "Dictionary of Pillow-
Words" s.v.;-Motowori reads it chihaya-hito without the nigori).—
The words adzusa-yumi mayumi, here respectively rendered "Catalpa
bow” and “Euonymus," are difficult, and the doubt as to whether we
should understand the prince to be speaking simply of the trees, or
to intend likewise to allude to his bow which was made of the wood
of one of those trees, is probably not to be settled, as the words in
question have always oscillated between the two meanings, and here
evidently contain a double allusion. Motowori thinks that the first
of the two forms only a sort of Pillow-Word for the second. The
word rendered "bank," in accordance with Moribe's suggestion, is
literally “reach.”—No special importance must be attached to the
expressions "base" (or "main part") and "extremity," though they
may doubtless be thought to allude to the father and sister, the
J
312
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIII.
·
So the bones of His Augustness Oho-yama-mori were
buried on the Nara mountain. His Augustness Oho-yama-mori
(was the ancestor of the Dukes of Hijikata,17 the Dukes of Heki,18 and
the Dukes of Harihara.19)
SECT. CXIII.-EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART X.-PRINCES OHO-SAZAKI
AND UJI-NO-WAKI-IRATSUKO CEDE THE EMPIRE
TO EACH OTHER).]
2
Thereupon while the two Deities¹ His Augustness Oho-
sazaki and Uji-no-waki-iratsuko were, each of them, ceding the
Empire to the other, a fisherman³ came with a great feast as
tribute. So they each resigned it to the other. So the elder
brother refused it, and caused it to be offered to the younger
brother, and the younger brother refused it and caused it to
be offered to the elder brother, during which mutual cedings
many days elapsed. As such mutual ceding took place not
[only] once or twice, the fisherman wept from the fatigue of
going backwards and forwards. So the proverb says: "Ah!
recollection of whom softened the victorious younger brother's heart.
The word iranakeku, rendered "grievously," is of not quite certain
interpretation.-It must be understood that though, by overturning
the boat, Uji-no-waki-iratsuko did constructively cause Oho-yama-
mori's death, he did not actually shoot at and slay him when in the
water, but followed down the river-side lamenting over what had
happened. This Song is singled out by Moribe for special praise.
16 See Sect. LXXII, Note 23.
17 In Tohotafumi (Tōtōmi.). In the original Hijikata no kimi.
18 Heki no kimi. Of Heki nothing is known.
19 Harihara no kimi. In Tohotafumi.
Harihara signifies
"alder
plantation."
1 It is not actually the word kami, deity," that is here used in
the original, but hashira, which is the Auxiliary Numeral for Deities.*
* Not exclusively.-W.G.A.
2 Neither being willing to accept the Imperial dignity.
3 Or, “some fishermen,” and similarly in the Plural throughout.
4 I.e., came to present fish to His Majesty.
(6
VOL. XXXIII.]
VOL. II. SECT. CXIV.
313
"the fisherman weeps on account of his own things.' Mean-
while Uji-no-waki-iratsuko died early. So His Augustness
Oho-sazaki did rule the Empire.
995
[SECT. CXIV. EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART XI.—AMA-NO-HI-BOKO CROSSES
OVER TO JAPAN).]
Moreover of old there had been [a man] called by the
name of Ama-no-hi-boko,' child of the ruler of the land of
Shiragi. This person crossed over here [to Japan]. The rea-
son of his crossing over here was [this]: In the land of
Shiragi there was a certain lagoon,2 called by the name of the
Agu Lagoon. On the bank of this lagoon a certain poor girl
5 Motowori is probably right in saying that the point of this
proverb lies in the consideration that, whereas people in general weep
for that which they have not, this fisherman wept on account of the
trouble which was caused to him by the fish which he had.*
*And which he could not get rid of.-W.G,A.
6 Or, "died first." The use in this place of the character,
properly confined to the meaning of the "death of an Emperor," is
remarkable. See Motowori's observations on the point in Vol.
XXXIII, pp. 78–80,
1 Or, according to Motowori's reading, Ame-no-hi-boko. The
character in the text, Z, signify "heavenly sun-spear." But
the homonymous characters, with which the name is written
in the "Gleanings from Ancient Story," and which are approved of
both by Motowori and by Tanigaha Shisei, signify fisherman's
chamaecyparis spear.”
66
2 Apparently nothing more is meant than that there was
lagoon;" but still the one (-) in this context is curious, and Moto-
wori retains it as hito-tsu no in the Japanese reading. "A certain "
seems best to render its force in English, as again in the following
sentences, where Motowori interprets it by the character. It is of
strangely frequent recurrence in the opening sentences of this Section,
which are altogether peculiar in style.*
C
Curiously it is in accordance with Korean idiom to use "one"
for the indefinite article "a".
3 Agu-numa. The meaning of this name is unknown.
314
""
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIV.
6
was [taking her] midday sleep. Tunc solis radii, cœlesti arcui
similes, in privatas partes impegerunt. Again there was a
certain poor man, who, thinking this occurrence5 strange, con-
stantly watched the woman's behaviour. So the woman, having
conceived from the time of that midday sleep, gave birth to a
red jewel. Then the poor man who had watched her begged
[to be allowed] to take the jewel, and kept it constantly
wrapped up by his side. This person, having planted a rice-
field in a valley,' had loaded a cows with food for the labour-
ers, and was getting into the middle of the valley, when he
met the ruler's son, Ama-no-hi-boko, who thereupon asked
him, saying: 'Why enterest thou the valley with a load of
·food upon a cow.
Thou wilt surely kill this cow and eat
"her." Forthwith he seized the man and was about to put
him into prison, when the man replied, saying: "I was not
going to kill the cow. I was simply taking food to the
people in the fields." But still [the ruler's child] would not
let him go.
Then he undid the jewel [which hung] at his
side, and [therewith] bribed [the ruler's child]. So [the latter]
let the poor man go, brought the jewel [home], and placed it
beside his couch. Forthwith it was transformed into a beautiful
maiden, whom he straightway wedded, and made his chief
wife. Then the maiden perpetually prepared all sorts of
dainties with which she constantly fed her husband. So the
ruler's child [grew] proud in his heart, and reviled his wife.
But the woman said: "I am not a
"I am not a woman who ought to be
"the wife of such as
(6
thou. I will go to the land of my
((
(c
(C
4 The Old Printed Edition has the word "mud " instead of
lagoon."
5 Literally, "this appearance."
6 Literally, "attached to his loins."
7 The words rendered "in a valley" are in the text fŻE,
山谷​之間​,
of which the commentators find it difficult to make proper Japanese.
The translator has followed them in neglecting the character II,
"mountain."
8 Or bull, or bullock; for Japanese does not distinguish Genders.
VOL. XXXIV.]
VOL. II. SECT. CXV.
315
" ancestors ;"--and forthwith she secretly embarked in a boat,
and fled away across here [to Japan], and landed at Naniha.10
(This is the deity called princess Akaru," who dwells in the shrine
of Hime-goso¹2 at Naniha.) Thereupon Ama-no-hi-boko, hearing
of his wife's flight, forthwith pursued her across hither, and
was about to arrive at Naniha, when the Deity of the passage¹?
prevented his entrance. So he went back again, and landed
in the country of Tajima.¹4
[SECT. CXV.-EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART XII.-DESCENDANTS OF AMA-
NO-HI-BOKO, AND TREASURES BROUGHT BY HIM).]
2
Forthwith staying in that country, he wedded Saki-tsu-mi,¹
daughter of Tajima-no-matawo, and begot a child: Tajima-
morosuku.³ The latter's child was Tajima-hi-ne. The latter's
child was Tajima-hinaraki.5 The latter's children were Tajima-
9 Literally, “stopped.”
10 See Sect. XLIV, Note 26.
11 Akaru-hime i.e., “Brilliant Princess."
12 The signification of this name is obscure. Motowori identifies
the place with the modern Kōdzu (#),
13 I.e., the water-god of the portion of the sea near Naniha.
14 See Sect. LXXIV, Note 1.
1 This name may mean "lucky ears," or "possessor of luck;"
but it is obscure, and is moreover in the "Chronicles" (where it is
given as the name, not of the daughter, but of the father) read Mahe-
tsu-mi, a reading which will not bear either of these interpretations.
2 Matawo seems to signify "complete (.e., healthy or vigorous)
male." Observe that the word Tajima enters into the designations of
most of his descendants.
3 In the "Chronicles" Morosuke, and elsewhere Morosugi. The
etymology of these names is obscure except that of the last-mentioned,
which signifies "many cryptomerias."
4 Hi-ne may perhaps signify "wondrous lord."
5 The meaning of this name is obscure, but that of Hina-rashi-
bime in Sect. XXVI (Note 19) may be compared,
316 (C
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIV.
mori, next Tajima-hitaka,' next Kiyo-hiko (Three Deities). This
Kiyo-hiko wedded Tagima-no-mehi,10 and begot children:
Suga-no-morowo," next his younger sister Suga-kama-yura-
domi. 12 So the above mentioned Tajima-hitaka wedded his
niece Yura-domi, and begot a child: Her Augustness Princess.
Takanuka of Kadzuraki.13 (This was the august parent¹4 of Her
Augustness Princess Okinaga-tarashi.) So the things whieh Ama-
no-hi-boko brought over here, and which were called the
"precious treasures,' were: two strings of pearls ;¹ likewise
a wave-shaking scarf, a wave-cutting scarf, a wind-shaking
scarf, and a wind-cutting scarf; likewise a mirror of the
offing and a mirror of the shore; 18-eight articles in all. (These
are the Eight Great Deities of Idzushi.)
.16
17
9915
9
6 See Sect. LXXIV, Note 1.
7 Hi-taka may signify either "sun-height" or "wondrous height."
8 This name signifies "pure prince.”
9 As usual, it is not the actual word Deity that is used, but the
Auxiliary Numeral for Deities.
10 Tagima is the name of a place, not to be confounded with the
province of Tajima. The signification of mehi is quite obscure.
11 Suga may either be the name of place in Tajima, as proposed
by Motowori, or identical with the Suga of Sect. XIX. The meaning
of Morowo is obscure.
<<
12 The signification of this name is obscure. But Suga, Kama,
and Yura are apparently the names of places.
13 Kadzuraki no Takanuka-hime. Kadzuraki is the name of a
department, and Takanuka that of a place in that department, in the
province of Yamato.
14 Literally, “ancestress." But see Sect. XXII, Note 4. It will
be remembered that Okinaga-tarashi-hime was the Empress Jin-gō.
15 Literally, treasures of jewels."
16 Or, "beads."
17 I.e., a scarf to raise the waves and a scarf to still the waves, a
scarf to raise the wind and a scarf to still the wind. Conf. the magic
scarfs mentioned near the beginning of Sect. XXIII, by waving which
the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land (Oho-kuni-nushi) kept off the
snakes, the wasps and the centipedes.
18 This seems to be the signification of the original terms oki tsu
..
-
VOL. XXXIV.]
317
VOL. II. SECT. CXVI.
[SECT. CXVI. EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART XIII.-THE YOUTH-OF-THE-
GLOW-ON-THE-AUTUMN-MOUNTAINS AND THE YOUTH-
OF-THE-HAZE-ON-THE-SPRING-MOUNTAINS).]
So this Deity had a daughter whose name was the Deity
Maiden-of-Idzushi.! So eighty Deities wished to obtain this
Maiden-of-Idzushi in marriage, but none of them could do
so? Hereupon there were two Deities, brothers, of whom the
elder was called the Youth-of-the-Glow-on-the-Autumn-Moun-
tains,³ and the younger was named the Youth-of-the-Haze-on-
kagami and he tsu kagami, but we are not hereby helped to a very
clear understanding of the nature of the articles which the author
meant to describe. The parallel passage of the "Chronicles" tells us
of a "sun-mirror.” Indeed it enumerates the "eight precious trea-
sures"
in a manner that diverges a great deal from the account given
in these Records."
(C
19 Or, the "Eight-fold Great Deity." As has already frequently
been remarked, the distinction which we so rigorously draw between
Singular and Plural does not occupy the Japanese mind, and "eight"
and "eight-fold" are taken to mean much the same thing. In the
following sentence we find these eight deities (or this eight-fold deity)
spoken of in such a manner as to necessitate the use of the Singular
Number in the translation. Motowori supposes that they (or he) took
the form of a young man (as in several other legends) to become the
father of the Goddess mentioned in the text.-Idzushi seems to signify
wonderful stone.
* Sacred? Fetish ?-W.G.A.
1 Idzushi-wotome no kami.
2 Literally "eighty Deities wished to obtain this Maiden-of-Idzushi,
but none could wed [her]." But the sense is that given in the trans-
lation.
3 Aki-yama no shita-bi-wotoko. The explanation of the name is
that given by Motowori (following Mabuchi), who sees in it a refer-
ence to the ruddy brilliance of the leaves, which is so marked a
feature of the Japanese woods in autumn. The Chinese characters
used have, indeed, the signification of the lower ice of the autumn
mountains; but "lower ice" may well be simply phonetic in this case.
318
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KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIV.
8
the-Spring-Mountains.+
6
So the elder brother said to the
younger brother: "Though I beg for the Maiden of Idzushi,
"I cannot obtain her in marriage. Wilt thou [be able] to
"obtain her ?" He answered, saying: "I will easily obtain
her." Then the elder brother said: "If thou shalt obtain
"this maiden, I will take off my upper and lower garments,
"and distil liquor in a jar of my own height, and prepare
"all the things of the mountains and of the rivers,' [and give
"them to thee] in payment of the wager." Then the younger
brother told his mother everything that the elder brother had
said. Forthwith the mother, having taken wistaria-fibre, wove
and sewed in the space of a single night an upper garment
and trowsers, and also socks and boots, and likewise made a
bow and arrow, and clothed him in this upper garment,
trowsers, etc., made him take the bow and arrows, and sent
him to the maiden's house, where both his apparel and the
bow and arrows all turned into wistaria blossoms. Thereupon
4 Haru-yama no kasumi-wotoko.
5 In Japanese kohedomo, written with the characters. Per-
haps Motowori is right in supposing this Verb to have been originally
identical with kofuru, “to love" (*), whose corresponding form is
kofuredomo. If so, the author may have meant to make his hero say,
"though I love the maiden, etc." But it is better to be guided by
the characters, and to suppose that he referred to the request made
to her mother to grant her to him.
6 Literally, "compute the height of my person and distil liquor
in a jar."
7 I.e., all the valuable produce of the chase and of the fisheries,
such as are perpetually mentioned in the Shinto "Rituals" as being
presented to the gods. Thus in the "
"Service of the Goddess of
Food (see Mr. Satow's translation in Vol. VII, Pt. IV, p. 414 of
these “Transactions,") we read that the worshipper offered:
things which dwell in the mountains-things soft of hair and things
"rough of hair; as to things which grow in the great-field-plain-
"sweet herbs and bitter herbs; as to things which dwell in the blue-
sea-plain-things wide of fin and things narrow of fin, down to
"weeds of the offing and weeds of the shore."
<<
(C
""
"6
as to
VOL. XXXIV.]
VOL. II. SECT. CXVI.
319
the Youth-of-the-Haze-on-the-Spring-Mountains hung up the
bow and arrows in the maiden's privy. Then, when the
Maiden-of-Idzushi, thinking the blossoms strange, brought
them [home, the Youth-of-the-Haze-on-the-Spring-Mountains]
followed behind the maiden into the house, and forthwith
wedded her. So she gave birth to a child.Ⓡ Then he spoke
to his elder brother, saying: "I have obtained the Maiden-
"of-Idzushi." Thereupon the elder brother, vexed that the
younger brother should have wedded her, did not pay the
things he had wagered. Then when [the younger brother]
complained to his mother, his august parent replied, saying:
During my august life the Deities indeed are to be well
'imitated; moreover it must be because he imitates mortal
"men" that he does not pay those things." Forthwith, in her
anger with her elder child, she took a jointed bamboo¹+ from
an island in the River Idzushi, and made a coarse basket with
eight holes," and took stones from the river, and mixing them
<<
(C
8
Literally, one child."
The signi-
9 The Japanese original of the words here unavoidably rendered
by "mortal men
in order to mark the antithesis to the word
"Deities," has been more literally translated by "living people" in
an earlier passage of the work (see Sect. IX, Note 17).
fication of the entire sentence is: During my lifetime, thy brother
should be careful to imitate the upright conduct of the gods. For
if, instead of doing so, he be dishonest and untruthful as are the sons
of men, it will be at his own peril.'
* So long as I live, he might behave as a gentleman, and not
refuse to pay, like a cad.—W.G.A.
<<
دو
رد
10 Or, according to the more usual reading, "a one-jointed bam-
boo;" but in either case the meaning is obscure. Motowori, who
adopts the reading that has been followed in the translation, suggests
that the expression may simply be a periphrasis for the bamboo in
general.
Why not plural?—W.G.A.
¹¹AB
Motowori remarks that the word "eight" in this
place (where, to indicate a considerable number, we should rather
expect "eighty") is curious, and he surmises that may be an error
320
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIV.
with brine, wrapped them in the leaves of the bamboo¹2 and
caused this curse to be spoken:13 "Like unto the becoming
green of these bamboo-leaves,* [do thou] become green and
"wither! Again, like unto the flowing and ebbing of this
“brine,¹ [do thou] flow and ebb! Again, like unto the sinking
"of these stones, [do thou] sink and be prostrate!" Having
caused this curse to be spoken, she placed [the basket] over
the smoke.¹ Therefore the elder brother dried up, withered,
sickened, and lay prostrate¹6 for the space of eight years.
So
on the elder brother entreating his august parent with lamen-
tations and tears, she forthwith caused the curse to be revers-
ed.17 Thereupon his body became sound 18 as it had been
before. (This is the origin of the term "a divine wager-payment."19)
15
<<
for, "large." The word "coarse" itself is sufficient to show that
the apertures left in the plaiting of the basket were large.
12 Scil. of which the basket was woven.
13 Scil. by her younger son.
* Like unto the withering of these bamboo leaves.-W.G.A.
14 In this case, as Motowori remarks, it is the sea-water that is
intended to be spoken of, whereas the allusion in the previous sen-
tence is to hard salt. But the Japanese language uses the same word
for both, and the same Chinese character is here also used in both
For this curse conf. Sect. XL (Note 18 et. seq.) and Sect.
contexts.
XLI.
15 Scil. of the furnace (kitchen) in the younger brother's house, as
Motowori suggests.
CC
16 The text has the character, which signifies "to wither or
"dry up" (spoken of trees). But the translator agrees with Motowori
in considering it to be in all probability an error for A, to lie
prostrate;" and in any case it could not here be rendered by either
of the verbs "dry up" or "wither without introducing into the
English version a tautology which does not exist in the Japanese
original.
رو
در
17 Such seems to be the meaning of the obscure original sono
tokohi-do wo kahesashimeki (‡‡Ƒ). Motowori would understand
it in a rather more specialized sense to signify that "she caused the
implement of the curse ('.e., the basket) to be taken away."
18 Literally, "was pacified."
•
VOL. XXXIV.]
321
VOL. II. SECT. CXVII.
(6
[SECT. CXVII.-EMPEROR ō-JIN (PART XIV.-GENEALOGIES).]
4
Again this Heavenly Sovereign Homuda's' august child
King Waka-nuke-futa-mata wedded his mother's younger sister
Momo-shiki-iro-be,2 another name for whom was Her August-
ness Oto-hime-ma-waka-hime,³ and begot children: Oho-ira-
tsuko, another name for whom was King Oho-hodo; next
Her Augustness Osaka-no-oho-naka-tsu-hime; next Tawi-no-
naka-tsu-hime;' next Tamiya-no-naka-tsu-hime; next Fujihara-
no-koto-fushi-no-iratsume; next Queen Torime;10 next King
Sane.¹¹ (Seven Kings [and Queens].12) So King Oho-hodo (was
11
19 Or, if we take in the text as equivalent to, "this is the
origin of divine wager-payments."
1 I.e., the Emperor Ō-jin's.
2 The import of this compound is not clear.
3 I.e.,
the younger princess, the truly young princess."
4 I.e., "the great lord."
5 Oho-hodo no miko. The signification of Oho-hodo is obscure.
Motowori surmises it to have been originally the name of a place.
6 I.e., “the great middle princess of Osaka.” Osaka is the name
of a place in Yamato. The word "middle" should by the analogy
of other such genealogies indicate the fact that this princess was the
fourth child out of seven. Here however she is mentioned second,
and the same designation is applied to the two next daughters. There
is evidently some confusion in the tradition.
7 I.e., "the middle princess of Tawi,”—a place in Kahachi.
8.I.e., "the middle princess of Tamiya,"-a place in Kahachi.
9 I.e., "the lady Koto-fushi of Fujihara." But the meaning of
Koto-fushi is obscure, and Motowori surmises it to be an alternative
or corrupt form of Sotohoshi. (For the celebrated princess of the
latter name see Sect. CXXXVII, Note 9). Fujihara is the name of a
place in Yamato, and signifies "wistaria-moor."
10 Torime no miko. This name is obscure.
11 Sane no miko. Motowori believes sane to stand erroneously for
sami; but both forms are obscure.
12 The Japanese word includes both genders.
J
1
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIV.
322
the ancestor of the Dukes of Mikuni,13 the Dukes of Hata,14 the Dukes
of Okinaga,15 the Dukes of Sakabito of Sakata,16 the Dukes of Yamaji,¹7
the Dukes of Meta in Tsukushi, 18 and the Dukes of Fuse).19 Again
King Netori wedded his younger half-sister the Lady Mihara,
and begot children: King Naka-tsu-hiko;20 next King Iwa-
shima.21 (Two Kings.) Again the child of King Katashiha22
was King Kunu.23
13 Mikuni no kimi. Mikuni is the name of a well-known place in
the province of Echizen. It signifies "three countries."
14 Hata no kimi.
There are several places called Hata, and it is
not known which of them is here intended. The signification of the
name is also uncertain.
15 Okinaga no kimi. See Sect. LXII, Note 31.
16 Sakata no Saka-bito no kimi. This is Motowori's restoration of
an apparently corrupt text. Sakata and Sakabito are both taken to
be names of places, the first of a district in Afumi, the second of a
place in Settsu. Sakabito () seems a very curious compound for
the name of a place. Moreover the double title is unusual, and it
may be thought that the word "Dukes" has fallen out of the text,
and that in reality two families were intended to be spoken of.
17 Yamaji no kimi. Yamaji ("mountain road") is supposed by
Motowori to be the name of a place,-perhaps in the province of
Higo.
18 Tsukushi no Meta no kimi. Tsukushi is the old name of the
whole of the South-Western island of the Japanese archipelago and
Meta the name of a place in the province of Hizen in that island.
The etymology of Meta is uncertain.
19 Fuse no kimi. Fuse is a name of uncertain import found in
several provinces. It is not known which is meant to be here desig-
nated.
20 Naka-tsu-hiko no miko, i.e., "the middle prince," a designation
which would lead one to expect to find mention of an elder brother.
21 Iwashima no miko. Iwashima seems to be the name of a place,
but the signification of Iha (not to be confounded with iha,
"stone"
or "rock") is altogether obscure.
22 Katashiha no miko. This prince has not been mentioned in the
previous genealogies, which is curious. Katashiha is the name of a
place in Chikuzen, and signifies "hard rock."
23 Kunu no miko. Kunu is altogether obscure.
F
VOL. XXXV.]
323
VOL. II. SECT. CXVIII.
[SECT. CXVIII.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART XV.-HIS AGE AND PLACE
OF BURIAL).]
The august years of this Heavenly Sovereign Homuda
were altogether one hundred and thirty. His august mauso-
leum is on the mound of Mofusu' at Wega in Kafuchi.
1 Or, as Motowori reads it, Mofushi. The etymology is uncertain.
Wega has already appeared in Sect. CIII (Note 3). The Old Printed
Edition and some Manuscripts have at the conclusion of this volume
the following note: E. "It is the mausoleum of Mozu.”
百舌​鳥​陵​也
​But Mozu is in the province of Idzumi, and all the later editions
discard this note as an interpolation.
324
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXV.
((
•
VOL. III.¹
[SECT. CXIX.-EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART 1.—GENEALOGIES).]
His Augustness Oho-sazaki dwelt in the palace of Takatsu²
at Naniha, and ruled the Empire. This Heavenly Sovereign
wedded (the Empress³) Her Augustness Iha-no-hime,+ daughter
of Kadzuraki-no-so-tsu-biko,5 and begot august children: His
Augustness Ohoye-no-izaho-wake;6 next the Middle King of
the Inlet of Sumi; next His Augustness Midzu-ha-wake of
Tajihi; next His Augustness the Noble Wo-asadzuma-no-
waku-go⁹ (Four Deities). Again he wedded Princess Kami-naga,
1 Literally, "lower volume" (there being three in all). See
Author's Preface, Note 1.
2 I.e., "high port.”
))*
3 Motowori surmises that the reason why the characters signifying
"Empress
are in all the texts here written in small characters is on
account of this personage not having been of Imperial birth.
*
The same characters applied to the same person are written
full size in the next chapter. Here it is probably only a note which
has crept into the text suggested by its occurence lower down.-W.G.A.
4 I.e., "the rock princess." Motowori supposes the name to be
indicative of prosperity and long life.
5 See Sect. LXI, Note 55.
6 I.e.,
"the elder brother lord Izaho,” the latter name being of
uncertain import.
7 Sumi-no-ye-no-naka-tsu-miko.
and the Inlet of Sumi have been already commented on.
"C
Both the phrase "middle king"
8 Tajihi no midzu-ha-wake. Tajihi is the name of a place in
Kahachi. The traditional origin of its application to this will be
found in Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXXV, p. 6. Midzu-ha-wake
probably means "the lord with the beautiful teeth.”
9 Wo-asadzuma-no-waku-go no sukune. Asadzuma is the name of
a place in Yamato, and wo (though written) seems to be the slightly
Honorific Prefix wo (J) whose proper signification is "small." Waku-
go means younger child.”
·
VOL. XXXV.]
325
VOL. III. SECT. CXX.
daughter of the Duke of Muragata in Himuka, as mentioned
above,10 and begot august children: Hatabi-no-oho-iratsuko,¹¹
another name for whom was the King of Great Kusaka;12 next
Hatabi-no-waki-iratsume,13 another name for whom was Her
Augustness Princess Nagahi,¹ and another name
was Her
Augustness Waka-kusaka-be.15 (Two Deities.) Again he wedded
his younger half-sister Yata-no-waki-iratsume.16 Again he
wedded his younger half-sister Uji-no-waki-iratsume. These
two Deities had no august children. Altogether the august
children of this Heavenly Sovereign Oho-sazaki [numbered] in
all six Deities. (Five Kings and one Queen.) So His Augustness
Izaho-wake [was he who afterwards] ruled the Empire. Next
His Augustness Tajihi-no-midzu-ha-wake likewise ruled the
Empire. Next His Augustness the Noble Wo-asadzuma-no-
waku-go likewise ruled the Empire."
[SECT. CXX.-EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART II.-VARIOUS DEEDS).]
In the august reign of this Heavenly Sovereign the Kadzu-
raki Tribe¹ was established as the august proxy of the Em-
press, Her Augustness Iha-no-hime. Again the Mibu Tribe²
10 See Sect. CVII.
11 I.e., “the great lord of Hatabi." Hatabi is altogether obscure.
12 Oho-kusaka no miko. For Kusaka see Sect. CL, Note 2.
"}
13 I.e., “the young lady of Hatabi." Conf. Note 11.
14 Nagahi-hime. This name it obscure.
The compound
15 Kusaka-be is an alternative form of Kusaka.
therefore signifies "young princess of Kusaka,'
16 This name and the following have already appeared in the
genealogies of the preceding reign (Sect. CIV).
17 These were the Emperors Ri-chiū, Han-zei, and In-giyō.
1 Kadzuraki-be. For Kadzuraki see Sect. LV, Note 1.
.2 Mibu-be. Motowori quotes approvingly a derivation of the
"gentile name of Mibu from Bi-fuku-mon (9), the name of a
gate which the first bearer of the name is related to have constructed.
Taking into account the letter-changes which occurred in older times
in the passage of words from Chinese into Japanese, the etymology is
plausible enough.
در
"
*
326
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXV.
;
was established as the august proxy of the Heir Apparent,
His Augustness Izaho-wake. Again the Tajihi Tribe³ was
established as the august proxy of His Augustness Midzuha-
wake. Again the Oho-kusaka Tribe was established as the
august proxy of King Oho-kusaka, and the Waka-kusaka Tribe5
was established as the august proxy of King Waka-kusaka-be.
Again people from Hada were set to labour, and the embank-
ment at Mamuta and also the granaries of Mamuta were
made.* Again the Pool of Wani' and the Pool of Yosami were
made. Again the Niniha Channel was dug, and [the waters
of the rivers] led to the sea. Again the Wobashi Channelº
was dug. Again the port of the Inlet of Sumi¹0 was estab-
lished.
10
3 Tajihi-be. Tajihi is the name of a place in Kahachi, and is of
uncertain origin
4 Oho-kusaka-be. This tribe of course took its name simply from
that of Prince Oho-kusaka.
5 Waka-kusaka-be. A similar observation to that in the last applies
to this name.
6 See Sect. LIII, Note 1.
*This is suspiciously like some of the works of the ancient
Chinese Emperors.-W.G.A.
7 Wani no ike, in the province of Kahachi.
Wani signifies
"crocodile," and it was also the name of the Korean personage men-
tioned in Sect. CX (Note 6). But the reason why the Pool here
spoken of was so called does not appear. The Pool of Yosami has
already been mentioned in Sect. LXII (Note 85).
that it must have dried up during the interim.
Motowori supposes
8 Naniha no hori-ye. Motowori tells us that the regularization of
the channels of the Yodo and Yamato Rivers, whose mouths nearly
meet at this point with various intersecting branches, is what is here
intended to be referred to.
9 Wobashi no ye.
Wo-bashi ("little bridge") is the name of a
village in the province of Settsu.
Close to Naniha; it is the modern Sumiyoshi.
10 Suminoye no tsu.
Conf. Sect. X, Note 22.
VOL. XXXV.]
327
VOL. III. SECT. CXXI.
(C
Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, ascending a lofty
mountain and looking on the land all round, spoke, saying:
"In the whole land there rises no smoke; the land is all
poverty-stricken. So I remit¹ all the people's taxes and
"[forced labour*] from now till three years [hence].". There-
fore the great palace became dilapidated, and the rain leaked
in everywhere; but no repairs were made. The rain that
leaked in was caught in troughs,2 and [the inmates] removed
from [its reach] to places where there was no leakage. When
later [the Heavenly Sovereign] looked on all the land, the
smoke was abundant in the land. So finding the people rich,
he now exacted taxes and forced labour. Therefore the pea-
santry³ prospered, and did not suffer from forced labour. So
in praise of that august reign, it was called the reign of the
Emperor-Sage.4
[SECT. CXXI.—EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART III.—HE REMITS THE
TAXES).]
1 Motowori's reading of this Verb in the Imperative Mood (as if
containing an order addressed by the monarch to his ministers) seems
less natural than the older reading in the Indicative, which accordingly
the translator has followed.
*
66
Why in brackets ?-~W.G.A.
2 There is uncertainty as to the exact character in the original.
But the older editions read it as the Japanese word hako, "boxes,"
"tubes."
while Motowori prefers hi,
Troughs" seems to conciliate
both views, and to be also appropriate to the use mentioned in the
text.
<<
3 Or simply, "the people," But the expression is generally
used in Japanese of the peasantry only.
4. If, following most texts, we omitted the final character
,"reign," the English translation would be "in praise of that
"august reign, [the Heavenly Sovereign] was called the Emperor-
Sage."
1-328
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXV.
((
[SECT. CXXII.—EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART IV.—HE LOVES
PRINCESS KURO).]
His Empress, Her Augustness Iha-no-hime, was exceedingly
jealous. So the concubines employed by the Heavenly Sove-
reign could not even peep inside the palace; and if anything
happened,' [the Empress] stamped with jealousy. Then the
Heavenly Sovereign, hearing of the regular beauty of Princess
Kuro,² daughter of the Suzerain of Ama in Kibi,³ and having
sent for her, employed her. But she, afraid of the Empress's
jealousy, fled down to her native land. The Heavenly Sove-
reign, gazing from an upper story upon Princess Kuro's
departure by boat upon the sea, sang, saying:
“In the offing there are rows of small boats.
My wife Masadzuko of Kurozaki goes
"down towards her [native] land.”
So the Empress was very angry on hearing this august
*
CC
Approach ?-W.G.A.
1 Motowori shows by collating various passages in other ancient
works that this is the probable signification of the curious expression
in the original, koto-dateba (for I†). The reference of
course is to the occurrence of anything noteworthy among the con-
cubines, such as the birth of a son, etc.
2 Kuro-hime, i.e., "black princess," probably meaning "black-
haired princess."
3 Kibi no Ama no atahe. Of this family nothing is known. Ama
signifies "fisherman." Kibi is the name of a province.
4 Thus interpreted (according to Moribe), the general sense of
the Song is quite clear. The word Masadzuko, considered by Moribe
to be one of the names of Princess Kuro, is however not so under-
stood by Motowori, who is inclined to see in it rather an Honorific
description of her. Kurozaki likewise (i.e., “black cape," the word
kuro seemingly containing an allusion to the name of the Princess) is
but the best of many emendations of the name as it stands in the
text, viz., Furozaya. See Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXXV, p. 33,
for all the possible emendations proposed by him or his predecessors.
VOL. XXXV.]
329
VOL. III. SECT. CXXII.
!
Song, and sent people to the great strand to drive Princess
Kuro ashore, and chase her away on foot. Thereupon the
Heavenly Sovereign, for love of Princess Kuro, deceived the
Empress, saying that he wanted to see the Island of Ahaji.”
And when he made his progress and was in the Island of
Ahaji, he, gazing afar, sang, saying:
(6
When, having departed from the point of
"wave-beaten Naniha, I look at the coun-
"try,—the Island of Aha, the Island of Ono-
goro, and also the Island of Ajimasa are
"visible. The Island of Saketsu is visible.'
998
<<
5 Scil. of the neighbourhood of Naniha. Or possibly Oho-ura
("Great Strand") should be taken as the name of a place, though
Motowori does not suggest such a view.
6 I.e., to make her perform the journey on foot.
7 See Sect. V, Note 3.
8 Moribe, commenting on the import of this Song, says: "Though
"the alleged reason was a tour of inspection, it was truly out of love
"for Princess Kuro that the Monarch had undertaken the journey.
"When her vessel could no longer be descried, he could still, alas!
(6
<C
see the islands that remained behind,-the Island of Aha and the
"Island of Ajimasa; he could still, alas! see the Islands of Ono-goro
"and Saketsu. Alas for him left alone, parted from his love! Though
"he spoke not openly, yet those around him understood the under-
""*
current of his words.' "Wave-beaten" is the accepted interpretation
of oshiteru ya (or oshiteru), the Pillow-Word for Naniha. For the
Islands of Aha and Onogoro see respectively Sect. IV, Note 5 and
Sect. III, Note 5. Of the Islands of Ajimasa and Saketsu nothing is
known. Ajimasa is the name of a species of palm, the Livistona
sinensis, and Motowori supposes that one of the islands in that neigh-
bourhood may anciently have received its name from the palm-trees
growing on it. Palms of any kind are, however, not very common in
Japan, and seem only to grow when specially cultivated.
*This seems rather nonsensical.
intended by the names of the places.
refer to his stormy domestic life. Awa may be for awamu, "will meet,"
i.e., the Princess Kurohime, who may also be intended by the Ono go
(Ono ko "our child") of Onogoro Shima. Ajimasa, "taste preferable,"
There is perhaps an allusion
Naniwa, which he has left, may
330
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXV.
.
Forthwith passing on from that island, he made a progress
to the land of Kibi. Then Her Augustness Princess Kuro
made him grandly reside at a place among the mountain-fields,⁹
and presented to him great august food. When for this
[purpose] she plucked cabbage in that place to boil into great
august soup, the Heavenly Sovereign went to the place where
the maiden was plucking the cabbage, and sang, saying:
"Oh! how delightful it is to pluck with a
"person of Kibi the cabbage sown in the
"mountain fields !"'10
blow up
When the Heavenly Sovereign made his progress up,"
Princess Kuro presented an august¹2 Song, saying:
"Even though the west wind
"towards Yamato, and the clouds part, and
"we be separated, shall I forget [thee] ?"13
may be a compliment to her, and saketsu my suggest sakebu, “to shout”
(with delight when he meets her). But this is doubtless fantastic and
and far-fetched.-W.G.A.
9 Motowori thinks we should in this place understand the word
yamagata (for yama-agata) as the name of a place. But in the Song
which immediately follows, it must certainly be taken in its etymolo-
gical sense of "mountain-fields," and it seems therefore quite incon-
sistent to translate it differently here. Moreover it is allowed that
no such place as Yamagata in Kibi is anywhere made mention of.*
*I don't feel quite clear about this.-W.G.A.
* Is not cabbage (awona) a little too specific? pot-herbs?—W.G.A.
10 The import of this Song is perfectly clear, "the person of Kibi”
being of course the Imperial poet's lady-love.
11 I.e., was about to start back to the capital, which was in the
province of Settsu.
12 This Honorific seems so out of place (seeing that it is not
applied to the Emperor's own Songs given in this Section), that it is
supposed by the Commentators to be an erroneous addition to the
text.
13 We might also translate thus: "Even though we be separated,‡
as the clouds that part owing to the west wind blowing up towards
"Yamato, etc.;”-for the initial lines of the poem which contain the
<<
AOL. XXXVI.]
331
VOL. III. SECT. CXXIII.
Again she sang, saying
"Whose spouse is it that goes towards
"Yamato ? Whose spouse is it that creeps
"from beneath like hidden water?”’14
[SECT. CXXIII.-EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART V.—THE EMPRESS
RETIRES TO YAMASHIRO).]
After this time the Empress made a progress to the land
of Ki in order to pluck aralia-leaves for a copious feast;¹ and
in the meanwhile the Heavenly Sovereign wedded Yata-no-
waki-iratsume. Hereupon, when the Empress was returning
in her august vessel loaded full of aralia-leaves, a coolie from
Kozhima in the land of Kibi, who was in the service of the
Superintendent of the Water-Directors, being on his way off
3
allusion to the wind and to the clouds are simply a Preface, and
their import may therefore at will be either considered separately, or
else made continuous with that of the rest of the poem.
‡ Kumo-banare: I fancy this phrase must be taken twice, once with
what precedes in the sense given above, and a second time as a fuller
equivalent of and introductory to the words soki-ori "separated." It
might then be translated "under different skies." Kumo has this
meaning in the compound Awo-kumo, "blue skies," banare, "skies
divided."-W.G.A.
"C
<<
14 The meaning of this Song is: Whose spouse is it that returns
to Yamato? Whose spouse is it that comes thus secretly to make
"love to me, like a stream flowing underground?"-The allusion
contained in the twice repeated words "whose spouse" is of course
to the Empress. The poetéss, full of tenderness for the Emperor,
regrets for his sake, as well as for her own, that he should he the
husband of so jealous a wife. "Hidden water" is the accepted
interpretation of the Pillow-Word komoridzu no, which is with apparent
reason supposed to be a contraction of komori-midzu no.
1 See Sect. CVII, Note 7.
2 I.e., "small island." It is first mentioned in Sect, V (Note 29).
3 See Sect. XLVII, Note 18.
4
332
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVI.
to his own country, met at the great passage¹ of Naniha the
vessel of a lady of the train5 who had got behind, and forth-
with told her, saying: "The Heavenly Sovereign has recently
"wedded Yata-no-waki-iratsume, and plays with her day and
"night. It must probably be because the Empress has not
"heard of this thing, that she quietly makes progresses for
pleasure." Then the lady of the train, having heard this
narrative, forthwith pursued and reached the august vessel,
and reported everything exactly as the coolie had told it.
Hereupon the Empress, greatly vexed and angry, threw away
into the sea all the aralia-leaves which she had put on board
the august vessel. So the place [where she did so] is called
by the name of Cape Mitsu. Forthwith without entering the
palace, but taking her august vessel away [from it] and
ascending the channel against the current, she made a progress
up into Yamashiro by the river.¹0 At this time she sang,
saying:
7
(C
4 Oho-watari. The mouth of the River Yodo is meant to be
designated by this name.
5 The original expression kura-bito-me (A) is obscure, being
met with nowhere else in Japanese literature. Motowori conjectures
that the function exercised by this lady was one connected with the
Empress's privy purse.
6 The text has the character, "all," which makes no sense; and
Motowori (following Mabuchi) reasonably emends it to IH, "recently,"
"just now."
7 Mitsu no saki. Mitsu, signifying "three," is supposed by the
author to refer to the three-cornered leaves of the aralia (the name of
the latter being mi-tsuna-gashiha); but a more likely opinion is that
which would have us take mitsu as two words, in the sense of
(C august harbour.” In the parallel passage of the "Chronicles," we
are told that the place was called Kashiha no watari, i.e.,
passage."
"Oak
8 I.e., going on up the river without stopping at Naniha where
the palace was.
9 I.e., the artificial bed of the river mentioned in. Sect. CXX,
Note 8.
10 I.e., the River Yodo.
VOL. XXXVI.]
333
VOL. III. SECT. CXXIII.
"Oh! the river of Yamashiro where the
"seedlings grow in succession! As I ascend,
"ascend the river, oh! on the bank of the
"river [there] stands growing a sashibu!
<<
a sashibu-tree; below it stands growing a
"broad-foliaged five hundred [-fold branch-
"ing] true camellia-tree; oh! he who is
"brilliant like its blossoms, widely powerful
"like its foliage, is the great lord.”
Forthwith going round by Yamashiro,¹² and arriving at
the entrance of the Nara Mountain,13 she sang, saying:
911
12
11 The meaning of this Song is: 'As I make my way up the
"river by boat, I see a sashibu (the name of a tree which cannot now
"be identified), below which,--that is to say nearer to the water,-
"there grows a camellia-tree, wide-spreading and full of blossoms.
"Ah! how the sight of the sturdy brilliant beauty of this camellia-
"tree brings back my lord and master to my mind!"-It must be
remembered that in Japan the camellia-trees grow to a size far superior
to that reached by their representatives in Europe. Tsuginefu, rendered
according to the view taken by Motowori and Moribe by the phrase
"where the seedlings grow in succession," is the Pillow-Word for
Yamashiro, and its import is disputed. The interpretation here
adopted considers it to refer to the regular succession of young trees
planted on a mountain's side when a tract of older timber has been
cut down. Mabuchi, in his "Dictionary of Pillow-Words," sees in it,
on the contrary, a reference to the rising of peak upon peak in a
mountainous district (tsugi-ne fu=). Both interpretations rest
on the connection between this term and yama, the first half of the
name of the province of Yamashiro, which it qualifies. "Five hundred
"[-fold branching]" and "true" are ornamental epithets applied by
the poetess to the camellia-tree. Moribe would take the syllable ma,
"true," in the sense of ha, "leaf;" but this seems less good.
-
12 For the straight road from Naniha in Settsu to Nara in Yamato
would have taken her through the province of Kafuchi, and not
through Yamashiro.
13 I.e., the pass or hill leading from the district of Sagara in
Yamashiro to Nara in Yamato. For Nara see Sect. LXXII, Note 23.
334
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVI.
("
"Oh! the river of Yamashiro where the
"seedlings grow in succession! As I
ascend, ascend to Miya, I pass Nara, I
"pass Yamato with its shield of mountains;
"and the country I fain would see is Taka-
miya in Kadzuraki, the neighbourhood of
my home."14
Sc
""
(C
Having sung thus, she returned and entered for some
time into the house of a person from Kara¹5 named Nurinomi¹6
at Tsutsuki."7
16
14 This Song expresses the Empress's desire to return to her
parental house at Takamiya in the district of Kadzuraki,-a desire
which, however, her restless frame of mind did not allow her to
fulfil. The Pillow-Word for Yamashiro, which here recurs, has
already been discussed in Note 11. There are two other Pillow-
Words in this Song,-awoniyoshi, which is prefixed to Nara, and wo-
date (or wo-date-yama according to the old reading, or wo-date tatsu
according to another reading), which is prefixed to Yamato. The
former of these is so obscure that, rather than attempt to render it
into English, the translator prefers to refer the student to the remarks
of the various commentators,-Mabuchi s.v. in his "Dictionary of
"Pillow-Words," Motowori in his Commentary Vol. XXXVI, pp.
22-24, and Moribe in loco. Wodate [-yama] seems to refer undoubtedly
to the circle of mountains that guard the approach to the province
of Yamato, and it has been rendered accordingly. The great difficulty
of the Song lies in the line rendered "ascend to Miya," and the
commentators from Keichiù downwards make all sorts of efforts to
explain it. Moribe's view, according to which the word should be
regarded as a familiar abbreviation of Takamiya, naturally used by ·
one whose native place it was, seems the most acceptable. Motowori
takes the line to signify: "When I ascend past the palace [of
Naniha];"
15, ie., Korea.
16 For Nuri no omi, i.e., "the Grandee of Nuri." Nuri" is probably
a corrupt form of some Korean name.
*E] (nuri) in Korean is a kind of caterpillar.-W.G.A.
17 Or Tsudzuki, in Yamashiro, Etymology obscure.
VOL. XXXVI.]
335
VOL. III. SECT. CXXIV.
[SECT. CXXIV.-EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART VI.-HE FOLLOWS THE
EMPRESS INTO YAMASHIRO).]
The Heavenly Sovereign, having heard that the Empress
had made a progress up by Yamashiro, made a person,—a
retainer called by the name of Toriyama,'-give an august
Song, which said:
"Reach [her] in Yamashiro, Toriyama!
"Reach [her]! reach [her]! Ah! wilt thou
"reach and meet my beloved spouse ?993
Again he continued by despatching Kuchiko, Grandee of
Wani, and sang, .saying:
"Wilt thou be without thinking even of the
Heart that is in the moor of Ohowiko, the
66
1 This name signifies "bird-mountain.” The commentators pre-
sume that it contains an allusion to the fact of its bearer being an
Imperial courier.
2 This is the actual sense conveyed by the original
$ € OK, and we naturally infer that Toriyama was made the
bearer to the Empress of the following Song. The Song itself,
however, is addressed not to her, but to Toriyama on his departure.
On the other hand, the two poems which follow are evidently for
the Empress, and it is impossible to suppose that the first messenger
was not likewise intended to convey to her some poetic missive. All
that we can do is to render the text as it stands, and to suppose it
corrupt.
3 The meaning of this Song is: "Oh Toriyama! pursue her into
Yamashiro! "I tremble at the thought of the possibility of thy not
finding her."
4 Wani no omi Kuchiko (further on he is mentioned as Kuchiko
no omi, i.e., “the Grandee [of] Kuchiko "). Kuchi-ko may be inter-
preted to mean “mouth-child," and Moribe thinks that this personage
was so called on account of the verbal messages of which he was
made the bearer. The translator would prefer to consider ko as an
abbreviation of hiko, "prince," especially as the sister's name is
Kuchi-hime, where the word hime must mean "princess."
336
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVI.
CC
T
"moor of Ohowiko, that is by Takaki at
"Mimoro ?"5
Again he sang, saying:
“If indeed I had not pillowed [my head] on
thy white arm like the whiteness of the
((
roots, the great roots, that were beaten with
"wooden hoes by the women of Yamashiro
where the seedlings grow in succession,
"[then] mightest thou say, 'I know [thee]
"""not !" "6
((
5 This Song is so obscure that Motowori and Moribe differ
completely as to its interpretation. The translator has followed
Moribe, though by no means persuaded that the latter has hit on the
proper signification. According to this view, the Emperor makes a
pun on the word "heart," which is supposed to have been the name
of a pool situated on the moor of Ohowiko near Takaki at Mimoro,---
all names of places with which the Empress was familiar, and
reproaches her for having no thought of his heart which beats so
lovingly for her. Motowori, on the other hand, thinks that the poem
proper consists only of its last two lines (in the English translation
they necessarily come first): Wilt thou be without thinking even
"of the heart?"--and that all the rest is a "Preface" to the Pillow-
Word kimo-mukafu by which the word kokoro, "heart," is preceded.
As for oho-wi-ko and takaki, they are taken, not as names of places,
but as Common Nouns. According to this view of the structure of
the Song, it ceases (with the exception of its last two lines) to have
any rational signification, and it is needless to attempt to translate it
for the English reader. Persons familiar with Japanese are therefore
referred to Motowori's Commentary, Vol. XXXVI, pp. 34–36.
6 The meaning of this Song is: "If thou and I had not so long
'been spouses, then indeed mightest thou break with me, and declare
that thou knowest me not. But how canst thou so far forget our
“wedded life as to desert me now?”—The "great root,” oho-ne, is
the modern dai-kon (Raphanus sativus), a kind of radish which is a
favourite vegetable with the Japanese and is distinguished by its
brilliantly white appearance. "Beaten" here signifies "dug up." The
use of the Past Tense is curious. Ko-guha, here in accordance with
Motowori's view rendered “wooden hoes," is interpreted by Moribe
1
VOL. XXXVI.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXXIV.
337
So when the Grandee of Kuchiko was repeating this
august Song [to the Empress], it was raining heavily. Then
upon his, without avoiding the rain, coming and prostrating
himself at the front door of the palace,' she on the contrary
went out at the back door; and on his coming and prostrating
himself at the back door of the palace, she on the contrary
went out at the front door. Then, as he crept backwards and
forwards on his knees in the middle of the court, the streamst
of water reached to his loins. Owing to the grandee being
clad in a garment dyed green and with a red cord, the
streams of water brushed against the red cord, and the green
all changed to red colour. Now the Grandee of Kuchiko's
younger sister Princess Kuchi was in the service of the Em-
press." So Princess Kuchi sang, saying:
(C
10
"Oh! how tearful is my lord elder brother,
saying things in the palace of Tsutsuki in
“ Yamashiro !2
66
to mean "little hoes." "Where the seedlings grow in succession" is
the English rendering of tsugi-ne fu, the Pillow-Word for Yamashiro
(see Sect. CXXIII Note 11).
7 The Empress was lodging with a private individual, but her
presence warrants the application of the term “palace to his house.
It is tono, not miya. The Nihongi says she built herself a
palace at Tsutsuki.-W.G.A.
رد
8 It was raining too hard for the water to stop on the surface in
the shape of puddles, so it streamed off in little rivulets.
+"Puddle
>>
is the translation given by Williams.-W.G.A.
CC
9 Literally, rubbed." See Introduction p. xxx.
'green," we might equally well translate by "blue."
intended must be the upper garment or coat.
10 Kuchi-hime.
Instead of
The garment
11 Literally," respectfully served the Empress."
12 The meaning of these lines, which can only be called poetry
because they are in metre, is plain: in them the speaker draws the
Empress's attention to the pitiful condition of the messenger who is
doing his best to deliver to her the Emperor's message. Probably
the reading in our text has been corrupted; for that in the "Chroni-
338 "KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVI.
Then when the Empress asked the reason,13 she replied,
saying: "He is my brother, the Grandee of Kuchiko."
Thereupon the Grandee of Kuchiko and also his younger sister
Princess Kuchi and likewise Nurinomi [all] three took counsel
[together], and sent to report to the Heavenly Sovereign,
saying: "The reason of the Empress's progress is that there
"are [some] insects reared by Nurinomi, strange insects
changing in three ways, 14 once becoming creeping insects,
"once becoming cocoons,15 and once becoming flying birds,16-
"and it is only to go and look at them that she has entered
"into Nurinomi's house]. She has no strange intentions."17
When they had thus reported, the Heavenly Sovereign said:
"That being so, I want to go and see [these insects], as I
"think [they must be] strange;" [and with these words] he
made a progress up from the great palace. When he entered
into Nurinomi's house, Nurinomi had already presented to
the Empress the three-fold insects reared by him. Then the
Heavenly Sovereign augustly stood at the door of the palace
where the Empress dwelt and sang, saying:
<<
"Pure as the great roots that were beaten
"with their wooden hoes by the women of
"Yamashiro where the seedlings grow in
"succession:-it is because thou spokest
tumultuously that I come in here [with
my retainers numerous] as the more and
<<
#
"C
cles," which may be translated thus: "Oh! how tearful am I when
"I see my lord elder brother," etc., is much preferable.*
But will not the Kojiki version bear this meaning? Vide Moto-
wori's commentary.-W.G.A.
13 Scil. of her attendant thus taking the messenger's part.
14 Literally, "colours."
15 This is Motowori's conjectural restoration of the reading of this
word, which in all the texts is hopelessly corrupt.
16 According to another reading, "flying insects."
17 I.e., “she is not meditating any evil conduct.”
VOL. XXXVII.]
339
VOL. III. SECT. CXXV.
""
more flourishing trees that I look across
"at."'18
These six Songs sung by the Heavenly Sovereign and by
the Empress are Changing Songs which are Quiet Songs.19
[SECT. CXXV.—EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART VII.—HE LOVES YATA-NO-
WAKI-IRATSUME).]
<<
The Heavenly Sovereign, loving Yata-no-waki-iratsume,
deigned to send her an august Song. That Song said:
"Will the one sedge-stem of Yata, having
"no children, wither as it stands? Poor
<<
18 This Song consists of two divisions, the first of which is but a
Preface for the second, the pivot being formed by the word sawa-sawa
ni, which has the meaning of "pure," "cool," or "refreshing," with
reference to what precedes it, and the meaning of "tumultuously "
(sawa-sawa ni=sawagashiku) when taken together with what follows.
The difficulties which present themselves in the first division have all
been explained in Note 11 to the last and Note 6 to the present
Section. The general sense of the second division is plain enough;
but the precise application of the comparison to the "more and more
flourishing trees" is obscure. Motowori's view has been adopted by
the translator, and the words in brackets supplemented accordingly.
Moribe prefers to consider that the reference is to the repeated visits
first of the Emperor's messengers and afterwards of the Emperor
himself. The words "look across at" must be explained by supposing
that the trees were in the neighbourhood of Nurinomi's house; they
were shoots springing up from roots that had been cut down close
to the ground.
19 The commentators thus explain these obscure expressions: “A
Quiet Song is one which is sung to a tranquil tune. A Changing
Song is one temporarily sung while the tone (mode?)† is changing."
The six Songs in question must be supposed to have combined both
characteristics.
Or could kayeshi-uta mean sung as a duet "?-W.G.A.
† Key?—W.G.A.
CC
A
340
"(
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVII.
"sedge-moor! Sedge-moor indeed is what
"I may say-poor pure girl!¹
Then Yata-no-waki-iratsume replied in a Song, saying:
"Even though the one sedge-stem of Yata
"be alone, if the Great Lord say it is right,
992
even though it be alone [it is right].'
So the Yata Tribe³ was established as the august proxy
of Yata-no-waki-iratsume.
(6
[SECT. CXXVI.—EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART VIII.-DEATH OF KING
HAYABUSA-WAKE AND QUEEN MEDORI).]
Again the Heavenly Sovereign begged for his younger
half-sister Queen Medori, using as middle-man his younger
brother King Hayabusa-wake. Then Queen Medori spoke to
King Hayabusa-wake, saying: "Owing to the violence of the
"Empress, [the Heavenly Sovereign] has not deigned to take
“Yata-no-waki-iratsume [into the Palace]. So I will not res-
"pectfully serve him. I will become the wife of Thine
"Augustness." Forthwith they wedded each other, wherefore
King Hayabusa-wake made no report [to the Heavenly Sove-
reign¹]. Then the Heavenly Sovereign, going straight to the
place where Queen Medori dwelt, stood on the door-sill of the
palace. Hereupon, Queen Medori being at her loom, was
weaving garments. Then the Heavenly Sovereign sang, saying:
66
CA
1 In this Song the Emperor condoles with his mistress on her
childlessness: "Will the single sedge on the moor of Yata die with-
out leaving any offspring? Sedge, indeed! Yes, sedge is the term
"I use for my metaphor, but what is in my thoughts is the girl I
"love."-There is in the original a jeu-de-mots, not capable of trans-
lation into English, between suge or suga, "sedge," and sugashi,
"pure."
2 The girl replies: "Even though I be childless, I care not if
my lord cares not."
3 Yata-be.
1 Seil. of the success of his mediation.
VOL. XXXVII.]
341
VOL. III. SECT. CXXVI.
"Oh! for whom may be the garments that
my Great Lady Medori weaves ?”
(C
(C
Queen Medori replied in a Song, saying:
"For an august veil* for the high-going
"Falcon-Lord."3
So the Heavenly Sovereign, perceiving her feelings, return-
ed into the palace. At this time when her husband King
Hayabusa-wake came, his wife Queen Medori sang, saying:
The lark flies to heaven. Oh! high-going
Falcon-Lord, catch the wren."5+
*
("
6
The Heavenly Sovereign, hearing this Song, forthwith
raised an army, wishing to slay King Hayabusa and Queen
2 Or, "for whom is the loom [employed], with which my Great
Lady Medori weaves?"-The word hata in Archaic Japanese signifies
both " garment and the instrument which is used to weave a gar-
ment, i.e., a "loom" (and ). In later times the second meaning
has prevailed to the exclusion of the first.
Mantle ?-W.G.A.
در
3 There is here a play on the name of the Queen's paramour
Hayabusa-wake, which signifies "Falcon-Lord" as in the translation.-
The parallel passage of the "Chronicles" gives these two Songs as a
single one which is put into the mouth of Queen Medori's hand-
maidens, -a more acceptable version of the incident.
4 Motowori suspects that there is here an error in the text, which
should, according to him, read: "After this."
5 The gist of this Song is an instigation to murder the Emperor
(whose name was Oho-sazaki, i.e., Great Wren" conf. Sect. CIV,
Note 18), addressed to the singer's husband (whose name was Haya-
busa-wake, i.e., "Falcon Lord"). But the allusion to the lark remains
obscure. Keichiū suggests that it is simply mentioned as a term of
comparison for the falcon's power of flight, while Motowori opines
that the meaning rather is: "The lark flies so high up to heaven
"that it would be hard to catch it; but the wren is an easy prey.
196

"(
*
If there is any truth in this story, it would contradict the con-
jecture that Ōsazaki or sasagi in a posthumous name.-W.G.A.
† A different version in the Nihongi, in which there is no lark.—
W.G.A.
6 Viz., as may be supposed, repeated by some Fourth person.
342 در
((
OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVII.
KO-JI-KI, Medori, who then fled away together, and ascended Mount
Kurahashi. Thereupon King Hayabusa-wake sang, saying:
Owing to the steepness of ladder-like
"Mount Kurahashi, being unable to clamber
[up] the rocks, oh! she takes my hand!"
Again he sang, saying:
""
(C
("
Though ladder-like Mount Kurahashi be
steep, it is not steep when I ascend it
"with my younger sister."
<<
9
So when they fled thence, and reached Soni in Uda, the
Imperial¹º army pursued, overtook, and slew them.
[SECT. CXXVII.—EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART VIII.—QUEEN MEDORI'S
ARMLET).]
Chief Ohotate of Yamabe,' who was the generalissimo of
that army, took the jewelled armlet which was wound round
Queen Medori's august arm, and gave it to his own wife.
After this time, when a copious feast was to be held, the
women of the various families all went to court. Then the
wife of Chief Ohotate came with that Queen's jewelled armlet
+
7 Kurahashi-yama, in Yamato.
8 This Song, like the next, is too clear to stand in need of ex-
planation. "Ladder-like" is an attempt to render the force of the
Pillow-Word hashi-tate. See Mabuchi's "Dictionary of Pillow-Words,”
s.v., for the exact force attributed to it by Mabuchi.
9 For Uda see Sect. XLVI, Note 14. The etymology of Soni is
equally obscure.
10 The character, though read by the commentators with the
usual Japanese Honorific mi, august,” has here its proper Chinese
signification of "Imperial."
<<
1 Yamabe no Ohotate no murazhi. The (6
gentile name was
Yamabe no murazhi, and the personal name Ohotate, though the con-
fused wording of this passage does not make it appear so. Yama-be
signifies mountain (i.e., hunters') tribe. Oho-tate is "big shield."
2 See Sect. CVII, Note 7.
""
VOL. XXXVII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXXVIII.
343
4
wound round her own arm. Thereupon the Empress, Her
Augustness Iha-no-hime,* herself took the oak-leaves [full] of
great august liquor and graciously gave them to the women of
the various families. Then the Empress, recognizing the
jewelled armlet, gave [the wearer] no oak-leaf [-full] of great
august liquor, but forthwith sent her away; and sending for
the husband, Chief Ohotate, said: "Owing to that King and
"Queen's impropriety, [the Emperor] deigned to send them
"away. This was nothing strange. And a slave such as thou
despoils of the jewelled armlet that was wound round her
"august arm the body of his lady [that was still] warm, and
gives it to his own wife !"-and forthwith he was condemned
to death.5+
<<
(6
[SECT. CXXVIII.—EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART IX.—A WILD-GOOSE
LAYS AN EGG).]
1
Another time, the Heavenly Sovereign, when about to
hold a copious feast, made a progress to the Island of Hime,2
just when a wild-goose had laid an egg on that island. Then,
sending for His Augustness the Noble Take-uchi, he asked
him in a Song about the laying of an egg by a wild goose.
This Song said:
*
"Court Noble of Uchi! thou indeed art a
long-lived person. Hast thou [ever] heard
<<
Iha-no-hime was dead at this time, acccording to the Nihongi.—
W.G.A.
3 Or, perhaps rather "aralia-leaves" (Conf. Sect. CXXIII).
4 Or, "had her dragged away."
<<
5 Literally,
was granted the punishment of death," or "[the
Emperor] deigned to condemn him to death.”
† Executed ?--W.G.A.
1 See Sect. CVII, Note 7.
2 Hime-shima, i.e., "Princess Island." The name is supposed to
be connected with that of the goddess of Himegoso mentioned near
the end of Sect. CXIV, and first occurs in Sect. V (Note 33).
344 "KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVII.
"of a wild-goose laying an egg in the land
"of Yamato ?”3
Hereupon the Noble Take-uchi spoke in a Song, saying:
"August Child of the High-Shining Sun, it is
"indeed natural that thou shouldest deign
"to ask, it is indeed right that thou
"shouldest ask. I indeed am a long-lived
"person, [but] have not yet heard of a
wild-goose laying an egg in the land of
"Yamato.”4
(6
Having thus spoken, he was granted the august5 lute, and
sang, saying:
"Oh thou prince! the wild-goose must have
because thou wilt at last
"laid the egg
“rule.”
3 The wild-goose goes far north at the approach of spring, and
the translator is informed by Capt. Blakiston that the latter has not
known of any breeding even on the island of Yezo. The Emperor
was therefore naturally astonished at so strange an occurrence as that
of a wild-goose laying an egg in Yamato, and asks the Noble Take-
uchi whether he had ever heard of the like of it before, Take-uchi
being at that time more than two hundred years old (!) according to
the chronology of the "Chronicles," and therefore the oldest and
most experienced man in the Empire.-" Court Noble" represents the
Japanese word Aso (for Asomi, believed by Motowori and Moribe to
be derived from a se omi E, lit. "my elder brother minister
but used simply as a title).* The words Uchi and Yamato are pre-
ceded in the original by their respective Pillow-Words tamaki-haru
and sora-mitsu, whose force it is impossible to render in English, and
whose origin indeed is obscure. The words rendered "laying an egg”
are literally "giving birth to a child."
""
Ason is a Korean title.-W.G.A.
4 This Song is too clear to need explanation. As in the preceding
one, Yamato is accompanied by the Pillow-Word sora-mitsu.
5 Or, “Imperial.”
6 I.e., say Motowori and Moribe, who refer this episode to a time
previous to Nin-toku's accession, "The wild-goose has laid an egg in
!
VOL. XXXVII.]
345
VOL. III. SECT. CXXIX.
This is a Congratulatory Incomplete Song.?
[SECT. CXXIX.-EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART X.—A VESSEL IS MADE
Into a lute).]
3
In this august reign there was a tall tree on the west of
the river Tsuki.¹ The shadow of this tree, on its being struck
by the morning sun, reached to the Island of Ahaji;² and on
its being struck by the evening sun, it crossed Mount Taka-
yasu. So the tree was cut down and made into a vessel,-
and a very swift-going vessel it was. At the time, this vessel
was called by the name of Karanu.4 So with this vessel the
water* of the Island of Ahaji was drawn morning and evening,
and presented as the great august water. The broken [pieces]
5
'taken of thy future accession to the throne." The translator prefers
the view expressed by Keichiū in his Kō-Gan Shō, and adopted in
the "Explanation of the Songs in the Chronicles of Japan," that the
words tsuhi ni, "at last," must here be taken in the sense of "long,"
and the Song interpreted to mean "The wild-goose lays an egg as
an omen that thy reign will be a long one." This view is supported
by the story in the "Chronicles," which places the Song in the
Emperor's fiftieth year and gives him thirty-six years of subsequent
exsitence, thus making the prophecy amply fulfil itself, as one would
expect that it should do in the pages of such a work. According to
the other view, the text of the "Chronicles" calls for emendation.
7 Hogi-uta no kata-uta. For Incomplete Song" see Sect.
LXXXIX, Note 14.
<<
1 This is Moribe's reading (given without any comment) of the
original characters. Motowori pronounces them corrupt; but,
having no emendation to propose, simply leaves them without any
kana reading.
2 See Sect. V, Note 3.
3 Takayasu no yama, in the province of Kahachi. The characters
with which the name is written signify "high and easy."
4 The significance of this name, written, remains obscure
notwithstanding the efforts of the commentators to explain it.
* Scarcely full enough for
.-W.G.A.
5 I.e., this vessel was used to bring over every morning and
346 ((
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVII.
of this vessel were used [as fuel] to burn salt, and the pieces
of wood that remained over from the burning were made into
a lute, whose sound re-echoed seven miles [off]. So [some
one'] sang, saying:
"Karanu was burnt [as fuel] for salt; the
"remainder was made into a lute; oh!
"when struck, it sounds like the wet plants
"standing rocked on the reefs in the middle
"of the harbour, the harbour of Yura."8
This is a Changing Song which is a Quiet song."
T
[SECT. CXXX. EMPEROR NIN-TOKU (PART XI. HIS AGE AND PLACE
OF BURIAL).]
M
The august years of this Heavenly Sovereign were eighty-
three. His august mausoleum is on the Ear-Moor of Mozu.¹
evening the water for the Imperial household, which was drawn on
the Island of Ahaji.
6, the Chinese li, Japanese ri. The length of the ri has varied
greatly at different times and in different parts of the country. The
modern standard Japanese ri is equivalent to about 2.44 English
statute miles; but Motowori supposes the ri of the epoch mentioned
in our text to have been less than one-seventh of that distance.
33
7 In the "Chronicles this story is placed in the reign of the
Emperor Ō-jin, and the Song is attributed to that monarch.
8 In this Song the sound of the twanging of the lute that had
been made from the remnant of the boat Karanu is compared to the
rustling of the plants standing half out of water on the reefs in the
harbour of Yura. The compound word kaki-hiku, rendered by
"struck," signifies literally "scratched and struck," the lute being
struck with the nail. The onomatopoetic word saya-saya, of which
"sound" is but a colourless equivalent, represents both the delightful
ring of the lute and the rustling of the sea-plants. What plants are
intended by the expression "wet plants" (nadzu no ki) is a point that
has been much disputed. Moribe even thinks that the term is meant
for the name of a particular species of (apparently) coral now found
in the island of Hachijō. Yura is in the Island of Ahaji.
9 See Sect. CXXIV, Note 19.
VOL. XXXVIII.]
347
VOL. III. SECT. CXXXI.
[SECT. CXXXI.-EMPEROR RI-CHIU (PART I.- GENEALOGIES).]
His Augustness Iza-ho-wake dwelt in the palace of Waka-
sakura at Ihare, and ruled the Empire. This Heavenly
Sovereign wedded Her Augustness Princess Kuro, daughter
of the Noble of Ashida,3 child of So-tsu-biko of Kadzuraki,4
and begot august children: King Oshiha of Ichinobe;5 next
King Mima; next his younger sister Awomi-no-iratsume,7
(C
1 Mozu nó mimi-hara. The origin of this singular name is thus
explained in the "Chronicles" (Emperor Nin-toku, 67th year, Winter,
10th Moon): "[The Emperor] made a progress to the moor of
“Ishidzu in Kafuchi to fix the site of his mausoleum. On the day
"when the construction of his mausoleum was begun, a deer suddenly
ran out from the middle of the moor, rushed into the midst of the
The suddenness of its death causing
looked for, whereupon a shrike came
So on looking into the ear, it was
found to be all eaten away. So that is the reason why the place is
"called Mozu no mimi-hara (the 'Shrike's Ear-Moor ').”
"<
coolies, fell down, and died.
"astonishment, its wound was
out of its ear, and flew away.
((
(6
2
1 For Thare see Sect. XLIII, Note 25. Waka-sakura signifies
"young cherry-tree." The origin of the name is traced, rightly or
wrongly, to an incident mentioned in the "Chronicles" under the
reign of this Emperor, 3rd year.
2 Kuro-hime, i.e., "black princess." The same name occurs several
times, and has reference to the black hair" of the person so desig-
nated.
* But all Japanese hair is black. I should rather say complexion.—
W.G.A.
3 Ashida no sukune. Ashi-da signifies "reed-moor." It is the
name of a place in Yamato.
4 Kadzuraki no So-tsu-biko. For this name, which is here abbre-
viated, see Sect. LXI, Note 55.
"(
5 Ichinobe no Oshiha no miko. Ichinobe is in the province of
Yamashiro, and the name seems to mean near the market.” The
name of Oshiha refers to the " uneven teeth" of this personage
which are mentioned in Sect. CLXVII (near Note 5).
6 Mima no miko. The signification of this name is quite obscure.
348 (C
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVIII.
another name for whom was Ihi-toyo-no-iratsume.Ⓡ
[SECT. CXXXII.-EMPEROR RI-CHIŪ (PART II.—HE IS TAKEN TO
ISO-NO-KAMI).]
1
Originally, when dwelling at the palace of Naniha, [the
Heavenly Sovereign] on holding a copious feast when at the
great tasting,¹ was intoxicated with the great august liquor,
and fell greatly and augustly asleep. Then his younger brother,
King Sumi-no-ye-naka-tsu, wishing to take the Heavenly
Sovereign, set fire to the great palace. Thereupon the Suzerain
of Achi, ancestor of the Suzerains of Aya³ in Yamato, having
taken him away by stealth, set him on an august horse, and
caused him to make a progress into Yamato. So [the Heavenly
Sovereign] awoke on reaching the moor of Tajihi,' and said :
"What place is this?" Then the Suzerain of Achi said:
"King Sumi-no-ye-no-naka-tsu set fire to the great palace; so
"I am fleeing with thee into Yamato." Then the Heavenly
Sovereign sang, saying:
"Had I known that I should sleep on the
"Moor of Tajihi, oh! I would have brought
my dividing matting,- had I known that
"should sleep !”5
<<
7 Awomi no iratsume. Awomi is supposed by Motowori to be the
name of a place.
8 Thitoyo no iratsume. Ihitoyo is supposed by Motowori to be the
name of a bird, perhaps a kind of owl.
1 I.e., on the occasion of his performing the religious ceremony
of tasting the first rice of the season.
2 Achi no atahe, supposed to be of Korean origin, and to be a
descendant of, great grandson of the Chinese Emperor.
3 Aya no atahe. This family was of continental origin, Aya being
the Japanese reading of the character; see Sect. CXI, Note 2.
4 Tajihi no nu, in the province of Kahachi. The signification of
the name is obscure.
5 This Song expresses the Monarch's regret at not having brought
his mats with him.-From the expression used in the text (tatsu-gomo),
1
VOL. XXXVIII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXXXII.
349
On reaching the Pass of Hanifu and gazing at the palace
of Naniha, the fire was still bright. Then the Heavenly
Sovereign sang again, saying:
"The group of houses sparklingly burning,
<<
as I stand and look from the Pass of
"Hanifu, is in the direction of the house
"of my spouse. 997
So when they reached the entrance of the Ohosaka moun-
tain, they met one woman. This woman said: "A number
"of men bearing weapons are barring [the way across] the
"mountain. Thou shouldst cross it going round by way of
"Tagima." Then the Heavenly Sovereign sang, saying:
"Oh! on asking the way of the maiden we
"met at Ohosaka, she tells not [the] direct
[way], but tells of the Tagima way."10
CC
the commentators suppose that such mats were used as a sort of
screen to avert draughts. One proposal is to consider tatsu as the
Verb tatsuru, "to set up," because these mats must have been "set
up" round the room. But it agrees better with grammatical usage
to take it in its other sense of "cutting," or dividing," and to sup-
pose that the mats were so called because they "cut off" the draught
from the person sitting behind them.
<<
6 Or "Hill of Hanifu," Hanifu-zaka, in the province of Kahachi.
7 The meaning of this Song is perfectly clear.
8 See Sect. LXIV, Note 25. The word rendered
here and below in the same context is literally "mouth."
9 See Sect. LXII, Note 49.
(6
entrance
""
10 Moribe thus paraphrases this Song: "If the maiden 'whom I
met at Ohosaka and whom I sought direction of had been a common
mortal, she would have simply told me the shortest road.
But now
I see why it was that she bid me go round by way of Tagima: it
was to preserve me from danger. Ah! she must have been a God-
dess."-The words tada ni generally have the sense of directly,"
"immediately," and are indeed here so understood by Motowori.
Moribe's interpretation, which has been followed by the translator,
does but little violence to the text, and suits the general meaning
better.
<<
350
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVIII.
.
So, making his progress up, he dwelt in the temple of
the Deity of Isonokami.¹¹
[SECT. CXXXIII.-EMPEROR RI-CHIU (PART III.—HIS REBELLIOUS
BROTHER AND THE LATTER'S RETAINER SOBAKARI ARE SLAIN).]
Thereupon his younger brother His Augustness Midzu-
Then the
ha-wake came, and sent [to ask for] an audience.¹
Heavenly Sovereign caused him to be told [these words]:
"As I am in doubt whether perhaps Thine Augustness may
[not] be of like mind with King Sumi-no-ye-no-naka-tsu, I
"will not meet and speak with thee." [His Augustness Midzu-
ha-wake] replied, saying: "I have no evil intent. I am not
"of like mind with King Sumi-no-ye-no-naka-tsu." [The
Heavenly Sovereign] again caused him to be told [these
words]: "If that be so, [do thou] now return down, and
slay King Sumi-no-ye-no-naka-tsu, and come up [again
hither]. At that time I will surely meet and speak with
"thee." So he forthwith returned down to Naniha, and
deceived [a man] named Sobakari, a man-at-arms in the
personal service of King Sumi-no-ye-no-naka-tsu, saying: "If
"thou wilt obey my words, I shall become Heavenly Sovereign,
"and will make thee prime Minister, to rule the Empire.6
(C
(C
(C
-
11 See Sect. XLV, Note 16.
1 The original of this clause is very elliptical, consisting only of
the two characters. The old reading joins thereto the characters
, which according to Motowori form the commencement of
the next sentence. The meaning is not affected by the change.
2 Literally, heart." Similarly below, where the word "intent
is used in the translation.
3 The signification of this name is quite obscure.
4 Hayabito. The reader should compare Sect. XXXVIII, Note 11.
5 Literally, "closely accustomed to."
6 The original leaves it uncertain whether the words "to rule the
Empire" should be applied to the speaker, to Sobakari, or to both;
and the ambiguous application has therefore been preserved in the
translation.
VOL. XXXVIII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXXXIII.
351
...
((
"How [would this be]?" Sobakari replied, saying: "[I will
do] according to thy command." Then plenteously endowing
that man-at-arms, he said : "If that be so, slay the King."
Thereupon Sobakari watched for the time when his King went
into the privy, and thrust him to death with a spear. So
when [His Augustness Midzu-ha-wake] was making his pro-
gress to Yamato taking Sobakari with him, he, on reaching
the entrance of the Ohosaka mountain, thought [thus]: "Al-
"though Sobakari deserves very well of me, he has truly' slain
"his lord. This is unrighteous. Nevertheless if I reward not
"his deed, I may be called untruthful; and if I quite carry
"out my promise, his intentions are on the contrary to be
"feared. So, though recompensing his deed, I will destroy
"his actual person." Therefore he said to Sobakari: "I will
"halt here to-day and bestow on thee the rank of Prime
Minister, and to-morrow will [continue my] progress up.".
So a halt was made at the entrance to the mountain, a tem-
porary palace forthwith built, a copious feast suddenly held,
the rank of Prime Minister forthwith bestowed on the man-
at-arms, and all the officials made to do obeisance [to him].
The man-at-arms, delighted, thought that he had accomplished
his design. Then [His Augustness Midzu-ha-wake] said to
the man-at-arms: "To-day I will drink liquor from the same
"cup as the Prime Minister." And when they drank together,
a bowl large [enough] to hide the face was filled with the
liquor presented." Hereupon the King's child drank first, and
the man-at-arms drank afterwards. So when the man-at-arms
10
<<
·
was drinking, the great cup covered his face. Then [His
Augustness Midzu-ha-wake] drew forth a sabre which he had
7 Literally, "already."
8 See Sect. CVII, Note 7.
9 Literally, "the hundred officials," a Chinese phrase, which has
been met with before.
10 The character used in the text implies by its radical that the
bowl was of metal. It is an unauthorized form of
11 Scil. by the prince to the man-at-arms.
AD
or MIL*
352
66
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXVIII.
laid under the matting, and cut off the head of the man-at-
arms. Forthwith on the morrow he made his progress up.
So the place was called by the name of Chika-tsu-Asuka.12
Going up and reaching Yamato, he said: "I will halt here
to-day and, having purified myself, will go forth to-morrow
"and worship at the temple of the Deity."13 So that place is
called by the name of Toho-tsu-Asuka.¹4 So going forth to
the temple of the Deity of Iso-no-kami, he sent to report to
the Heavenly Sovereign that he had come up to serve him
after accomplishing the work [with which he had been entrust-
ed].15 So [the Heavenly Sovereign] sent for, and met, and
spoke with him.
"(
[SECT. CXXXIV.-EMPEROR RI-CHIŪ (PART IV.—VARIOUS DEEDS).]
The Heavenly Sovereign thereupon first appointed the
Suzerain of Achi to the office of Treasurer, and likewise.
bestowed on him domains. Again in this august reign the
name of Waka-sakura Tribe³ was granted to the Grandees of
the Waka-sakura Tribe. Again the "gentile name" of Dukes of
4
1
12 I.e., Nearer Asuka. The name is written. The student
should consult Motowori's note on this passage in Vol. XXXVIII,
pp. 38-39 of his Commentary, to see what can be done towards re-
conciling the name, the characters it is written with, and the origin
ascribed to it, all of which are so apparently incongruous.
13 Scil. of Isonokami. This deity was the sword forming the sub-
ject of the legend narrated in Seet. XLV.
14, i.e., Further Asuka. Conf. Note 11.
15 This is the gist of the original phrase, which will not bear
literal translation into English: 政​既​平​訖​參​上​待​之
​1 In Japanese the same word is used for a store-house and
for the "treasury." But the appointment here mentioned would seem
really to correspond to what we should call Lord of the Treasury or
Minister of Finance. The characters in the original are.
2 Literally, “ration grounds.”
3 Waka-sakura-be.
4 Waka-sakura-be no omi. Conf. Sect. CXXXI, Note 1.
>>
VOL. XXXVIII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXXXVI.
353
Himeda was granted to the Dukes of Himeda. Again the
Ihare Clan' was established.
[SECT. CXXXV.—EMPEROR RI-CHIŪ (PART V.—HIS AGE AND PLACE
OF BURIAL).]
The Heavenly Sovereign's august years were sixty-four.
His august mausoleum is at Mozu.¹
[SECT. CXXXVI.-EMPEROR HAN-ZEI.]
His Augustness Midzu-ha-wake dwelt in the palace of
Shibakaki at Tajihi,' and ruled the Empire. The length of
this Heavenly Sovereign's august person was nine feet two
inches and a half.2 The length of his august teeth was one
inch, and their breadth two lines, and the upper and lower
[row] corresponded exactly, like jewels strung [together]. The
Heavenly Sovereign wedded the Lady of Tsunu, daughter of
3
5 All the editors agree in here reading as kabane (“gentile name,"
see Sect. XIV, Note 5) the character, which signifies properly
<<
family name."
6 Himeda no kimi. Nothing is known of this family.
7 Ihare-be. For lhare see Sect. XLIII, Note 6. It will be
remembered that the Emperor of whose reign the present Section
forms part held his court at Ihare.
1 See Sect. CXXX, Note 1.
1 For Tajihi see Sect. CXXXII, Note 4. Shiba-kaki (or Shiba-
yaki) signifies a fence of brushwood."
<<
2 As to the ancient Japanese measures we have no accurate infor-
mation, and the English equivalents used in this passage correspond
but approximately to the modern Japanese standards. The character
rendered "line" is, which denotes the tenth part of a for
"inch. Motowori remarks that the dimensions of the teeth are not
anything extraordinary judged by the present standard, and supposes
that anciently the measures of length must have been smaller than at
present.
3 Tsunu no iratsume. The signification of this name is obscure.
354 “KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIX.
4
Kogoto, Grandee of Wani, and begot august children: the
Lady of Kahi;5 next the Lady of Tsubura (two Deities). Again
he wedded Oto-hime,' daughter of the same Grandee, and
begot august children: King Takara; next the Lady of
Takabe,⁹—altogether four Kings [and Queens].10 The Heavenly
Sovereign's august years were sixty. His august mausoleum is
on the Moor of Mozu.1
11
[SECT. CXXXVII.—EMPEROR IN-GIYŌ¹ (PART I.—GENEALOGIES).]
His Augustness Wo-asa-dzu-ma-waku-go-no-sukune dwelt
in the Palace of Toho-tsu-Asuka,2 and ruled the Empire. This
Heavenly Sovereign wedded Her Augustness Osaka-no-oho-
naka-tsu-hime,³ younger sister of King Oho-hodo, and begot
august children: King Karu of Kinashi; next Nagata-no-
oho-iratsume;5 next King Kuro-hiko of Sakahi; next His
4 Wani no kogoto no omi. The meaning of Kogoto is obscure.
Wani has already often appeared.
5 Kahi no iratsume. Kahi is the name of a province, but it
cannot be said for certain that it is from it that this Princess derived
her name.
6 Tsubura no iratsume. The meaning of Tsubura is obscure.
7 I.e., "the younger princess."
8 Takara no miko. Takara signifies “treasure.”
9 Takabe no iratsume. Takabe seems to be the name of a place,
unless it be considered to be connected with the word taka, "hawk.”
10 Remember that the single character E includes both sexes.
11 See Sect. CXXX, Note 1.
1 Also pronounced In-kiyō.
2 See Sect. CXXXIII, Note 13.
3 This name and the next have already appeared in Sect. CXVII.
4 Kinashi no Karu no miko. Karu is properly the name of a
place in Yamato which has already often appeared in the text. It is
uncertain whether kinashi is likewise the name of a place or of a
particular kind of pear; but Motowori inclines to the former view.
5 I.e.,
"the great lord of Nagata."
name (lit. "long rice-field "), and it
intended.
There are many places of this
is not known which is here
VOL XXXIX.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXXXVII.
355
Augustness Anaho; next Karu-no-oho-iratsume, another name
for whom is So-tohoshi-no-iratsume (the reason for her being
given the august name of Queen So-tohoshi was that the refulgence
of her person passed through her garments); next King Shiro-biko
of Yatsuri;10 next His Augustness Oho-hatsuse; next Tachi-
bana-no-oho-iratsume; 12 next Sakami-no-iratsume¹3 (nine Deities).
Altogether the Heavenly Sovereign's august children [numbered]
nine Deities (five Kings and four Queens). Of these nine Kings
and Queens, His Augustness Anaho [was he who afterwards]
ruled the Empire. Next his Augustness Oho-hatsuse ruled
the Empire.
6
I.e., “the black prince of Sakahi.” The latter word signifies
"frontier." It is not known where Sakahi is, neither is the reason
for the name of "black prince
black prince" applied to this personage known
(Conf. the "white prince" mentioned a little further on).
7 Or, "of Anaho," for Anaho is properly the name of a place in
Yamato. Its import is not clear.
8 I.e., "the great lady of Karu.”
9 Written, ie., "the garment-passing lady." So-tohoshi
is Motowori's reading of the characters, the usual reading being So-
tohori (the Intransitive instead of the Transitive form of the Verb).
He likewise identifies Koto-fushi (see Sect. CXVII, Note 9) with this
celebrated princess, who is commonly worshipped as Goddess of
Poetry. There is much confusion in the traditions concerning her,
and Motowori's notes on the subject in Vol. XXXIV, pp. 53-54 and
in Vol. XXXIX of his Commentary, p. 3, should be consulted.
10 Yatsuri no shiro-biko no miko, i.e., “the white prince of Yatsuri.”
Yatsuri is the name of a place in Yamato. It is written with charac-
ters signifying "eight melons."
11 I.e., "great Hatsuse," so called from Hatsuse, a celebrated place
in Yamato, which has already been mentioned.
13 I.e.,
"the great lady of Tachibana," the latter being the name
of a place in Yamato. The word signifies "orange."
13 I.e., “the lady of Sakami," the latter being apparently the name
of a place either in Harima or in Wohari. Its derivation is not
clear.
356
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIX.
((
[SECT. CXXXVIII.—EMPEROR IN-GIYŌ (PART II.—HIS SICKNESS IS
CURED BY A KOREAN PHYSICIAN).]
The Heavenly Sovereign, when first about to rule the
succession of Heaven's Sun,¹ declined, saying: "I have a long
"sickness; I cannot rule the sun's succession." Nevertheless,
as from the Empress downwards all the magnates strongly
urged him, he forthwith ruled the Empire. At this time the
ruler of Shiragi2 dutifully sent eighty-one vessels with august
tribute. Then the chief envoy³ sent with the august tribute,
whose name was Komu-ha-chimu-kamu-ki-mu, was
4
a man
So he cured the Heavenly
deeply versed in the medical art.
Sovereign's august sickness.
[SECT. CXXXIX. —EMPEROR IN-GIYO (PART III.--HE RECTIFIES THE
PEOPLE'S NAMES).]
Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, lamenting the trans-
gressions in the surnames and "gentile names" of the people of
all the surnames and names in the Empire¹ placed jars [for
trial by] hot water² at the Wondrous Cape of Eighty Evils in
1 For this expression see Sect. XXXII, Note 27. The story of
the refusal of this monarch to accept the crown which was offered to
him by the magnates of the nation is told at considerable length in
the parallel passage of the "Chronicles." According to the same
authority he belonged to a collateral branch of the Imperial family,
and was therefore not in the regular line of succession.
2 See Sect. XCVIII, Note 2.
3 Literally, “great messenger."
4金波​鎮​漢​紀​武​. Motowori decides that 金 ​is the surname,波
​an official title, an official designation of the kinsmen of the
Korean King, and the personal name.
ܐ
*The Nihongi makes the 80 vessels sent after his death. Vide
Ingiō, 42nd Year of his reign, (pp. 323-324 Aston's translation).-W.G.A.
1 The original is: 天下​氏​氏​名​名人​等​之​氏​姓​,which Motowori
reads ame no shita no uji-uji na-na no hito-domo no uji kabane.
2 We learn from the "Chronicles" that he whose hand was
VOL. XXXIX.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXL.
357
Words at Amakashi.³ and deigned to establish the surnames and
"gentile names" of the eighty heads of companies.+ Again the
Karu Tribe was established as the august proxy of King
Karu of Ki-nashi; the Osaka Tribe was established as the
Empress's august proxy; and the Kaha Tribe' was established
as the august proxy of the Empress's younger sister Ta-wi no
Naka-tsu-hime.8
[SECT. CXL,—EMPEROR IN-GIYŌ (PART IV.—HIS AGE AND PLACE OF
BURIAL).]
The Heavenly Sovereign's august years were seventy-eight.
His august mausoleum is at Naga-ye near Wega in Kafuchi.¹
injured in the process of dipping it into the jar of boiling water was
pronounced a deceiver, while those who stood the trial unhurt were
considered to be telling the truth.
3 Amakashi no koto-ya-so-maga-tsu-hi no saki. Motowori truly
observes that this does not sound like an actual geographical name,
but was rather, it may be supposed, a new designation given to Cape
Amakashi (see Sect. LXXII, Note 19) on account of the incident here
mentioned. The name reminds us of that of one of the deities born
from the purification of the person of the creator Izanagi after his
return from Hades (see Sect. X, Note 14).
4 Ya-so tomo-nc-wo. See Sect. XXXIII, Note 19.
5 Karu-be.
6 Osaka-be, so called after the Empress's native place (see Sect.
CXXXVII, Note 3, and Sect, CXVII, Note 6). The reading of
Osaka-be is given in all the editions to the characters in the text,
, where we should expect. Motowori's explanation of
the reason why the name was thus written will be found in Vol.
XXXIX, p. 19, of his Commentary.
7 Kaha-be. Motowori supposes that there is here some corruption
of the text, as no connection can be discovered between the name of
this Tribe and that of the Princess whose proxy the tribe became.
8 See Sect. CXVII, Note 7.
1 See Sect. CIII, Notes 2 and 3.
•
358
((
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIX.
[SECT. CXLI.-EMPEROR IN-GIYO (PART V.--PRINCE KARU LOVES
HIS SISTER PRINCESS SO-TOHOSHI).]
After the decease of the Heavenly Sovereign, it was settled
that King Karu of Ki-nashi should rule the Sun's succession.¹
But in the interval before his accession, he debauched his
younger sister the Great Lady of Karu, and sang, saying:
Making rice-fields on the mountain, making
"hidden conduits run on account of the
"mountain's height:-to-day indeed [my]
"body easily touches the younger sister
"whom I wooed with a hidden wooing, the
spouse for whom I wept with a hidden
"weeping."
This is a Hind-Lifting Song. Again he sang, saying:
(C
(6
1 See Sect. XXXII, Note 27. The wording of this sentence
would make it appear that it was only after the Emperor In-giyō's
death that King Karu was chosen to succeed him. But probably
King Karu had been appointed Heir Apparent (A) during his
father's life-time, as is indeed expressly stated in the Chronicles,"
and is implied in later passages of this work; and what our author
meant to say was: "It was settled that King Karu should rule the
"Empire after the former Sovereign's decease," etc.
2 The meaning of the Song is: “The sister, the mistress, whom
"I wooed with such difficulty, is now easily mine."-The first phrase,
down to "mountain's height," is but a "Preface" to the poem pro-
perly so called, serving to introduce by a jeu-de-mots the word shita-
dohi, which means not only "hidden conduit," but "hidden wooing."
At the same time the implied comparison of the poet's secret love of
one so difficult to obtain as his own sister, to the course of the water
in hidden conduits which is carried up the mountain's side to irrigate
a field perched in a spot almost inaccessible, is by no means devoid
of aptness. The word "mountain" (yama) is in the original preceded
by the Pillow-Word ashihiki (or ashibiki) no, whose signification is
obscure and much disputed.
3 Shirage-uta (written phonetically). The interpretation of the
term here adopted is that which has the sanction of Motowori and
VOL. XXXIX.]
359
VOL. III. SECT. CXLII.
"The rattle-rattle of the hail against the
"bamboo-grass: After I shall have cer-
tainly slept, what though I be plotted
against by people! When I shall have
slept a good sleep delightfully, if there is
"the disorder of the cut Hydropyrum lati-
"folium, let there be disorder, when I
shall have slept a good sleep!”4
This is a Rustic Lifting Song.5
(C
(C
(C
((
[SECT. CXLII.-EMPEROR IN-GIYŌ (PART VI.—WAR BETWEEN PRINCE
KARU AND PRINCE ANAHO).]
Therefore all the officials and likewise the people of the
Empire turned against the Heir Apparent Karu, and towards
the August Child Anaho. Then the Heir Apparent Karu,
Moribe. They explain it to signify that the voice rose gradually
towards the latter part of the Song.
4 As in the case of the preceding Song, the first phrase is but a
Preface, which plays on the coincidence in sound between the words
tash'-dash', "rattling," and tashika, "certainly," i.e., "undisturbedly."
The signification of the Song proper is: "If I shall but have grati-
"fied my passion, what care I however men may plot against me?
"If I can but press my beloved to my bosom, let all things go to
“rack and ruin, like the Hydropyrum latifolium, a grass which, when
"cut, falls into disorder!"-Of the sentiment of the Song, the less
said the better; but viewed simply from a literary point of view, it
is certainly one of the most fascinating little productions of the early
Japanese muse, and the literal rendering of it into English does it
woful injustice. Moribe rightly rejects Motowori's proposal to divide
the poem in two after the words hito hakayu to mo, “plotted against
by people." Kari-komo no, "of the Hydropyrum latifolium," is a
Pillow-Word.
5 Hinaburi no age-uta. The commentators have nothing more
precise to tell us concerning the expression "Lifting-Song than
that "it refers to the lifting of the voice in singing.”
1 See Sect. CXII, Note 4.
>>
360 (C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIX.
being alarmed, fled into the house of the Grandee the Noble
Oho-mahe Wo-mahe,2 and made a provision of implements of
war. (The arrows made at this time³ were provided with copper
arrow-insides;4 so those arrows are called by the name of Karu
arrows.) Prince Anaho likewise made implements of war. (The
arrows made by this Prince were just the arrows of the present time:5
they are called Anaho arrows.) Thereupon Anaho raised an
army, and beleaguered the house of the Noble Oho-mahe
Wo-mahe. Then, when he reached the gate, heavy ice-rain
was falling. So he sang, saying:
“Come thus under cover of the metal gate
"of the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe!
"will stand till the rain stops."?
We
("
""
2 Oho-mahe Wo-mahe sukune no omi (according to the old reading
Oho-saki Wo-saki, etc.). Motowori considers this double name to
denote two brothers, the words oho and wo("great" and "small")
naturally lending themselves to the interpretation of elder and
"younger." Moribe, on the contrary, thinks that there was but one,
and is supported both by the authority of the "Chronicles of Japan"
and by the fact that, except in the "Chronicles of Old Matters of
Former Ages," which is believed to be a forgery, no second brother
is anywhere mentioned. He explains the use of the double name in
the prose text as having crept in through the influence of the text of
the following Song (see Note 7 below). This seems to the translator
the better view.
3 I.e., "on this occasion."
4 There is here an evident corruption of the text, and Motowori
aptly conjectures that arrow-heads, or, as they are called in Japanese,
arrow-points, are intended. He adds that up till then arrow-heads
had always been made of iron.
5 The author's style is here rather at fault; for he apparently
wishes to say that the arrows employed by Prince Anaho were those
which had been used in ancient times and were still the most univer-
sally employed-that, in fact, they were the usual style of arrow in
contradistinction to those of Prince Karu's invention.
6 See Sect, LXXXVIII, Note 5.
7 The prince, in this Song, bids his troops follow his example,
and take refuge from the rain under cover of the gate of Oho-mahe's
-
VOL. XXXIX.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXLII.
361
Then the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe came singing, lifting
his hands, striking his knees, dancing, and waving his arms.
The Song said:
"The courtiers are tumultuous, [saying]
"that the small bell of the garter of the
"courtiers has fallen off. Country-people,
too, beware !”
(C
"C
This Song is of a Courtier's Style. Singing thus, he
came near and said: "August Child of our Heavenly Sove-
"reign! Come not with arms against the King thine elder
"brother. If thou shouldst come against him with arms,
I10 will secure him and present
Then Prince Anaho disbanded his troops
people will surely laugh.
"him to thee.":1
house. Such, at least, is the actual sense of the words used; but
Motowori sees in them nothing less than a slightly veiled exhortation
to his followers to attack the castle, while Moribe, on the other hand,
thinks they were meant to convey to Oho-mahe a hint of his pre-
sence, and enable the beleaguered prince, for whom (as being his
elder brother) Prince Anaho retained a great affection and respect, to
devise some method of escape. This seems extremely far-fetched.----
The word "metal" probably refers only to the fastenings of the gate,
and not to its whole structure.
8 The exact purport and application of this Song is disputed, but
this much seems clear: that the composer of it seeks to quiet both
the besieging army (out of politeness called courtiers), and the pea-
sants who had joined the fray, by making light of the whole occur-
rence, which he compares to so trival an accident as the falling of a
bell from a man's "garter" or "leggings." The custom of ornamenting
this article of dress with a small bell is, however, not mentioned
elsewhere.* The word yume, which concludes the Song and is here
rendered "beware," is identified by Motowori and Moribe with the
Imperative of the Verb imu, “to avoid,” “to shun,” not to do."
(C
Motowori does not say so.-W.G.A.
-
9 Miya-hito-buri. This is one of the cases which lend support to
Motowori's view that the names of the so-called styles of Songs are
derived from their initial words.
10 Written with the humble character, "servant."
362
<<
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIX.
P
and went away.
So the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe secured
Prince Karu, and led him forth, and presented him [to Prince
Anaho]. The captive Prince sang, saying:
"Maiden of heaven-soaring Karu! if thou
"cry violently, people will know. Cry
quietly like the doves on Mount Hasa.”¹2
Again he sang :
12
"Maiden of heaven-soaring Karu! Comet
"and sleep, and [then] pass on, oh maiden
"of Karu !"13
<<
11 The word used in the text, here and also in the next sentence,
is that which properly denotes the presenting of tribute.
12 Another reading gives this sense:
<<
As, if the maiden of heaven-soaring Karu cried
"violently, people would know, she cries quietly
"like the doves on Mount Hasa."
<<
According to this reading, the poet simply explains the reason of the
undemonstrativeness of his mistress's grief; according to that in the
text, he implores her not to weep too passionately.—Amadamu or
amatobu ya,
'heaven-soaring," is the Pillow-Word for Karu, applied
to it punningly on account of its similarity in sound to the word
kari, "a wild-goose," which well deserves the epithet "heaven-soaring.”
Of Mount Hasa nothing is known.
+ Shitata ni.-W.G.A.
13 Rendered thus according to Moribe's exegesis, which quite
approves itself to the translator's mind, this Song signifies:
"Oh!
"maiden of Karu! come and sleep with me but once, before my
"impending banishment renders it hard for us to meet again." Moto-
wori chooses to interpret nete as a crasis of nayete, "bending," and
sees in the Song an invitation to the maiden to come quietly bending
her head and passing along quietly so as not to attract observation.-
The final word, translated "maiden," is wotome-domo, properly a
Plural, but here used in a Singular sense, as watakushi-domo, “I”
(properly "we"), so constantly is in the modern Colloquial Dialect.
For the Pillow-Word "heaven-soaring" see preceding Note.
VOL. XXXIX.]
363
VOL. III. SECT. CXLIII.
((
So Prince Karu was banished to the hot waters of Iyo.¹
Again when about to be banished, he sang, saying:
"The heaven-soaring birds, too, are indeed
(C messengers. When thou hearest the voice
"of the crane, ask my name. 992
These three songs are of a Heaven-Soaring style.3 Again
he sang, saying:
[SECT. CXLIII. EMPEROR IN-GIYO (PART VII.-DEATH OF PRINCE
KARU AND PRINCESS SO-TOHOSHI).]
CC
“If they banish the Great Lord to an island,
"he will indeed make the remaining return
voyage. Beware of my mat! Mat indeed
"in words,-beware of my spouse !"4
((
1 For Iyo see Sect. V,
tioned in early documents.
now called Dō-go ().
2 The meaning of this
messengers will reach me.
"the birds."
Note 4. Its hot springs are often men-
Motowori identifies them with a place
Song is: "I go where perchance no
But thou must ask tidings of me from
3 Ama-da-buri.
The title seems to be derived from the initial
Pillow-Word of these three Songs.
4 The meaning of this Song seems to the translator to be: "Even
"if they dare to banish me now, I shall some day return again.
Respect my mat during my absence. Mat, indeed! It is my wife
“that must be respected." The commentators consider the concluding
words to be a command addressed to the wife, and interpret the
phrase to mean, "My spouse, beware!" But surely this makes less
good sense, and moreover fails to suit the exactly parallel passage in
the first Song of Sect. CXXV. By the words "Great Lord" the
princely poet denotes himself,-perhaps with a touch of anger at the
indignity to which he is subjected. The difficult expression funa-
amari is here, in accordance with Moribe's view, rendered by the
words remaining voyage"" i.e., "the voyage homeward," which is
that part of a voyage that may be said to remain over for an outward-
bound vessel when she has reached her destination. Motowori's
Commentary, Vol. XXXIX, pp. 50-51, should be consulted for older
<<
364 (C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIX.
This Song is of a Partly Lowered Rustic style.5 Queen
So-tohoshi presented a Song [to him]. That Song said:
"Let not thy feet tread on the oyster-shells
"of the shore of Ahine with its summer
"herbs! Pass there [after] having made
“clear !”
So when afterwards again, being unable to restrain her
love, she went after him, she sang, saying:
Thy going has become long past.
I will
"go, oh! to meet thee.
to meet thee. Wait! I cannot
"wait."* (What is here called yama-tadzu is
((
views of the meaning of the term. The expression "beware of my
mat" reminds us that in early days the entire floor of a Japanese
room was not matted according to the modern custom, but that each
individual had his own mat on which to sit and sleep.
Great care
was always taken not to defile another's mat. Conf. an elegy from
the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves" translated by the present writer
in his "Classical Poetry of the Japanese," p. 79.
5 Hina-buri no kata-oroshi. Like most of the names of styles of
Songs, this one is extremely obscure. The commentators suppose
that one part was sung in a lower voice than the rest. But they are
merely guessing.
<<
6 The actual words of the Song signify: "Lacerate not thy feet
by walking on the unseen oyster-shells of the shore of Ahine that
"is covered with the summer herbs; but walk there after dawn."
(This is Keichiu's interpretation of the word akashite, "having made
clear," and is the best in the present writer's opinion; the later
commentators see in it a recommendation to the exiled prince to clear
the grass away on either side.) The word Ahine calls, however, for
special explanation in order that the full import of the poem may be
brought out. It properly signifies "sleeping together" or "lying on
each other," and is therefore applicable either to the two spouses or
to the summer grass. Indeed it is doubtful if it be the name of any
real place at all. The word natsu-kusa may also be taken simply as
a Pillow-Word for Ahine.-The total gist of the Song is in any case
a warning from the maiden to her lover to guard himself against the
perils of the journey.
* Motowori's rendering of ke here seems unsatisfactory.—W.G.A.
VOL. XXXIX.]
365
VOL. III. SECT. CXLIII.
[what is] now [known by the name of] tatsuge.)7
So when in her pursuit she reached [the place where
Prince Karu was, he, who had been] pensively waiting, sang,
saying:
"Alas! beloved spouse, who settledst the
whereabouts of our grave, setting up
'flags in the great vale, setting up flags in
"the little vale of Hatsuse the hidden castle!
"Alas! beloved spouse, whom I see after
"[our many troubles], prostrate like a tsuki
bow, standing like an adzusa bow!"
<<
""
66
7 The meaning of this Song is: "It is too long since thy depart-
ure. I can wait no longer, but will go and meet thee:"-The Verb
"to meet" (mukahe) is in the original preceded by the Pillow-Word
yama-tadzu, which forms the subject of the note appended to the
poem by the compiler. The commentators are not agreed as to the
precise nature of the instrument intended; but it seems to have been
some kind of axe. The cause of its use as a Pillow-Word for
"meeting" is equally disputed. It only occurs written phonetically.
The term tatsu-ge, by which it is explained in the text, is there
written, which does not help us much towards understanding
what is meant to be designated.
8 So obscure is this Song in the original, that Motowori confesses
himself unable to make any sense of it. The translator has adopted
Moribe's interpretation, according to which the gist of it is this:
"Alas! my dear wife, who wast so willing to be for ever united to
<<
me that thou didst even fix on the spot in the funereal vale of
"Hatsuse where we should one day be buried together! Alas for
"thee, whom at last I now see again !"-In order to arrive at this
meaning, Moribe is obliged to prove more or less satisfactorily that
the thrice repeated word wo signifies "vale" or "mountain-fold" the
first two times that it occurs, and " grave "the third, and that komo-
riku no hatsuse, usually interpreted as secluded "Hatsuse," means
"the hidden castle," the "final place," i.e., "the tomb." It is also
necessary to suppose, without authority, that the flags mentioned by
the poet are meant for funeral flags, and that the words " prostrate
"like a tsuki bow," etc., which, according to the laws of Japanese
construction, precede instead of following the phrase "alas! beloved
366
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XXXIX.
Again he sang, saying:
Driving sacred piles in the upper reach,
driving true piles in the lower reach of the
"river of secluded Hatsuse, and hanging on
"the sacrificial piles a mirror, hanging on
"the true piles true jewels-if they said
"that the younger sister whom I love like a
"true jewel, that the spouse whom I love
"like a mirror were [there], I would go
"home, I would long for my country.'
9
((
(C
spouse," etc., are but a Preface for the latter. It will be seen that
the foundation on which Moribe's interpretation rests is slight, and
that Motowori was scarcely to be blamed for pronouncing the Song
incomprehensible. At the same time the translator has thought it
better, by following Moribe, to give some translation of it than to
leave the passage blank. With this warning, the student may search
for other possible meanings if he pleases.-Hatsuse is a still existent
and celebrated place among the mountains of Yamato. The etymology
of the name, unless we accept Moribe's mentioned above, is obscure.
It is now usually pronounced Hase. The tsuki is said to be almost
indistinguishable from the keyaki tree (Zelkowa keaki). The adzusa
seems to be the Catalpa kaempferi, but some believe it to be the
cherry-tree.
9 The first half of this Song down to the words "hanging on the
true piles true jewels" is a Preface for what follows. The signification
of the rest is: "If my dearly loved sister-wife were still at Hatsuse
"in Yamato, I would fly to her either in thought or deed; but now
"that she has followed me into exile, the land of exile is good
"enough."--Moribe, while allowing the first half of the Song to be
a Preface for the rest, contends that it also should be credited with
a signification bearing on the subject-matter of the main part of the
Song. He supposes, namely, the religious ceremony, whatever it was,
of driving piles into the bed or bank of the river and of decorating
them with beads and a mirror, to have been one really performed by
Princess So-tohoshi to compass her lover's return. In the translator's
opinion, it is more elegant and more in accordance with Archaic
usage to consider the Preface as having no special significance or
connection (otherwise than verbal) with the rest of the poem. The
VOL. XL.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXLIV.
367
Having thus sung, they forthwith killed themselves toge-
ther.10 So these two songs are Reading Songs.11
[SECT. CXLIV. EMPEROR AN-KŌ (PART 1.—HE SLAYS KING
OHO-KUSAKA).]
The august child¹ Anaho dwelt at the palace of Anaho at
Isono-kami,² and ruled the Empire. The Heavenly Sovereign
sent the Grandee of Ne,³ ancestor of the Grandees of Saka-
moto, to the residence of King Oho-kusaka, on behalf of his
younger brother Prince Oho-hatsuse to command thus: "I
"wish Thine Augustness's younger sister Queen Waka-kusaka
'to wed Prince Oho-hatsuse. So do thou present her."
Then King Oho-kusaka did obeisance four times, and said:
"Owing to a supposition that there might be some such Great
word i-kuhi or i-guhi, rendered “sacred piles," occasions some diffi-
culty; for it is not certain whether Motowori is right in giving to
the initial syllable i the meaning of "sacred." It may be simply
what has been termed an "Ornamental Prefix," devoid of meaning.
Motowori however points out that this usage of it is restricted to
Verbs, and does not occur with Substantives. Komoriku no, the
Pillow-Word for Hatsuse, is rendered by "secluded" in accordance
with Mabuchi's usually accepted derivation from komori-kuni, “retired
land." Moribe, notwithstanding what he has said in his exegesis of
the preceding poem (Note 8), is willing to allow that, though perhaps
not its original, this was its common, meaning even in ancient times.
10 I.e., committed suicide together.
(C
11 This expression is interpreted to mean that these Songs were
recited in monotone, as one would read a book or tell a tale.
-
1 I.e., Prince. In all other cases we find the word mikoto,
'Augustness," as the title by which the Sovereign is mentioned at
the commencement of his reign.
2 See Sect. XLV, Note 16.
3 Ne no omi. The etymology of me is obscure.
4 Literally, as "tribute."
368
(6
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XL.
Commands, I have kept her always indoors. With reverence
"will I respectfully offer her according to the Great Com-
"mands." Nevertheless, thinking it disrespectful [merely] to
send a message,' he forthwith, as a ceremonial gifts from his
younger sister, made [the Grandee of Ne] take a pushwood
jewel headdress to present [to the Heavenly Sovereign]. The
Grandee of Ne forthwith stole the jewel headdress meant as
à ceremonial gift, and slandered King Oho-kusaka, saying:
"King Oho-kusaka would not receive the Imperial Commands,
"but said: An soror mea fiet eædem stirpis [viri] inferior
"storea?"10 and, grasping the hilt of his cross-sword," was
angry." So the Heavenly Sovereign, having in his great
anger slain King Oho-kusaka, took that King's chief wife
Nagata-no-oho-iratsume, and made her Empress.
12
CC
CC
5 More literally, "I have kept her without putting her out of
"doors."
6 Conf. Sect. IX, Note 4 and Sect. XVIII, Note 14.
7 Motowori surmises that
may be an error for in the
original of this clause 然​言​以​白​事​其​思​无禮​‧
8禮物​. The term corresponds to the modern 結納​,the name
by which the presents which are exchanged at the time of betrothal
are designated.
9 The original term oshi-ki no tama-kadzura is extremely obscure.
One of Motowori's conjectures is that the " push-wood" was a kind
of frame by which the jewels or beads, strung on an erect stem of
some hard material, were kept firmly attached to the head. Perhaps
some notion of the coiffure intended may be gathered from the plate
opposite p. 354 of Part III of Vol. VIII of these "Transactions,"
(Mr. J. Conder's paper on "The History of Japanese Costume ").
10 I.e.,
“An soror mea, cujus pater Imperator Nin-toku, fiet uxor
præsentis Imperatoris?" - Hujus similitudinis rusticitas et ipsis
Japonicis commentatoribus pudori est.
11 See Sect. XLV, Note 5.
12 See Sect. CXXXVII, Note 5.
VOL. XL.]
369
VOL. III. SECT. CXLV.
[SECT. CXLV.-EMPEROR AN-KŌ (PART II.—HE IS SLAIN BY KING
MA-YOWA).]
(6
After this, the Heavenly Sovereign, being on [his] divine
couch,' was sleeping at midday.. Then he spoke to his Em-
press, saying:
She
"Is there anything on thy mind?"2
replied, saying: "Being the object of the Heavenly Sovereign's
Here-
generous favour, what can there be on my mind?”
upon the Empress's former child,³ King Ma-yowa, who was
seven years old that year, happened to be just then playing
outside the apartment.+ Then the Heavenly Sovereign, not
knowing that the young King was playing outside the apart-
ment, spoke to the Empress, saying: "I have constantly
"something upon my mind, namely [the fear] that thy child
'King Ma-yowa, when he comes to man's estate, may, on
"learning that I slew the King his father, requite me with a
"foul heart."5 Thereupon King Ma-yowa, who had been
playing outside the apartment, and whose ear had caught these
words, forthwith watched for the Heavenly Sovereign to be
augustly asleep, and, taking the great sword [that lay] by his
side, forthwith struck off the Heavenly Sovereign's head, and
fled into the house of the Grandee Tsubura.? The Heavenly
Sovereign's august years were fifty-six. His august mausoleum
is on the mound of Fushimi at Sugahara.Ⓡ
6
(C
1 Conf. Sect. LXIV, Note 2.
2 Literally, "Hast thou anything to think about?" The same
construction is used in the next sentence.
3 I.e., her son by her former husband King Oho-kusaka.
4 Literally, "below the palace." The same expression recurs
further on.
The parallel passage in the "Chronicles" has "below
the upper storey," ie., in the court or garden of a two-storeyed
house. With the small proportions assumed by Japanese architecture,
conversation could well be overheard under these conditions.
5 I.e.,
6 Seit. by the Emperor's side.
7 Tsubura omi. The etymology of Tsubura is obscure.
"take vengeance upon me.
370
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XL.
(6
[SECT. CXLVI.-EMPEROR AN-KŌ (PART III.—PRINCE OHO-HATSUSE
SLAYS PRINCES KURO-BIKO AND SHIRO-BIKO).]
Then Prince Oho-hatsuse, who at that time was a lad,
was forthwith grieved and furious on hearing of this event,
and went forthwith to his elder brother King Kuro-biko,2 and
said: ((
They have slain³ the Heavenly Sovereign. What shall
"be done?" But King Kuro-biko was not startled, and was
of unconcerned heart.4 Thereupon King Oho-hatsuse reviled
his elder brother, saying: "For one thing it being the Hea-
"venly Sovereign, for another thing it being thy brother, how
"is thy heart without concern ?5 What! not startled, but
"unconcerned on hearing that they have slain thine elder
"brother!"—and forthwith he clutched him by the collar,
dragged him out, drew his sword, and slew him. Again, going
to his elder brother King Shiro-biko, he told him the circum-
stances as before. The unconcernedness again was like [that
shown by] King Kuro-biko. [So King Oho-hatsuse,] having
forthwith clutched him by the collar, pulled him along, and
dug a pit on reaching Woharida, buried him as he stood,' so
I
8 For Sugahara see Sect. LXXV, Note 1. The Fushimi here
mentioned, which is in Yamato, must not be confounded with the
better known Fushimi in Yamashiro. The popular etymology of this
name (and it is to be found in many books) traces it to fushi-mi, i.e.,
"lying three," in connection with the story of a man who "lay on
the mound for three years." Probably fuse-midzu, "water laid on," a
name perhaps given on account of an aqueduct or of water-pipes,
was the original désignation, which has been corrupted.
1 See Sect. CXXXVII, Note 11.
2 See Sect. CXXXVII, Note 6.
3 Literally, "taken."
4 I.e., treated the matter with indifference.
5 Literally, "without relying," as if the speaker meant to say that
the dead man could not rely on him for vengeance.
<c
The name seems to mean new tilled field.”
in the text followed by Motowori.
reading is untenable.
6 In Yamato.
7 Written
The other
י.
VOL. XL.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXLVII.
371
that by the time he had been buried up to the loins, both his
eyes burst out, and he died.Ⓡ
[SECT. CXLVII.-EMPEROR AN-KŌ (PART IV.-DEATH OF PRINCE
MA-YOWA AND OF THE GRANDEE TSUBURA).]
3
Again he raised an army and beleaguered the house of the
Grandee Tsubura. Then [the other side also] raised an army
to resist the attack,¹ and the arrows that were shot forth were
like unto the falling down of the [ears of the] reeds.2 There-
upon King Cho-hatsuse, using his spear as a staff, peeped
in, and said: "Is perchance the maiden, with whom I spoke,
"in this house?" Then the Grandee Tsubura, hearing these
commands, came forth himself, and having taken off the
weapons with which he was girded, did obeisance eight times,
and said: "The maiden Princess Kara, whom anon thou
"deignedst to woo, is at thy service. Again in addition I will
present to thee five granaries. (What are called the five granaries
5
8 In order to account for such an effect from so apparently
insufficient a cause, Motowori supposes that after the prince had been
made to stand up to the height of his loins in the pit, the latter was
filled by having stones thrown into it, whereby his feet and legs
would be crushed.
1 Literally, "to wait and fight."
2 The character, "to come (here in accordance with English
idiom rendered by down") is supposed to be an error. One con-
jectural emendation of it, viz.,, would suggest the "plentiful"
falling of the flowers of the reeds.
""
3 I.e., he lifted himself on tiptoe by leaning on his spear, so as
to be able to peep in.
4 The maiden thus suddenly introduced into the story is Tsubura's
daughter Kara, whom it must be supposed that the Prince had
previously been wooing.
5 Or rather, "Imperial words." The application of the characters
to the words of one who was not yet actually Emperor is
curious.
372
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XL.
are now the gardeners of the five villages of Kadzuraki :6) Mean-
while the reason why she does not come out to meet thee in
person is that from of old down to the present time grandees
and chiefs have been known to hide in the palaces of Kings,
but Kings have not yet been known to hide in the houses of
grandees. Therefore I think that, though a vile slave of a
grandees exerting his utmost strength in the fight can scarcely
conquer, yet must he die rather than desert a Prince who,
trusting in him, has entered into his house." Having thus
spoken, he again took his weapons and went in again to fight.
Then, their strength being exhausted and their arrows finished,
he said to the Prince: "My hands are wounded, and our
10
6 I.e., the places where the five granaries originally were are now
the five villages inhabited by the men who cultivate the Imperial
gardens. For Kadzuraki see Sect. LV, Note 1.
7 Or we may, following Motowori's proposal, take the character
in this clause in its slightly different acceptation of “subject,"
which better suits the sense. The partly phonetic wording of the
next sentence *‡‡‡ shows how the writer was perplexed
by the double use of the term.
8 Q.d., in comparison with a prince of the Imperial family, even
a grandee was but a vile slave.
in the original of this passage*
9 The character
is corrupt. But the sense remains clear, and it is scarcely worth
while looking about for a probable emendation. Motowori has no
satisfactory proposal to make.
10 The humble character, "servant" is here used for the First
Personal Pronoun. The expression * *, here literally ren-
dered "my hands are all wounded," is very curious. Motowori reads
it ita-te ohinu, i.e., "I have received (or suffered from) hurtful hands,"
and compares two somewhat similar expressions found in Sect. XLIV
(see Note 33 to that Sect.). The translator may however point out
that the similarity is much more apparent in Motowori's kana reading
than it is in the Chinese text itself. May not the sense of the present
passage rather be: "All our men are wounded?" for the word te
(F) "hand," is frequently used in Japanese,-in compounds at least,—
in the sense of "man," somewhat as it is in English naval, mining,
and other technical parlance.
VOL. XL.]
VOL. III. SECT. CXLVIII.
373
What
""
arrows likewise are finished. We cannot now fight.
"shall be done?" The Prince replied, saying: "If that be
"so, there is nothing more to do. [Do thou] now slay me.'
So [the Grandee Tsubura] thrust the Prince to death with his
sword, and forthwith killed himself by cutting off his own
head.
""
[SECT. CXLVIII.-EMPEROR AN-KŌ (PART V.—PRINCE OHO-HATSUSE
SLAYS PRINCE OSHIHA).]
After this Kara-fukuro,' ancestor of the Dukes of Yama
of Sasaki in Afumi,2 said [to King Oho-hatsuse]: "At Kuta³
"[and] on the moor of Kaya at Wata in Afumi, boars and
"deer are abundant. Their legs as they stand are like a moor
.4
[covered] with wogi, the horns they point up are like withered
"trees." At this time [King Oho-hatsuse], taking with him
King Ichi-no-be-no-oshiha, made a progress to Afumi, and on
reaching this moor, each of them built a separate temporary
palace to lodge in. Then next morning, before the sun had
risen, King Oshiha with a tranquil heart rode along on his
august horse, and, reaching and standing beside King Oho-
hatsuse's temporary Palace, said to King Oho-hatsuse's august
attendants: "Is he not awake yet? He must be told quickly
[that I am come]. It is already daylight. He must come
"to the hunting-ground,"—and forthwith urging his horse, he
66
((
1 This name has the curious signification of "Korean (or Chinese)
198
bag.'
There was also a Yamato bukuro (no sukune), or Japanese
bag.-W.G.A.
2 Afumi no Sasaki no yama no kimi. Conf. Sect. LXIX, Note 46.
3 This and the following names are altogether obscure, neither is
it evident whether two places are meant, or only one.
The present
passage reads as if two were intended, but a little further down the
author seems to be speaking of but one,
4 The Hedysarum esculentum.
5 Literally, "the night has already finished dawning."
374
(6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XL.
went forth.
Then the people who served the august person
of King Oho-hatsuse said: "As [King Oshiha] is a violent-
"spoken Prince, thou shouldst be on thy guard, and likewise
"it were well to arm thine august person." Forthwith he put
on armour underneath his clothes, took and girded on him his
bow and arrows, rode off on horseback, and in a sudden
interval setting his horse by the side [of the other King's],
took out an arrow, shot King Oshiha down, forthwith more-
over cut his body [to pieces], put [them] into a horse's manger,
and buried them level with the earth.*
[SECT. CXLIX.-EMPEROR AN-KŌ (PART VI.-FLIGHT OF PRINCES
OHOKE AND WOKE).]
Hereupon King Ichi-no-be's children' King Ohoke and
King Woke (two Deities), having heard of this affray, fled away.
So when they reached Karibawi² in Yamashiro and were eating
their august provisions, an old man with a tattooed face came
and seized the provisions. Then the two Kings said: "We
"do not grudge the provisions. But who art thou?" He
replied, saying: "I am a boar-herd in Yamashiro." So they
fled across the River Kusuba,³ reached the land of Harima,4
entered the house of a native of that country named Shizhimu,5
hid their persons, and worked as grooms and cow-herds.
6 Motowori endeavours, not very successfully, to explain the use
of this epithet by Prince Oho-Hatsuse's attendants. As the sequel
shows, the violence was all on the other side.
I.e., without raising a tumulus over them.-W.G.A.
1 Literally "prince" (EF).
(EF). Their names apparently signify
big basket and "little basket."
The name
2 Known in later times as Kaniha and Kabawi.
signifies (if the characters with which it is written may be relied on)
"the well where the leaves were cut."
3 See Sect. LXVI, Note 19.
4 See Sect. LX, Note 19.
5 Or Shizhimi. Properly the name of a village, it is here used
as the name of a man. The etymology is obscure.
<<
>>
VOL. XLI.]
375
VOL. III. SECT. CLI.
[SECT. CL.-EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART I.-GENEALOGIES).]
His Augustness Oho-hatsuse-no-waka-take dwelt in the
palace of Asakura at Hatsuse,' and ruled the Empire. The
Heavenly Sovereign wedded Queen Wake-kusaka-be, younger
sister of King Oho-kusaka (no children). Again be wedded
Princess Kara, daughter of the Grandee Tsubura, and begot
august children: His Augustness Shiraka; next his younger
sister Her Augustness Princess Waka-tarashi (two Deities).
[SECT. CLI.-EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART II.—VARIOUS DEEDS).]
So the Shiraka Clan¹ was established as the august proxy
of Prince Shiraka. Again the Hatsuse-Clan-Retainers were
established. At this time there came over people from Kure.
Again the Kahase Retainers were established. These people
from Kure were lodged at Kure-hara. So the place was
1 For Hatsuse see Sect. CXLIII, Note 8. Several Asakuras are
named in the pages of these "Records." That here named is in
Yamato. The name seems to mean "morning store-house."
1 Shiraka-be.
Emperor.
name."
<C
2 Hatsuse-be no toneri. This Clan was called after the reigning
Remember that the word "Retainers is here a gentile
در
<<
3 Kahase no toneri. Kaha-se signifies "river-reach," and the
Chronicles," under date of the eleventh year of this reign, tell a
story of the appearance of a white cormorant, to commemorate which
this family was established. Cormorants, it will be remembered,
were used for catching fish in rivers: hence the appropriateness of
the name bestowed on the family in question.
4 The name given by the Early Japanese to Wu (), an ancient
state in Eastern China to the South of the Yang-tzŭ River. In
Japanese it however, like other names of portions of China, often
denotes the whole of that country in a somewhat vague manner.
The derivation of the word Kure is obscure. The most acceptable
proposition is that which would see in it corruption of the original
376
(C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLI.
called by the name of Kure-hara.
5
[SECT. CLII. EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART III. THE ROOF OF THE
HOUSE OF THE GREAT DEPARTMENTAL LORD OE SHIKI).]
In the beginning, when the Empress' dwelt at Kusaka,²
[the Heavenly Sovereign] made a progress into Kafuchi by
way of the Tadagoye³ road at Kusaka. Then, on climbing to
the top of the mountain and gazing on the interior of the
country, [he perceived that] there was a house built with a
raised roof-frame. The Heavenly Sovereign sent to ask [con-
4
Chinese term Wu, of which Go is the Sinico-Japanese pronunciation.
But what of the second syllable re?
5 The phrase is in this place used for "lodged."
*"Settled ?"—W.G.A.
6 I.e., Kure Moor. It is in Yamato. According to the “ Chroni-
cles," the former name of the place had been Himokuma-nu.
1 I.e., Waka-kusaka-be.
2 See Sect XLIV, Note 31. The Kusaka here mentioned is that
in Kafuchi.
***
3 From tada, "straight" and koyuru "to cross," this being a short
cut over the mountains.
4 The original of this clause is
which is
read katsuwo wo agete ya wo tsukureru ihe ari. The katsuwo (properly
katsuwo-gi) is the name of the uppermost portion of the roof
in modern Shinto temples, and apparently in ancient times also in
houses that were not devoted to religious purposes: The difficulty is
not with the sense, but with the derivation of the word katsuwo-gi.
Following the characters with which it is here and elsewhere written,
Motowori sees in it a reference to the shape of the blocks of wood
resembling "dried bonitoes," which is the modern signification of
katsuwo. But Moribe, in his "Examination of Difficult Words,"
proposes a derivation which approves itself more to the present
writer's mind, viz., kadzuku wo-gi (#J★), "small timbers atop
(see his "Examination of Difficult Words,” s.v.). Motowori's com-
mentary, Vol. XLI, pp. 11-14, should be consulted for a discussion
of the whole question of the use of these frames in ancient times,
and for the special force to be attributed to the word “raised” (E)
in this passage.
""
VOL. XLI.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLIII.
377
cerning] that house, saying: "Whose roof with a raised frame
is that ?" The answer was:
"It is the house of the great
"Departmental Lord of Shiki." Then the Heavenly Sovereign
said: What! a slave builds his own house in imitation of
"the august abode of the Heavenly Sovereign!"—and forthwith
he sent men to burn the house [down], when the Great
Departmental Lord, with trembling and dread, bowed his
head, saying:
6
"Being a slave, I like a slave did not under-
"stand, and have built overmuch. I am in great dread." So
the thing that he presented as an august offering [in token]
of his entreaty was a white dog clothed in cloth, and with a
bell hung [round its neck]; and he made a kinsman of his
own, named Koshihaki,9 lead it by a string and present it [to
the Heavenly Sovereign]. So the Heavenly Sovereign ordered
them to desist from burning [the house].
8
[SECT. CLIII.—EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART IV. HE WOOS PRINCESS
WAKA-KUSAKA-BE).]
Forthwith making a progress to the residence of Queen
Waka-kusaka-be, the Heavenly Sovereign sent the dog as a
present with a message, saying:
message, saying: "This thing is a strange
So it is a thing to
thing which I got to-day on the road.
(C
(C
woo with,”—and so saying, sent it in as a present. There-
upon Queen Waka-kusaka-be sent to say to the Heavenly
Sovereign: "It is very alarming that thou shouldst make a
"progress with thy back to the sun." So I will come up
5 Shiki no oho-agata-nushi. For Shiki see Sect. LXIII, Note 1.
6 I.e., did humble obeisance by prostrating himself on the ground.
7 Or, according to the older reading. "This (ie., thy command)
[is to be received with] awe."
8 Or,
tied with [a string of] cloth." The translation follows
Motowori's interpretation.
9 The name signifies "loin-girded," i.e., as may be presumed,
"wearing a sword."
1 For he had come from Yamato in the East to Kafuchi in the West.
378
(C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLI.
straight [to the capital], and respectfully serve thee." When
therefore he returned up and dwelt in the palace, he went
and stood on the ascent of that mountain, and sang, saying:
"In the hollow between the nearer and the
"further mountain, this Mount Kusaka-
"be and Mount Heguri, [is] growing the
flourishing broad-leafed bear-oak; at the
"base grow intertwining bamboos; on the
"top grow luxuriant bamboos: we sleep
"not [now] intertwined like the intertwining
bamboos, we sleep not certainly like the
"luxuriant bamboos: [but] oh! my beloved
(" spouse, with whom [I] shall afterwards
sleep interwined !”
(C
<<
CC
((
2 The meaning is: "Thy Majesty must not come to woo me
<.
· here, as the direction is unlucky. But I will myself come up
"straightway to the palace to be thine Empress."
3 The ascent or way up here mentioned is, says Motowori, the
Tadagoye Road, and the mountain is Mount Kusaka. See Sect.
CLII, Note 2 and 3.
4 In this Song the Emperor consoles himself for the delay in his
union with Princess Waka-kusaka-be by reflecting that after all she
will soon be his.-The first half of the poem down to the colon and
dash is a Preface to the rest. Most of the difficult words occurring
in it have been explained in previous notes: for the "broad-leafed
bear-oak" see Sect, LXXII, Note 19; for tatami-komo, the Pillow-
Word by which Heguri is preceded in the Japanese text, see Sect.
LXXXIX, Note 12. Kusaka-be is curious, for whereas it properly
signifies Kusaka-Tribe, this tribe or family being called after the
place where they resided, the place itself came to be renamed after
them when the fact of the posterior origin of the family designation
had been forgotten. The reason for the mention in the Preface of
the oak-tree, which is not referred to in the main text of the poem,
is difficult to ascertain. Moribe thinks, however, that it is on account
of the luxuriance of its foliage which, as if it were a Preface within
the Preface, paves the way for the mention of the thick-growing
bamboos. The punning connection between tashimi-dake, “luxuriant
bamboos," and tashi ni ha wi-nezu, “we sleep not certainly," is neces-
VOL. XLI.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLIV.
379
And he forthwith sent back a messenger with this Song.5
[SECT. CLIV.—EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART V.—STORY OF THE
WOMAN AKAWI-KO).]
Again once when the Heavenly Sovereign, going out for
amusement, reached the River Miwa,' there was a girl, whose
aspect was very beautiful, washing clothes by the river-side.
The Heavenly Sovereign asked the girl, [saying]: "Whose
child art thou?" She replied, saying: "My name is Akawi-ko
of the Hiketa Tribe." Then he caused her to be told, saying:
"Do not thou marry a husband. I will send for thee,"—and
[with these words] he returned to the palace. So eighty years
had already passed while she reverently awaited the Heavenly
Sovereign's commands. Thereupon Akawi-ko thought: "As,
'while looking for the [Imperial] commands, I have already
"passed many years, and as my face and form are lean and
withered, there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless, if I do
“not show [the Heavenly Sovereign] how truly I have waited,
my disappointment will be unbearable ;"--and [so saying]
she caused merchandise to be carried on tables holding an
hundred,³ and came forth and presented [these gifts as] tribute.
Thereat the Heavenly Sovereign, who had quite forgotten what
<<
(C
sarily obliterated in the English translation. Certainly" must be
taken in the sense of "undisturbedly."
5 I.e., as may be conjectured, a messenger dispatched to him by
his mistress. It seems best to suppose the author to represent the
Emperor as not having actually gone to her house at all, but as
having only communicated with her by messenger.
<<
1 Miwa-gawa. It is the stream which flows past Hatsuse.
Miwa see Sect. LXV, Note 8.
For
2 Hiketa-be no Akawi-ko. Hiketa is in Yamato. The etymology
of the word is obscure. Akawi-ko signifies "red boar child;" but the
appropriateness of the name to the woman in the story is not made
to appear.
3 See Sect. XXXVII, Note 7.
380
(C
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLI.
he had formerly commanded, asked Akawi-ko, saying: "What
old woman art thou, and why art thou come hither?" Then
Akawi-ko replied, saying: "Having in such and such a month
"of such and such a year received the Heavenly Sovereign's
"commands, I have been reverently awaiting the great com-
“mand until this day, and eighty years have past by. Now
"my appearance is quite decrepit, and there is no longer any
"hope. Nevertheless I have come forth in order to show and
"declare my faithfulness." Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign
was greatly startled [,and exclaimed]: "I had quite forgotten
the former circumstance; and thou meanwhile, ever faithfully
"awaiting my commands, hast vainly let pass by the years of
thy prime. This is very pitiful." In his heart he wished
to marry her, but shrank from her extreme age, and could not
make the marriage; but he conferred on her an august Song.
That Song said:
CC
'How awful is the sacred oak-tree, the oak-
"tree of the august dwelling! Maiden of
"the oak-plain !"
4 Moribe says that, in this Song, the forgetful Monarch calls to
mind the majestic and awful appearance of the sacred tree in the
temple-grounds, and is moved by this religious thought to repent of
his neglectful treatment of her who had so patiently waited for him
through so many years. Motowori, on the contrary, sees in the
words nothing more than a comparison of the old woman to some
sacred tree of immemorial age, and the aversion felt by the monareh
to an union with her. The oak mentioned (the Kashi, Quercus
myrsinafolia) is an evergreen species. Both Motowori and Moribe
consider that mimoro in the original Japanese of this Song should be
taken, not as a proper name (see Sect. XXVIII, Notes 4 and 5), but
simply as signifying "a sacred dwelling." As Miwa is mentioned in
the earlier part of the story, it might seem more natural to regard
mimoro as likewise being a Proper Name. But the word mimoro itself
signifying "sacred spot," the difference between the two views does
not amount to much, and it is best to follow native authority.
"Oak-plain" (kashi-hara) means "a place planted with oak trees."
The first sentence of the Song must be looked on as a sort of
Preface to the second.
—
VOL. XLI.]
381
VOL. III. SECT. CLIV.
<<
Again he sang, saying:
"The younger chestnut orchard plain of
"Hiketa: o si dormivissem cum illâ in
"juventâ! Oh! how old she has become !"5
Then the tears that Akawi-ko wept quite drenched the
red-dyed sleeve that she had on. In reply to the great august
Song, she sang, saying:
Left over from the piling up of the jewel-
"wall piled up round the august dwelling,
-to whom shall the person of the Deity's
temple go ?"
(C
Ma va
5 The first words of this Song down to the colon and dash are a
Preface to the Song proper, whose meaning stands in need of no
explanation.--Moribe surmises that the word kuri, "chestnut," was
formerly a general name for all sorts of fruits, somewhat like our
English word "berry."
6 The drenching of the sleeve with tears is a common figure in
Japanese poetry.
""
7 Or we might (following Moribe) render thus: "Left over from
"the guarding of the jewel-grove guarded at the august dwelling,”
etc. The wording of this Song is far from clear. While Motowori
sees in it a reference to the construction of a wall round the grounds
of a temple, the overplus of the materials for which sacred wall could
not, it may be presumed, be applied to any profane purpose, Moribe
disputes the propriety of such an interpretation of the word kaki
which, according to him, denotes the grove planted in temple-grounds,
temples never having been surrounded by walls such as Motowori
assumes the existence of, nor even by "hedges or "fences," which
is the more usual acceptation of the term. He thinks, therefore, that
the superficial signification of the actual words of the Song is that
the priest, who has all his life been in the service of one particular
shrine, cannot desert it for the adoration of some other deity. The
underlying deeper significance of the little poem is in either case the
same: Akawi-ko had, during her long waiting of eighty years, re-
mained true to her first love the Emperor. For every reason it had
been impossible for her ever to give her affections to another, and
she had now come up to the capital to demonstrate to him who had
forgotten her the unchangeable nature of her feelings.
382
66
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLI.
..
{
!
Again she sang, saying:
"Oh! how enviable is she who is in her
"bloom like the flowering lotus,—the lotus
"of the inlet, of the inlet of Kusaka."8
Then the old woman was sent back plentifully endowed.
So these four Songs are Quiet Songs."
[SECT. CLV.-EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART VI.—HE MAKES A PROGRESS
TO YESHINU).]
1
When the Heavenly Sovereign made a progress to the
palace of Yeshinu, there was on the bank of the Yeshinu
river a girl of beautiful appearance. So having wedded this
girl, he returned to the Palace. Afterwards, when he again
made a progress to Yeshinu, he halted where he had met the
girl, and in that place raised a great august throne,² seated
himself on that august throne, played on his august lute, and
made the maiden dance. Then he composed an august Song
on account of the maiden's good dancing. That Song said:
"Oh! that the maiden dancing to the lute-
playing of the august hand of the Deity
"seated on the throne might continue for
"ever !”3
<<
8 This pretty little poem is too clear to need any comment.
Moribe supposes that some lotuses brought from Kusaka may have
been among the presents made by Akawi-ko to the Emperor. In the
original Japanese the reference to the lotuses comes first, as a sort of
preface to the rest of the poem. The laws of English construction
necessitate its being put last in the translation.
9 See Sect. CXXIV, Note 19.
1 See Sect. XLVI, Note 3.
2 See Sect. CXII, Note 2.
In it the Emperor speaks
3 This Song presents no difficulties.
of himself as a Deity, and is enthusiastically praised by the commen-
tator Moribe for so doing.
VOL. XLI.]
383
VOL. III. SECT. CLVI.
[SECT. CLVI.-EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART VII.—THE HORSE-FLY AND
THE DRAGON-FLY).]
When forthwith he made a progress to the Moor of
Akidzu,' and augustly hunted, the Heavenly Sovereign sat on
an august throne. Then a horse-fly bit his august arm, and
forthwith a dragon-fly came and ate up the horse-fly, and
flew [away]. Thereupon he composed an august Song. That
Song said:
<<
Who is it tells in the great presence that
game is lying on the peak of Womuro at
Mi-yeshinu? Our Great Lord, who tran-
quilly carries on the government, being
“seated on the throne to await the game, a
horse-fly alights on and stings the fleshy
"part of his arm fully clad in a sleeve of
"white stuff, and a dragon-fly quickly eats
((
up that horse-fly. That it might properly
"bear its name, the land of Yamato was
"called the Island of the Dragon-Fly."
""
(i
((
(C
(6
1 Akidzu-nu. See Note 4 to this Section.
2 Or "bit."
*
**
Is the abu not the gad-fly? I thought the horse-fly was a
somewhat smaller insect, but I may be mistaken.-W.G.A.
† Na ni où means "to be famous." The meaning is "in order to
render the dragon-fly famous its name was given to the country of
Japan."-W.G.A.
3 The signification of the greater portion of this Song is clear
enough, and is sufficiently explained by the context. The word
"who however admits of two interpretations, Motowori taking it to
signify some one,” whereas Moribe, keeping the literal meaning of
"who?", sees in it an angry exclamation of the monarch's at having
been brought out to the hunt under exaggerated promises of game.
Wo-muro means "little cave," but is here a proper name. Mi-yeshinu
is a form of the word Yoshino which is frequently met with in
poetry, the syllable mi being probably, as Mabuchi tells us in his
384
"(
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLII.
So from that time that moor was called by the name of
Akidzu-nu.4
[SECT. CLVII. EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART VIII, ADVENTURE WITH
A WILD BOAR).]
boar ran out.
Again once the Heavenly Sovereign made a progress up
to the summit of Mount Kadzuraki.' Then a large [wild]
When the Heavenly Sovereign forthwith shot
the boar with a whizzing barb,2* the boar, furious, came
towards him roaring. So the Heavenly Sovereign, alarmed
at the roaring, climbed up to the top of an alder. Then he
sang, saying:
3
66
"Commentary on the Collection of a Myriad Leaves," equivalent to
ma, and therefore simply an Ornamental Prefix." The phrase
tranquilly carries on the government" represents the Japanese
yasumi-shishi, the Pillow-word for wa ga oho-kimi, "our Great Lord,”
which latter phrase descriptive of the Sovereign is here put into the
Sovereign's own mouth. "Of white stuff," shiro-tahe no, is another
Pillow-Word. The only real difficulty in this Song meets us in the
interpretation of its concluding sentence. The meaning apparently
intended to be conveyed is that it was in order to prove itself worthy
of its name that the dragon-fly performed the loyal deed which forms
the subject of the tale. But if so, the author forgets that it was not
the dragon-fly that was called after Japan, but Japan that was called
after the dragon-fly (Akidzu-shima, "Dragon-fly-Island," from ak dzu,
dragon-fly "). What should be the point of the whole poem there-
fore fails of application. The name "Island of the Dragon-Fly" has
already appeared in Sect V (Note 26).
""
4 I.e., Dragon-Fly Moor. See Motowori's remarks in his “Exam-
ination of the Synonyms for Japan," p. 26.
1 See Sect. LV, Note 1.
2 See Sect. XXIII, Note 7.
Arrow?--W.G.A.
*
3 This is the sense attributed by the commentators to the obscure
word utak, which seems to be only found written phonetically.
† Grunting? Snorting ?-W.G.A.
VOL. XLII.]
385
VOL. III. SECT. CLVIII.
"The branch of the alder-tree on the op-
'portune mound which I climbed in my
flight on account of the terribleness of the
"roaring of the boar, of the wounded boar,
"which Our great lord who
lord who tranquilly
"carries on the government had been
"pleased to shoot !"4+
<<
(C
[SECT. CLVIII.-EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART IX.-REVELATION OF
THE GREAT DEITY OF KADZURAKI, LORD OF ONE WORD).]
Again once, when the Heavenly Sovereign made a progress
4 Our author cannot be right in attributing this Song to the
Emperor, and we need not hesitate to accept the different version of
the story given in the parallel passage of the "Chronicles," where
the Monarch, as might be expected from all the other details that
have been preserved concerning him, bravely faces the boar, while it
is one of his attendants who runs away and climbs a tree to be out
of danger, and afterwards composes these lines. This Song is a good
instance of what Mr. Aston (in his Grammar of the Japanese
Written Language," 2nd Edit., p. 194) has said concerning some of
the short poems of a later date: "These sentences are not statements
"of fact; they merely picture to the mind a state of things without
"making any assertion respecting it." Here we, as it were, simply
see the frightened courtier sitting breathless aud terrified amid the
branches of the alder, and the whole verse has but the meaning of
an exclamation. The term ari-wo, rendered " opportune mound,” is
the only word in the text which raises any difficulties of inter-
pretation.. Moribe's exegesis has here been followed. According to
the older view it signifies "barren mound." For the words " our
great lord who tranquilly carries on the government" see Sect.
CLVI, Note 3.
Co
* Motowori sticks to the Kojiki version and understands the poem
accordingly. The addition of one word toneri after Heavenly Sovereign
would make it all right. The Kojiki puts Yuriyaku's proceedings
always in the most favourable light and it is impossible to accept the
ordinary text as correct.-W.G.A.
386
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLII.
((
up Mount Kadzuraki, the various officials' were all clothed in
green-stained garments with red cords that had been granted
to them. At that time there were people ascending the moun-
tain on the opposite mountain acclivity quite similar to the
order of the Heavenly Monarch's retinue. Again the style of
the habiliments and likewise the people were similar and not
distinguishable.2 Then the Heavenly Sovereign gazed, and
sent to ask, saying: "There being no other king in Yamato
excepting myself, what person goeth thus ?" The style of
the reply again was like unto the commands of a Heavenly
Sovereign. Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, being very
angry, fixed his arrow [in his bow], and the various officials
all fixed their arrows [in their bows]. Then those people also
all fixed their arrows [in their bows]. So the Heavenly Sover-
eign again sent to ask, saying: "Then tell thy name. Then
"let each of us tell his name, and [then] let fly his árrow.”
Thereupon [the other] replied, saying: "As I was the first
"to be asked, I will be the first to tell my name. I am the
Deity who dispels with a word the evil and with a word the
"good, the Great Deity of Kadzuraki, Lord of One Word."3
The Heavenly Sovereign hereupon trembled, and said: "I
"reverence [thee], my Great Deity. I understood not that
"6
1 Literally, "the hundred officials." This Chinese phrase has
been met with before in the " Records," and recurs in this Section.
2 The original has the character, out of which it is hard to
make sense.
Motowori's proposal to consider it put by error for
has therefore been adopted, though the translator feels by no means
sure that it is a happy one. According to the strict Chinese sense
of, it would not fit with this passage any better than ; but in
Japanese we may be justified in understanding to mean "not
distinguishable."
3In the original: 吾​者​雖​悲​事​而​一​言​雖​善事​而​一​言​言​離​之
​神​葛​城​之一​言​主​之​大​神​者​也​. The import of the obscure expres-
sion "dispelling with a word the good" is not rendered much more
intelligible by Motowori's attempt to explain it. For Kadzuraki see
Sect. LV, Note 1.
VOL. XLII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLIX.
387
"thy great person would be revealed;"4-and having thus
spoken, he, beginning by his great august sword and likewise
his bow and arrows, took off the garments which the hundred
officials had on, and worshipfully presented them [to the Great
Deity]. Then the Great Deity, Lord of Cne Word, clapping
his hands, accepted the offering. So when the Heavenly
Sovereign made his progress back, the Great Deity came
down the mountain,' and respectfully escorted him to the
entrance of the Hatsuse mountain. So it was at that time
that the Great Deity Lord of One Word was revealed.
6
5
[SECT. CLIX.-EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART X.—THE MOUND OF THE
METAL SPADE).]
Again when the Heavenly Sovereign made a progress to
Kasuga to wed Princess Wodo, daughter of the Grandee
Satsuki of Wani,² a maiden met him by the way, and forthwith
seeing the Imperial progress, ran and hid on the side of a
mound. So he composed an august Song. That august Song
said:
"Oh! the mound where the maiden is
hiding! Oh for five hundred metal spades!
"then might [we] dig her out !"
"
4 Literally, "that there would be a present (or manifest) great
person."
5 I.e., he kept nothing for himself, but from his own sword and
bow and arrows down to the ceremonial garments in which his
followers were clad, gave every thing to the god.
6 In token of joy, says Motowori.
7 The characters, rendered by came down the mountain,"
are evidently the result of a copyist's carelessness. The translation
follows Motowori's proposal to emend the text to.
8 Literally "mouth."
1 Wodo-hime. The signification of this name is obscure.
2 Wani no Satsuki no omi. For Wani see Sect. LXII, Note 11.
Satsuki is the old Japanese name of the fifth moon.
3 Moribe thus paraphrases this Song: "The Monarch had met
<<
.
388
(C
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLII.
So that mount was called by the name of the Mound of
the Metal Spade.*
(C
Again when the Heavenly Sovereign made a copious feast
under a hundred-branching tsuki-tree' at Hatsuse, a female
attendant from Mihe² in the land of Ise lifted up the great
august cup, and presented it to him. Then from the hundred-
branching tsuki-tree there fell a leaf and floated in the great
august cup. The female attendant, not knowing that the fallen
leaf was floating in the cup, did not desist from presenting
the great august liquor to the Heavenly Sovereign, who, per-
ceiving the leaf floating in the cup, knocked the female
attendant down,* put his sword to her neck, and was about to
cut off her head, when the female attendant spoke to the
Heavenly Sovereign, saying: "Slay me not! There is some-
thing that I must say to thee;" and forthwith she sang,
saying:
[SECT. CLX.-EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART XI.—THE LEAF
IN THE CUP).]
<<
"The palace of Hishiro at Makimuku is a
palace where shines the morning sun,
a
<<
<<
a girl carrying a spade in her hand, and, as she was beautiful,
"wished to address her; but she ran off and hid on the hill-side,
“leaving her spade behind her. His words express a desire for five
"hundred spades like hers, with which to break down the hill-side
"and dig her out.........It is in joke that he talks of the maiden who
was on the other side of the hill as being inside it." That in ancient
times all digging implements were not made of metal will be seen
by reference to Sect. CXXIV, Note 6.
4 Kanasuki no waka.
1 Said to be scarcely distinguishable from the keyaki (Zelkowa
keaki).
2 See Sect. LXXXIX, Note 7.
3 Literally, "still presented."
*On her face.-W.G.A.
VOL. XLII.]
389
VOL. III. SECT. CLX.
<<
"palace where glistens the evening sun, a
palace plentifully rooted as the roots of the
"bamboo, a palace with spreading roots like
"the roots of the trees, a palace pestled with
oh! eight hundred [loads of] earth. As for
"the branches of the hundred-fold flourishing
"tsuki-tree growing by the house of new
licking at the august gate [made of]
chamaecyparis [wood], the uppermost
"branch has the sky above it, the middle
"branch has the east above it, the lowest
"branch has the country above it. A leaf
"from the tip of the uppermost branch falls
against the middle branch; a leaf from the
'tip of the middle branch falls against the
"lowest branch; a leaf from the tip of the
"lowest branch, falling into the oil floating
"in the fresh jewelled goblet which the maid
"of Mihe is lifting up, all [goes] curdle-
“ curdle. Ah! this is very awful, August
"Child of the High-Shining Sun! The
'tradition of the thing, too this!”
((
(C
<<
(C
<<
<<
4 To understand the allusion at the beginning of this Song to the
palace of Hishiro at Makimuku, which had been the residence of the
Emperor Kei-kō (see Sect. LXXVI, Note 1), it must be known that
in the account of the reign of that monarch as given in the " Chroni-
cles" there is a story which, like that in the text, turns on careless-
ness in dealing with a goblet,—carelessness which Kei-kō graciously
pardoned. Moreover the scene of the incident here related was in
the immediate neighbourhood of the old palace of Hishiro. There
was therefore a double reason for referring to that place; and the
under-current of insinuation is that, as Kei-kō in the olden time
forgave the courtiers who forgot his goblet, wilt not the present
Sovereign forgive the maid of Mihe for letting a leaf fall into his?
The poetess, after describing the splendour and solidity of the Im-
perial abode, passes on to a mention of the luxuriant and many-
branching tsuki-tree growing near "the house of new licking," i.e.,
390
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLII.
((
So on her presenting this Song, her crime was pardoned.
Then the Empress sang. Her Song said:
""
the sacred hall where the Sovereign performed each year the ceremony
of tasting the first-fruits of the harvest.
The "gate may either be
taken in its literal acceptation, or else regarded as used by metonymy
for the palace itself. The description of that which the middle and
lowest branches "have above them" is somewhat obscure, and perhaps
the words should not be too strictly pressed for perfectly rational
meaning, their chief use being as metrical parallelisms.
The sup-.
position of the commentators is however that the poetess, in speaking
of this immense tree, meant to say that the middle branch (or
branches) spread eastward, and the lowest branches westward. Next
we are told of the fall of the fatal leaf into the oil, i.e., into the
liquor, contained in the Imperial goblet; and the poetess, before
acknowledging the awfulness of her misdemeanour, skilfully brings in
an allusion to the Japanese account of the creation, when the drops
that fell from the spear used by the creator and creatrix Izanagi and
Izanami to make the brine " go curdle-curdle" did very good work
indeed; for they were piled up and became the first-formed island
of the Japanese archipelago (see Sect. III): for drops to fall down, or
for leaves to fall into drops (of wine), must therefore surely be a
good omen rather than a crime. Conformably with the hesitating
nature of her allusion, the maiden leaves it quite uncertain what is
conceived of as going curdle-curdle' in the present instance. In
fact, neither must the thought be pressed too far, nor the sentence
searched too rigorously from a grammatical point of view. Such
intentional vagueness is one of the specific characteristics of a great
deal of the poetry of Japan. The words "the tradition of the thing,
too, this!", which conclude the poem, are obscure in another and
more usual sense; but, having been already treated of in Note 4 to
Sect. XXIV, they need not detain us here. They do not affect the
sense of the rest of the poem. Two points more remain to be
noticed: one is that the words Mihe and hi no mi kado "august gate
of chamaecyparis") are respectively preceded by the Pillow-Words.
ariginu no, whose signification is disputed, and makisaku, which sig-
nifies "
splitting true trees;" the other, that the original of the word
glistens near the commencement of the poem only has that sense
if, following Moribe, we identify hi-gakeru with hi-kagayakeru. As it
stands, the word kakeru lends itself more naturally to the interpre-
(6
""
(6
رد
VOL. XLII.]
391
VOL. III. SECT. CLX.
Present the luxuriant august liquor to the
"august child of the high-shining sun, who
"is broad like the leaves, who is brilliant
"like the blossoms of the broad-foliaged five
"hundred [-fold branching] true camellia-
"tree that stands growing by the house
"of new licking in this high metropolis of
Yamato, on the high-timbered mound of
"the metropolis. The tradition of the thing,
'too, this !''5
((
tation of "séts." But the logical difficulty of accepting the phrase
"where the sun sets" in such a context, where on the contrary some
phrase of good omen is alone appropriate, seems greater than the
philological difficulty of deriving hi-gakeru by a process of contraction
from hi-kagayakeru. The designation of the Emperor or Heir Ap-
parent by the title of " august child of the high-shining sun" has
been met with before, and needs no explanation when the solar
ancestry claimed by the Japanese monarchs is called to mind.
"C
5 The gist of this Song, which must be supposed to be addressed
to the female attendant, is simply: "Present the goblet full of liquor
'to the Emperor."-In accordance with the rules of Japanese con-
struction, the Imperative "present," which is the chief Verb of the
sentence, comes last, and is preceded by the comparison of the
Monarch to the leaves and flowers of the camellia-tree, while the
comparatively unimportant words describing the position of the tree
come at the beginning. Thus in a literal English translation the
climax is necessarily spoilt through the reversal of the order of the
words. The "broad-leafed camellia" has already appeared in Sect.
CXXIII, Note 11, the "house of new licking" has been explained in
the note immediately preceding the present one, and the incom-
prehensible concluding exclamation has been discussed in Sect. XXIV,
Note 4. The "high metropolis" of Yamato is of course the then
capital. There is however some doubt whether the word takechi,
which is here thus rendered, should not rather be considered as a
proper name. The expression ko-dakaru, rendered "high-timbered,"
is also doubtful. Motowori interprets it simply as "slightly high."
Moribe seems right in explaining the word tsukasa to mean “a
mound."
392
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLII.
Forthwith the Heavenly Sovereign sang, saying:
"The people of the great palace, having put
"on scarfs like the quail-birds, having put
"their tails together like wagtails, and con-
"gregated together like the yard-sparrows,
may perhaps to-day be truly steeped in
liquor,--the people of the palace of the
high-shining sun. The tradition of the
thing, too, this.”
These three Songs are Songs of Heavenly Words. So at
<<
CO
(C
CC
(C
""
6 This Song is here out of place, and is supposed by Motowori
to have been composed, not by the Emperor, but by some court lady
who was absent from the feast. The meaning simply is: "Ah yes,
"'tis to-day that the court ladies are drinking their fill of rice-liquor
"[,—and would that I were with them]!"—The picture here presented
of the manners of the court is not attractive; but the comparison of
the ladies' appearance with that of various birds is quaint. The
commentators tell us that the appropriateness of the use of the word
"scarfs" as applied to the quail lies in the peculiar plumage of that
bird, which makes it look as if it had a scarf on. "Having put their
tails together means "standing with their trains in a row." The
epithet "yard" applied to the sparrows paints the habits of that bird.
The words "great palace" are in the original preceded by the Pillow-
Word momoshiki no, whose signification is disputed.
disputed. After the lines
""
Kefu mo ka mo
Saka-mi-dzuku-rashi,
rendered "may perhaps to-day be truly steeped in liquor," Moribe
would like to consider the lines
GR
Asu mo ka mo
7
Saka-mi-dzuku-rashi,
i.e., may perhaps to-morrow be truly steeped in liquor" to have
been accidentally omitted. There is no doubt but that their insertion
would add to the effect of the poem from the point of view of style.
7F, read ama-koto-uta. This expression is altogether obscure,
and the commentators differ In their interpretations of it. Mabuchi,
following the characters, sees in them an allusion to the words
august child of the high-shining sun," which recurs in each of the
three Songs thus bracketed together. Motowori thinks that ama-koto
VOL. XLII.]
393
VOL. III. SECT. CLXI.
this copious feast this female attendant from Mihe was praised
and plentifully endowed.
[SECT. CLXI. EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART XII.—SONGS BY THE
EMPEROR AND PRINCESS WODO).
On the day of this copious feast the Heavenly Sovereign,
when Princess Wodo of Kasuga¹ presented to him the great
august liquor, sang again, saying:
*
Oh! the grandee's daughter holding the
"excellent flagon! [If] thou hold the ex-
"cellent flagon, hold it firmly! Hold it
"quite firmly, more and more firmly, child
holding the excellent flagon "2
((
should be regarded as standing for amari-goto () "surplus words,"
in allusion to the meaningless refrain with which the Songs in ques-
tion terminate. Other Songs, however, which end in the same
manner, are not thus designated. Moribe's exegesis, though founded
on Motowori's, is preferable to it. Accepting ama-koto as a contraction
of amari-goto, he would take the second half of the compound in the
sense of "things," not words" (not), and regard the whole
as signifying that the Songs were composed or sung after the con-
clusion of the actual feast. Against this view must be set the fact
that the Chinese characters lend it no support. The translator, has,
as usual when in doubt, preferred to adhere to the sense given by
the characters.
<<
Banquet.-W.G.A.
1 Kasuga no Wodo-hime. See Sect. CLIX, Note 1.
2 This Song is simply a reiterated and playful injunction to the
maiden to hold firmly the flagon containing the intoxicating liquor;
and Motowori is, as Moribe remarks, putting more into the words
than they are really meant to convey, when he says that they imply
praise on the Monarch's part.-The English words "grandee's daugh-
ter represent the Japanese omi no omina, a somewhat remarkable
expression, which is interpreted by Motowori to signify "attendant
maiden." The translator prefers the view propounded in Moribe's
comment on this Song, and has therefore adopted it. The expression
99
394
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLII.
Then Princess Wodo presented a
This is a Cup Song.³
Song. That Song said:
<<
"Would that I were [thou,] the lower
"board of the arm-rest whereon our great
"lord who tranquilly carries on the govern-
"ment stands leaning at morn, stands lean-
"ing at eve! Oh! mine elder brother!"4
This is a Quiet Song.
(6
in question is in the original preceded by the untranslatable Pillow-
Word minasosoku (Moribe reads the last syllable with the nigori,-gu).
The word rendered "excellent flagon" is ho-dari, the first element of
the compound being explained by the commentators in the sense of
excellent,” i.e., "big," while the second is the same as the modern
word taru, a cask." In ancient times, however, the signification of
tari or taru was that of a vessel to pour liquor from, not to store
liquor in,-i.e., a flagon, not a cask. The words " quite firmly, more
“and more firmly" represent the Japanese shita-gataku ya-gataku
according to Moribe's exegesis. Motowori's interpretation of them in
the sense of "[take the] bottom firmly and the top firmly" is less
acceptable.
3 Thus does the editor of 1687, who is followed by Moribe,
understand the original expression uki-uta. Motowori's interpretation,
Floating Song," seems less good.
4 So enamoured is the maiden of the Sovereign that she would
fain be even the board of the arm-rest on which he leans.-The
expression "lower board" is misleading, for it refers simply to the
self-evident fact that the board forming the top of the little low table
used as an arm-rest by one squatting on his mat is below the arm,
as whose support it serves. The words "stands leaning" must
probably be understood to signify "sits"
or squats leaning." The
expression "our great lord who tranquilly carries on the government”
is a frequently recurring periphrasis for the word "Emperor," and
has been explained in Sect. LXXXVII, Note 4. The words "at
morn" and "at eve" are literally in the original "at morning doors"
and "
"at evening doors," the reference being to the fact that the
doors of a house are respectively opened and closed in the early
morning and at nightfall. The exclamation "Oh! mine elder brother'
is addressed to the board of the arm-rest. Conf. the first Song in
(6
""
VOL. XLIII.]
395
VOL. III. SECT. CLXIII.
[SECT. CLXII.—EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART XIII.— HIS AGE AND
PLACE OF BURIAL).]
The Heavenly Sovereign's august years were one hundred
and twenty-four. His august mausoleum is at Takawashi in
Tajihi¹ in Kafuchi.
[SECT. CLXIII. EMPEROR SEI-NEI (PART I.-
SUCCESSOR TO HIM).]
FOR A
His Augustness Shiraka-no-oho-yamato-ne-ko dwelt at the
palace of Mikakuri at Ihare,' and ruled the Empire. This
Heavenly Sovereign had no Empress, and likewise no august
children. So the Shiraka Clan² was established as his august
proxy. So after the Heavenly Sovereign's decease, there was
no King to rule the Empire. Thereupon, on enquiry [being
made] for a King who should rule the sun's succession, Oshi-
numi-no-iratsume, another name for whom was Princess Ihi-
toyo, younger sister of Prince Ichinobe-oshiha-wake,4 [was
found to be] residing at the palace of Tsunusashi at Takaki
in Oshinumi in Kadzuraki.5
Sect. LXXXIX, where Yamato-take apostrophizes a pine-tree in the
same terms.
1 For Tajihi see Sect. CXXXII, Note 4, Taka-washi signifies
"high eagle."
1 For Ihare see Sect. XLIII, Note 26. Mika-kuri signifies "jar-
chestnut."
2 Shiraka-be.
3 In Sect. CXXXI (Note 7) this name appears as Awomi-no-
iratsume. Both Awomi and Ochinumi are supposed to be names of
places. The latter is the name of a district in Yamato. Its etymology
is obscure. For Ih-toyo see Sect. CXXXI, Note 8.
4 See Sect. CXXXI (Note 5), where however the title of wake
("Lord") is omitted.
5 For Kadzuraki see Sect. LV, Note 1, and for Oshinumi see
396
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIII.
[SECT. CLXIV.-EMPEROR SEI-NEI (PART II.-PRINCES OHOKE AND
WOKE ARE DISCOVERED).]
Then Wodate, Chief of the Mountain Clan,' when appoint-
ed governor of the land of Harima, arrived just at [the time
of] a rejoicing* for the new cave of an inhabitant called
Shizhimu.2 Hereupon, when the feasting and the drinking
were at their height, they all danced in turn. So two young
children³ [employed] to light the firet sat beside the furnace.4
These young children were made to dance. Then one of the
young children said: "Do thou the elder brother dance first."
The elder brother likewise said: "Do thou the younger
"brother dance first." When they thus yielded to each other,
the people who were met together laughed at their manner of
yielding to each other.5 So at last the elder brother danced,
[and when he had] finished, the younger when about to dance
chanted, saying:
Note 3 to the present Sect.
while Tsunusashi is obscure.
Takaki seems to signify "high castle,”
(See Motowori's remarks on these two
names in Vol. XLIII, p. 3, of his Commentary.) ·
1 Yama-be no murazhi wodate.
*
Yama-be has already appeared.
Wo-date signifies "small shield."
House-warming.--G.W.A.
† Motowori interprets this to mean "arrived at the new muro.”.
W.G.A.
2 For this name see Sect. CXLIX, Note 5. A similar festival at
the inauguration of a new cave is mentioned in Sect. LXXX.
""
3 Motowori's vain attempts to reconcile the dates with this state-
ment of Princes Ohoke and Woke being "young children' at this
time, after an interval of two reigns since the death of their father,
will be found in Vol. XLIII, pp. 10-11, of his Commentary.
Is not hitaki rather "attend to the fire" than "light the fire"?-
G
G
W.G.A.
4 I.e., as the commentators suppose, a place or vessel holding a
light with which to kindle other lights for the feast.
The word can
scarcely here have its common signification of a "kitchen-range."
5 I.e., at the fact of their being so courteous to each other.
VOL. XLIII.]
397
VOL. III. SECT. CLXIV.
(C
Oh! the bamboos on the mountain-slope,
behind which are hidden as soon as they
appear my warrior-mate's sword, on whose
"hilt red earth was daubed, for whose cord
"red cloth was cut, and his red flags that
"were set up!:- Beggarly descendants of
"King Ichinobe-no-oshiha, august child of
"the Heavenly Sovereign Izaho-wake, who
"ruled the Empire as it were cutting the
[bamboos'] roots and bending down their
"extremities, and like playing on an eight-
stringed lute !"*6
((
(C
((
(<
*The Nihongi and the Kiujiki give different speeches.-W.G.A.
6 This so-called "chant,"--it is not a Song, because not in metre,
and is accordingly not transcribed syllabically, is at first sight so
difficult as to seem to defy translation, and to make the student apply
to the whole of his interpretation Motowori's closing remark on his
exegesis of one of the phrases contained in it,-"this is mere guess-
work, and the text demands further consideration." A little inspection
shows, however, that the drift of the words is by no means so
inscrutable as its partly ideographic and partly phonetic transcription
makes it appear.
The first part down to the colon and dash is a
"Preface" to the second, the "Pivot" joining the two parts in the
original Japanese being the word "bamboos." The laws of English
construction unfortunately do not admit of the force of the original,
which entirely depends on the position of the words, being rendered
into our language. The appropriateness of the Preface to the body
of the chant rests on the consideration that the bright articles men-
tioned in it, viz., the sword painted and decorated with red streamers
(or perhaps tied on with a red sash) and also the red banners are
easily hidden behind the thick leaves of a bamboo-grove, just as the
Imperial origin of the two young Princes was hidden beneath the vile
office which they filled in Shizhimu's household. The clause "cutting
the [bamboos'] roots and bending down their extremities forms the
chief difficulty. Indeed the word "roots" is supplied by Motowori,
and his interpretation of the phrase is merely tentative.
however, until some better explanation is offered, see in it a reference
to the energetic manner in which the Empire was ruled by the young
We may,
398
(6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIII.
Then forthwith Chief Wodate, starting at the sound [of
these words], and rolling off his couch,' drove away the people
of the cave; and, having set the two princes [one] on his left.
knee and [the other] on his right and wept and lamented, he
collected the people together, and having built a temporary
palace, and set [the two princes] to dwell in that temporary
palace, he sent a courier up [to the capital]. Thereupon their
aunt, Queen Ihi-toyo, delighted to hear [the news], made them
come up to palace.
[SECT. CLXV.-EMPEROR SEI-NEI (PART III.-THE GRANDEE SHIBI).']
So when the government of the Empire was about to be
princes' grandfather, the Emperor Izaho-wake (Ri-chiū), or else per-
haps by their father Ichinobe-no-Oshiha. This latter view is preferred
by Motowori, though according to the history Ichinobe-no-oshiha
never actually ascended the throne. The position of the Verb "ruled"
in the Japanese text permits of either interpretation. The comparison
of the government of the Empire to playing on a lute is poetical and
appropriate. It should be noticed that in the Japanese text the
construction of the sentence forming the main body of the chant is
the reverse of what it is made to appear to be in the translation.
The words "beggarly descendants," by which, as a climax, the singer
reveals his own and his brother's illustrious descent, therefore come
last of all and produce on Wodate the startling effect which we read
of in the next sentence.
7 Or, "seat." In ancient times each person in a room sat on a
special mat, and it is that small mat which is here meant.
8 The Numeral is accompanied by the Auxiliary hashira, properly
used for gods and goddesses.
1 The student should compare the version of the story in this
Sect. with that given in the "Chronicles of Japan," where it is placed
some yeare later at the commencement of the reign of the Emperor
Mu-retsu, and not only do many of the details disagree, but the
arrangement and number of the Songs is different. It is impossible
to make a consistent whole out of the story as here given; so, while
noticing the linguistic peculiarities of each of the Songs in the order
in which they appear in the present text, the translator has thought
VOL. XLIII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLXV.
399
assumed,2 the Grandee Shibi,3 ancestor of the Grandees of
Heguri,+ mixed in the Songs, and took the hand of the beau-
tiful person whom His Augustness Woke was about to wed.
This maiden was a daughter of one of the Headmen of Uda,5
and her name was Ofuwo. Then His Augustness Wobe like-
wise mixed in the Song-Hedge.' Thereupon the Grandee
Shibi sang, saying:
6
(IV) "The further fin of the roof of the great
"palace is bent down at the corner."
When he had thus sung, and requested the conclusion of
the Song, His Augustness Woke sang, saying:
(v) "It is on account of the great carpenter's
awkwardness that it is bent down at the
"corner." 9
(6
in advisable, following Moribe, to give in Note 12 a consistent scheme
of interpretation for the whole. The small Roman numbers placed
in brackets at the commencement of each Song indicate its place in
the text as restored by Moribe.
2 By one or other of the two Princes Ohoke and Woke. Each,"
we are afterwards told "ceded the Empire to the other," and it
therefore remained for some time uncertain which was to be the
Sovereign.
3 Shibi no omi. In some of the Songs that follow there is a play
on the identity of this name with that of the tunny-fish (shibi). But
whether that be really the derivation it is difficult to ascertain.
4 Heguri no omi.
Conf. Sect. LXI, Note 45.
5 Uda no obito-ra.
Uda is the name of a place in Yamato.
6 I.e., "big fish."
But see the remark on this name in Note 12.
7 Uta-gaki. The derivation of this curious expression is disputed;
but the meaning seems to be "strophic" or "choric song,” or “a
place where singing in which more than one takes part is going on.”
8 In this Song the "further fin" (woto tsu hata-de, explained by
the characters
or F) is supposed to signify a pent-roof,
or the eaves of the roof, or else an out-house connected by a slanting
roof with the main building.
The "
great palace" is the palace of
Prince Woke.
<<
9 The "great carpenter" is the carpenter employed to build the
roof above-mentioned.
400
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIII.
Then the Grandee Shibi sang again, saying:
(VIII) "The great lord, on account of the mag-
"nanimity of his heart, does not enter and
"stand in the eight-fold hedge of branches
"of the child of a grandee.¹ 10
Hereupon the Prince sang again, saying:
(1) "Looking on the breakers of the briny cur-
"rent, I see my spouse standing by the
"fin of the tunny that comes sporting."
Then the Grandee Shibi, getting more and more angry,
sang, saying:
(IX) "[Though] the eight-fold hedge of branches
"of the Prince the Great Lord be made fast
"at eight places, be made fast all round, 'tis
(C
a hedge that shall be cut, 'tis a hedge
that shall be burnt."11
((
Then the Prince again sang, saying:
(II)
"Oh fisherman that spearest the tunny,
"the great fish! He being [there], thou
'must be sad
sad at
at heart, tunny - spearing
"fisherman !”:2
10 The " eight-fold hedge of branches is simply a "hedge," and
the "child of a grandee" the Grandee Shibi himself.
11 The words "made fast
"made fast" refer to the tying of the fence at
certain places to give it strength. If we accepted Moribe's emendation
of the final Verb yakemu, "burn," to yaremu, we should have to
translate the last clause thus: "'tis a fence that shall be broken.
در
12"The great fish" (fuwo yo sh) is the Pillow-Word for shibi,
tunny." The word "he" (which might also be rendered “it,”—the
original being so) must be taken to refer both to the fish itself and
to the Grandee Shibi (.e., the grandee Tunny), who bore its name.—
Following Moribe's acceptable restoration of the original story, which
is founded on a comparison of the text of these "Records" with that
of the “Chronicles of Japan," we find that in the first Song of the
series the young Prince half jokingly remarks on the fact of the
Grandee Shibi appearing in public with the damsel who was to have
VOL. XLIII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLXV.
401
Having thus sung, the feast was concluded at dawn, and
they all retired.* Next morning the two Deities, His August-
ness Ohoke and His Augustness Woke, took counsel, saying:
"All the people of the Court go to Court in the morning,
been his (the Prince's) bride. Shibi's name, which, as already stated,
signifies "tunny," furnishes the occasion for the marine metaphors
borrowed from the currents and the breakers. Shibi's answer (Song
II, in the Records" wrongly ascribed to the prince), takes up the
same strain, but in a more taunting tone: the prince is likened to a
fisherman who would fain make a futile attempt to spear the great
tunny, and his (the tunny's, i.e., the Grandee Shibi's) presence must
indeed be pain and grief to him. In a third Song, which is given in
the "Chronicles,” but not in the "Records," the prince retorts that
he relies on his good sword to win the girl for him in the end, and
in Song IV the Grandee jeers at the dilapidated condition of his
palace, and by implication at the sorry state of his fortunes, -a taunt
to which the prince replies in Song V by saying that if the palace is
dilapidated, and the Empire in disorder, the fault belongs to none
other than to the Grandee himself. Songs VI and VII, which are not
found in the "Records," only serve to continue the growing war of
words, which in Song VIII (in the "Records" wrongly attributed to
the Grandee) comes to a climax by the prince exclaiming that if he
does not force his way into the Grandee's mansion to seize his lady-
love, it is only on account of the magnanimity of his disposition. To
this the Grandee replies in Song IX (in the "Records" erroneously
attributed to the prince) by a sort of tu quoque, vowing that he will
cut and burn his way into the prince's palace. This is not the end
of the dispute in the pages of the Chronicles," but it is all that
need detain the reader of the "Records." It should, however, be
mentioned that in the Chronicles" the name of the girl is Kage-
hime: Ojuwo, "Big Fish," which is here given, would seem to be
nothing more than a nickname, which perhaps arose from the inci-
dents of this metrical war of words.
"(
"
*I do not see sufficient reason for rejecting the reading (tatakau,
-to contend). The meaning would be "contended (in this contest of
verse) until the morning."-W.G.A.
13 The word used in the original is hashira, the Auxiliary Numeral
for Deities. It recurs at the commencement of the next Section,
where however it is not convenient to translate it.
402
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIII.
So¹4 Shibi must
"at the gate.
"and assemble at Shibi's gate at noon.
"surely now be sleeping, and moreover there will be nobody
So unless it be now, it were hard to plot
against him," and forthwith they at once raised an army,
and beleaguered the house of the Grandee Shibi, and slew
him.
፡፡
[SECT. CLXVI.-EMPEROR SEI-NEI (PART IV.-PRINCE OHOKE CEDES
THE EMPIRE TO PRINCE WOKE).]
Then each of the two Princes ceded the Empire to the
other, and His Augustness Ohoke [finally] ceded it to the
younger brother His Augustness Woke, saying: "Had not
"Thine Augustness revealed our names when we dwelt in the
"house of Shizhimu in Harima, we should never have arrived
"at being the lords of the Empire. This is quite owing to
"Thine Augustness's deed. So, though I be the elder brother,
"do Thine Augustness rule the Empire first," and [with
these words] he urgently ceded [his claim]. So, being unable
to refuse, His Augustness Woke ruled the Empire first.
[SECT. CLXVII.—EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART I.-
OKI-ME).]
OLD WOMAN
His Augustness Woke-no-ihasu-wake dwelt at the palace
of Chika-tsu-Asuka,' and ruled the Empire for eight years.
The Heavenly Sovereign wedded the Queen of Naniha,2
((
14 The original here has the character, "again" or moreover."
But this must be, as Motowori points out, a copyist's error. Almost
immediately below the same character recurs where it is equally out
of place. The translator has followed Motowori in rendering it the
first time by "so," and the second by "surely."
15 I.e., There is no time like the present for plotting against him.
1 See Sect. CXXXIII, Note 11.
2 Naniha no miko. For Naniha see Sect. XLIV, Note 26.
VOL. XLIII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLXVII.
403
4
5
august teeth."*
daughter of the King of Ihaki.3 He had no children. At the
time when this Heavenly Sovereign was searching for the
august bones of the King his father, King Ichinobe, there
came out from the land of Afumi [to the palace] a poor old
woman, who said: "The place where the prince's august
“bones are buried is specially well known to me, and more-
over [his skeleton] can be known by his
(His august teeth were teeth uneven like a lily.) Then people were
set to dig the ground and search for the august bones; and
the bones having been forthwith obtained, an august mausoleum
was made on the mountain east of the Moor of Kaya,' and
they were interred, and the children of Kara-fukuroⓇ were
made to guard the august mausoleum. Afterwards the august
bones were brought up [to the Capital]. So having returned
up [to the Capital, the Heavenly Sovereign] sent for the old
woman, praised her for having, without forgetting, kept the
place in mind, and conferred upon her the name of the Old
Woman Oki-me:9 thus did he send for her into the palace,
"C
3 Ihaki no miko.
4 Who had been treacherously slain by the Emperor Yu-riyaku
(see Sect. CXLVIII).
5 I.e., says Motowori, "it is known to me, and to none besides."
The Nihongi says the skeleton of the Prince was distinguished
from that of a retainer who was buried with him, by the latter
having lost his upper teeth.---W.G.A.
6 The character used is, which is more applicable to the
raising of troops than to the setting to work of peasants.
It seems
however here to be used in the latter sense; or perhaps we should
consider it to mean that people were got together.
7 See Sect. CXLVIII, Note 3. Possibly the "mountain east"
should be a Proper Name,-Eastern Mountain,-but it is not taken
as such by Motowori.
8 See Sect. CXLVIII, Note 1.
9 I.e., “keeping an eye," .d., on the place of burial of the
Emperor's father. Grammar would lead us to expect the order of the
words forming the name to be reversed thus, Me-oki; but see Moto-
wori's remarks in Vol. XLIII, p. 56.
404
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIII.
and deign to treat her with deep and wide kindness. So he
built a house for the old woman to dwell in close to the
palace, and always sent for her every day. So he hung a bell
by the door of the great hall, and always rang it when he
wished to call the old woman. So he composed an august
Song. That Song said:
Hereupon the old woman said: "I am very aged, and
"would fain depart to my native land.” So when the Hea-
venly Sovereign let her depart according to her request, he
saw her off and sang, saying:
"Ah Okime! Okime from Afumi! from to-
"morrow [onwards] wilt [thou] be hidden
"behind the deep mountains, and alas! not
" seen !"'11
"Oh! the far-distant bell tinkles when she
"has past the moor with its low eulalias
"and the little valley. Oh! Oki-me must
"be coming!"10
10 This Song is not comprehensible except by reference to the
text of the "Chronicles," whose author gives a somewhat varying
version of the story. He tells us that, as a support of the infirm old
lady, the Emperor had a string or rope stretched as a sort of hand-
rest along the way she was obliged to pass in order to reach the
Imperial apartments, and that at the end of the rope was a bell
whose tinkling notified the Emperor of her approach. The conjectural
exclamation which closes the little poem has therefore an obvious
sense, which would be wanting if the bell were at the other end, as
in the version here given; for the Emperor would not give expression
to surprise at her approach, if he had himself just rung for her to
Far-distant" is an imperfect attempt to represent the Pillow-
Word momo-dzutafu, which here alludes to the stages along which the
old woman may be supposed to be travelling. The valley and the
moor overgrown with short grass form an allusion to the way,-long
and arduous for her,--which Oki-me had to traverse to reach the
Imperial apartments, and they contain possibly a further allusion to
her original journey to the capital.
*The Nihongi allows a morè reasonable interval.-W.G.A.
S
CC
VOL. XLIII.]
405
VOL. III. SECT. CLXVIII.
[SECT. CLXVIII.-EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART II.—HE SLAYS THE
BOAR-HERD).]
5
+
The Heavenly Sovereign searched for the old boar-herd
who had seized his august provisions at the time when he first
met with adversity and was fleeing; and, having sought him
out, sent for him up [to the Capital], beheaded him in the
bed² of the River Asuka,³ and cut the knee-tendons of all his
kindred, Wherefore down to the present time his descendants,
on the day when they come up to Yamato, always limp of
their own accord. So the man's abode had been well seen
and divined. So the place was named Shimesu. 6
11 The meaning of this Song is quite clear. The second time the
name Oki-me occurs, it might, instead of being as here taken as an
exclamation, be made the subject of the sentence, thus:
"Oki-me
'from Afumi will by to morrow, etc."
The words "wilt [thou],"
which represent ka of the original Japanese may be taken either as
an exclamation properly so-called, or as a sort of rhetorica! inter-
rogation whose force is simply exclamatory. The meaning comes to
the same in either case, and is literally rendered by the same English
words; but according to the latter view, we should have to replace
the point of exclamation by a point of interrogation.
1 See Sect. CXLIX.
2 Motowori would have us understand the text to mean "in the
neighbourhood of the river." There is, however, no difficulty in
accepting the author's statement literally, as any one who is acquainted
with the broad, stony beds of Japanese rivers will readily admit.
3 Asuka-gaha. For Asuka see Sect. CXXXIII, Note 11.
4 I.e., probably "whenever."
5 I.e.,
"discovered by augury" or else simply "found and pointed
out,"--by whom does not appear.
<<
6 The real etymology of this name is obscure but the author's
intention is to connect it with the divining" or 'pointing out
mentioned in the preceding sentence, which is given phonetically as
[mi] shimeki.
>>
406 "(
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIII.
[SECT. CLXIX.-EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART III.—THE EMPEROR
YŪ-RIYAKU'S MAUSOLEUM IS DISFIGURED).]
1
The Heavenly Sovereign, deeply hating the Heavenly
Sovereign Oho-hatsuse, who had slain the King his father,
wished to be revenged on his spirit.' So when, wishing to
destroy the august mausoleum of the Heavenly Sovereign
Oho-hatsuse, he [was about to] send people [to execute this
design], his elder brother, His Augustness Ohoke, addressed?
him, saying: "To demolish this august mausoleum thou
“shouldst not send other people. None but myself shall go,
"and I will demolish it according to the Heavenly Sovereign's
"august heart." Then the Heavenly Sovereign commanded :
"Make thy progress, then, according to thy decree." Where-
fore His Augustness Ohoke, having proceeded down himself,
slightly excavated the side of the august mausoleum, and
returned up [to the capital], and reported that he had dug up
and demolished it. Then the Heavenly Sovereign, astonished
at the quickness of his return up, asked how he had demo-
lished it. He replied, saying: "I slightly excavated the earth
"at the side of the august mausoleum."”* The Heavenly
1題
​read mi tama or tamashihi. We might also translate it by
the word "ghost."
XE
2 The respectful character is used for this word, and again
below we have the First Personal Pronoun represented by “ser-
vant."
3 This sentence ends in the original with the characters,
which it is not necessary to render into English. They imply that
the speaker will come back, and report on what he has done.
*It is curious that the tumulus of Yu-riaku Tenno is very con-
siderably mutilated. Here is a copy of a note taken after a visit to
this tumulus. "This mausoleum is at the present day a round single
mound encircled by a moat, but there are sufficient remains of the
second mound and of the original moat to show that it was once a
double-topped misasagi of the ordinary type. A large quantity of
earth must have been removed to deprive this tomb of its distinctive
VOL. XLIII.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLXXI.
407
was
Sovereign said: "Wishing to be revenged on the enemy of
"the King our father, I had counted on the complete demo-
"lition of the mausoleum. Why hast thou [only] slightly
"excavated it?" He replied, saying: "The reason why I
"did so was that the wish to be revenged on the spirit of the
"foe of the King our father is truly just. Nevertheless the
"Heavenly Sovereign Oho-hatsuse, though he were our father's
"foe, was still our uncle, and moreover was an Heavenly
Sovereign who ruled the Empire. So if we now, simply
"from the consideration of his having been our father's enemy,
"were completely to demolish the mausoleum of an Heavenly
Sovereign who ruled the Empire, after-generations would
surely revile us. Meanwhile the wrongs of the King our
“father must not be unrevenged. So I slightly excavated the
'side of the mausoleum. This insult will quite suffice as a
On his thus addressing him, the
"This also is very just. Be it as
("
"C
(C
"token to future ages."
Heavenly Sovereign said:
"thou sayest."
[SECT. CLXX. EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART IV.—HIS AGE AND PLACE
OF BURIAL).]
So the Heavenly Sovereign died, and His Augustness
Ohoke ruled the succession of Heaven's sun.' The Heavenly
Sovereign's august years were thirty-eight, and he ruled the
Empire for eight years. His august mausoleum is on the
mound of Ihatsuki at Katawoka.2
[SECT. CLXXI.—EMPEROR NIN-KEN]¹
His Augustness Ohoke dwelt at the palace of Hirataka at
character as an Imperial mausoleum and to give it the appearance of
the tomb of a mere subject."-W.G.A.
1 See Sect. XXXII, Note 27.
2 For Katawoka see Sect. LX, Note 29. Iha-tsuki probably means
'rock-platter," and seems to have been the name of a little plateau.
1 For the discontinuance of explanatory foot-notes in this con-
"C
408
“KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIV.
Isonokami, and ruled the Empire. The Heavenly Sovereign
wedded Kasuga-no-oho-iratsume, the august daughter of the
Heavenly Sovereign Oho-hatsuse-no-waka-take, and begot
august children: Takaki-no-iratsume; next Takara-no-iratsume;
next Kusubi-no-iratsume; next Tashiraka-no-iratsume; next
His Grandeur Wo-hatsuse-no-wake-sazaki; next Prince Ma-
waka. The child born to him by his next wife Nuka-no-
waku-go-no-iratsume, daughter of the Grandee Hitsuma of
Wani, was: Kasuga-no-yamada-no-iratsume.
The august
children of this Heavenly Monarch numbered seven altogether.
Of these His Augustness Wo-hatsuse-no-waka-sazaki [was he
who afterwards] ruled the Empire.
[SECT. CLXXII.-EMPEROR MU-RETSU.]
His Grandeur Wo-hatsuse-no-waka-sazaki dwelt in the
palace of Namiki at Hatsuse, and ruled the Empire for eight
years. This Heavenly Monarch had no august children. So
the Wo-hatsuse Tribe was established as his august proxy.
His august mausoleum is on the mound of Ihatsuki at Kara-
woka. On the death of this Heavenly Monarch there was no
prince to inherit the Empire. So His Augustness Ohodo, the
fifth descendant of the Heavenly Monarch Homuda, was sent
for down to the land of Afumi, and married to her Augustness
Tashiraka, and presented with the Empire.
[SECT. CLXXIII.—EMPEROR KEI-TAI.]
His Augustness Ohodo dwelt in the Palace of Tamaho at
Ihare, and ruled the Empire. The (two) august children born
to this Heavenly Monarch by Waka-hime, ancestress of the
Dukes of Miwo, were: Oho-iratsuko, next Idzumo-no-iratsume.
The (two) august children born to him by his next wife,
cluding portion of the translation see Translator's Introduction, Sect.
II, near the top of page xv.
AOL. XLIV.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLXXIII.
409
tate.
Meko-no-iratsume, sister of the Chieftain Ofushi, ancestor of
the Chieftains of Wohari, were: His Augustness Hiro-kuni-
oshi-take-kana-hi, next His Augustness Take-wo-hiro-kuni-oshi-
The (one) august child born to him by his next wife
(the Great Empress) Her Augustness Tashiraka, the august
daughter of the Heavenly Monarch Ohoke, was: His August-
ness Ame-kuni-oshi-haruki-hiro-niha. The (one) august child
born to him by his next wife Wo-kumi-no-iratsume, daughter
of Prince Okinaga-no-mate, was: Sasage-no-iratsume. The
three august children born to him by his next wife Kuro-hime,
daughter of Prince Sakata-no-oho-mata, were: Kamu-saki-no-
iratsume, next Mamuta-no-iratsume, next Umakuta-no-iratsume.
The (three) august children born to him by his next wife
Seki-hime, daughter of Womochi Grandee of Mamuta, were :
Mamuta-no-oho-iratsume, next Shira-saka-no-iku-hi-no iratsume,
next Wo-nu-no-iratsume, another name for whom is Naga-me-
hime. The (four) children born to him by his next wife
Yamato-hime, younger sister of Katabu Duke of Miwo, were:
Oho-iratsume, next Prince Maroko, next Prince Mimi, next
Aka-hime-no-iratsume. The (three) children born to him by
his next wife Abe-no-haye-hime, were: Waka-ya-no-iratsume,
next Tsubura-no-iratsume, next Prince Adzu.
The august
children of this Heavenly Monarch numbered nineteen in all
(seven Kings and twelve Queens). Of these His Augustness
Ame-kuni-oshi-haruki-hiro-niha [was he who afterwards] ruled
the Empire; next His Augustness Hiro-kuni-oshi-take-kana-hi
ruled the Empire; next His Augustness Take-wo-hiro-kuni-
oshi-tate ruled the Empire; the next, Queen Sasage, presided
at the temple of the Deity of Ise. In this august reign Ihawi,
Lord of Tsukushi, was disobedient to the Imperial Decrees,
and was exceedingly disrespectful. So the Great Chieftain
Mononobe-no-arakawi and the Chieftain Ohotomo-no-kanamura
were both sent to slay Ihawi. The august years of this
1 Details of this struggle and its causes are given in the "Chro-
nicles of Japan," and are discussed at length in Motowori's Commen-
tary, Vol. XLIV, pp. 15-20. They are of no special interést.
410
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIV.
(6
His august mausoleum
Heavenly Monarch were forty-three.
is at Awi is Mishima.
[SECT. CLXXIV.-EMPEROR AN-KAN.]
His Augustness Hiro-kuni-oshi-take-kana-hi dwelt in the
Palace of Kanahashi at Magari, and ruled the Empire. This
Heavenly Monarch had no august children. His august grave
is at the village of Takaya in Furuchi in Kafuchi.
[SECT. CLXXV.-EMPEROR SEN-KUWA.]
His Augustness Take-wo-hiro-kuni-oshi-tate dwelt in the
Palace of Thorinu at Hinokuma, and ruled the Empire. The
august children born to this Heavenly Sovereign by his wife
Her Augustness Tachibana-no-naka-tsu-hime, the august
daughter of the Heavenly Sovereign Ohoke, were: Her August-
ness Ishi-hime, next Her Augustness Wo-ishi-hime, next King
Kura-no-waka-ye. The august children born to him by his
next wife, Kafuchi-no-waku-go-hime, were: King Honoho,
next King Weha. The august children of this Heavenly
Sovereign numbered altogether five (three Kings and two Queens).
So King Honoho (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Shihida).
Prince Weha (was the ancester of the Dukes of Wina and of the
Dukes of Tajihi).
[SECT. CLXXVI.—EMPEROR KIM-MEI.]
The Heavenly Sovereign Ame-kuni-oshi-haruki-hiro-niha
dwelt in the Great Palace of Shikishima, and ruled the Em-
pire. The (three) august children born to this Heavenly
Sovereign by his wife, Her Augustness Ishi-hime, the august
daughter of the Heavenly Sovereign Hi-no-kuma, were: King
Yata; next His Augustness Nu-na-kura-tama-shiki; next King
Kasanuhi, The (one) august child born to him by his next
wife Her Augustness Wo-ishi-hime, younger sister [of the first
VOL. XLIV.]
VOL. III. SECT. CLXXVII.
411
·
one] was King Kami. The (three) august children born to
him by his next wife Nukako-no-iratsume, daughter of the
Grandee Hitsuma of Kasuga, were: Kasuga-no-yamada-no-
iratsume, next King Maroko, next King Soga-no-kura. The
(thirteen) children born to him by his next wife Kitashi-hime,
daughter of the prime Minister the Noble Inawe of Soga
were: His Augustness Tachibana-no-toyo-hi, next his younger
sister Queen Ihakumo, next King Atori, next Her Augustness
Toyo-mike-kashiki-ya-hime, next King Mata-maroko, next King
Oho-yake, next King Imigako, next King [of?] Yamashiro,
next his younger sister Queen Oho-tomo, next King Sakurawi-
no-yumi-hari, next King Manu, next King Tachibana-moto-
no-waku-go, next King Tone. The five august children born
to him by his next wife Wo-ye-hime, aunt of Her Augustness
Kitashi-hime, were: King Umaki, next King Kadzuraki, next
King Hashi-bito-no-ana-ho-be, next King Saki-kusa-be-no-ana-
ho-be, another name for whom was Sume-irodo, next His.
Augustness Hatsuse-be-no-waka-sazaki. Altogether the august
children of this Heavenly Sovereign numbered twenty-five
Kings and Queens. Of these His Augustness Nu-na-kura-futo-
tama-shiki [was he who afterwards] ruled the Empire. Next
His Augustness Tachibana-no-toyo-hi ruled the Empire. Next
Her Augustness Toyo-mike-kashiki-ya-hime ruled the Empire.
Next His Augustness Hatsuse-be-no-waka-sazaki ruled the
Empire. In all there were four Kings and Queens that ruled
the Empire.
[SECT. CLXXVII.--EMPEROR BI-DATSU.]
His Augustness Nuna-kura-futo-tama-shiki dwelt in the
Palace of Wosada, and ruled the Empire for fourteen years.
The (eight) children born to this Heavenly Sovereign by his
wife, his half-sister Her Augustness Toyo-mike-kashiki-ya-hime,
were: King Shidzu-kahi, another name for whom was Kahi-
dako; next King Takeda, another name for whom was King
Wo-kahi; next King Woharita, next King Umori, next King
412
"(
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS. [VOL. XLIV.
Of
Wohari, next King Tame, next King Sakurawi-no-yumi-hari.
The (two) august children born to him by his next wife Wo-
kuma-ko-no-iratsume, daughter of the Headman Ohoka of Ise,
were: Her Augustness Futo-hime, next Queen Takara, another
name for whom was Queen Nukade-hime. The (three) august
children born to him by his next wife Her Augustness Hiro-
hime, daughter of King Okinaga-no-ma-de, were: King Osaka-
no-hiko-hito, another name for whom was King Maroko; next
King Saka-nobori, next King Uji. The (four) august children
born to him by his next wife Omina-ko-no-iratsume, daughter
of Kasuga-no-naka-tsu-waku-go, were: King Naniha, next
King Kuhada, next King Kasuga, next King Oho-mata.
the august children of this Heavenly Monarch,-seventeen
Kings and Queens altogether,-King Hiko-hito begot by his
wife his half-sister Queen Tamura, another name for whom
was Her Augustness Nukade-hime, (three) august children,
namely the Heavenly Sovereign that ruled the Empire from
the Palace of Wokamoto, next King Naka-tsu, next King Tara.
The (two) august children born to him by his next wife,
Queen Ohomata, younger sister of King Aya, were: King
Chinu, next his younger sister Queen Kuhada. The (two)
august children born to him by his next wife his half-sister
Princess Yumi-hari, were: King Yamashiro, next Queen
Kasanuhi, altogether seven Kings and Queens.
The august
mausoleum [of the Heavenly Sovereign Nuna-kura-futo-tama-
shiki] is at Shinaga in Kafuchi.
[SECT. CLXXVIII.-EMPEROR YŌ-MEI.]
His Augustness Tachibana-no-toyo-hi dwelt in the Palace
of Ikeno-be, and ruled the Empire for three years.
The one
august child born to this Heavenly Sovereign by his wife
Oho-gitashi-hime, daughter of the Prime Minister the Noble
Iname, was: King Tame. The (four) august children born to
him by his next wife, his half-sister Princess Hashi-bito-no-
anaho-be, were :
His Augustness Uhe-no-miya-no-uma-ya-
VOL. XLIV.]
413
VOL. III. SECT. CLXXX.
dono-toyo-to-mimi; next King Kume, next King We-kuri,
next King Mamuta. The august children born to him by his
next wife Ihi-me-no-ko, daughter of Tagima-no-kura-bito-hiro,
were: King Tagima, next his younger sister Sugashiroko-no-
iratsume. The august mausoleum of this Heavenly Sovereign,
which had been by the borders of Lake Ihare, was afterwards
removed to the middle sepulchre of Shinaga.
[SECT. CLXXIX.-EMPEROR SU-JUN.]
The Heavenly Sovereign Hatsuse-be-no-waka-sazaki* dwelt
at the Palace of Shibakaki at Kurahashi, and ruled the Empire
for four years.
His august mausoleum is on the mound of
Kurahashi.
[SECT. CLXXX.-EMPRESS SUI-KO.]
Her Augustness Toyo-mike-kashiki-ya-hime dwelt at the
Palace of Woharida, and ruled the Empire for thirty-seven
years. Her august mausoleum, which had been on the mound
of Ohonu, was afterwards removed to the great sepulchre at
Shinaga.
THE END.
I am afraid I must abandon my suggestion that Osazaki was a
posthumous name.-W.G.A.
APPENDIX I.
JAPANESE TEXT OF THE SONGS PRESERVED IN THE
“KO-JI-KI," OR "RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS,”
TRANSLITERATED INTO ROMAN.1
I. (SECT. XIX, Note 6.)
Ya-kumo tatsu
Tsuma-gomi ni
Sono ya-he-gaki wo
Ya-chi-hoko no
Ya-shima-kuni
Toho-tohoshi
II. (SECT. XXIV, NOTE 4.)
Idzumo ya-he-gaki
Ya-he-gaki tsukuru
Sakashi-me wo
Kuhashi-me wo
Sa-yobahi ni
Yobahi ni
Tachi ga wo mo
Kami no mikoto ha
Tsuma magi-kanete
Koshi no kuni ni
Ari to kikashite
Ari to kikoshite
Ari-tatashi
Ari-kayohase
Imada tokazute
1 There are few various readings of the text of these poems.
Where any occur, the translator has been guided by the decisions of
Motowori and Moribe. Occasionally these two authorities differ as
to the division of the words into lines, and Moribe in particular does
not hesitate to propose such emendations as seem to him neccessary.
The translator has in almost all cases adhered to the traditional text,
but gives in foot-notes such emendations as appear worthy of notice.
Moribe's division of the lines being in almost every case preferable
to Motowori's, it has however here been generally adopted.
APPENDIX I.
415
Osuhi wo mo
Wotome no
Osoburahi
Hikodzurahi
Awo-yama ni
Sa-nu tsu tori
Niha tsu tori
Uretaku mo
Kono tori mo
Ishitafu ya
Koto no
Ya-chi-hoko no
Nuye-kusa no
Wa ga kokoro
Ima koso ha
Nochi ha
Inochi ha
Ishi-tafu ya
Koto no
III. (SECT. XXIV, NOTE 5.)
Awo-yama ni
Nuba-tama no
Asa-hi no
Taku-dzunu no
Awa-yuki no
So-dataki
Imada tokaneba
Nasu ya ita-to wo
Wa ga tatasereba
Wa ga tatasereba
Nuye ha naki
Kigishi ha toyomu
Kake ha naku
Naku-naru tori ka
Ma-tama-de
Momo-naga ni
Aya ni
Uchi-yame-kosene
Ama-hase-dzukahi
Katari-goto mo
Ko wo ba
Kami no mikoto
Me ni shi areba
Ura-su no tori zo
Chi-dori ni aramė
Na-dori ni aramu wo
Na shise-tamahi so
Ama-hase-dzukahi
Katari-goto mo
Ko wo ba
IV. (SECT. xxiv, Note 7.)
t
Hi ga kakuraba
Yo ha ide-namu
Wemi-sakaye-kite
Shiroki tadamuki
Wakayaru mune wo
Tataki-managari
Tama-de sashi-maki
I ha nasamu wo
Na kohi-kikoshi
416
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Ya-chi-hoko no
Kami no mikoto
Katari-goto mo
Koto no
Ko wo ba
V. (SECT. XXV, Note 2.)
Nuba-tama no
Ma-tsubusa ni
Oki tsu tori
Ha-tatagi mo
He tsu nami
So-ni-dori no
Ma-tsubusa ni
Oki tsu tori
Ha-tatagi mo
He tsu nami
Yama-gata ni
Some-ki ga shiru ni
Ma-tsubusa ni
Oki tsu tori
Ha-tatagi mo
Itokoya no
Mura-tori no
Hike-tori no
Nakazhi tó ha
Yamato no
Unakabushi
Asa-ame no
Waka-kusa no
Koto no
Kuroki mi keshi wo
Tori-yosohi
Muna miru toki
Kore ha fusahazu
So ni nugi-ute
Awoki mi keshi wo
Ya-chi-hoko no
2 Motowori reads Magishi
3 Motowori reads Sagiri ni
Tori-yosohi
Muna miru toki
Ko mo fusahazu
So ni nugi-ute
Magishi atane tsuki²
Shime-koromo wo
Tori-yosohi
Muna miru toki
Ko shi yoroshi
Imo no mikoto
Wa ga mure-i-naba
Wa ga hike-i-naba
Na ha ifu to mo
Hito-moto susuki
Na ga nakasamaku
Sa-giri ni tatamu zo³
Tsuma no mikoto
Katari-goto mo
Ko wo ba
VI. (SECT. XXV, Note 3.)
Kami no mikoto ya
Atane tsuki as two lines.
Tatamu zo as two lines.
APPENDIX I.
417
A ga oho-kuni
Wo ni i-maseba
Kaki-miru
Waka-kusa no
A ha mo yo
Na wokite
Na wokite
Aya-kaki no
Mushi-busuma
Taku-busuma
Awa-yuki no
Taku-dzunu no
So-dataki
Ma-tama-de
Momo-naga ni
Toyo mi ki
Shima no saki-zaki
Ajishiki
Ame naru ya
Unagaseru
Mi sumaru ni
Nushi koso ha
Uchi-miru
VII. (SECT. XXxi, Note 33.)
Aka-dama ha
Shira-tama no
Iso no saki ochizu
Tsuma motase-rame
Me ni shi areba
Wo ha nashi
Tsuma ha nashi
Fuhaya ga shita ni
Nikoya ga shita ni
Sayagu ga shita ni
Wakayaru mune wo
Shiroki tadamuki
Oki tsu tori
Tataki-managari
Tama-de sashi-maki
I wo shi nase
Tate-matsurase
Mi tani futa watarasu4
Oto-tanabata no
Tama no mi sumaru
Ana-dama haya
Kami zo ya
VIII. (SECT. XLII, NOTE 18.)
Taka-hiko-ne no
Wo sahe hikaredo
Kimi ga yosohi shi
Tafutoku ari-keri
IX. (SECT. XLII, NOTE 19.)
Kamo-doku shima ni
4 Motowori reads Mi tani Futa watarasu as two lines.
418
'KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Imo ha wasurezhi
Waga wi-neshi
Yo no koto-goto ni
X. (SECT. XLVII, NOTES 16 AND 17.)
Shigi-wana haru
Shigi ha sayarazu
Kujira sayaru
Na kohasaba
Mi no nakeku wo
Uhanari ga
*
Uda no taka-ki ni5
Wa ga matsu ya
Isukuhashi
Konami ga
Tachi-soba no
Kokishi hiwene
Na kohasaba
Ohokeku wo
Ye yet
[Ko ha igonofu zo]
XI. (SECT. XLVIII, NOTE 4.)
Osaka no
Hito saha ni
Hito saha ni
Mitsu-mitsushi
Kubu-tsutsu-i
Ichi-saka-ki mi no
Kokida hiwene
Shi ya ko shi ya
Aa shi yo ko shi ya
Mitsu-mitsushi
Kubu-tsutsu-i
Oho-muro-ya ni
Ki-iri-wori
Uchite shi yamamu
Iri-wori to mo
Kume no ko-ra ga
Ishi-tsutsu-i mochi
Mitsu-mitsushi
Aha-fu ni ha
Kume no ko-ra ga
Ishi-tsutsu-i mochi
Ima utaba yorashi
XII. (SECT. XLIX, Note 2.)
Kume no ko-ra ga
Ka-mira hito moto
5 Motowori reads Uda no
6 Moribe emends haru to hari.
7 Motowori divides these lines thus: Tachi-soba no mi no Nakeku wo.
*
Uhanari ga should form the first half of the line so as to cor-
respond with Konami ga.-W.G.A.
+ From Ye ye to the end of the poem is omitted in the Nihongi.-
W.G.A.
Taka-ki ni as two lines.
APPENDIX I.
419
So ne ga moto
Mitsu-mitsushi
Kaki-moto ni
Kuchi hibiku
Uchite shi yamamu
XIII. (SECT. XLIX, NOTE 3.)
Kamu-kaze no
Ohishi ni
Shitadami no
So ne me tsunagite
Uchite shi yamamu
XIV. (SECT. XLIX, NOTE 4.)
Yamoto no
Nana-yuku
Tata namete
Ko no ma yo mo
Tatakaheba
Shima tsu tori
Kume no ko-ra ga
Uweshi hazhikami
Ware ha wasurezhi
Uchite shi yamamu
XV. (SECT. XLIX, NOTE 6.)
Ise no umi no
Hahi-motohorofu
I-hahi-motohori
Katsu-gatsu mo
Ima suke ni kone
XVI. (SECT. LI, NOTE 17.)
Inasa no yama no
I-yuki-mamorahi
Ware ha ya wenu
U-kahi ga tomo
A me tsu tsu
Tare wo shi makamu
Takasazhi-nu wo
Wotome-domo
XVII. (SECT. LI, NOTE 19.)
Iya-saki-dateru
Ye wo shi makamu
XVIII. (SECT. LI, NOTE 21.)
•
Chi dori mashi to to [?]
Nado sakeru to-me
420
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OE ANCIENT MATTERS.
XIX. (SECT. LI, Note 22.)
Wotome ni
Wa ga sakeru to-me
XX. (SECT. LI, NOTE 28.)
Ashi-hara no
Suga-tatami
Sawi-gaha yo
Unebi-yama
Tada ni ahamu to
XXI. (SECT. LII, NOTE 6.)
Unebi-yama
Yufu sareba
Shigekoki wo-ya ni
Iyasaya shikite
Wa ga futari neshi
I-yuki-tagahi
I-yuki-tagahi
Shirani to
XXII. (SECT. LII, NOTE 5.)
Kaze fukamu to su
Ko ha ya
Mima-ki-iri-biko ha ya
Nusumi shi semu to
Kumo tachi-watari
Ko no ha sayaginu
Yatsumesasu
Hakeru tachi
XXIII. (SECT. LXVI, NOTE 7.)
Ko no ha sayageru
Hiru ha kumo to wi
Kaze fukamu to zo
XXIV. (SECT. lxxxi, Note 4.)
t
Mima-ki-iri-biko ha ya
Ono ga wo wo
Shiri tsu to yo
Mahe tsu to yo
Ukagahaku
Mima-ki-iri-biko ha ya
Idzumo-takeru ga
Tsudzura saha maki
Sa-mi nashi ni ahare
APPENDIX I.
421
XXV. (Sect. Lxxxiv, Note 8.)
Sanesashi
Moyuru hi no
Tohishi kimi ha mo
XXVI. (SECT. LXXXVI, NOTES 3 AND 5.)
Nihibari
Tsukuha wo sugite
Ka-ga nabete
Iku yo ka netsuru
Hisa-kata no
To-kama ni
Hiha-boso
Makamu to ha
Se-nemu to ha
Na ga keseru
Aratama no
Aratama no
Sagamu no wo-nu ni
Ho-naka ni tachite
Hi ni ha towo-ka wo
XXVII. (SECT. LXXXVII, NOTE 3.)
Taka-hikaru
Yasumishishi
Yo ni ha kokono-yo
Ubena-ubena
Wa ga keseru
XXVIII. (SECT. LXXXVII, NOTte 4.)
Hi no mi ko
Wa ga oho-kimi
Toshi ga ki-fureba
Tsuki ha kihe-yuku
Kimi machi-gata ni
Osuhi no suso ni
Tsuki tatanamu yo
Ame no Kagu-yama
Sa-wataru kuhi
Tawaya-gahina wo
Are ha suredo
Are ha omohedo
Osuhi no suso ni
Wohari ni
Wotsu no saki naru
Tsuki tatanamu yo
XXIX. (SECT. lxxxix, Note 6.)
Tada ni mukaheru
Hito-tsu matsu a se wo
422
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
<<
Hito ni ariseba
Kinu kise-mashi wo
Hito-tsu matsu
Tachi hake-mashi wo
Hito-tsu matsu o se wo
XXX. (SECT. LXXXIX, NOTE 12.)
Yamato ha
Tatanatsuku
Yamato shi uruhashi
XXXI. (SECT. LXXXIX, NOTE 12.).
Inochi no
Tatami-komo
Kuma-kashi ga ha wo
Kuni no mahoroba
Awo-kaki yama-gomoreru
Hashikeyashi
XXXII. (SECT. LXXXIX, NOTE 12.)
Mata-kemu hito ha
Heguri no yama no
Uzu ni sase
Wotomo no
Wa ga okishi
Sono ko
Nadzuki no
Ina-gara ni
Kumo-wi tachi-ku mo
Wagihe no kata yo
XXXIII. (SECT. LXXXIX, NOTE 15.)
Toko no be ni
Tsurugi no tachi
Sono tachi ha ya
XXXIV. (SECT. XC, NOTE 3.)
Ta no ina-gara ni
Hahi-motorofu
Tokoro-dzura9
8 Motowori reads gomoreru as a line by itself, and similarly uru-
hashi as a line by itself.
9 Moribe restores the reading of the first line of this poem to
Nadzuki-ta no, and both he and Motowori suggest conjectural con-
APPENDIX I.
423
XXXV. (SECT. xc, NOTE 5.)
Asa-zhinu-hara
Sora ha yukazu
Umi-ga yukeba
Oho-kahara no
Umi-ga ha
XXXVI. (SECT. xc, NOTE 7.)
Hama tsu chi-dori
Koshi nadzumu
Ashi yo yuku na
XXXVII. (SECT. XC, NOTE 8).
Koshi nadzumu
Uwe-gusa
Isayofu¹0
Isa agi
Itate ohazuha
Afumi. no umi ni
Kono mi ki ha
Kushi no kami
Iha tatasu
Kamu-hogi
Toyo-hogi
Matsuri-koshi
Hama yo ha yukazu
Iso-dzutafu
XXXVIII. (SECT. C, NOTE 18.)
Furu-kuma ga
Niho-dori no
Kadzuki sena wa
XXXIX. (SECT. CII, NOTE 2.)
Wa ga mi ki narazu
Toko-yo ni i-masu
Sukuna mi kami no
Hogi-kuruhoshi
Hogi-motohoshi
Mi ki zo
Asazu wose sa sa
cluding lines to supplement the evidently incomplete text. Moribe's
are very elegant:
Shi ga tsura no I-hahi motohori
Motohorite
Ne-naki tohedomo
Koto mo norasanu.
10 Moribe reads Umi-ga ha isahofu as one line. It is difficult, on
any method of division, to find rhythm" in this Song.
* Metre ?-W.G.A.
424
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
XL. (SECT. CII, Note 3.)
Kami-kemu hito ha
Usu ni tatete
Kami-kere ka mo
Kami-kere ka mo
Mi ki no aya ni¹¹
Uta-danushi [ki] sa sa
Kono mi ki wo
Sono tsudzumi
Utahi-tsutsu
Mahi-tsutsu
Kono miki no
XLI. (SECT. Cvi, Note 2.)
Chiba no
Momo-chi-daru
Kuni no ho no miyu
XLII. (SECT. cvi, Note 8.)
Kono kani ya
Momo-dzutafu
Kadzu-nu wo mireba
Ya-niha mo miyu
Idzuku no kani
Tsunuga no kani
Idzuku ni itaru
Mi-shima ni to ki
Kadzuki iki-dzuki
Sasa-nami-ji wo
Wa ga i-maseba ya
Shina-dayufu
Suku-suku to
Kohata no michi ni Ahashishi wotome
Ushiro-de ha
Ha-nami ha
Wo-date ro ka mo
Shihi (shi) nasu¹2
Wanisa no ni wo
Hada akarakemi
Ichihiwi no
Hatsu-ni ha
Shiha-ni ha
Yoko-sarafu
Ichiji-shima
Niho-dori no
Mi-tsu-guri no
Kabu-tsuku
Ni-guroki yuwe
Sono naka tsu ni wo
Ma-hi ni ha atezu
11 Motowori strangely makes Mi ki no Aya ni into two lines. The
syllable ki in the last line of the Song is supplied by Moribe.
12 Motowori divides these lines thus: Hana mi ha shi Hishi nasu.
He also proposes here to divide the poem in two.
1
APPENDIX I.
425
Mayo-gaki
Ka mo ga to
Kaku mo ga to
Utadakeni
Ahashishi womina
Iza ko-domo
Hiru tsumi ni
Kaguhashi
Ho tsu ye ha
I-sohi-woru ka mo
XLIII. (SECT. CVII, NOTE 9.)
Shi dzu ye ha
Mi-tsu-guri no
Hotsumori
Izasasaba
Ko ni kaki-tare¹³
Midzu tamaru
Wi-guhi uchi
Sashi-keru shirani
Hahe-keku shirani
Iya woko ni shite
Wa ga mishi ko-ra
A ga mishi ko ni
Mukahi-woru ka mo
Michi no shiri
Kami no goto
XLIV. (SECT. CVII, NOTE 10.)
Nu-biru tsumi ni
Wa ga yuku michi no
Hana-tachibana wo
Michi no shiri
Tori wi-garashi
Hito tori-garashi
Naka tsu ye no
Akara-wotome wo
Yorashi na
XLV. (SECT. CVII, NOTE 11.)
Yosami no ike no
[Hishi] ga-[ra no]¹4
Nunaha-kuri
Wa ga kokoro shi
Ima zo kuyashiki
Kohada-wotome wo
Kikoyeshikadomo
Ahi-makuramaku
XLVI. (SECT. Cvii, Note 12.)
Kohada-wotome ha
13 Motowori divides these lines thus: Mayo-gaki ko ni Kaki tare.
restored by the help of the
14 The defective text of this line is
parallel passage in the "Chronicles."
426
""
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Arasohazu
Ne-shiku wo shi zo mo
XLVII. (SECT. CVIII, NOTE 2.)
Hi no mi ko
Oho-sazaki
Moto-tsurugi
Fuyu-ki no su
Saya-saya
Homuda no
Oho-sazaki
Hakaseru tachi
Uruhashimi-omofu
Suwe fuyu
Kara ga shita-ki no
XLVIII. (SECT. CVIII, NOTE 6.)
Kashinofu ni
Yokusu ni
Umara ni
Susukori ga
Maro ga chi
XLIX. (SECT. CXI, NOTE 5.)
Koto nagu shi
Chihayaburu
Sawo-tori ni
Yokusu wo tsukuri
Kamishi oho-mi-ki
Kikoshi-mochi-wose
Ware wehi ni keri
We-gushi ni
Ware wehi ni keri.15
Kamishi mi ki ni
L. (SECT. CXII, NOTE 10.)
Chihaya-hito
Watari-ze ni tateru
Uji no watari no
Haya-kemu hito shi
Wa ga moko ni komu
LI. (SECT. CXII, NOTE 15.)
Uji no watari ni
Adzusa-yumi ma-yumi
15 Moribe proposes to emend the second half of this poem to
Koto nagushi we Kokoro-gushi we
Ware wehi ni keri.
APPENDIX I.
427
I-kiramu to
I-toramu to
Moto-he ha
Suwe-he ha
Iranakeku
Kanashikeku
I-kirazu zo kuru
Oki-he ni ha
Kuro-zaki" no
LII. (SECT. CXXII, NOTE 4.)
Oshi-teru ya
Ide-tachite
Aha-shima
Ajimasa no
Kokoro ha mohedo
Kokoro ha mohedo
Kimi wo omohi-de
Imo wo omohi-de
Soko ni omohi-de
Koko ni omohi-de
Adzusa-yumi ma-yumi¹6
Yama-gata ni
Kibi-hito to
LIII. (SECT. CXXII, NOTE 8.)
Wo-bune tsuraraku
Masazu-ko wagimo
Kuni he kudarasu
and again at the end:
Naniha no saki yo
Wa ga kuni mireba
Onogoro-shima
Shima mo miyu
Saketsu-shima miyu
LIV. (SECT. CXXII, NOTE 10.)
Makeru awo-na mo
Tomo ni shi tsumeba
Tanushiku mo aru ka
LV. (SECT. CXXII, NOTE 13.)
Yamato-he ni
16 Near the commencement of this Song Motowori divides the
lines thus:
Nishi fuki-agete
Watari-ze ni Tateru
Adzusa-yumi Ma-yumi
I-kirazu zo kuru Adzusa-yumi
Ma-yumi.
17 See Sect. CXXII, Note 4, for this doubtful word.
428
<<
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Kumo-banare
Soki-wori to mo
Ware wasureme ya
LVI. (SECT. CXXII, NOTE 14.)
Yamato-he ni
Komoridzu no
Yuku ha ta ga tsuma
LVII. (SECT. CXXIII, NOTE 11.)
Tsuginefu ya
Kaha-nobori
Kaha no he ni
Sashibu wo
Shi ga shita ni
Yamashiro-gaha wo
Wa ga noboreba
Ohi-dateru
Sashibu no ki
Ohi-dateru
Ha-biro yu-tsu matsuba-ki¹8
Teri-i-mashi
Hirori-i-masu ha
Shi ga hana no
Shi ga ha no
Yuku ha ta ga tsuma
Shita yo hahe-tsutsu
Oho-kimi ro ka mo
LVIII. (SECT. CXXIII, NOTE 14.)
Tsuginefu ya
Miya-nobori
Awoniyoshi
Wo-date
Yamashiro-gaha wo
Wa ga noboreba
Nara wo sugi
Yamato wo sugi
Wa ga migahoshi kuni ha
Wagihe no atari¹9
Kadzuraki Takamiya
LIX. (SECT. CXXIV, NOTE 3.)
Yamashiro ni
I-shike Toriyama
18 Motowori divides this line in two, thus: Habiro Yutsuma-tsubaki.
19 Instead of these concluding long lines Motowori divides thus:
Wa ga mikahoshi Kuni ha
Kadzuraki
Taka-miya
Wagihe no atari.
+
APPENDIX I.
429
I-shike i-shike
I-shiki-ahamu ka mo
LX. (SECT. CXXIV, NOTE 5.)
Mimoro no
Ohowiko ga hara
Kimo-mukafu
A ga hashi-dzuma ni
Ahi-omohazu aramu
Tsuginefu
Ko-kuha mochi
Ne-zhiro no
Makazukeba koso
LXI. (SECT. Cxxiv, Note 6.)
Yamashiro no
Mono mawosu
Sono Takaki naru
Ohowiko ga hara ni aru20
Kokoro wo dani ka
Tsuginefu
Ko-kuha mochi
Sawa-sawa ni
Uchi-watasu
Yamashiro-me no
Uchishi oho-ne
LXII. (SECT. CXXIV, NOTE 12.)
Shiro-tadamuki
Shirazu to mo ihame
Tsutsuki no mi-ya ni
A ga se no kimi ha
Namita-gumashi mo
LXIII. (SECT. cxxiv, NOTE 18.)
Yamashiro-me no
Uchishi oho-ne
Na ga ihese koso
Yagahaye nasu
Ki-iri-mawi-kure
LXIV. (SECT. cxxv, NOTE 1.)
Hito-moto suge ha
Yata no
Ko motazu
Tachi ka are-namu
Atara-suga-hara
Koto wo koso
Suge-hara to ihame
Atara-sugashi-me
20 Motowori reads the words Hara ni aru as a separate line.
430
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
:
LXV. (SECT. Cxxv, Note 2.)
Yata no
Hitori wori to mo
Yoshi to kikosaba
LXVI. (SECT. cxxvi, Note 2.)
Medori no
Orosu hata
Taka-yuku ya
LXVII. (SECT. CXXVI, NOTE 3.)
Hibari ha
Taka-yuku ya
Hito-moto suge ha
Oho-kimi shi
Hitori wori to mo
Hashi-tate no
Sagashimi to
Wa ga oho-kimi no
Taga kane ro ka mo
LXVIII. (SECT. CXXVI, NOTE 5.)
Ame ni kakeru
Haya-busa-wake
Haya-busa-wake no
Hashi-tate no
Sagashikedo
Mi osuhi-gane
LXIX. (SECT. CXXVI, NOTE 8.)
Tamakiharu
Na koso ha
Sazaki torasane
Kura hashi-yama wo
Iha kaki-kanete
Wa ga te torasu mo
LXX. (SECT. cxxvi. Note 8.)
Kura-hashi-yama ha
Imo to noboreba
Sagashiku mo arazu
LXXI. (SECT. CXXVIII, NOTE 3.)
Uchi no aso
Yo no naga-hito
APPENDIX I.
431
Sora mitsu
Kari ko 'mu to
Taka-hikaru
Ube shi koso
Ma koso ni
Are koso ha
Sora-mitsu
Kari ko 'mu to
LXXII. (SECT. CXXVIII, NOTE 4.)
Hi no mi ko
Tohi-tamahe
Tohi-tamahe
Yo no naga-hito
Yamato no kuni ni
Imada kikazu
Na ga mi ko ya
LXXIII. (SECT. CXXVIII, Note 6.)
Yamato no kuni ni
Kiku ya
Karanu wo
Shi ga amari
Kaki-hiku ya
To-naka no
Fure-tatsu
Kari ha ko 'murashi
LXXIV. (SECT. CXXIX, NOTE 8.)
Shiho ni yaki
Koto ni tsukuri
Tajihi-nu ni
Tatsu-gomo mo
Ko-mashi mono
Tsuhi ni shiramu to
Hanifu-zaka
Kagirohi no
Yura no to no
Ikuri ni
Nadzu no ki no
LXXV. (SECT. CXXXII, NOTE 5.)
Saya-saya
Nemu to shiriseba
Mochite
Nemu to shiriseba
LXXVI. (SECT. CXXXII, NOTE 7.)
Wa ga tachi-mireba
Moyuru ihe-mura
Tsuma ga ihe no atari
432
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
LXXVII. (SECT. CXXXII, NOTE 10.)
Oho-saka ni
Michi toheba
Tagima-chi wo noru
LXXVIII. (SECT. CXLI, NOTE 2.)
Ashihiki no
Yama-dakami
Shita-dohi ni
Shita-naki ni
Kofu koso ha
Sasa-ba ni
Tashi-dashi ni
Afu ya wotome wo
Tada ni ha norazu
LXXIX. (SECT. CXLI, NOTE 4.)
Uruhashi to
Kari-komo no
Yama-da wo tsukuri
Shita-bi wo washise
Oho-mahe
Kana-to kage
Wa ga tofu imo wo
Wa ga naku tsuma wo
Yasuku hada fure
Hito hakayu to mo
Ama-damu
Utsu ya arare no
Wi-netemu nochi ha
Miya-hito no
Ochi ni ki to
Sa-ne shi sa-neteba
LXXX. (SECT. CXLII, NOTE 7.)
Sa-ne shi sa-neteba
Midareba midare
Wo-mahe sukune ga
Kaku yori-kone
Ame tachi-yamemu
LXXXI. (SECT. CXLII, NOTE 8.)
Ayuhi no ko-suzu
Miya-hito toyomu
Sato-bito mo yume
LXXXII. (SECT. CXLII, NOTE 12.)
Karu no wotome
APPENDIX I.
433
¡
Ita nakaba
Hasa no yama no hato no
Shita-naki ni naku²
Ama-damu
Shita-ta ni mo
LXXXIII. (SECT. CXLII, NOTE 13.)
Karu-wotome
Yori-nete tohore
Karu-wotome-domo
Ama tobu
Tadzu ga ne no
Hito shirinu-beshi
LXXXIV. (SECT. CXLIII, NOTE 2.)
Wa ga na tohasane
Oho-kimi wo
Funa-amari
Wa ga tatami yume
Tatami to ihame
LXXXV. (SECT. CXLIII, NOTE 4.)
Natsu-kusa no
Kaki-gahi ni
Tori mo tsukahi zo
Kikoyemu toki ha
Kimi ga yuki
LXXXVI. (SECT. CXLIII, NOTE 6.)
Shima hi haburaba
I-gaheri-komu zo
Koto wo koso
Wa a ga tsuma ha yume
Ahine no hama no
Ashi22 fumasu na
Akashite tohore
LXXXVII. (SECT. CXLIII, NOTE 7.)
Ke-nagaku narinu
21 Moribe, following the reading in the "Chronicles," omits the
Postposition no after Karu; and Motowori reads hato no as a line by
itself.
22 To the word ashi Moribe would prefix the Honorific mi, which
he finds in an old MS. The metre would gain by this emendation
of the line.
434
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Yama-tadzu no
Mukahe wo yukamu
Matsu ni ha matazhi
LXXXVIII. (SECT. CXLIII, NOTE 8.)
Komoriku no
Oho-wo ni ha
So-wo-wo ni ha
Oho-wo ni shi
Omohi-dzuma ahare
Tsuku-yumi no
Adzusa-yumi
Hatsuse no yama no
Hata hari-date
Hata hari-date
Na ga23 sadameru
Nochi mo tori-miru
Omohi-dzuma ahare
Komoriku no
Kami tsu se ni
Shimo tsu se ni
I-kuhi ni ha
Ma-kuhi ni ha
Ma-tama nasu
Kagami nasu
LXXXIX. (SECT. CXLIII, NOTE 9.)
Koyaru koyari mo
Tateri tateri mo
The ni mo yukame
Ari to ihaba koso ni
Kusaka-be no
Tatami-komo
Kochi-gochi no
Tachi-zakayuru
Moto ni ha
Hatsuse no kaha no
I-kuhi wo uchi
Ma-kuhi wo uchi
Kagami wo kake
Ma-tama wo kake
A ga mofu imo
Aga mofu tsuma
Kuni wo mo shinubame24
XC. (SECT. CLIII, NOTE 4.)
Kochi no yama to
Heguri no yama no
Yama no kahi ni
Ha-biro kuma-kashi
I-kumi-dake ohi
23 This is Moribe's emendation of the usual reading ka.
24 Motowori divides Ari to ihaba koso ni into two lines after the
Particle to, and Moribe omits the Particle ni after koso.
APPENDIX I.
435
Suwe-he ni ha
I-kumi-dake
Tashimi-dake
Nochi mo kumi-nemu
Mimoro no
Kashi ga moto
XCI. (SECT. CLIV, NOTE 9.)
Hiketa no
Wakaku-he ni
Kashi-hara-wotome
Mimoro ni
Tsuki-amashi
Tashimi-dake ohi
I-kumi ha nezu
Tashi ni ha wi-nezu
Sono omohi-dzuma
XCII. (SECT. CLIV, NOTE 10.)
Ahare
Kusaka-ye no
Hana-bachisu
Itsu-kashi ga moto
Yuyushiki ka mo
XCIII. (SECT. CLIV, NOTE 12.)
Agura-wi no
Hiku koto ni
Waka-kuru-su-bara
Wi-nete-mashi mono
Oi ni keru ka mo
Kami no miya-hito
XCIV. (SECT. CLIV, NOTE 13.)
Tsuku ya tama-kaki
Ta ni ka mo yoramu
Mi-yeshinu no
Tomoshiki ro ka mo
Iri-ye no hachisu
Mi no sakari-bito
XCV. (SECT. Clv, Note 3.)
Kami no mi te mochi
Mahi suru womina
Toko-yo ni mo ka mo
XCVI. (SECT. CLVI, NOTE 3.)
Womuro ga take ni
436
"(
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
J
Shishi fusu to
Yasumishishi
Shishi matsu to
Shiro-tahe no
Ta-komura ni
So no amu wo
Kaku no goto
Sora-mitsu
Yasumishishi
Asobashishi
Akidzu-shima tofu
XCVII. (SECT. CLVII, NOTE 4.)
Utaki kashikomi
Ari-wo no
Tare zo oho-mahe ni mawosu25
Wa ga oho-kimi no
Agura ni i-mashi
Sode ki-sonafu
Amu kaki-tsuki
Akidzu haya kuhi
Na ni ohamu to
Yamato no kuni wo
Wotome no
Kana-suki mo
XCVIII. (SECT. CLIX, NOTE 3.)
Wa ga oho-kimi no
Shishi no yami-shishi no
Wa ga nige-noborishi
Hari-no-ki no yeda26
Makimuku no
Asa-hi no
Yufu-hi no
I-kakuru woka wo
I-hochi mo ga mo
Suki-banuru mono
XCIX. (SECT. CLX, NOTE 4.)
Hishiro no mi-ya ha
Hi-deru mi-ya
Hi-gakeru mi-ya
25 It seems less good to divide thus with Motowori:
Tare zo oho-mahe ni Mawosu,
or thus with Mabuchi:
Oho-maye ni mawosu.
Tare zo
26 Motowori divides the lines of this Song thus:
Wa ga oho-kimi no
Yasumishishi
Asobashishi
Shishi no
Utaki kashikomi
Yami-shishi no
Wa ga nige
Ari-wo no
Noborishi
Hari no ki no yeda.
APPENDIX I.
437
Take no ne no
Ko no ne no
Yahoniyoshi
Ma-ki-saku
Nihi-nahe-ya ni
Momo-daru
Ho tsu ye ha
Naka tsu ye ha
Shi dzu ye ha
Ho tsu ye no
Naka tsu ye ni
Naka tsu ye no
Shimo tsu ye ni
Shi dzu ye no
Ari-ginu no
Sasagaseru
Ukishi abura
Mina
Ko shi mo
Taka-hikaru
Koto no
Yamato no
Ko-dakaru
Nihi-nahe-ya ni
So ga ha no
So no hana no
Taka-hikaru
To-yo mi ki
Nedaru-mi-ya
Ne-bafu mi-ya
I-kidzuki no mi-ya
Hi no mi kado
Ohi-dateru
Tsuki ga ye ha
Ame wo oheri
Adzuma wo oheri
Hina wo oheri
Ye no ura-ba ha
Ochi-furabahe
Ye no ura-ba ha
Ochi-furabahe
Ye no ura-ba ha
Mihe no ko ga
Midzu-tama-uki ni
Ochi-nadzusahi
koworo-koworo ni27
C. (SECT. CLX, NOTE 5.)
Ha-biro yu-tsu
Aya ni kashikoshi
Hi no mi ko
Katari-goto mo
Ko wo ba
Kono takechi ni
Ichi no tsukasa
Ohi-dateru
ma-tsubaki29
Hirori-i-mashi
Teri-i-masu
Hi no mi ko ni
Tate-matsurase
27 Motowori divides this line in two, thus:
Mina koworo Koworo ni.
28 Motowori divides this line in two after the word ha-biro.
438
(6
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS.
Koto no
Katari-goto mo
CI. (SECT. CLX, Note 6.)
Momoshiki no
Udzura-tori
Mana-bashira
Niha-suzume
Kefu mo ka mo
Taka-hikaru
Koto no
Ko wo ba
Mina-sosoku
Ho-dari torasu mo
Kataku torase
Ya-gataku torase
Yasumishishi
Asa-to ni ha
Yufu-to ni ha
CII. (SECT. CLXI, NOTE 2.)
Waki-dzuki ga
Ita ni mo ga
Oho-miya-hito ha
Hire tori-kakete
Wo yuki-ahe
Uzu-sumari-wite
Oho-miya no
Saka mi-dzuku-rashi
Hi no miya-hito
Katari-goto mo
Ko wo ba
CIII. (SECT. CLXI, NOTE 4.)
Oho-takumi
Omi no wotome
Ho-dari tori
Shita-gataku
Ho-dari torasu ko
CIV. (SECT. CLXV, NOTES 8 AND 12.)
Woto tsu hata-de
Wa ga oho-kimi no
I-yori-datashi
I-yori-datasu
Shita no
A se wo
Sumi katabukeri
CV. (SECT. CLXV, NOTES 9 AND 12.)
Wojinami koso
Sumi katabukere
APPENDIX I.
439
CVI. (SECT. CLXV. NOTE 10 AND 12.)
Kokoro wo yurami
Ya-he no shiba-kaki
Iri-tatazu ari
Oho-kimi no
Omi no ko no
CVII. (SECT. CLXV, NOTE 12.)
Shiho-se no
Asobi-kuru
Tsuma tateri miyu
CVIII. (SECT. CLXV, NOTE 11 AND 12.)
Mi ko no shiba-kaki
Shimari-motohoshi
Oho-kimi no
Ya-fu-zhimari
Kiremu shiba-kaki
Ofuwo yo shi
Shi ga areba
Na-wori wo mireba
Shibi ga hata-de ni
CIX. (SECT. CLXV, NOTE 12.)
Asa-ji-hara
Momo-dzutafu
Yakemu shiba-kaki29
Shibi tsuku ama³
Shibi tsuku ama yo
Ura-kohoshi-kemu
CX. (SECT. CLXVII, NOTE 10.)
Oki-me mo ya
Asu yori ha
Wo-dani wo sugite
Nute yuraku mo
Oki-me kurashi mo
CXI. (SECT. CLXVII, NOTE 11.)
Afumi no Oki-me
Mi-yama-gakurite
Miyezu ka mo aramu
29 Moribe's proposal to emend yakemu to yaremu would be accept-
able if it were supported by the authority of any texts.
30 Motowori's edition and most other texts have shibi as the final
word. But Moribe's emendation to ama is necessary to the sense,
and has at least the authority of one MS. to support it.
+
THE HITHERTO ACCEPTED CHRONOLOGY OF THE EARLY
JAPANESE SOVEREIGNS MENTIONED IN THE “RECORDS
OF ANCIENT MATTERS” (“KO-JI-KI") AND IN THE
"CHRONICLES OF JAPAN" ("NIHON-GI").
"C
[This Accepted Chronology" is contained in the first three columns
of figures, whereof the first two, giving the corresponding dates
according to the European reckoning, are transcribed from some
Comparative Chronological Tables by Mr. Ernest Satow, printed
for private distribution in 1874. The ages of the monarchs in the
third column are from "The Digest of the Imperial Pedigree," a
work published by the Imperial Japanese Government in 1877,
and therefore carrying with it the weight of authority. It might
perhaps be too much to say that even its decisions are universally
bowed to by the native literati; but the differences between various
writers are all slight, and excepting on points that affect only a
very few years, the chronology contained in the first three columns
may justly be styled the "Accepted Chronology" both as far as
natives and as far as foreigners are concerned. It will be seen
that it is founded in the main on the statements contained in the
"Chronicles of Japan," though sometimes differing therefrom as
well as from the "Records." The fourth column contains the
ages of the monarchs according to the " Records," and the fifth
their ages according to the "Chronicles." The portion printed
in italics, and including a little over a thousand years, is that
which has been shown in Section V. of the Translator's Intro-
duction to be undeserving of credence.]
Jim-mu
Sui-zei...
APPENDIX II.
ACCESSION.
……………
DEATH.
AGE.
660(B.C.) 585(B.C.) 127
581
549
84
AGE ACCORD. TO
"
RECORDS."
137
45
AGE ACCORD. to
"C
CHRONICLES."
127
80
APPENDIX II.
441
An-nei......... 548
I-toku
510
Kō-shō......... 475
Kō-an
392
Kō-rei…........ 290
214
Kō-gen
Kai-kuwa 157
97
29
Su-jin
Sui-nin
ACCESSION.
Kei-kō....
Sei-mu....
Kei-tai
An-kan
Sen-kuwa
...
131
Chin-ai
192
Jin-go¹
201
270
D-jin
Nin-toku...... 313
Ri-chiu
400
Han-zei
406
In-giyō
412
An-kō
454
Yū-riyaku 457
Sei-nei
480
Ken-zō
485
Nin-ken
488
Mu-retsu
499
507
534
536
Kim-mei...... 540
Bi-datsu
572
Yō-mei
.. 586
Su-jun
588
Sui-ko......... 593
...
...
...
....
DEATH.
511
477
393
291
215
158
98
30
71(A.D.) 130
1.90
200
269
310
399
405
411
453
456
479
484
487
498
506
531
535
539
57
77
11.4
137
'128
116
111
119
70(A.D.) 141
143
108
52
100
111
110
67
60
80
56
age omitted
41
age omitted
50
18
82
70
73
63
""
48 reigned 14 years
69
3
73
4
75
37
571
585
587
592
628
1 The reign of this
separately, but included in
her age in the "Records
ᎪᏀᎬ.
AGE ACCORD. TO
"RECORDS."
""
49
45
93
123
106
57
63
>>
در
168
153
137
95
52
100
130
83
64
60
78
56
124
not given
38
not given
reigned 8 years
43
not given
""
""
""
در
AGE ACCORD. TO
"CHRONICLES."
113
reigned 102 years
76
57
60
120
140
106
107
52
100
110
""
""
در
""
reigned
<<
reigned 87 years
70
""
""
>>
"*
""
""
57
гуру
در
>>
>"
42
3
23
LO
رو
6 years
<<
5
3
11
""
""
8
82
70
73
reigned 32 years
14
2
5,
75
""
"
31
""
""
""
""
Empress is in the "Records not counted
that of her son Ō-jin. For the mention of
conf. Sect. CIII, Note 4.
APPENDIX III
LIST OF BOOKS DEALING WITH THE "KOJIKI"
PUBLISHED SINCE 1883.
Compiled by
PROF. URŪ TSUGITA
of The Peers School, Tõkyō.
PART I. BOOKS WRITTEN ON THE KOJIKI SINCE 1883.
Concise "Exposition of the Kojiki," L
by Yoshioka Noriaki. 1883.
Explanations on the Kojiki,
by Saiki Ariyoshi. 1891.
The Kojiki Explained, 古​事​記​講義
​by Ōkubo Hatsuo. 1893.
Commentary on the Kojiki,
by Inoue Yorikuni. 1909.
The Kojiki Explained, RE
古事記​通​釋
​by Ikebe Yoshikata. 1911.
The Kojiki Newly Explained,
by Uematsu Yashushi. 1919.
New Explanations on the Kojiki,
by Tsugita Urū. 1924.
Studies on Special Method of Readings in the Kojiki,
古事記​に​於ける​特殊​なる​訓​法​の​研究
​by Mitsuya Shigematsu. 1925.
The Kojiki Wholely Explained, ONAK
by Uyematsu Yasushi and Ōtsuka Tatsuo. 1925.
APPENDIX III.
443
New Studies in the Kojiki, A
by Kurano Kenshi.
1927.
A General Treatise on the Kojiki,
by Tanaka Yoshinori. 1929.
The Kojiki with Critical Notes and Comments, E
by Nakashima Etsuji. 1930.
PART II. BOOKS FOR SECONDARY READING.
The Nihonshoki Explained, H***
日本書紀​通​釋
​(A voluminous and representative edition of the Nihonshoki with
commentary.)
by Iida Takesato.
The Kogoshui, (A History of Japan)
(Translated into English, with an Introduction and Notes.)
by Katō Genchi and Hoshino. Hikoshirō. 1925.
The Kogoshūi Newly Explained,
by Ikebe Mahari. 1928.
The Kogoshūi Explained, ***
by Kurita Hiroshi. 1929.
The Ancient Japanese Culture,
by Watsuji Tetsuo. 1920.
im
日本​古代​文化
​* * K
Literature relating to the Gods and their Worshippers in
Japan, 神​と​神​を​祭る​者​と​の​文學
​by Takeda Yukichi. 1924.
Studies in History of the Period of Gods, RLOFA
by Tsuda Sōkichi. 1924.
Studies in Japanese Classics,
by Ueki Naoichirō. 1927.
New Studies in the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki,
古事記​及​日本書紀​の​新​研究
​Tsuda Sōkichi. 1924.
Studies in the Ancient Japanese Literature,
by Kurano Kenshi. 1929.
444
((
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Investigations of the Ancient Ages, (Japanese) RF
Part I, Folklore, Part II, Japanese Literature,
by Origuchi Nobuo. 1929,
Studies in the Ancient History of Japan, HLR £ HÄ
by Tsuda Sōkichi. 1930.
A History of Ancient Japanese Literature,
by Takeda Yükichi. 1930.
Weltanschauung of the Ancient Japanese, ! *\ DEFE
by Kido Hata-tarō. 1930.
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Commentary on the Ancient Japanese Literature, 4%
by Tokuda Kiyoshi. 1930.
The Birth and Development of Japanese Poetry,
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Ancient Songs and Ballads of Japan, Lok
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Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan V57. XPart III.
FOR NOTES
445
446
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
.
FOR NOTES
447
*
:
|
.
448
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
FOR NOTES
449
:
450
.
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
INDEX
Throughtout the index the words "August" and "August-
ness have been abbreviated to "A." After some of the
Japanese names the equivalent English title is given in
brackets, thus, “Kagosaka no miko (King).”
"
Abe-no-hayè-hime, 409
Abe no iratsume (Lady), 293
Abe no omi (Grandees of), 196,
197
Abiko of Yosami, 208
Accadian, i
Achi-kishi, 306
Achiki no fumi-bito (scribes), 306
Achi-no-atahe (Suzerain of), 348,
352
Active Essence, 4
Ada no U-kahi (Cormorant-keepers
of Ada), 166
Ada no wake (Lords of Ada), 224
Adoption, xlvi, 225
Adzu, Prince, 409
Adzuki, Island of, 29
Adzuma, 258
Adzuma, Land of, 258
Adzumi-no-murazhi (Chiefs of),
49, 50
Afumi, Land of, 190, 204, 205, 225,
233, 273, 287, 288, 296, 322,
373, 403, 404, 408
Afumi, Nearer, 7, 61, 205, 274
Afumi no omi (Grandees of), 198
Afumi, Sea of, 287
Afusaka, 287
Agate, xxxv
Agi, Land of, 158
Agina no omi (Grandees of), 200
Agu Lagoon, 313
Aha, Island of, 23, 25, 35, 329
451
Aha, Port of, 248
Aha, Province of, 185
Ahaji, Granaries of, 276
Ahaji, Island of, 22, 24, 25, 187,
293, 329, 345
Aha-saku-mi-tama, 137
Ahata no omi (Grandees of), 190
Ahidzu, 219, 232
Ahine, 364
Ahira-hime (Princess), 176, 181
Aino, xxiv, xxxiii, lxxii, lxxiii, lxxx,
258
Ajimasa, 237
Ajimasa, Island of, 329
Ajisaha-bime (Princess), 206
Aji-shiki-taka-hiko - ne-no-kami
(Deity), 98, 117, 118
Aka-hime-no-iratsume, 409
Akaru-hime (Princess), 315
Akashi, 202
Akawi-ko, 379, 380, 381, 382
Ake-tatsu no miko (King), 204,
234, 235
Aki-bime-no-kami, 110
Akidzu, Moor of, 383, 384
Akidzushima, Palace of, 191
Akira, Palace of, 291
Aki-guhi-no-ushi-no-kami, 47
Akuto-hime (Princess), 186
Alder (Alnus maritima), xxxix
Altaic, i, xv, lxxvi, lxxxi
Ama, 328
Ama, Princess, 209
452
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
<<
}
Ame-no-kaku-no-kami, 120
Ame-no-kaku-ya, 113
Ama-be, 305
Amakashi, Capé, 234, 357
Ama-no-hi-boko,
316
313, 314, 315,
Ama-no-kagu-yama, 36
Ama-no-ma-hito-tsu-no-mikoto,
66
Ama-no-mi-sora - toyo - aki - dzu -
ne-wake, 27
Ama-no-sagu-me, 114
Ama-no-uki-hashi, 21
Ama-terasu-oho-mi-kami, 50
Ama-tsu-hi-daka, 144, 145
Ama-tsu-hi-daka-hiko-ho-ho-de-
153.
mi-no-mikoto, 143
Ama-tsu-hi-daka-hiko-nagisa-take-
u-gaya-fuki-ahezu-no-mikoto,
Ama-tsu-hiko-ne-no-mikoto, 58
Ama-tsu-kume-no- mikoto, 134,
168, 270.
Ama-tsu-kuni-tama-no-kami, 113
Ama-tsu-ma-ura, 65
Ame-hito-tsu-bashira, 27
Ame-hito-tsu-ne, 29
Ame - kuni - oshi-haruki-hiro-niha,
His A., 409, 410
Ame-nigishi-kuni-nigishi-ama-tsu-
hi-daka-hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi-
no-mikoto, 127, 128
Ame-no-fuki-wo-no-kami, 30
Ame-no-fuyu-kinu-no-kami, 80
Ame-no-haha-ya, 113
Ame-no-hako-yume, 113
Ame-no-hazhi-yumi, 1131
Ame-no-hibara-oho-shi-na-domi-
no-kami, 101
Ame-no-ho-akari no mikoto, 129
Ame-no-hohi, 58, 60, 112, 113
Ame-no-iha-to-wake no kami, 131
Ame-no-kagu-yama, 36
Ame-no-ko-ya-né-no-mikoto, 66
Ame-no-ku-hiza-mochi-no-kami,
31
Amė-no-kura-do-no-kami, 33
Ame-no-ma-na-wi, 56
Ame no Mikage no kami, 203
Ame-no-mika-nushi-no-kami, 100
Ame-no-mi-kumari-no-kami, 31
Ame-no-mi- naka-nushi-no-kami,
17
Ame-no-nori-goto, 88
Ame-no-oshi-hi no mikoto, 134
Ame-no-oshi-koro-wake, 26
Ame-no-oshi-no-mimi, 111
Ame-no-oshi-wo, 29
Ame-no-sade-yori-hime, 27
Ame-no-sa-dzu-chi-no-kami, 32
Ame-no-sa-giri-no-kami, 33
Ame-no-ta-jikara-wo-no-kami, 68,
131
Ame-no-toko-tachi-no-kami, 18
Ame-no-tori-bune, 33
Ame-no-tsudohe-chi-ne-no-kami,
80
Ame-no-udzu-me-no-kami, 129
Ame-no-uki-hashi, 21
Ame-no-uzume-no-mikoto, 68
Ame-waka-hiko, 113
Ame-no-wo-ha-bari, 40
Ame-no-wo-ha-bari no kami, 120
Ame-no-yasu-kaha, 56
Ame-oshi-tarashi-hiko, 190
Ame-shiru-karu-midzu-no-kami,
107
Ampelopsis serianæ folia, xxxviii,
102
Amuchi, in Yamato, 62
Amuchi-no-miyotsuko (Rulers of),
62
-
INDEX
453
Anado, 275
Anado, Deities of, 252
Anaho, His A., 355, 359, 360, 361
362, 367
Anaho, Palace of, 367
Anahobe Wake (Lords), 224
Ana no omi (Grandees of), 190
An-Kan Tenno, 410
An-Ko Tenno, 367, 369, 370, 371,
373, 374
An-nei Tenno, 186
Aphananthe aspera, xxxviii, 88
Arakaha-to-be, 208
Aralia, xxxix, 331, 332, 343
Ara-mi-tama. 282
Arata, 293
Arata no iratsume (Lady), 293
Arawi Hakuseki, xi, lix, lx, lxxix,
lxxxiv, 40, 45, 55, 104
Arca Subcrenata, xxxviii, 137
Are, Hiyeda no, iv, v, 11, 13
Are, Princess, 193
Arrows, xxviii, 54, 55, 87, 88, 89,
113, 115, 135, 160, 168, 175,
218, 219, 318, 319, 360, 371,
373, 374
Arrows, Anaho, 360
Arrows, Karu, 360
Artizans, 306
Arts, xlviii
Aryan Mythology, lxxv
Aryans, lxxv, lxxvi
Asakura, 375
Ashida no Sukune (The Noble),
347
Ashigara Pass, 258
Ashi - hara no naka - tsu - kuni
(Japan), 44
Ashi-hara-shiko - no-wo-no-kami
(Deity), 81
Ashi-kagami-wake no miko (King),
-
272
Ashi-nadaka-no-kami (Deity), 99.
Ashi-nadzu-chi, 72
Ashiwi no inaki (Territorial Lords
of), 189
Assasination of Ri-Chiu Tenno
attempted, 348
Aso no kimi (Dukes of), 184, 207
Aston, W. G., ii, xiii, xlix, 41, 77,
385
Asuha-no-kami (Deity), 109
Asuka no kimi (Dukes of), 224
Ashida, 100
Ashidaka, 100
Asuka, Further, 7, 8
Asuka, River, 405
Ata, Divine Princess of, 138
Ata, Dukes of, 142
Atori, King, 411
Aucuba japonica, xxxviii, 46
August-Ancestor-of-Earth, Deity,
110
August Food, Great Deity of, 289
August Luck-Spirit, 282
August-Luck - Spirit - the-August-
Wondrous-Spirit, 105
August-Snap-Spirit, 164
August-Store-house-Shelf-Deity,
51
August-Spirit-of-the-Great- Land,
Deity, 106, 107, 110
August-Wells, Deity of, 90
Autumn-Princes, 110
Awaji, Island of, see Ahaji
Awa-nagi-no-kami, 31
Awa-nami-no-kami, 31
Awful-Master-Prince, Deity, 100
Awful-Snap Deity, 164
Awfully-Swift-Deity, 38
Awi in Mishima, 410
Awimi-gaha, River, 118
454
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
(C
Awogaki, Mount, 265
Awomi-no-iratsumė, 347
Awo-numa-nu-oshi-hime (Prin-
cess), 101
Awotama, 196
Axe, xxviii
Aya-kashiko-ne-no-kami, 20
Aya, King, 412
Aya no Atahe (Suzerains), 307,
348
Aya no kimi (Dukes of), 272
Azaka, 136
Azami-no-iri-bime, Her A., 222
Azami - tsu-hime (Princess), 222,
224
Bamboo, xxxviii, 319, 320, 378, 397
Bamboo-cutter, tale of the, 63
Bamboo grass, xxxviii, 69, 268
Bamboo-sprouts, 43
Barb, the whizzing, 108
Barley, xxxiv, xxxviii
Birth of, 71
Barndoor-fowl, xxxvii
Basket, 319
Bathing, xxxi, 230
Beads, xxxv
Beans, xxxiv, xxxviii
Birth of, 71
Bear, xxxvii, 6
Beautiful but alarming female, 196
Beautiful but alarming male, 196
Bêche-de-mer, xxxviii, 137, 138
Bee. xxxviii, 316
Bi-Datsu Tenno, 411
Biha, Lake (or Lake Biwa), 53, 61,
108
Bingo, Province of, 207, 271
Birds, xxxvii
Bird-boat, Deity, 121
Bird-Ears, Deity, 98
Bird-Growing-Ears, Deity, 99
Bird's-Rock-Camphor-Tree-Boat,
Deity, 33
Bird-Sounding-Sea, Deity, 99
Birth-control, 283
Bitchiu, Province of, 194, 271
Biwa, Lake, 299
Bizen, Province of, 194, 224, 271
Blakiston, Capt., xii, 93, 344
Blocking-Great-Deity-of-the-door-
of-Hades, 46
Black-Thunder Deity, 42
Blade-Possessor Deity, 150
Boar, wild, xxxvii, 84, 262, 263,
285, 307, 373, 384
Boat, the two-forked, xxviii, 232
Boiled-Rice, His A., 155, 156
Books, xlix, lvlll, 306
"Book of Changes," lxxxv
Bottom-possessing-Male, 280
Bottom - Touching - August-Spirit,
137
Bows, xxviii, 88, 89, 90, 113, 114,
135, 168, 175, 286, 318, 319,
374
Bow-Tips, 220
Bracelets, xxxiv
"Brae," 33
Brasenia peltata, xxxix, 302
Brave-August-Name-Firm, Deity,
99, 122, 123
Brave Awful - Possessing - Male-
Deity, 38, 120, 122, 123, 126,
127, 163, 164
Brave-Good-Youth, 26
Brave-Rustic-Illuminator, His A.,
B
60
Brave-Snapping Deity, 38
Brave - Sun - Confronting - Luxuri-
ant - Wondrous - Lord - Youth,
Land of, 27
INDEX
455
Brave - Sun-Direction - Youth, Is-
land of, 29
Brave-Sun-Youth, Land of, 27
Brave - Swift - Impetuous - Male -
Augustness, 51, 52 (see also
Susa-no-wo).
Brilliant-Alarming-Female, 196
Bravoes, eighty, slaughtered, 171,
172
Bronze, xlii
Bronze Age, xxviii
Bubble Bursting - August-Spirit,
137
Bubble-Calm, Deity, 31
Bubble-Waves, Deity, 31
Buddhism, 1, lxii, lxviii, 104
Bulrush, xxxviii
Bum-Mei, (A Chinese Emperor),
12, 13
Bungo, Province of, 195
Burial, xlvi
Burial Alive, xlvi, xlvii, 210, 242
Bush-clover, xxxviii, 46
Butler Grandees, ancestors of the
197
Cabbage, xxxix, 329
Caldwell, Bishop, i
Camellia japonica, xxxviii, 333
Cassia, xxxviii, 1xxviii, 114, 145,
146, 281
Castles, xxxii, xxxiii
Catalogue of Family Names, xi,
lxxxii, 61, 62, 190, 195, 208,
240
Catalpa Kaempferi, xxxix, 311, 366
Cats, xxxvi
Cattle, xxxvi
Cave-Dwellers, xxxiii, 171
Centipedes, xxxvii, 87, 88
Central Land of Reed-Plains. 44,
64, 70, 163
Chamœyparis obtusa, xxxviii, 73,
389
Charms, lxvii
Cherry Bark, 67
Chestnut, xxxix, 299, 300
Chiba, 297
Chien Tzu Wen, xlix
Chihisako-be no murazhi, (Chief-
tains of the Tribe of), 183
Chih Nü, 119
Chiji-haya-hime-no-mikoto (Prin-
cess), 192
Chiji-haya-ma-waka-hime, Kasu-
ga-no (Princess), 192
Chiji-tsuku-yamato-hime (Prin-
cess), 209
Chika, Island of, 29
Chika-tsu-Afumi, 108, 203, 205,
271
Chika-tsu-Afumi no Kuni no Mi-
yatsuko (Rulers of the Land
of), 191
Chika-tsu-Afumi no Yasu no atahe
(Suzerains of), 206
Chika-tsu-Asuka, 352
Palace of, 402
Chikuzen, Province of, 59, 169,
322
Chi-mata-no-kami, 47
Chimori no omi (Grandees of),
207
China, ii, lviii, 104, 105, 106
China, Emperor of, 187
Chinese Culture, 1
Chinese Histories, lxxvii
Chinese Influence, i, ii, lx, lxxviii,
xlxxix, 112
Chinese Philosophy, 1
Chinu, King, 412
Chinu no wake (Lords of), 189
456
(( KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Chinu, Pool of, 223
Chinu, Sea of, 161
Chi-shiki-no-oho-kami, 45
Chita no omi (Grandees of), 191
Chiu-ai Tenno, lxxvii, 275, 277,
278, 281, 284. 285, 287, 289,
291
Chiura, 289
Chopsticks, xxxiv, lxxviii, 72, 281
Chou Wang (Shiu-o), 9
Christianity, lxii
Chronicles of Japan, iii, vi, vii, x,
xvii, xxi, xxii, xxvi, xxviii,
xxix, xxxi, xxxv, xxxvi, li, lii,
liii, lv, lvi, lviii, lxii, lxvii, lxx,
lxxiii, lxxiv, lxxvii, lxxxiii,
lxxxii, 8, 19, 22, 34, 35, 36, 38,
45, 47, 59, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69,
72, 74, 75, 78, 81, 102, 103,
104, 105, 106, 114, 116, 117,
119, 121, 122, 128, 136, 140,
142, 146, 148, 150, 152, 158,
159, 160, 164, 165, 168, 171,
175, 189, 191, 193, 195, 200,
210, 220, 224, 226, 230, 233,
239, 302, 306, 315, 317, 332,
337, 341, 344, 345, 346, 347,
375, 398, 400, 401, 404
Chronicles of Japan Continued, 4,
151
Chronicles of Japan Explained,
lxxxii, 36
Chronicles of Old Affairs, 24, 65
Chronicles of Old Matters of For-
mer Ages, vi, xxii, lxxxii, 56,
197, 273, 292, 360
Clam, Princess, 84
Classical Poetry of the Japanese,
12, 190, 364
Clay-Viscid-Prince, Deity, 34
Clay-Viscid-Princess, Deity, 34
Cleaving-Thunder, Deity, 42
Cleyera japonica, xxxviii, 67, 169,
237
Cloth, lxv, lxvi, 213
Clothing, xxxiv, xxxv
Clubmoss, xxxviii, 68, 69
Coat, rain, xxxv
Cocculus thunbergi, xxxviii, 253
Cock, the, 91
Cockle, xxxviii, 84
Cockle-shell, Princess, 84
Coffins, stone, 242
Collection of a Myriad Leaves, i,
vii, lxxxii, 27, 32, 50, 200, 231,
364
Collection of Songs Ancient and
Modern, vii. lxxxii
Colours, xli
Combs, xxxv, 42, 43, 73, 257
Commentary on the Collection of
a Myriad Leaves, lxxxii, 27,
384
Commentary on the Lyric Dramas,
lxxxii, 92
Commentary on the Ritual of the
General Purification, lxxxii
Cormorants, xxxvi, xxxvii, 125, 166,
375
Cormorant Keepers, 166, 174
Cormorant Thatch- Meeting - In-
completely, His A., 155
Concubines, 89, 238
Confucian Analects, 306
Confucius, 5
Cooking Pots, xxxiv
Copper, xli, 65
Coral, 346
Correct Account of the Divine
Age, x, lxxxii
Couchant-Thunder, Deity, 42
Cow, xxxix, 314
-
INDEX
457
Crab, xxxix, 298
Crane, xxxix
Creation, Commencement of, 4, 5
Crimes, 279
LO
Crystal, xxxv
Cups, xxxiv
Curse, 320
Crocodiles, xxxvii, lxxviii, 82, 83,
149, 150, 152
Cross-sword, 162, 163, 164, 168,
223, 306
Crow, xxxvii, 164, 165
Crumbling Prince, the, 103, 105
Cryptomeria japonica, xxxviii, 73,
232
Dances, 151, 396
Death, xlvi
Deer, xxxvii, 35, 373
Deguchi Nobuyoshi, ix
Deities, Assemblage of, 65, 71
Deities, birth of, 17, 18, 19, 20, 29,
30, 31-51, 56–60, 62, 80, 90, 98–
101, 106-111, 142, 143, 152
Deities, death of, 17, 18, 19
Deites, laugh, 70
Deities, the eight-hundred myriad,
112, 113, 114, 119
Deities, the hundred and eighty,
124
Deities, violent and savage earthly,
112, 114, 162, 163, 165, 175
Deity - Great - Master - of- the
Mountain-End, 108
Deity-Ocean-Possessor, place of,
-
145
Deity-of-the - Fire - in-the - Yard,
108
Deity-of-the-High-Sun-of-Sum-
mer, 110
Deity - Producing - Wondrous-An-
!
cestor, 71, 103
Deity-Spirit-of-the- Living-Land,
89
Deluge, lxviii
Dictionary of Pillow-Words, lxxxiii,
19, 131, 261, 262, 287, 333, 334
Digest of Imperial Genealogies,
lxxxiii
Dioscorea quinqueloba, xxxix
Discussion of the Objections to the
Enquiry into the True Chro-
nology, lxxxiii
Dishes, xxxiv
Divination, xxiv, lxvii, 24, 67
Divine Age, xxxiv, xlix, lxiii, lxx,
€6
Divine Characters, xlviii, xlix
Divine-eight-wells-ears, 180
Divine-House-Shield, Princess, 98
Divine-Keen-Sabre, 118
Divine-Lagoon-River-Ears, 180
Divine Life - Producing - Won -
-
drous-Deity, 106
Divine-Princess-of-Great-Majesty,
79
Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Dei-
ty, 4, 17, 84
Divine-Rectifying-Wondrous-Dei-
ty, 49
Divine-Yamato- Ihare-Prince, His
A., 155, 157
Dogs, xxxvi, xxxix, 377
Dolphin xxxix, 288, 289
Dotterel, xxxvii, xl, 93, 268, 269
Dove, xxxix
Dragon-fly, xxxvii, 383
Dragon-fly, Island of the, 6, 28,
383
Dravidian Languages, i
Dreams, lxii
Drum, 291
458
“KO-JI-KI,” Or records oF ANCIENT MATTERS
Earthenware-Masters Clan, 242
Earth-hiders, 171
Earthly-Dark-Door, Deity, 33
Earthly-Deities, lxv, 19
Earthly-Elder-of-the-Passes, Dei-
ty, 32
Earthly-Eternally-Standing- Deity,
18, 19, 21
Earthly-Pass-Boundary, Deity, 33
Earthly- Water - Drawing - Gourd -
Possessor, Deity, 31, 32
Earthly-Water-Divider, Deity, 31
Earth-spiders, 7, 170, 171, 172
Earth-Thunder, Deity, 42
Earthquakes, lxviii
Eastern Lands, rulership of, 255
Echigo, Province of, 62, 73, 194
Echizen, Province of, 73, 101, 194,
210, 299, 322
Education, xliv, xlv
Eight, the number, lxviii, lxix
Eight-Fold - Thing - Sign - Master,
Deity, 121, 123, 124
Eight-forked Serpent, liii, lx, lxviii,
73, 75, 130
Eight Great Islands, 8, 23, 28, 91
Eight-Island-Possessor, Deity, 99
Eight-Island Ruler, 79, 102
Eight-Rivers-and-Inlets, Princess,
99
Eight-Thousand-Spears, Deity of,
81, 90
Song sung by, 91, 94, 95
Eight-Wells, Prince, 180
Eighty Deities, the, 82, 83, 85, 90
Eighty Evils, Wondrous Cape of,
356
Elbow Pads, xxviii, 55, 276
Elder-Lady-of-the - Great - Place -
Deity, 20
Elder-Male-of-the-Bottom, Deity,
49, 50
Elder-Male-of-the-Middle, Deity,
49, 50
Elder-Male-of-the-Surface, Deity,
49, 50
Elder-of-the- Great - Place, Deity,
20
Emperor, the, 138
Emperors', Virtuesand Accomplish-
ments of the, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Etchu, Province of, 73, 183, 194,
195
Eternal Land, the, 104, 156, 240,
241
Eulalia japonica, xxxviii, 96
Euonymus japonica, xxxviii, 311
Euonymus sieboldianus, xxxix,
267
Examination of Difficult Words,
xi, lxxxiii, 36, 54, 126, 134, 376
Examination of the Synonyms for
Japan, lxxxiii, 27.
Excrements, 279
Explanation of Japanese Names,
lxxxiii
Explanation of the Songs in the
Chronicles of Japan, lxxxiii,
290, 345
Exposition of the Ancient Histories,
x, lxxxiii, 22, 24, 32, 56, 66, 85,
88, 99, 116, 122, 126, 134
Exposition of the Foreign Notices
of Japan, lxxxi, lxxxiii, 28,
227
Exposition of the Records of Anci-
ent Matters, xlii, 1, lxxxiii
Exposition of the Records of Anci-
ent Matters Criticised, lxxxiii
Falcon-lord, 294, 341
Fans, xlviii
INDEX
459
Female-Deity of Idzu, 49
Female-Deity-of-Summer, 110
Female who invites, see Izanami
Feudalism, lxxi
Fighting, xlv
Finnish, i
Fire Burning-Swift - Male - Deity,
34
Fire-Climax, His A., 142
Fire-Deity, 35, 36
slaying of, 37
Fire-drill, xxviii, 125, 126, 255, 256
Fire God, birth of, lii, 35
Fire-Producer, Deity, 34
Fire-Shine, see Ho-deri
Fire-Shining-Elder-Deity, 34, 37
Fire-Shining-Prince, Deity, 34
Fire-Subside, see Ho-wori
Fire-Swift-Deity, 38
Fire-Thunder-Deity, 42
Fish, xxxiii, xxxviii
Fisher Tribe, 305
Five-Reaches, His A., 155
Flesh, xxxiii
Floating Bridge of Heaven, 21, 112,
133, 134
Fly, xxxvii
Foam-Calm, Deity, 31
Foam-Waves, Deity, 31
Food, xxxiii
Food-Master, His A., 155, 156
Food of Hades, 41
Food - Wondrous - Great - Deity,
289
Foot - Stroking - Elder, Deity, 72,
74, 78
Forced labour, 327
Forward-Princess, the, 86, 87, 88,
89, 90, 94
Song sung by the, 96, 97
Fowls, xxxvi, xxxvii, 65
Frog, xxxvii, 103
Fuchi of Otokuni, 222
Fuha - no-moji - ku - nu-su-nu-no-
kami, 80
Fuji, Mount, 138, 257
Fujihara, 321
Fujihara no Ason Tsugunaha,
lxxxii
Fujihara no Hitomaru, lxxxiii, 173
Fujihara-no- koto - fushi - no- ira -
tsume (Lady), 321
Fujihara no Masaoki, x, lxxxiv
Fuka-buchi-no- midzu - yare-hana,
80
Fukita no wake, (Lords of), 273
Fumi no obito, (Grandees), 306
Funaki no atahe, (Suzerains of),
185
Funu-dzu-nu-no-kami, (Deity), 80
Furu-koto-bumi, v
Furu-kuma, 287
Furnace, Deity of, 108
Fuse no kimi, 322
Fushi-ikadzuchi, 42
Fushimi, Mound of, 369
Futa-go, Islands of, 29
Futaji-hime, (Princess), 271
Futaji-no-iri-bime, Her A., 223,
225, 270
Futa-na, Island of, 24
Fute-mimi-no-kami, 80
Futo-hime, 412
Futo-ma-waka-hime - no- mikoto,
(Princess), 188
Futo-Tama-no-mikoto, 66
Fuzhi, Mount, see Fuji Mount
Garlic, 301
Gate, Deity of the August, 132
Gemmio, or Gem-miyo, Empress,
v, xxii, 3, 12, 86
#a
•
460
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
(C
Generations, Seven divine, 21
"Gentile Name," xviii
Gentle August Spirit, 282
Germ-Integrating-Deity, 19, 20
Gins, xxviii
Ginger xxxviii, 173
Girdles, xxxiv, 230
Glass, xxxv
Gleanings from Ancient Story,
lxxxiii, 66, 132, 313
Glow-on-the-Autumn- Mountains,
Youth of the, 317
Go, the country, 306
Goats, xxxvi
Gods with Tails, 166
Gold, x1, 278
Good-Boiled-Rice, Prince, 25
Good-Princess, 57
Goose, wild, xxxvii, 102, 116, 343,
344, 345
Goto, Islands of, 29
Gourds, xxxix, 281
Government, lxix, lxx, lxxi
Granaries, 248, 276, 326, 371
Grandee of the Way, 168
Grand-Ears-Deity, 80
Grand-Jewel, His A., 66, 68, 70,
130, 132
Grapes, 43
Great - August - Heaven - Shining -
Deity, 280
Great-Blade-Mower, a sword, 118
Great Butlers Tribe, 248
Great-Deity-of-Hades, 45
Great-Deity-of-the-Road - Turn-
ing-Back, 45
Great-Divine-Fruit, Deities, 44
Great-Door-Sun-Youth, Deity, 30
Great-Earth-Deity, 109, 110
Great - Food, Princess, Land of,
25
Great - Furnace - Princess, Deity,
108
Great-Harvest-Deity, 79, 106, 110
Great-House-Prince, Deity, 30, 85,
86
Great-Male-of-the - Great-Thing,
Deity of, 29, 31
Great-Master-of-Things, 177, 211,
Great-Mountain-Integrator, Deity,
Great-Mountain-Possessor, Deity,
32, 79, 80, 138
Child of, 72
Great-Name-Possessor, Deity, 81,
82, 83, 88, 89, 90, 104
attempts on the life of, 87, 88
brought to life again, 84, 85
killed, 84, 85
Great-Ocean-Possessor, Deity, 31,
147, 148
212
108
Palace of, 145
Great-Rectifying - Wondrous- Dei-
ty, 49
Great-Refulgent-Mountain-Dwell-
ing-Grandee, Deity, 107
Great-Thunder, Deity, 42
Great-Vale-Prince, Deity, 33
Great-Vale-Princess, Deity, 33
Great-Water-Master, Deity, 80
Great Yamato's Lord Prince, the
Vast Jewel, 192
Great Yamato's Lord Prince who
Rules the Land, 192
Great Yamato Perfect Prince,
Country Great Man, 190
Great - Yamato - the - Luxuriant -
Island-of-the-Dragon-Fly, 27
Grebe, xxxix, 298
Guard, Imperial, 142, 151
Gurgling-Up-August-Spirit, 137
INDEX
461
Hachijo, Island of, xxxii, 346
Hada, 326
Hada no Miyatsuko, (Rulers), 307
Hades, lxiv, lxv, 40, 49, 53, 278,
280
Hades, Deities of, 42
Hades, Even Pass of, lii, 43, 44, 45,
46, 89
Hades, Great Deity of, 45
Hades, Warriors of, 43
Hafuri-sono, 219
Hagi (Bush-clover), xxxviii, 46
Haguhi no kimi, (Dukes of), 225
Haguri no omi, (Grandees of), 190,
191
Hahaki, Land of, 37, 84
Hahe-irodo, 188, 193
Hahe-irone, 188
Hahigi-no-kami, 109
Hakata, Mount, 191
Hall of eight fathoms, 22
Halochloa macrantha, xxxviii, 125
Hami no omi, (Grandees of), 198
Hand-Strength-Male - Deity, 130,
131, 132
Hand-Stroking-Elder, Deity, 73,
74
Hanifu, Pass of, 349
Hanishi-be, 242
Hani-yasu, 235
Haniyasu, Princess, 196
Hani-yasu-biko-no-kami, 34
Hani-yasu-bime-no-kami, 34
Han men, pool of the, 305
Hanzei Tenno, 325, 353
Hara-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Hare, xxxvii
Hare Deity, 83
Hare, the white of Inaba, 82, 83
Harihara no kimi, (Dukes of), 312
Harima, 193, 194, 195, 233, 243,
355, 374, 396
Harima no Aso no kimi, 207
Harima no Uzhika no omi, 195
Harvest-Deity, the August, 107
Hasa, Mount, 362
Hashi-bito - no - ana-ho-be, King,
411
Hashi-bito-no-ana-ho-be, Princess,
412
Hashiri-midzu, Sea of, 256
Hatabi-no-oho-iratsuko, 325
Hatabi-no-waki-iratsume, 295, 325
Hata no kimi (Dukes of), 322
Hata no omi, (Grandees of), 198
Hata no Yashiro no sukune, (the
Noble), 198
Hats, xxxiv
broad-brimmed, xxxv
Hatsuse, 220, 365, 366, 375, 408
Hatsuse-be no Kimi (Dukes of the
Hatsuse tribe), 198
Hatsuse-be no toneri (Retainer),
375
Hatsuse-be-no-waka - sazaki, His
A., 411, 413
Haya-aki-dzu-hiko-no-kami, 31,
Haya-aki-dzu-hime-no-kami, 31,
49
49
Hayabito-ata-no-kami, 142
Hayabusa-wake, 294, 340, 341, 342
Ha-yama-to-no-kami, 109
Ha-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Haya - mika - no-take-sahaya-ji-nu-
mi-no-kami, 100
Haya-sasura-hime, 30
Hayashi no omi, (Grandees of),
198
Haye, Lord, 186
Haze-on-the- Spring - Mountain,
Youth-of-the, 317, 319
462
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Head-ornaments, xxxiv, 368
Heavenly-Alarming-Female, Her
A., 68, 70, 129, 130, 132, 136,
137
Heavenly-August-Sky- Luxuriant-
Dragon-fly-Lord-Youth, Land
of, 28
Heavenly - Awful - Master - Deity,
100
Heavenly - Beckoning - Ancestor
Lord, His A., 66, 68, 70, 130,
132
Heavenly-Bird-Boat, Deity, 33, 35,
-
120
Heavenly - Blowing - Male, Deity,
30
Heavenly - Brandishing - Prince -
Lord, Deity, 80
Heavenly-Dark-Door, Deity, 33
Heavenly-Deer-Deity, 120
Heavenly Deities, lxv, 18, 21, 24
Heavenly - Elder -o f- the- Passes,
Deity, 32, 33
Heavenly-Eternally-Standing-Dei-
ty, 18
Heavenly-Great-Great - Ears, His
A., 111
Heavenly-Great-Heart-Youth, Is-
lands of, 26
Heavenly-Great-Male, Island of,
29
Heavenly - Great - Perfect - Prince,
190
Heavenly Great Wondrous August-
ness, 134, 135
Heavenly - Hand - net - Good-Prin-
cess, Island of, 27
Heavenly - Hand - Strength - Male-
Deity, 68, 70, 131
Heavenly - Hibara - Great - Long-
Wind-Wealth, Deity, 101
T
Heavenly Metal-Mountains, 65
Heavenly-One-Eye, His A., 66
Heavenly-Pass - Boundary, Deity,
32, 101
Heavenly-Pointed-Blade - Extend-
ed, 40, 120
Heavenly-Rice-Ear-Ruddy, His A.,
129
Heavenly-Rock-Boat, 21, 134
Heavenly Rock-Dwelling, 64, 69,
70
Heavenly - Rock - Door Opener,
Deity, 131, 132
Heavenly-Rock-Seat, 133
Heavenly Sovereigns, 140
Heavenly-Spying-Woman, 114
Heavenly Stairs, 21
Heavenly - Water - Divider, Deity,
31
Heavenly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-
Possessor, Deity, 31
Heavenly-Young-Prince, the, 113,
-
114
killed, 115
shoots a pheasant, 115
mourning for, 117
Heaven-Plenty-Earth-Plenty -Hea-
vens-Sun-Height-Prince-Rice-
Ear - Ruddy - Plenty, His A.,
127, 138
Heaven - Shining - Great - August -
Deity, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56,
57, 59, 62, 63, 74, 75, 111, 112,
113, 114, 115, 119, 120, 121,
127, 129, 130, 133, 163
retires into cave, 64, 65
lured out of cave, 70
Heaven's-Earth-Spirit-Deity, 113,
116
Heaven's-One-Pillar, Island of, 27
Heaven's-One-Root, Island of, 29
2
INDEX
463
3
•
135
Heaven's
Heaven's-Round-Eyes, His A., 134,
Sun - Height - Prince
Great-Rice - Ears - Lord-Ears,
His A., 143, 154
Heaven's - Sun - Height - Prince -
Wave - Limit - Brave - Cormo-
rant-Thatch- Meeting-Incom-
pletely, 153, 155
Heaven's-Two-Houses, Islands of,
29
Hedysarum esculentum, xxxix, 373
Heguri, Mount, 378
Heguri no omi, (Grandees of), 199,
399
Heguri no Tsuku no sukune, (the
Noble), 199
Heki no kimi, (Dukes of), 312
Hepburn's Dictionary, 65
Hera, Pass of, 217
Herb-Quelling-Sabre, lxvii
Heron, xxxvii, 268
He-tsu-kahi-bera-no-kami, 48
He-tsu-nagisa-biko-no-kami, 48
Hi, Land of, 27
Hi no kimi, (Dukes of), 183
Hi, River, 72, 75, 193, 194, 236, 252
Hiba, Mount, 37
Hibasu, Princess, 205, 221, 239,
241, 242
High August Producing Wondrous
Deity, liv, 4, 17, 65, 103, 112,
113, 114, 115
High Deity-of-the - Fire-in-the-
Yard, 109
High-Integrating-Deity, 115, 121,
127, 128, 129, 133, 163, 164
High-Princess, Her A., 98
sings, 118
High-Shining, Princess, 98
Higo, Province of, 184, 322
Hi haya-bi-no-kami, 38
Hihira-gi-no- sono - hana - madzu-
mi-no-kami, 100
Hijikata no kimi, (Dukes of), 312
Hi-kaha-hime, (Princess), 80
Hiketa tribe, 379
Hiko-futsu - oshi-no- makoto, 196,
197
Hiko - hito - no-oho-yẻ no miko,
(King), 245
Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi, 128, 129, 133
Hiko-imasu no miko, (King), 202,
204, 216
Hiko-inakoshi-wake, 197
Hiko-isa-seri-biko, 193
Hiko-kuni-buku, His A., 218, 219
Hiko-kuni-oketsu, 201
Hiko-osu, King, 204
Hiko-same-ma, 193, 195
Hiko-sashi-kata-wake, 193, 195
Hiko-ya-wi, His A., 180
Hiko-yumusumi, 201, 202
Himeda, Ancestor of the Dukes of,
205
Himeda no kimi, (Dukes of), 353
Hime-goso, Shrine of, 315
Hime, Island of, 29, 343
Himeko, 277
Himuka, lfi, 133, 134, 176, 245, 247,
294, 300, 302, 325
Hinaga-hime, (Princess), 238
Hina-rashi-bime, (Princess), 100,
315
Hina-teri-nakata-bichi-wo-ikochi-
ni, Deity, 99
Hi-no-haya-yagi-wo-no-kami, 34
Hi-no-kaga-biko-no-kami, 34
Hi-no-kagu-tsuchi-no-kami, 34
Hinokuma, 410
Hirado, Island of, 29
Hirata, Atsutane, v, x, li, lxxi, lxxxi,
464
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OE ANCIENT MATTERS
lxxxiii, lxxxiv, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
Hirataka, 407
Hiro-hime, Her A., 412
Hiro-kuni-oshi-take-kana-hi, 409,
410
Hironari, Imibe no, lxxxiii
Hirudinem, (Leech Child), 23
Hiru-go, 35
Hisaoi, Arakida no, lxxxiii
Hishiro, Palace of, 243, 251, 389
Hitachi no Naka no kuni no miya-
tsuko, 184
Hitachi, Province of, 104, 126, 184,
206
Hi-tsugi-no-miko, 127
Hitsuma, Grandee, 408, 411
Hiuga, Land of, 26, 134, 136, 137
Hiye, Mount, 108
Hizen, Province of, 322
Ho, Lords of, 206
Ho-deri-no-mikoto, liv, lxxvii, 142,
143. 144, 148, 149, 150
Hodzumi no omi. (Grandees of),
175, 196
Hoffmann, lxi
Hoes, 336
Hohoma, Mount, 28
Hoko-ya-wi, 183
Hoku-roku-dọ, 216
Holly, xxxviii, 100, 254
Homuchi-wake, (Prince), 223, 228,
229, 230, 232
Ho-musubi, 34
Homo-tsu-wake, His A., 221
Homuda, 15, 303
Homuda-no-ma-waka no miko,
(King), 291, 292, 408
Homuda-wake, 276, 291, 293, 321,
323
Homuji clan, 236, 238
Homuji, Dukes of, 207
Homuji tribe, Ancestor of, 204
Homu-ya-wake, 276
Honoho, King, 410
Ho-no-ikadzuchi, 42
Ho-no-ni-ni-gi, 6
Hooks, xxviii
Horse, xxxvi, xxxvii, 306
Horse-fly, xxxix, 383
Hoshikaha no omi, (Grandees of),
198
Ho-suseri-no-mikoto, 142
Hot Water, Trial by, 356
Ho-wori - no- mikoto, liv, lxxvii,
142, 143, 144, 145, 149, 150, 154
Hsüan Hou, (Kenko), 9
"Human Age," lxx
Hydropyrum latifolium, xxxix, 359
Ibuki, Deity of, 262, 263, 267
Ibuki-do-nushi, 30
Ice-rain, 263, 360
Ichihiwi, 298
Ichihiwi no omi, (Grandees of),
190
Ichijishima, 298, 299
Ichiki-shima-hime-no-mikoto, 57
Ichi-no-be-no-oshiha, King, 373,
374, 395, 397, 398, 403
Ichishi-no-kimi, (Dukes of), 191
Ichishi, Pool of, 232
Idomi, 218
Idzumi, Province of, 160, 199, 218,
223, 294, 323
Idzumo Bravo, slain by Yamato
Take, 253
Idzumo Fudoki, 51
Idzumo, Great August Deity of,
234, 236
Idzumo, Great God of, lvi, 236
Idzumo-no-iratsume, 408
INDEX
465
Idzumo-no- kuni - no-miyatsuko,
(rulers of the land of), 60, 236
Idzumo, Province of, liii, liv, lv, lx,
lxiv, lxix, lxx, lxxii, lxxiii,
lxxviii, 5, 37, 46, 58, 60, 76, 78,
82, 94, 102, 116, 121, 124, 125,
160, 233, 237, 238, 252, 272
Idzu-ne-me-no-kami, 49
Idzu no Chi-Waki, x, xi, lxxxiii, 47,
68, 73, 102, 135, 164
Idzu no Koto-Waki, x, xi, lxxxiii,
77, 179, 257, 299
Idzushi, Eight great deities of, 316
Maiden of, 317, 318, 319
River, 319
Ifuya-zaka, (Pass), 46
Iga-hime, (Princess), 209
Iga, Land of, 187, 205
I-gaka-shiko-me, 196, 200
Igaka-shiko-wo, His A., 213
Iga no Suchi no inaki, 187
Iga-tarashi-hiko, His A., 221
Ihaki, King, 403
Ihakuma, 237
Ihakumo, Queen, 411
Ihami, Province of, 42
Iha-naga-hime, (Princess), 139
Ihanashi no wake, (Lords of), 224
Iha-no-hime, (Empress), 324, 325,
328, 331, 335, 343
Iha-oshi-waku no Ko, 166
Ihare, 347, 395, 408
Ihare-be, (Clan), 353
Ihare, Lake, 413
Iha-saku-no-kami, 37
Ihashiro no wake, (Lords of), 273,
Iha-tsuchi-biko-no-kami, 30
Ihatsuki, Mound of, 407, 408
Iha-tsuku-bime, Her A., 222
Iha-tsuku-wake, (King), 222, 225
Iha-tsutsu-no-wo-no-kami, 38
Ihawi, Lord of Tsukushi, 409
Iha-zu-bime-no-kami, 30
Ihi-bi-hime-no-mikoto, (Princess),
188
Ihigata-sumi, His A., 212
Ihi-me-no-ko, 413
Ihinu - ma - guro-hime, (Princess),
273
Ihitaka, Dukes of, 191
Ihi-toyo-no-iratsume, 348, 395,
398
Ihi-yori-hiko, 25
Ihobara no kimi, (Dukes of), 195
Ihodo, Palace of, 192
Iho-ki-no-iri-bime no mikoto,
(Princess), 244
Iho-ki-no-iri - biko no mikoto,
(Prince) 244, 246, 292
Ihorinu, Palace of, 410
Ikahi no kuni no miyatsuko,
(Rulers of the land of), 184
Ikahi no miko, (King), 403
Ika-tarashi-hiko no miko, (King),
222, 225
Ikeno-be, Palace of, 412
Ike no kimi, (Dukes of), 225
Ikegokoro, Palace of, 189
Iki, Island of, 27
Ikobaya-wake, His A., 222, 224
Ikochini, Deity, 99
Iku-guhi-no-kami, 20
Ikuha-no-omi, (Grandees of), 200
Ikume-iri-biko-isachi, His A., 209,
221, 270
Ikume Tenno, 203
Ikuta, River, xxxi
Iku-tachi, 88
Iku-tama - saki - tama -hime, (Prin-
cess), 100
Iku - tama - yori - bime, (Princess),
212, 214
466
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
""
1
Iku- tsu-hiko - ne-no- mikoto, His
A., 58
lxxxiii
Insects, xxxvii, 210
Intermediate - Direction - of- the-
Offing, Deity, 48
Intermediate - Direction - of- the-
Shore, Deity, 48
Inu-hime, (Princess), 106
Inukami no kimi, (Dukes), 272
Iri-ne no miko, (King), 204, 206
Iron, xxviii, xlii, 65
Isahi-no-sukune, (the Noble), 286,
Ikuye no omi, (Grandees of), 200
Iku-yumi-ya, 88
Imbe, the, lxvi
Imibe no Hironari, lxxxiii
Imibe no obito, (Headmen), 132,
183
Imigako, King, 411
Imperial Family, strife in the, Ivi
Imperial House, li
Impetuous Male Deity, see Susa-
no-wo
Inaba, Land of, 82, 207, 233
Inaba no Oshinumi-be, 207
Inabi no oho iratsume, (Elder Lady
of), 243
Inabi no waki-iratsume, 245
Inada-no-miya-nushi-Suga-no-ya-
tsu-mimi-no-kami, 78
Inada-no-miya-nushi Susa-no-ya-
tsu-mimi, 72
Ina-hi-no-mikoto, His A,, 155
Iname, the Noble, 412
Inaki no wake, (Lords of), 224
Inasa, 6, 121, 174
Inase-biko, (King), 224
Inawe, the Noble, 411
Inayori, Princess, 207
India, i, ii
Ine-yori-wake, (King), 271, 272
Ingiyo Tenno, 8, 183, 325, 354, 356,
357, 363
illness of, 356
Ini-shiki-no iri-biko, 221, 233
Inner Prince, 107
Inner Princess, 107
Inquiry into the Signification of
the Names of All the Provinces,
lxxxiii
Inquiry into the True Chronology,
-
-
287
Isaza-Wake, 287, 288
Ise, 137, 138, 185, 187, 191, 202,
267, 275
Ise-be, (Tribe), 305
Ise, Great Deity of, 210, 224, 249,
409
Ise, Inner Temple of, 131, 254
Ise no Funaki no atahe, (Suzerains),
185
Ise no Ihitaka no kimi, (Dukes of),
191
Ishidzu, 347
Ishi-hime, 410
I-shi-ko-ri-do-me, 65, 130, 132
Islam, lxii
Island of the Dragon-Fly, 191
Islands, birth of, 23-29, 35
Isonokami, 367, 408
Isonokami, Deity of, 164, 223
Isonokami, Divine Sword of, lxv
Isonokami, Temple of, lv, 348, 350,
352
I-suke-yori-hime, 176, 178, 179,
180, 181
Isuzu, 131
Ito, 283
I-toku Tenno, 188
Itoshi-be, (Tribe), 225
Itoshi-wake, (King), 222, 225
•
INDEX
467
Itowi-hime, (Princess), 294
Itsu-no-wo-ha-bari, 40
Itsu-no-wo-ha-bari-no-kami, 119
Itsu-se-no-mikoto, 155, 157, 160,
161
Iwashima no miko, (King), 322
Iyo, Land of, 25, 37, 184, 272, 363
Iyo, Rulers of the Land of, 184
Izaho-wake, His A., 325, 326, 347,
397, 398
Izakaha, Hill of, 208
Izakaha, palace of, 201
Izanagi, (The Male who invites),
xxii, xxiii, lii, liv, lix, lx, lxiv,
lxix, lxxiv, lxxvii, lxxviii, 4, 5,
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 33, 35, 36, 37,
40, 41, 42, 43-48, 51, 53, 55, 57,
81-89, 120, 149, 280, 357
bargains for a young girl, 74
builds a palace. 76
composes a song, 70, 77
punished and expelled, 71, 72
slays a serpent, 75
visits the underworld, lii, liv, 40.
Izanami, (The Female who invites),
xxiii, lii, lix, lxxiv, lxxvii, 4,
20-24, 33, 34, 35, 40-45, 90,
120
burial of, 37, 59
death of, 35
Iza-no-ma-waka, His A., 209, 292,
295
Izasa-wake, lv
Izhimu, Land of, 61
Izhimu-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko, 61
Jade, xxxv
Japan, lxxii, 27, 315
Japanese, original religious beliefs
of, lxiv, lxxiv, lxxv
Japanese Words Classified and
"
Explained, xi, lxxxiii, 25, 27,
61, 73
Jars, sacred, 193, 194, 218
Jewels, xxxv, lxvii, 5, 51, 54, 56, 57,
58, 66, 67, 68, 118, 119, 130,
146, 147, 149, 150, 151, 153,
154, 229, 314, 316, 342, 366.
Jewel Ancestor, Chieftains, 133
Jewel Ancestor, His A., 66, 130,
133
Jewel-Good-Princess, 153, 155
Jewel-string, 229
Jih-pén, lxxii, lxxiii
Jim-mu Tenno, xvi, xxxi, lv, lvi,
Ixi, 4, 6, 7, 28, 157, 162, 164,
167, 170, 172, 174, 176, 181,
183, 220, 276
legend, lxvii, lxx, lxxvii
grandfather of, lxvii
age of, 185
burial of, 185
see also under Kamu-yamato -
ihare-biko-no-mikoto
Jin-go Kō-gō, xxiv, xxxvi, lvii, lxv,
lxviii, lxxvii, 6, 7, 136, 207, 276,
281, 284, 285, 289, 291, 316
conquers Korea, lxxvii, 281, 282
husband of, lvii, lviii, lxxvii
practises birth control, 281, 282,
283
subdues Yamato, 285, 286, 287
Jin-kō, lxxxii
Junk, 282
Kabura-zaki, 167
Kachi-do-hime, 284
Kadzura japonica, xxxix, 309
Kazuraki, 185, 189, 191, 197, 334,
372, 395
Kadzaraki-be, (Tribe), 325
Kadzuraki, Great Deity of, lv, lxv,
468
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
CC
385, 386, 387
Kadzuraki, King, 411
Kadzuraki, Mount, 384, 386
Kadzuraki-no-Nagaye - no-sotsu -
biko, 200
Kadzuraki-no-so-tsu-biko, 324
Kadzuraki - no- Takachina - bime -
no-mikoto, 197
Kadzuraki no Takanuka-hime, 206
Kadzuraki-no-tarumi, (Noble), 202
Kadzu, 296, 297.
Kadzunu, 108
Kadzunu no wake, (Lords of), 205
Kadzusa, Province of, 60, 61, 62,
185, 191, 235
Kaempfer, lxi
Kafuchi, 196, 212, 269, 291, 323,
347, 357, 376, 395, 410
Kafuchi-no-waku-go-hime, 410
Kaga, Province of, 73, 200
Kagami-tsukuri-no-murazhi, 132
Kaga-yama-to-omi-no-kami, 109
Kagayo-hime, 107
Kagosaka no miko, (King), 274,
276, 285
Kago-yori-ihme no mikoto, (Prin-
cess), 244
Kagu, Mount, lxiii, 36, 37, 67, 69,
120, 260, 261
Ka-guro-hime, (Princess), 245, 246,
273, 274, 295
Kagu-tsu-chi, 36
Kagu-ya-hime, Her A., 175, 222
Kaha-be, (Tribe), 357
Kahachi, Province of, 160, 183,
186, 199, 200, 208, 223, 294,
326, 348
Kahakami be, (Tribe), 223
Kahakami, Palace of, 223
Kahakami, Village of, 205
Kaha-mata-bime, (Princess), 186
Kahamata no Ina-yori-bime, (Prin-
cess), 207
Kahanobe no omi, (Grandees of),
198
Kaharada-no-iratsume, 295
Kahase no toneri, (Retainers), 375
Kahi, Land of, 205, 259
Kahibara Tokushin, lxxix, lxxxiii
Kahi-dako, 411
Kahi no iratsume, (Lady of), 354
Kahi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko, (Ru-
lers of the land of), 205
Kai-Kuwa Tenno, 201
Kakinomoto Hitomaru, 190
Kakinomoto no omi, (Grandees of),
190
Kama, Mount, 161
Kamafu-no-inaki, (Lords of), 62
Kamakura no wake, (Lords of), 272
Kama-no-kami, 108
Kami, lxiii, lxiv
Kami, King, 411
Kami-musu-bi-no-kami, or Kami-
musu-bi-mi - oya - no- mikoto,
17, 71
Kami-musu-bi-no-mikoto, 84
Kami-naga-hime, (Princess), 300,
301, 324
Kami-tsu-ke-nu no kimi, (Dukes
of), 209
Kami-tsu - Unakamino - kuni - no-
miyatsuko, (Rulers of), 60
Kamo, Great August Deity of, 98
Kamo no kimi, (Dukes of), 215
Kamu-do-tsurugi, 118
Kamu-iku-musu-bi-no-kami, 106
Kamu-kushi no miko, (King), 244,
247
Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi, His A.,
180, 182, 185
Kamu-naho-bi-no-kami, 49
Kamu-oho-ichi-hime, 79
f
INDEX
469
+
Kamu-oho-ne no miko,(King), 204,
206, 247
Kamu-saki-no-iratsume, 409
Kamu-tsu-michi no omi, (Gran-
dees of), 194
Kamu-ya- tate - hime-no- mikoto,
98
Kamu - yamato - ihare - biko - no -
mikoto, lv, 5, 15, 155, 157, 162,
164, 166, 168, 170, 175, 176,
178, 179, 180
age of, 185
burial of, 185
Kamu-yawi-mimi, His A., 4.,'180,
•
182, 183
Kanahashi, Palace of, 410
Kana-yama-biko-no-kami, 34
Kana-yama-bime-no-kami, 34
Kani - me - ikadzuchi no
(King), 206
Kanu, Lords of, 205
Kara, 306
miko,
Kara-fukuro, 373
Kara-fukuro, children of, 403
Kara, Land of, 135
Kara no kami, (Deity), 106
Kara, Princess, 371, 375
Karanu, the ship, 345, 846
Karawoka, 408
Kari-bata-tobe, 202, 222
Karibawi, 374
Karu, 195, 220
Karu-be, (Tribe), 357
Karu, Land of, 188
Karu, Prince, xliii
Karu, pool of, 232
Karu-be no omi, (Grandees of),
198.
Karu no miko, (King), 354, 357,
358, 359, 361, 365, 363
Karu-no-oho - iratsume, (Lady),
355, 358
Karushima, 291
Kasa no omi, (Grandees of),194,
195
Kasanuhi, King, 410
Kasanuhi, Queen, 412
Kasasa, Cape of, 135, 136, 138
Kashi Spur, 185
Kashibara or Kashihabara, 175,
176
Kashifu, 304
Kashihade no omi, (Grandees of),
197
Kashihi, Palace of, 276, 277
Kasuga, 192, 201, 203, 387
Kasuga, King, 412
Kasuga-no-chiji - haya-ma-waka-
hime, (Princess), 192
Kasugabe no kimi, (Dukes of), 225
Kasuga-no-naka-tsu-waku-go, 412
Kasuga - no - oho - iratsume, (Prin-
cess), 408
Kasuga no omi, (Grandees of), 190
Kasuga no Take-kuni-katsu-tome,
203
Kasuga-no- yamada - no - iratsume,
(Princess), 408, 411'
Kasuga no yama no kimi, (Moun-
tain Dukes of), 225
Katabu, Duke of Miwo, 409
Kataji no miko, (King), 295
Kata-shita, 186
Katashiha no miko, (King), 322
Katsura-no-ki, 114
Katawoka, 195, 407
Kawara Point, 310, 311
Kaya, Moor of, 373, 403
Kaya-nu-hime-no-kami, 32
Kaza-ge-tsu-wake-no-oshi -wo-no-
kami, 30
Keichiu, or Kei-Chiyu, xi, lxxxiv,
470
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
92, 93, 96, 304, 341, 345, 364
Kehi no oho-kami, 289
Kei-ko, (Year period), Ixxvii
Kei-kō Tenno, xxiv, lvii, 197, 220,
243, 245, 247, 248, 252, 253,
255, 256, 258, 259, 260, 262,
263, 267, 270, 274, 389
Kempermann, Mr., ii
Ken-kō, 9, 10
Kén-zō Tenno, xvii, 402, 405, 406,
407
Keta, Cape, 82
Ki, Land of, 61, 85, 161, 208, 233,
236, 247, 293, 331
Ki, Lord of, 197
Ki, Ruler of the Land of, 208
Ki-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko, 61
Ki-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko no oya,
197
Ki-no-mata-no-kami, 90
Ki no omi, (Grandees of), 199
Ki no Tsunu no sukune, 199
Ki no Tsurayuki, lxxxii
Kibi, 28, 158, 193, 194, 224, 271,
328, 330, 331
Kibi, Chiefs, lv
Kibi, Great Prince of, 193
Kibi, Prince of, 243
Kibi, the Young Prince the Brave
Prince of, 193
Kibi no Homuji no kimi, 207
Kibi no omi, (Grandees of), 243,
254, 271
Kibi no ye-hiko no mikoto, (King),
244
Kidzuki no oho-yashiro, 237
Kihe, Land of, 61
Kihe-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko, 62
Kihisa-tsu-mi, 236
Kim-mei Tenno, 410
Ki-nashi, 354, 357
Kingfisher, xxxvii, 117
Kirishima-yama, 134
Kisa-gahi-hime, 84
Kishi-be, (Clan), 286
Kishida no Omi, (Grandees of),
199
Kishiu, 58, 59
Kisu-mimi, His A., 176
Kitashi-hime, (Princess), 411
Kitchen, Deity of, lxxviii
Kiujiki, 397
Kiushu, liv, lxxii, lxxviii, 273, 276
Kiyo-hiko, 316
Kiyomihara, Palace of, 8, 10
Knives, xxviii
Knot-grass, xxxviii
Ko, Island of, 28
Kō-An Tenno, 191
Kodo Taii, iv
Ko Gan Sho, xi, lxxxiv, 93, 345
Kō-Gen Tenno, 195
Kogoto, 354
Kohada, Maiden of, 302, 303
Kohata, Village of, 297
Kojiki, see under Records of Ancient
Matters.
Koma, 281
Komu-ha - chimu - kamu - ki-mu,
356
Komuku no iratsune, (Lady), 292
Ko-no-hana-chiru-hime, 79
Ko-no-hana-saku-ya-hime, 138
Konomoto, The Deity that Dwells
at, 36
Korai, 282
Korea, xxxvi, xlii, lvii, lxv, lxviii,
lxxvii, 13, 27, 104, 105, 106,
135, 136, 216, 276, 278, 281,
282, 291, 334
Korea, tribute from, 305, 306
Korean Histories, lxxvii
INDEX
471
Korean Language, lxxx
Korean Physician, 356
Kō-Rei Tenno, 192, 245
Koromo no wake, (Lords of), 224,
225
Kose no omi, (Grandees of), 198
Kose no Wo-Kara no sukune, (The
Noble), 198
Koshi, 73, 90, 91, 195
Koshi, Circuit of, 216, 219, 225,
233
Koshihaki, 377
Koshi, Road of, 288
Koshi no Tonami no omi, (Gran-
dees of), 195
Ko Shi Tsu, lix, lxxxiv
Kō-Shō Tenno, 189
Koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami, 98
Koto-toke-no-wo, 30
+
Kozhima, 331
Kuchi-hime, (Princess), 337, 338
Kuchiko, 335
Kuchiko no omi, (Grandees of),
335, 338
Kudara, 281, 282, 305, 306
Kudara, Pool of, 305
Kuda-tama, xxxvi
Kugamimi-no-mikasa, 216
Kuhada, King, 412
Kuhada, Queen, 412
Kuhana, 116
Kuhashi-hime-no-mikoto, (Prin-
cess), 192
Kuhimata - naga - hiko no miko,
(King), 273, 274
Kuku-ki-waka-muro-tsuna-ne-no-
kami, 111
Kukuma - mori - hime, (Princess),
271
Kuku-no-chi-no-kami, 32
Kuku-toshi-no-kami, 111
Kumano or Kumanu, 58, 59, 162,
163
Kumanu, His Wondrous August-
ness of, 58
Kumaso bravoes, 249
slain, 250-252
Kumaso, Land of, 27, 277
Kumata, 273
Kume, King, 413
Kume, Lords of, 135, 168
Kume no atahe, (Suzerains of),
135, 270
Kume no Ma-ito-hime, (Princess),
199
Kumu-musu-bi-mi-oya-no - kami,
125
Kuni-kata-hime, (Princess), 209
Kuni-no-ku-hiza- mochi-no- kami,
31
Kuni-no-kura-do-no-kami, 33
Kuni-no-mi-kumari-no-kami, 31
Kuni-no-sa-dzu-chi-no-kami, 32
Kuni-no-sa-giri-no-kami, 33
Kuni-no-toko-tachi-no-kami, 18,
19
Kuni-oshi-tomi-no-kami, 99
Kunisaki no omi, (Grandees of),
195
Kunu no miko, (King), 322
Kurahashi, 413
Kurahashi, Mount, 342
Kura-Mitsuha, Deity, 38
Kura-no-waka-ye, King, 410
Kura-Okami, Deity, 38
Kura-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Kure, 375
Kure-hara, 375, 376
Kuro-hiko, (King), 354, 355, 370
Kuro-hime, (Princess), 328, 329,
330, 347, 409
472
(6
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Kuro-ikadzuchi, 42
Kurube omi, (Grandees of), 198
Kuruda, 192
Kurukoha Saneyori, lxxxiii
Kusaka, 160, 223, 376, 378
Kusaka-be, (Tribe), 205
Kusaka, King of Great, 325
Kushi-iha-ma-do-no-kami, 132
Kushi-Inada-hime, 73
Kushi-mi-gata, His A., 212
Kushi-tsunu-wake, (King), 243,
246
Kushi-ya-tama-no-kami, 125
Kusuba, Ferry of, 219
Kusuba, River, 374
Kusubi-no-iratsume, 408
Kuta, 373
Kuwam-mu Tenno, xvi
Kuye-biko, (King), 103
Kuzhifuru, Peak of, 134
Labourers Tribe, 248
Lacquer, xlviii
Land-Great-Wealth, Deity, 99
Language, the Japanese, lxxv,
lxxvi, lxxix, lxxx
Lao Tzu, 11
Lark. xxxix, 341
Latrines, xxxi
Leech Child, 23, 35
Le Gendre, General, lxix
Lespedeza, xxxviii, 46
Life-Integrating-Deity, 20
Lily, xxxviii, 179, 180
Liquor, 289, 290, 291, 304, 307,
317, 348, 351, 393
Little prince - fierce - boar -heart,
196
Little- Prince-the-Renowned-Dei-
ty, 102, 103, 104, 105
dies, 104
Little Shore, discussion on the, 6
Liturgies, 68
Livistona sinensis, xxxix, 238
Long-shank, Prince, 160
Loochoo Islands, 104
Loosen-Put, Deity, 47
Lord-Stem-Tree-Young-House-
Rope, Deity, 111
Lord-Young-House-Rope, Deity,
111
Lotus, xxxix
Louse, xxxvii, 88
Lovely-Island-Princess, 57, 59
Lovely-Princess, 25
Luck, Exchange of, 143
Luck-Spirit, Princess, 100
Lun Yu, xlix
Lute, 277, 278, 344, 345, 346
Lute, A heavenly-speaking, 88, 89
Luxuriant - August - Food - Master,
His A. 155
Luxuriant-Food, Deity of, 131
Luxuriant - Food - Princess, Deity,
35
ha
Luxuriant - Integrating - Master ·
Deity, 19
Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess, 146, 147,
151, 152, 153, 154
Luxuriant-Reed -Plains-the-Land-
of Fresh - Rice - Ears - of-a-
Thousand-Autumns-of-Long-
Five-Hundred-Autumns, Land
of, 111, 112, 129
Luxuriant-Rock-True-Gate-Deity,
-
132
Luxuriant Snapping Deity, 38
Luxuriant-Sun-Youth, Land of, 27
Mabuchi, ix, lxxxii, lxxxiii, 19, 27,
39, 50, 51, 70, 80, 84, 88,
107, 108, 128, 131, 132, 159,
INDEX
473
172, 227, 229, 234, 261, 262,
280, 287, 291, 300, 304, 317,
333, 334, 367, 392
Madder, xxxiv, xxxviii
Magari, 410
Magari, Ancestor of the Dukes of,
205
Maga-tama, xxxvi, lxxix
Majestic - Point - Blade - Extended,
Deity, 40, 119
Makimuku, 243
Male-who-invites, see Izanagi
Mammals, xxxvii
Mamuta, 326
Mamuta, King, 413
Mamuta-no-iratsume, 409
Mamuta, no murazhi (Chieftains
of), 183
Mamuta-no-oho-iratsume, 409
Manago, Vale of, 189
Manu, King, 411
Mantchu, i
Maiden-of-Idzushi, Deity, 317,
318, 319
Maroko, King, 411, 412
Maroko, Prince, 409
Marriage, xliii, xlv, 279
Masa-ka-a-katsu-kachi-hayabi-
ame-no-oshi-ho-mimi-no-mi-
G
koto, 57
Ma-saka-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Masa no obito, (Headmen of), 272
Master-of-Shiki-Yama, Deity, 101
Master-of-the-August-Centre-of-
heaven, Deity of, 4, 15, 17
Master-of-the-Great-Land, Deity,
79, 81, 89, 97, 98, 102, 105,
112, 113, 121, 122, 123
various names of, 81
Master - of- the - Open - Mouth,
Deity, 47
Master-of-the-temple-of-Inada
Eight-Eared-Deity-of-Suga,
78
Master-of-Trouble, Deity, 47
Masu, Lady, 205
Mata, Prince, lxxxii
Mata-maroko, King, 411
Mato, Princess, 199
Motonu-hime, (Princess), 205, 239
Matsuchi-yama, 236
Matsu-no-wo, 108
Matsura-gata, (Department of),
284
Matsushita Ken-rin, lxxxi, lxxxiii
Mausoleum, 154, 185, 186, 188,
189, 191, 192, 195, 200, 208,
220, 241, 242, 257, 267, 268,
269, 270, 274, 275, 291, 322,
353, 354, 357, 369, 395, 403,
406, 408, 410, 412, 413
Ma-waka, King, 204, 206, 245
Ma-waka, Prince, 408
Ma-Yowa, King, 369, 370
Medori no miko, (Queen), 294,
340, 341, 342
Medusa, xxxviii
Meko-no-iratsume, 409
Mencius, 5, 40
Metal-Mountain-Prince, Deity, 34
Metal-Mountain-Princess, Deity,
34
Mibu-be, (Tribe), 325
Michi-no-naga-chi-ha-no-kami, 47
Michi-no-Omi, His A., 168
Michi-no-ushi-hime, (Princess),
239
Michinoku, 184
Michinoku no Ihaki no kuni no
miyatsuko, 184
Michi-shiki-no-oho-kami, 45
Middle-Possessing-Male, 280
474
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Mimi-tsu-hime, 204
Mimoro, 336
Mimoro, Mount, 106, 212
Mina-be no miyatsuko, (Rulers of
the), 207
Minamoto no Shitagafu, lxxxiii
Minato-no-kami, 31
Mino, Province of, 118
Minu, Land of, 118, 233
Minu no inaki, (Territorial Lords
of), 187
Midzu-gaki, Palace of, 208
Midzu-ha-wake, (King), 350, 351,
353
kills Sobakari, 351
Midzu-maki-no-kami, 110
Midzuho -no-ma-waka no miko,
(King), 204, 206
Midzuha-wake, 326
Midzuho-no-i-ho-yori-hime, 204
Mifune-no-Mahito, xvi
Mihakashi bime, (Princess), 245
Mihara no iratsume, (Lady), 293,
322
Mihe, 393
Mihe, Village of, 264, 265
Miho, Cape, 102, 121
Mi-kado-wake, King, 205
Mikage, The Heavenly Deity, 203
Mikaha, Province of, 206, 225,
272
Mikaha-no-ho-no-wake, 206
Mika-haya-bi-no-kami, 38
Mikakuri, 395
Mikami, Deacons of, 203
Mika-nushi-hiko-no-kami, 100
Mi-ke-nu-no-mikoto, 155
Mi-ke-tsu-oho-kami, 289
Mikuni no kimi, (Dukes of), 322
Mi-kura-tana-no-kami, 52
Millet, xxxiv, xxxviii, 71, 172, 173
birth of, 71
Milne, Prof., xxxvi, lxxix, 170
Mima-ki-iri, Prince, 217, 220
Mima-ki-iri-biko-iniwe, 201, 202,
208
Mima no miko, (King), 347
Mi-ma-tsu-hiko-kawe-shine, His
A. 188, 189
Mima-tsu-hime, 201, 209
Mimi, Lords of, 205
Mimi, Prince, 409
Minu no iratsume, 293
Minu no kuni no miyatsuko,
(Rulers of the Land of), 206,
247
Minu no wake, (Lords of), 224
Minu, Prince of, 293
Minu, Village of, 212
Miraculous, Cessation of the, lviii
Mira-na-mi-no-kami, 100
Miro-na-mi, Deity, 101
Mirror, 5, 66, 67, 68, 70, 130, 131,
316, 317, 366, 393
Mirror-Making Chieftains, 132
Misasaki, 155
Mi-shima, 298, 299
Mi-suki-tomo-mimi-take, Prince,
253
Mitachi, 241
Mi-toshi-no-kami, 107
Mitsu, Cape, 332
Mitsu-go, Islands of, 26
Mitsuhanome, Deity, 35
Miwa, 177
Miwa, Great Deity of, lv, lvi, lxv,
177, 212, 215
Miwa, Mount, 215
Miwa no kimi (Dukes of), 215
Miwa - no-oho-mono-nushi-no-
kami, 177
Miwa, River, 379
INDEX
475
Mi-wi-no-kami, 90
Miwi, Palace of, 187
Miwo no kimi (Dukes of), 225, 408
Miya, Ixvi, 334
Miyadzu-hime (Princess), 255, 267
Miyaji no wake (Lords of), 272
Miyake no murazhi (Ancestor of
the Chiefs of), 240
Miya-nushi-ya-kaha-ye, Princess,
294 296, 297, 298
Miyazu, xlviii
Miyazu, Princess, 260, 262
Mizokuhi, 177
Mofusu, Mound of, 323
Momo-shiki-iro-be, 321
Mone no Ajisaha-bime, 206
Mongolian, i
Mononobe-no-arakawi, Chieftain,
409
Mononobe no murazhi, 175
Moon, 4
Moon-God, liii, lxxviii, 5
Moon-Night-Possessor, 50, 52
Moors, Deity of, 32
Moor-Elder, Deity, 32
Moribe, Tachibana no, a scholar
very frequently referred to in
the notes throughout the book.
Mori no kimi (Dukes of), 246
Mortar, xxviii, 243, 291, 304
Moss, xxxviii
Moth, 102, 103
Motosu no kuni no miyatsuko
(Rulers ot the Land of), 206
Motowori Norinaga, spelt Motoori
by Satow, a scholar referred to
in the notes on nearly every
page of this book.
Mount Mourning, 118
Mountain and Sea Classic, lxxxv, 92
Mountains, Deites of the, lxv, 32,
36
Mountains, the Heavenly Metal,
65
Mountain Tribe, 305
Mountain Warden Tribe, 305
Mourning House, 116, 113
Mourning Implements, 87
Mourning Vessel, 285
Mouse, xxxvii, 87
Mo-yama, 118
Mozu, 323, 353
Mozu, Ear-Moor of, 346, 347, 354
Mud-Earth-Lady-Deity, 19
Mud-Earth-Lord-Déity, 19
Mugetsu no kimi (Dukes of), 248
Munakata, no kimi (Dukes of), 59
Munakata, Temple of, 59, 98
Muragata no kimi (Duke of), 300,
325
Murakami Tadanori, ix
Murakami Tadayoshi, lxxxiv
Mure no wake (Lords of), 224
Muretsu Tenno, 184, 398, 408
Muro, 191
Muro-biko, (King), 203
Muro-biko no miko, (King), 203
205
Musashi, Land of, 60, 80
Music, xlviii
Musk-melon, xxxix, 252
Muza no omi, (Grandees of), 191
Muzashi - no-kuni - no-miyatsuko,
(Rulers of the Land of), 60
Myriad - Looms - Luxuriant - Dra-
gon-fly-Island-Princess, 128
Nabari no inaki, (Territorial Lords
of), 187
Nagahata-be no murazhi, (Chiefs
of), 206
Naga-hime, (Princess), 294
476
(C
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Nagahi-hime, (Princess), 325
Nagaho, Palace of, 237
Naga-me-himė, 409
Nagasa no kuni no miyatsuko,
(Rulers of the Land of), 184,
185
Nagasune-hiko, 160
Nagata-no-oho-iratsume, 354, 368
Nagaye, 291, 357
Naka, Rulers of the Land of, 184
Naka-dzutsu-no-wo-no- mikoto,
49, 280
Nakatomi - no - murazhi, (Chief-
tains), 132
Naka-tsu, King, 412
Naka-tsu-hiko-no miko,(King), 322
Naka-tsu-hime, (Princess), 292
Naki-saha-me-no-kami, 37
Names, xliv
Names rectified, 356, 357
Namihaya Crossing, 159
Namiki, Palace of, 408
Namiye Motokichi, xii
Na-naki-me, 114
Nana-tsuka-hagi, 270
Naniha, 286, 300, 315, 324, 329,
332, 333
Naniha Channel, 326
Naniha, King, 412
Naniha-ne-ko-take-furu-kuma, 286
Naniha no miko, (Queen), 402
Naniha, Palace of, 348
Nara, 235, 333, 334
Nara-ikadzuchi, 42
Nara Mountain, 312, 333
Natsu-no-me-no-kami, 110
Natsu-taka-tsu-hi-no-kami, 110
Navigation, xxviii
Neck Clan, Grandees of, 175
Necklaces, xxxiv, 51, 52
Needles, xxxiv
Ne-no-kata-su-kuni, 53
Ne no omi, (Grandees of), 367, 368
Ne-saku no-kami, 37
Nether Distant Land, 53, 86
Netori, His A., 293, 322
Newly Selected Catalogue of Family
Names, 183, 184
Night, Dominion of the, 52
Nigi-hayabi, 174, 175
Niha no omi, (Grandees of), 185
Niha-tsu-hi-no-kami, 109
Nihe-motsu--no-Ko, 166, 174
Nihibari (Nihiharu), 259
Nihon Shoki 41, 56
Nihongi (see also Chronicles), iii,
xviii, 12, 39, 43, 44, 54, 284,
397
Nika - tsu-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami,
49
Nim-pan, 307
Nin-ken Tenno, 407
Nintoku Tenno, xl, lviii, 7, 15,
184, 293, 324, 325, 327, 328,
331, 335, 339, 340, 342, 343,
344, 345, 346, 347
Nobo, Moor of, 265
Nomi no Sukune, 242
Norito, see Rituals
Notes an Japanese Archaeology, 242
Noto no omi (Grandees of), 210
Noto, Province of, 73, 225
Nubata-no-iri-biko, 221
Nubata-no-iri-bime, Her A., 222
Nu-dzu-chi-no-kami, 32
Nu-iro-me of Kadzuraki, 295
Nukade-hime (Princess), 412
Nukade-hime (Queen), 412
Nuka- no - waku - go-no-iratsume
(Princess), 408
Nukako-no-iratsume (Princess), 411
Nukata-no-oho-waka-tsu-hiko, 292
INDEX
477
Nukatabe - no - yuwe-no-murazhi,
61
Nuna-kaha, Princess, 90, 91, 92,
song sung by, 93, 94
Nuna-kawa-hime, 91
Nunaki no iratsume (Lady), 244
Nuna-ki-no-iri-bime, Her A., 209
Nu-na-kura-tama-shiki, 410, 411,
412
Nu-no-iro-hime (Princess), 200
Nunoshi - tomi - tori-naru-mi-no-
kami (Deity), 101
Nunoshiro no iratsume (Lady), 244
Nurinomi, 334, 338
Nu-tarashi-wake, His A., 221
Nuye, xxxvii, 91, 92
Oak, xxxviii, xxxix, 234, 235, 252,
285, 301, 378
Oar, xxix
Oaths, lxvi
Obscenity, xlvii-xlviii
Ocean, God of, lv
Ocean-Possessing Deities, 50
Ochikuni, 240
Ochi-wake no miko, (King), 222,
224
Odo-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Offering-bearing-child, 166
Offerings to Gods, lxv, lxvi, 68,
213
Offing-Distant, Deity, 48
Offspring of the Heavenly Deity,
short lived, 140
Ofushi, Chieftain, 409
Ofushi-kafuchi, Land of, 61
Ofuwo, The maiden, 399
Ohari no niha no omi, (Grandees
of), 185
Oha-ya-biko-no-kami, 85
Oha-ama-hime, 209
4
Oh-Awful-lady-Deity, 20
Oho-aya-tsu-bi, 30
Oho-be-hime-no-kami, 108
Oho-biko, 196, 209, 215, 216, 217,
219
Ohodo, His A., 408
Oho-ge-tsu-hime, 26
Oho-ge-tsu-hime-no-kami, 71
Oho-gitashi-hime, 412
Oho-ha-kari, 118
Oho-harahi norito, 63
Ohohara no iratsume, (Princess),
292
Oho-hatsuse, His A., 355, 406,
408
Oho-hatsuse, Prince, 367 370, 371,
373, 374, 375, 406
Oho-haye no miko, (King), 295
Ohoka, Headman of Ise, 412
Oho-hime, 205
Oho-hodo, King, 354
Oho-hodo no mikoto, (King), 321
Oho-ikadzuchi, 42
Oho-ina-biko, 197
Oho-ira-tsuko, 321, 408
Oho-iratsume, (Princess), 409
Oho-iri-ki, His A., 209, 210
Oho-kaga - yama - to-omi-no-kami,
107
Ohoke, Prince, 374, 396, 399, 401,
402, 406, 407, 409, 410.
Oho-kibi-no-moro-susumi, 191,
193
Oho-kibi-take, 271
Oho-kibi-tsu-biko, 193, 194
Ohokida, Dukes of, 183, 184
Oho-koto-oshi-wo-no-kami, 29
Oho-Kume, His A., 168, 176, 178,
179
Oho-kuni-mi-tama-no-kami, 106
Oho-kuni-nushi no-kami, lxiv, 81,
478
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
•
89, 113, 117, 234, 236, 237, 316
Oho-kusaka-be, (Tribe), 326
Oho-kusaka-no miko, (King), 325,
326, 367, 368, 369, 375
Oho-maga-tsu-bi-no-kami, 49
Oho-mahe Wo-mahe sukune no
omi, (Grandee the Noble), 360,
361, 362
Oho-mata no miko, (King), 202,
204, 412
Ohomata, Queen, 412
Ohome, 192
Oho-nabi, 197
Oho-nagata no miko, (King), 274
Oho-naho-bi-no-kami, 49
Oho-naka-tsu-hiko, His A., 221,
223
Oho-naka-tsu-hime, (Princess), 274
Oho-na-muji-no-kami, 81
Oho no omi, (Grandees of), 183
Oho-Nu-De-Hime, Island of, 29
Ohonu, Mound of, 413
Ohosaka, 159, 235
Ohosaka, Deity of, 213
Ohosaka, Mountain, 349, 351
Ohosaka no omi, (Grandees of),
190
Oho-sazaki no mikoto, 15, 184,
293, 295, 296, 300, 303, 304,
308, 312, 313, 324, 325, 341
Ohoshi-kafuchi-no-kuni-no-miya-
tsuko, 61
Ohosumi, Province of, 136, 142
Ohotaka, 223
Oho-Tamaru-Wake, Island of, 29
Oho-tamu-saka no miko, (King),
207, 271
Ohota no kimi, (Dukes of), 246
Oho-tarashi-hiko-oshiro-wake, His
A., 221, 223, 243, 246, 251,
273
Ohotate, Chief, 342, 343
Oho-tata-ne-ko, lvi, 211, 212, 214,
215
Oho-tomato-hiko-no-kami, 33
Oho-tomato-hime-no-kami, 33
Ohotomo-no-kanamura. 409
Ohotomo no murazhi, (Chieftains),
135, 168
Ohotomo, Prince, 3, 8. 9
Oho-tomo, Queen, 411
Oho-tomo-wake, 276
Oho-to-bi-wake-no-kami, 30
Oho-to-no-be-no-kami, 20
Oho-to-no-ji-no-kami, 20
Oho-toshi-no-kami, 79
Oho-tsuchi-no-kami, 109
Oho - tsutsuki-tari-ne
(King), 202, 222
Oho-usu, His A., 243, 247
Oho-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami, 31
Ohowiko, Moor of, 335, 336
Oho-ya-biko-no-kami, 30*
no miko,
Oho-yake, King, 411
Ohoyake no omi, (Grandees of),
190
Oho-yama-kuhi-no-kami, 108
Oho-yama-mori, 292, 296, 308, 309,
310, 312
Oho-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 32, 72
Oho-yamato - kuni -are-hime-no-
mikoto, (Princess), 188. 192,
193
Oho-yamato-kiko-suki-tomo, 186,
187, 188
Oho-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-futo-ni,
His A., 192
Oho-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-kuni-ku-
ru, 192, 193, 195
Oho - yamato - tarashi-hiko - kuni -
oshi-bito, His A., 190
Oho-yamato-toyo-aki - dzu-shima,
INDEX
479
27
Oho-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 32
Oho-ya-shima-kuni, 28
Ohoye-no-izaho-wake, 324
Oho-ye no miko, (King), 246, 274
Ohoyuwe-be, (Clan), 238
Ō-jin Tenno, xiii, xlix, lviii, 15,
195, 200, 276, 277, 285, 289,
291, 293, 295, 296, 300, 303,
304, 305, 308, 312, 313, 315,
317, 321, 323, 346
drunk, 307
Okami-no-kami, (Deity), 80, 100
Oke-tsu-hime, 201
Oki, Island of, 26, 82
Oki-me, 402, 403, 404
Okinaga - hiko - no- miko, (King
Prince), 207
Okinaga-ma-waka-naka- tsu-hime,
(Princess), 273, 294
Okinaga no kimi, (Dukes), 322
Okinaga-no-ma-de, King, 412
Okinaga no-mate, Prince, 409
Okinaga-no-midzu-yori-hime, 203
Okinaga no sukune no miko, (King
Noble), 206
Okinaga-tarashi-hime, (Princess),
206, 276, 277, 285, 286, 289,
316
-
Okinaga ta - wake - no
(King), 272, 273
Oki-tsu-hiko-no-kami, (Deity),
107, 109, 110
Oki-tsu-hime-no-mikoto, Her A.,
107, 109, 110
-
mikoto,
Oki-tsu-kahi-bera-no-kami, 48
Oki-tsu-nagisa-biho-no-kami, 48
Oki-tsu-shima-no-mikoto, 57
Oki-tsu-yoso. 189
Okuyama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Okurina, xvi
Oki-zakura-no-kami, 48
Omi, Province of, 61
O-midzu-nu-no-kami, 80
Omina-ko-no-iratsume, 412
Omo-daru-no-kami, 20
Omohi-kane-no-kami, 65
"One Account" of the "Chronicles
of Japan," 30
Onogoro, Island of, 21, 22, 28, 35,
329
Orange, xxxix, xl, lvi, 104, 301,
240, 241, 271
Osaka-be, (Tribe), 357
Osaka, Cave of, 170, 171
Osaka-no-hiko-hito, (King), 412
Osaka - no- oho - naka - tsu - hime,
(Princess), 295, 321, 354
Osaka, The Great Middle Prin-
cess of, 321
Oshiha no miko, (King), 347
Oshiha, Prince, 373, 374
Oshika-hime-no-mikoto, (Prin-
cess), 191
Oshikuma no miko, (King), 274,
276, 285, 386, 287
Oshi-kuro-no-oto-hiko (King), 248
Oshi-kuro-no-ye-hiko (King), 248
Oshi-no-wake, His A., 244
Oshinumi, 395
Oshinumi-be no miyatsuko (Rulers
of), 207
Oshi-numi-no-iratsume (Princess),
395
Oshinumi Tribe in Inaba, 207
Oto-hime-ma-waka-hime (Prin-
cess), 321
Oto-hime no mikoto, Her A., 231
239, 245, 248, 273, 292, 354
Oto-karibata-tobe, 222
Otokuni, 240
Otoshiki, 174
480
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Oto - tachibana - hime - no- mikoto
(Princess), 256, 271
Oto-takara-no-iratsume, (Lady),
274, 275
Owl, 293
Oyster, xxxix, 364
Pagrus cardinalis, xxxviii, 148
Palace, xxix, xxx, xxxii
P'an Ku, lxxviii
Parturition Houses, xxxii, xliv,
45, 141, 152, 293
Passive and Active Essence, 4
Peach, xxxviii, 43, 44
Pearls, 316
People with tails, 166
Perch, xxxviii, 126
Peregrine falcon, xxxix, 294
Perfect-Exterior-Deity, 20
xi,
"Perpetual Commentary on the
Chronicles of Japan,"
lxxxiv, 68, 117, 165, 171
Pestilence, 211
Pestle, xxviii
Pheasant, xxxvii, 91, 117
Pheasant the Name-Crying-Female
114, 116
killed, 115
Photinia glabra, xxxviii, 169
Pine-tree, xxxix
Pits, xxxiii, 171
Plain of High Heaven, 17, 51, 129
shakes, 70
Platters, 213
Pleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder,
Deity, 18
Plenty-Swift, Deity, 175
Plover, xxxvii, xl
Plum-tree, xl
Podocarpus macrophylla, xxxix,
281
Poems, xlviii. See also under Songs,
and for the Japanese texts
see Appendix i
Porcelain, xlviii
Porpoise, xxxvii
Possessor-of-Descent-Mountains,
Deity, 39
Possessor-of-the-Dark-Mountains,
Deity, 39
Possessor-of-the-Dense (ly wood-
ed) -Mountains, Deity, 39
Possessor of the Innermost -
Mountains, Deity, 39
- -
Possessor-of-the-Moorland-Moun-
tains, Deity, 39
Possessor-of-the- Ocean - Bottom,
Deity, 49
Possessor - of- the- Ocean-Middle,
Deity, 49.
Possessor-of-the- Ocean - Surface,
Deity, 49
Possessor - of- the- Outer - Moun-
tains, Deity, 40
Possessor-of-the-Outlying-Moun-
tains, Deity, 39
Possessor or
or the True - Pass-
Mountains, Deity, 39, 40
Poverty, 327
Prayers, lxii, lxvi
Priests, lxvi
-
Princess
-
Prince-Good-Boiled-Rice, 25
Prince-Lord-of-Life, 58
Prince-Lord-of-Heaven, 58, 61
Prince-of-Long-Wind, Deity, 32
Prince-Swift-Autumn, Deity, 31
Prince valorously advancing -
prince, 193
Prince-vast-great-truth, 196
-
Blossoming - Brilliantly,
Like the Flowers - of- the-
Trees, 138, 139, 140, 141
-
-
INDEX
481
Princess - Falling-Like-the-Flow-
ers-of-the-Trees, 79, 139
Princess - Life - Spirit-Luck-Spirit,
Deity, 100
Princess - Long-as-the-Rocks, 139,
140
Princess-of-Great-Food, Deity, 25,
34, 110
killed, 71
Princess-of-Swift-Autumn, Deity,
31
Princess - of- the- Island - of - the-
Offing, 57
Princess-of-the-Torrent, 57, 59
Pryer, Mr, 93
Pueraria Thunbergiana, xxx, xxxix,
297
Punishments, xlvii
Purification, 287
Quail, xxxix
Quern, xxviii, 343,
Quivers, Heavenly-rock-, 134
Radish, xxxix, 336
Raven, xxxvii
"Records of Ancient Matters,"
throughout translator's intro-
duction, 3, 8, 22, 66, 78, 181,
225, 245, 255, 268, 302, 317,401
Decree ordering compilation of,
11,
13
Editions of, viii, ix
Exposition of by Motowori, ix
first printed in the year 1644, viii
in the Divine Characters, x,
lxxxiv
in the Syllabic Characters, ix,
lxxxiv
Method of compilation, 14
revised, x, lxxxiv, 116
Text and its authenticity, iv
with Marginal Notes, ix
with Marginal Readings, ix,
lxxxiv
with the ancient reading, ix, x, 41
Red-throated Quail, xxxix
Reed, xxxix
Reed, Sir Edward, lxix
Reed-Plains, Central Land of, 112
113, 114, 121, 123, 127, 129
Reed-Plains, Deity of the, 81
Refulgent - Mountain - Dwelling-
Grandee, Deity, 109
Refulgent-Princess, 107
Relationships, xli, xlii, xliii
Religion of the Early Japanese, lxii
Religious ritės, lxv, lxvil
Reptiles, xxxvii
Revival of Pure Shinto, iv
Rice, xxxiii, xxxix, 201, 284, 291
Rice-Castle, xxxiii, 227
Rice - Ear - Ruddy - Plenty, Prince,
129, 133, 139, 141
Rice-seeds born, 71
Rice-Ear-True-Youth, 24
Ri-chiū Tenno, 325, 347, 348, 350,
352, 353, 398
intoxicated, 348
-
attempted assassination of, 348
Rituals, xxxvii, lxvi, 68, 75, 109,
122, 255, 318
Ritual for averting fire, 31, 34
Ritual of the General Purification,
lxxxiv, 30, 63, 132, 279
Ritual of the Praying for Harvest,
12
Rivers, Deities of the, lxv
River of Heaven, lxx, lxxviii, 6,
56, 65, 112, 115, 120
Road-Fork-Deity, 47
Road-Long-Space-Deity, 47
Road-Reaching-Great-Deity, 45
Rock-princess, 324
482
"KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Rock, a thousand-draught, 44
Rock-Dwelling, the Heavenly, 119,
130
Sakahi-be no murazhi, 183
Sakahi, Chieftains of the Tribe of,
183
Sakahiwo, Palace of, 188
Sakamoto, Grandees of, 199, 367
Saka-nobori, King, 412
Sakata no Kaneyasu, ix, lxxxiv
Sakata no-oho-mata, Prince, 409
Sakata no Saka - bito no kimi,
(Dukes), 322
Rock-Earth-Prince, Deity, 29
Rock-Elder-Male-Deity, 37
Rock-Nest-Princess, Deity, 30
Rock-Possessing-Male-Deity, 37
Rock-Splitter, Deity, 37, 38
Root-Splitter, Deity, 37,
Rough August Spirits, 282
Rudder, xxix
Rugs of silk, xxxi
Rugs of skin, xxxi
Rumbling-Thunder, Deity, 42
Sabre, a heavenly, 6
Sabre, ten-grasp, 118, 144
Sado, Island of, 27
Sagami, see Sagamu.
Sagamu, Land of, 255, 257, 258,
272
Sagamu, Ruler of, 255
Sagara, 333
Sagaraka, 239, 240
Sagariki, 240
Sage-Deity, 106, 107
Sagisu, Pool of, 234
Sahaji-hime, 203, 221
Sahi-mochi-no-kami, 150
Saho, 224, 225
Saho-biko no miko, (King), 203,
205, 221, 225, 226, 227, 228,
231
Saho-bime, Her A., 203, 225, 226,
227, 228, 229, 230,231
Saho-no-oho-kurami-tome, 203
Sai-so, 306
Sakabe Abiko, 247
Sakabe of Uda, 247
Sakahi, 354
Sakahi-bara, Palace of, 195
Sakate, Pool of, 248
Sakawori, Palace of, 259
Sakawori, Pool of, 220
Sake, xxxiv, 74, 289, 290, 305
Saketsu, Island of, 329
Saki, 242, 275
Saki-kusa-be-no-ana-ho-be, King,
411
Sakikusabe-no-miyatsuko, (Rulers
of), 62
Sakikusa-no-wake, (Lcrds of), 224
Saki-tama-bime, 100
Saki-tsu-mi, 315
Saku-ikadzuchi, 42
Sakurawi, Grandees of, 199
Sakurawi no ta-be no murazhi, 294
Sakurawi-no-yumi-hari, King, 411,
412
Salt, 346
Salt-Possessor-Deity, 144, 145, 146
Sana, Ancestor of the rulers of,
204
Sanagata, 132
Sandpiper, xxxvii, xl
Sane no miko, (King), 321
Sanugi, Prince sufficing Lord of,
202
Sanugi-tari-ne no miko, (King),
202
Sanuki, Land of, 24, 25, 202, 272
Saru, Duchesses of, 132, 136. 137,
INDEX
483
138
Saru me no kimi, 132
Saruta, Deity Prince of, 130, 136,
137
drowned, 137
Saruto-biko-no-kami, 130
Sasa, 205
Sasage-no-iratsume, 409
Sasaki, Dukes of Yama of, 373
Sasaki Tribe, Grandees of the,
184
Rulers of the, 184
Sasanami, 287
Sashibu, xxxix. 333
Sasu - kuni - Oho (no) kami, or
Sashi- etc., 81
Sasu-kuni-waka-hime, or Sashi-
kuni-waka-hime, 81
Satow, Sir Ernest, ii, iv, xii, xxvii,
xxxii, xxxvii, xli, xlvii, lxvii,
lxxvii, lxxxi, lxxxv, 12, 24,
54, 66, 67, 69, 75, 77, 109, 122,
126, 141, 203, 242, 255, 296,
318
Satow and Hawes Guide Book,
171, 174
Satsuma, Province of, 136, 138,
142, 176
Saw, xxviii
Sawara no omi, (Grandees of), 199
Sawi, River, 179, 180, 181
Sawo-ne-tsu-hiko, 159
Sayama, Pool of, 223
Sayari - masu - yomi - do-no-oho -
kami, 46
Sa-yori-bime-no-mikoto, 57
Sazaki-be no miyatsuko, 184
Sazaki-be no omi, (Grandees of),
184, 198
Scythian, i
"Sea-ass," xxxvii, 147
Sea, Deities of the, lxv
Sea-Deity, 30, 147, 148, 150
Sea-Deity's Daughter, 145, 146
Sea-God's Palace, lxxviii, 153
Sea-monster, xxxvii
Sea-Plain, 52, 156
Sea-weed, xxxix
Secret of the Chronicles of Japan, 39
Sedge, xxxix
Sei-mu Tenno, lxxvii, 7, 274
Sei-nei Tenno, 395, 396, 398, 402
Seki-hime, 409
Sen-Kuwa Tenno, 410
Serpent, xxxvii
the eight-forked, liii, 73
slain, 75, 130
Serpentine, xxxv
Service of the Goddess of Food 318
Settsu, Province of, 183, 186, 202,
273, 385, 322, 326, 330
Seya-datara, Princess, 177
Shan Hai Ching xxxiv, lxxii, lxxxv
Shark, xxxvii
Sheep, xxxvi
Shibakaki, Palace of, 353, 413
Shibanu-hime, (Princess), 273
Shibanu-iri-ki, 273
Shibi no omi, (Grandees of), 399,
400, 401, 402
Shibumi no Sukune no miko,
(King, the Noble of), 202, 205
Shidzu-kahi, King, 411
Shields, lxvi, 213
Shiga, 274
Shigi-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Shihida, Dukes of, 410
Shiho hiru tama, 149
Shiho mitsu tama, 149
Shiho-tsuchi no kami, 144
Shiki, 208, 221, 269
Shiki Brethren, 172, 174
484
((
'KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
.
Shiki, Departmental Lords of, 186,
188, 376, 377
Shiki no agata-nushi, 186
Shiki, Prince of, 187
Shikishima, Palace of, 410
Shiki-tsu-hiko, 187
Shiki-tsu-hiko-tama-de-mi, 186
Shikoku, Island of, 24
Shima, Province of, 137, 138
Shimada no kimi, (Dukes of), 246
Shimada no omi, (Grandees of), 185
Shiina-tari-ne, 294
Shimesu, 405
Shimosa, Province of, 126
Shimo-tsu-ke-nu no kimi, (Dukes
of), 209, 210
Shimo-tsu-michi, Grandees of, 194
Shimo-tsu-Unakami - no-kuni-no-
miyatsuko, 60
Shinaga, 412
Shinaga, Sepulchre of, 413
Shinanu or Shinano, xl, 50, 123,
184, 233, 260
Shinanu (or Shinano) no kuni no
miyatsuko, (Rulers of the land
of), 184
Shina-tsu-hiko-no-kami, 32
Shining-Elder Deity, 39
Shinto, xlviii, 1, lxix
Shinto Discussed Afresh, lxxxiv
Shintoists, modern, lix
Shinto Priests, 203, 212
Shinto Rituals, see also Rituals, i,
ii, xxix, lxxiv
Shira-bi-wake, 26
Shiragi, lvii, 281, 282, 305, 313, 356
Shira-hi-no-kami, 106
Shiraka, His A., 375
Shiraka-be, (Clan), 375, 395
Shiraka-no-oho-yamato-ne-ko, 395
Shirakata, Haven of, 159
Shira-saka-no-iku-hi-no-iratsume,
409
Shiri-kume-naha, 70
Shiritsuki-tome, 292
Shiro-biko no miko, (King), 355
Shiro-biko, Prince, 370
Shiro-kane no miko (Queen), 274
Shita-teru-hime, (Princess), 98, 113
Shiū-O, 9, 10
Shizhimu, 374, 396, 402
Shoki Shukai, 38
Shō-ko, King, 305
Shore-distant Deity, 48
Shotoku Tai-shi, 57
Shrike, 347
Shuttle, xxviii
Sickle, xxviii
Siebold, Mr. Henry von, xxxvi, xlvii
lxi, lxxix, 242
Silk Rugs, xxxi, xxxvi
Silkworms, xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxvii,
338
birth of, 71
Silver, xl, 278
Skirts, xxxiv
Slavery, xlvii
Small-August-Deity, lv, lx, lxv,
289
Small-Country, Great-Deity-of-
the, 81
Small-Country, Young-Princess-of-
the, Deity, 80
Snakes, xxx, xxxvii, 87, 225, 316
Snipe, xxxvii
Sobakari, 350, 351
Sobakari, killed, 352
Soga no Ishikaha, Noble, 198
Soga-no-kura, King, 411
Soga no omi, (Grandees of), 198
Sohori-no-kami, (Deity), 106
Soko-doku-mi-tama, 137
INDEX
485
Soko-dzutsu-no-wo-no-mikoto, 64,
280
Soko-dzutsu-wo, 30
Soko-tsu-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami, 49
Songs, English translations of, lxvi,
91-97, 153, 154, 169–174, 178–
182, 217, 231, 253, 257, 259-
261, 264-269, 287, 289, 290,
297, 298, 301-305, 307, 310,
311, 328-331, 333-346, 348,
349, 358-366, 378, 380–383,
385, 387-389, 391-394, 397,
399, 400, 404
Japanese texts of the, See appen-
dix i
355
So-Tohoshi, Princess, 363, 364
So-towori-hime, (Princess), 98
So-tsu-biko, 347
P
Soni, 342
Sora-tsu-hi-daka, 144, 145
Sora-tsu-hime, (Princess), 206, 207
So, Temple of, 237
So-Tohoshi-no-iratsume, (Queen),
81
Stag, shoulder-blade of, 67
Star-worship, lxviii
Steatite, xxxv
Stem-Elder, Deity, 32
Stem-Harvest, Deity, 111
Sounding-Board, 69
Sources of the Ancient Histories, x,
lxxxiv, 75
Spears, xxviii, Ixvi, 21, 168, 213,
254
Spelling of Japanese and Sinico-
Japanese words, lxxxv
Spindle-tree, xxxix, 68, 69
Spinning Damsel, lxxviii
Spirit-of-Food, the August, 79
Spirit-of-the-Living-Land, Deity,
Stiletto, 226, 227
Stone Age, xxviii
Stone-Coagulating-Old-Woman,66
Stone-Coffin Makers, 241, 242
String, xxxv
Succession, lxxi
Suchi, Territorial Lords of, 187
Suga, 58, 76
Sugahara, 241, 369
Suga-kama-yura-domi, 316
Sugano Ason Mamichi, lxxxii
Suga-no-morowo, 316
Sugashiroko-no-iratsume, 413
Suha, Sea of, 123
Suhau, Land of, 62
Suhau - no - kuni - no - miyatsuko,
(Rulers of), 62
Su-hiji-ni-no-kami, 19, 20
Suiko Kogo, 15, 413
Sui-nin Tenno, xxxi, 203, 221,
225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230,
231, 232, 239, 240, 241
Sui-sei Tenno, lvi, 66
Sui-zei Tenno, 185
Su-jin Tenno, lvi, 7, 208, 211, 214,
215, 217, 219, 220, 235
Su-jun Tenno, 413
Sukuna-biko-na-no-kami, 103
Sukuna-biko-take-wi-gokoro, 196
Sukuna - Mi - Kami, see Small
August Deity
Sume-irodo, 411
Sume-iro-oho - naka-tsu-hiko-no-
mikoto, (King), 245, 273
Sumera-mikoto, 141
Sumi, Inlet of, 50, 280, 283, 326
Sumi, Middle King of the Inlet of,
324
Sumi, Water Gods of, lv, lxv
Sumi-no-ye, 50
Sumi-no-ye-no- naka-tsu - miko,
486
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
((
A
(King), 324, 348, 350
attempts to assassinate Ri-chiu
Tenno, 348
Sumisaka, Deity of, 213
Sumi-yoshi, 50
Sun, 4
Sun-Deity, child of the, 161
fights with his back to the sun,
161
Sun-Goddess, xxxiii, liii, liv, lv,
lx, lxv, lxxviii, 5, 6, 201, 234
Superstitions, lxvii, lxviii
Surface-Possessing-Male, 280
Suruga, 195, 258
Susa-no-Wo, xxvii, liii, liv, lxvii,
5, 55, 56, 59, 62, 106, 127
ravages of, 62-64
weeping of, 52, 53
Suséri-bime, 86
Susukori, 307
Suwe-tsu-mimi, His A., 212
Suwo, Province of, 199
Swan, xxxvii, 232, 233, 268
Swine, xxxvi
Swift-Awful-Brave - Sahaya-Lord-
Ruler, Deity, 100
Swift-Mountain-Deity, 106
Swift-Mountain-Dwelling, Deity,
109, 110, 111
Swords, xxviii, xxxv, 37, 38, 40,
43, 56, 88, 89, 90, 118, 120,
121, 175, 253, 267, 303
Sword, Cross-, 162-164, 168, 223,
306
Sword, Herb-Quelling-Great, 75,
130, 254, 256, 262
Swords, Mallett-headed, 134, 171,
172
Swords, names of, 40, 118
Swords, Stone-mallett, 171, 172
T'ang, the Enperor, 13
Tables, xxxiv
Tachibana in Himuka, 46
Tachibana - moto no - waku - go,
King, 411
Tachibana no Chimori, xl
Tachibana no Moribe, x, xi, lx,
lxxxii
Tachibana-no-naka-tsu-hime, 410
oho - iratsume,
no
(Lady), 355
Tachibana
-
-
Tachibana-no-toyo-hi, 411, 412
Tadagoye Road, 376
Tadetsu of Kusaka, 160
Taga in Afumi, 53
Tagi, Moor of, 263, 264
Tagi-tsu-hime-no-mikoto, 57
Tagima, 205, 233, 315, 349
Tagima, King, 413
Tagima-no-kura-bito-hiro, 413
Tagima-no-mehi, 316
Tagishi, 124
Tagishi-hiko, His A., 189
Tagishi-Mimi, 176, 181, 182
Tahiri - kishi - marumi - no- kami,
(Deity), 100
Tajihi, 348, 353, 395
Tajihi-be, (Tribe), 326
Tajihi, Dukes of, 410
Tajihi no midzu-ha-wake, 324, 326
Tajima-hinaraki, 315
Tajima-hi-ne, 315
Tajima-hitaka, 316
Tajima, Land of, 189
Tajima-mori, 104, 240, 241, 316
Tajima no kuni no miyatsuko,
(Rulers), 207
Tajima-no-matawo, 315
Tajima-morosuku, 315
Tajima-no-take-no-wake, 189
Taka-anaho, Palace of, 274
INDEX
487
Takabe no iratsume, (Lady), 354
Takachi, Peak of, 6
Takachiho, Palace of, 154, 157
Takachina, Princess, 197
Takachiho, lv, 134,
Takachiho, Mount, 154
Taka-gi-no-kami, 115, 127
Takagi no iri-bime no mikoto,
(Princess), 292
Takahashi, Gori, lx, lxxxiv
Taka-haya-susa-no-wo-no-mikoto,
51
Taka-hime-no-mikoto, 98
Takaki, 336, 395
Takaki-hime no mikoto, (Princess),
206, 245
Takaki-no-iratsume, 408
Takakura, 6
Takakurazhi, 162, 163, 164
Taka-mi-musu-bi-no-kami, lxxiv,
17, 112
Taka-miya, 334
Takamuko no omi, (Grandees of),
199
Takanu-hime, (Princess), 201
Takanuka-hime, (Princess), 206,
316
Takara-no-iratsume, 408
Takara no miko, (King), 354
Takara, Queen, 412
Takasazhi, Moor of, 178
Takasuka no wake, (Lords of), 224
Takatsu, Palace of, 324
Takatsu, Pool of, 223
Takawashi, 395
Takawoka, Palace of, 185
Takaya, 410
Takayasu, Mount, 345
Take, Lords of, 189
Takebe no kimi, (Dukes), 272
Take-bi-wake, 27
1
Takechi-no-agata-nushi, (Suzerains
of), 62
Takeda, King, 411
Take-furu-kuma, His A., 286
Take-futsu-no-kami, 38
Take-hani-yasu-biko, 196, 215,
217, 218, 219
Take-hi-ga-wake, 28
Take-hi - mukahi-toyo-kuzhi-hinė-
wake, 27
Take-Hira-Tori-no-mikoto, 60
Take-inada no sukune, (Noble),
292
Take-kahiko no miko, (King), 271,
272
Take-hiko, 271
Take-kuni-katsu-tome, 203
Take - mika- dzu-chi-no-wo-no-
kami, 38, 120, 212
Take-nuna-kaha-mimi, 182
Take-nuna-kaha-wake, 196, 216,
219
Take-oshiyama-tari-ne, 275
Takeri, Palace of, 158
Takeshima, Palace of, 158
Take-tayo-hadzura-wake no miko,
(King), 202, 207
Take-uchi no sukune, (the Noble),
xl, 197, 198, 275, 277, 279,
280, 287, 290, 293, 300, 305,
343, 344
Take-wo-hiro-kuni-oshi-tate, 409,
410
Take-yori-wake, 26
Ta-kiri-bime-no-mikoto, 57
Taki no omi, (Grandees), 190
Taku-so, 306
Tale of a Bamboo-Cutter, lxxxiv
Tamade no woka, 192
Tamade, Mound of, 192
Tamade no omi, (Grandees of), 200
488
{
“KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Tatanami, 275, 291
Tatara - Startled - Good - Princess,
Princess, 177
Tamaho, Palace of, 408
Tama-kaki, Palace of, 221
Tama-Katsuma, lxxxiv
Tama-kura-be, Spring of, 263
Tama-no-iratsume, 295
Tama-noya-no-mikoto, 66
Tama-no-ya no murazhi, 133
Tamashima, 284
Tama-yori-bime, 109, 153
Tamba, see Taniha
Tame, King, 412
Tamil, i
Tamiya-no-naka-tsu-hime, 321
Tamiya, the middle Princess of,
321
Tamura, Queen, 412
Tanaka in Yamato, 61
Tanaka-no-atahe, 61
Tanaka no omi, (Grandees of), 198
Tango, Province of, 205
Tanigaha Shihei, or Shisei, xi,
lxxxiv, 18, 44, 68, 79, 148,
163, 165, 213, 231, 243, 255,
313
Taniha or Tamba, Province of,
201, 205
Taniha, Land of, 216, 233
Taniha no hiko Tatasu-michi-no-
ushi no miko, (Prince), 203,
204, 205, 206, 221, 231
Taniha no oho agata-nushi, (Great
Departmental Lords of), 201
Taniha no Takunu no wake,
(Lords of), 208
Tara, King, 412
Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko, 270, 272,
275, 291
Tarumi, 202
Tashiraka-no-iratsume, (Princess),
408, 409
Tasuki, 68, 69
Tate-dzu, 160
Tattooing, xlvii
Tawi - no- naka - tsu - hime, (the
Middle Princess of, 321, 357
Taxes, 220, 327
Tea, x1, xlviii, 294
Tema, 84
Tem-mu Tenno, iv, v, li, 5, 8, 9,
11
Temple, xxix
Te-nadzu-chi, 72
Ten-Itsu, 12, 13
Terama, 242, 243
Teshima no murazhi, (Chieftains);
183
Thatch-Moor-Princess, Deity, 32
Thing-Sign-Master, Deity, 98,
122, 123
Thought-Includer, Deity, 65, 69,
112, 113, 114, 119, 130, 131
Thousand Character Essay, 306
Thousand-fold Brilliant Princess,
192
Thousand-fold Brilliant Truly
Young Princess of Kasuga,
192
Thrust - Erect - Come - Not - place,
Deity, 47, 48
Thrust-Snap, Deity, 163
Thunder, Eight Gods of, lii, 42,
43
Tide-ebbing Jewel, lxvii
Tide-flowing Jewel, lxvii
Titsingh, lxi
Titles, xvii, xviii, xix, xx, 59, 60
Toad, a speaking, xxxvii, 103
To-Ga, xi, lxxxiv
Toga, Moor of, 285
<
INDEX
489
Tohochi no agata-nushi, (Depart-
mental Lords of), 192
Tohoshi-no-iratsume, 295
Toho-tsu-Afumi, 61
Toho-tsu-afumi-no-kuni-no-miya-
tsuko, 61
Toho-tsu-Asuka, 352
Toho-tsu-Asuka, Palace of, 354
Tohotsu - ma-chi- ne-no-kami,
Deity, 101
Tohotsu-no-ayu-me-me-kuhashi-
hime, (Princess), 208
Tohotsu no omi, (Grandee of), 206
Toho - tsu-yama-zaki - tarashi - no-
kami, (Deity), 101, 102
Tokaido, 216
Tokiha Gusa, x, lxxxiv, 49, 79
Toki-okashi-no-kami, 47
Toko-ne-tsu-hiko-irone, 186
Tomi, 160
Tomi, Prince of, 160, 172
Tomi, Princess of, 175
Tomi, Province of, 160, 175
Tominobu, Hosoda, lxxxiv, 80, 81,
100, 103, 106
Tomi-ya-hime, 175
Tonami no omi, (Grandees of), 195
Tone, King, 411
Toneri, Prince, lxxxii
Topography of Yamashiro, lxxxiv
Tori-bune-no-kami, 120
Torikahi-be, (Clan), 238
Tori-kami, 72
Torime no miko, (Queen), 321
Tori-mimi-no-kami, 99
Tori-naru-mi-no-kami, 99
Tori-no-iha-kusa - bune-no-kami,
33
Toriyama, 335
Torrent-Mist-Princess, 57, 59, 98
Tortoise, xxxvii
Tosa, Land of, 26
Totomi, 61, 108
Totori, 223
Totori-be, (Clan), 238
Towns, xxix
Towochi-no-iri-bime, Her A., 209
Towo no wake, (Lords of), 272
Toyo, Land of, 26, 158, 184, 195
Toyo, Province of, 245
Toyo - ashi-hara - no-chi- aki-wo-
naga-i-ho-aki-no-midzu-ho-
no-kuni, 111
Toyo-ashi-hara-no-midzu-ho-no-
kuni, 129
Toyo-bi-wake, 27
Toyo-iha mado-no-kami, 132
Toyo-ki-iri-biko, (Prince), 208, 209
Toyo-kumo-nu-no-kami, 19
Toyo-kuni no kunisaki no omi,
(Grandees, 195
Toyo-kuni-wake no miko, (King)
245, 247
Toyo-mike-kashiki-ya-hime, Her
A., 411, 413
Toyo-mi-ke-nu-no-mikoto, 155
Toyora, Palace of, 275
Toyo - suke - iri-bime, (Princess),
209, 210
Toyo-tama-bime, 146
Toyo-to-wake no mikoto, (King),
244
To-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami, 39
Toyo-uke-bime-no-kami, 35, 131
Toyo-yo-no-kuni, 104
Traditions, recension of, lxxvi,
lxxvii
Transactions of the Asiatic Society
of Japan, lxvi, lxxxi, 12, 54,
63, 75, 126, 132, 170, 242,
255, 261, 279, 318, 368
Traps, xxviii
490
"KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
Trees, Deity of, 32
Tree-Fork-Deity, 90
Tree-Sparrow, xxxix, 117
Trout, xxxix, 284
Trowsers, xxxiv
Truly Conqueror I Conquer-
-
Conquering- Swift - Heavenly-
Great-Great- Ears, 57, 111,
127, 128
Tso Chuan, 40
Tsu, Island of, 27, 61
1
Tsubo-tatsu-mi-tama, 137
Tsubura no iratsume, (Lady), 354,
409
Tsubura no omi, (Grandee of), 369,
371, 373, 375
Tsuchi-gumo, 170
Tsuchi-ikadzuchi, 42
Tsuchi-ningio, 138
Tsuchi-no-mi-oya-no kami, 110
Tsuke no atahe, (Suzerains of), 184
Tsuki, River, 345
Tsuki-tree, 389
Tsukida, Mound of, 186
Tsuki-tatsu-funa-do, 47
Tsuki-yomi-no-kami, 50
Tsukuha, or Tsukuba, 259
Tsukushi, lvii, lviii, 1xx, lxxii,
lxxiii, 25, 26, 47, 134, 158,
183, 276, 277, 283, 284
Tsukushi no Meta no kimi,
(Dukes), 322
Tsukushi no miyako no murazhi,
(Chieftains of the Granaries
of), 184
Tsumi-ba-ya-he-koto-shiro-nushi-
no-kami, 98
Tsunu-guhi-no-kami, 20
Tsunu no iratsume, (Lady), 353
Tsunu no omi, (Grandees of), 199
Tsunuga, 288, 289, 298, 299
Tsunuga no ama no atahe, (Mari-
time Suzerains of), 195
Tsunusashi, Palace of, 395
Tsunuyama no omi, (Grandees of),
191
Tsura-nagi-no-kami, 31
Tsura-nami-no-kami, 31
Tsurayuki, lxv
Tsurugi, Pool of, 200, 305
Tsushima-no-agata-no-atahe, 61
Tsutsuki, 334
Tsutsuki, Palace of, 337
Tsutsuki, Prince Sufficing Lord of
Great, 202
Tsuwe-tsuki, Pass, 264
Tunny, xxxix
Turanian, i
Turbinidae, xxxviii, 173
Turkish, i
Uchi no omi, (Grandees of). 197
Uda, 166, 167, 213, 342
Uda-no-Chihara, 168,
Uda-no-Mohitori, (Water directors
of), 170
Uda no obito-ra, (Headmen of),
399
Uda no ugachi, 166
Udo, River, 223
Udzu-biko, 159
Udzu-hiko, 197
Uematsu Shigewoka, x
Ugly-Female-of-Hades, 43
Ugly - Male-of-the- Reed - Plains,
Great Deity, 86, 237
Uha-dzutsu-no-wo-no-mikoto, 49,
280
Uha tsu kuni, 149
Uha-tsu-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami, 49
Uhe-no-miya-no-uma-ya-dono-
toyo-to-mimi, His A., 412
·
INDEX
491
U-hiji-ni-no-kami, 19, 20
Uji, 294, 296, 297
Uji Ferry, 310, 311
Uji, King, 412
Uji-no-waki - iratsuko, 294, 299,
308, 309, 310, 312, 313
Uji-no-waki-iratsume, 294, 325
Uka-no-mi-tama, 79
Uka-no-yama, (Mount), 89
Ukashi Brethren, 167, 168, 169,
170
Ukiana, Palace of, 186
Umaguta, 61
Umaguta - no - kuni - no-miyatsuko,
61
Umaki, King, 411
Umakuta-no-iratsume, 409
Uma-mi-kuhi, (Chiefs), 199
Umasaka, 195
Umashi-ashi-kabi-hiko-ji-no-kami,
18
Umashi-ma-ji, His A., 175
Umashi Uchi nó sukune, 197
Umayado, Prince, 57
Umi, 283
Umori, King, 411
Umugi-hime, 84
Unakami, Land of, 60
Unakami-no-miko,
(King), 204,
205, 235, 238
Under-Shining-Princess, 98, 113,
116
Une-be no omi, (Grandees of), 175
Unebi, 175, 176, 18, 182, 185, 189
Unebi-yama no Manago-dani, 189
Unesu, Lords of, 248
Unewo, 36
Unu, 293
Unu no iratsume, (Lady), 293
Urabe no Kaneyoshi, 148
Urabe no Yasukáta, lxxxii
Urine, 279
Usa, 158
Usa-tsu-hiko, (Prinee), 158
Usa-tsu-hime, (Princess), 158
Utakori-hime, (Princess), 239
Utsushi-hi-gana-saku, 50
Utsu-shiko-me, 196
Utsu-shiko-wo, 196
Utsushi-kuni-tama-no-kami, 81
Uzhika no omi, (Grandees of), 195
Vegetable Wax-tree, xxxix
Veils, xxxiv
Villages, xxix
Vine, xxxix
Wa-chi-tsumi, His A., 187
Wade, Sir Thomas, lxxxv
Wad, name of a period, 16
Wadzurahi-no-ushi-no-kami, 47
Wager, lxvi
Wagtail, xxxix
Waiting-to-see- Flowers-of-the-
Holly, Deity, 100
Waka-hiko-take-kibi-tsu-hiko, 193,
194
Waka-hime, 408
Waka-hiru-me-no-kami, 101
Waka-ki no iri-biko no mikoto,
(King), 244
Waka-ki-iri-biko, His A., 221
Waka-kusaka, Queen, 367, 376
Waka-kusaka-be, (Princess), 325,
326, 375, 377, 378
Waka-kusaka-be, (Tribe), 326
Waka-mi-ke-nu-no-mikoto, 155
Waka-muro-tsuna-nė-no-kami, 111
Waka - nuke - futa-mata no miko,
(King), 294, 321
Waka-nuke no miko, (King), 275
Wakara, River, 218
492
KO-JI-KI,” OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
(C
Wakasa, 203, 288
Waka-sa-na-me-no-kami, 110
Wakasa no Mimi no wake, 205
Waka-sakura-be, (Tribe), 352
Wakasakura, Palace of, 347
Waka-take, Prince, 243, 245, 271,
273
-
Waka tarashi - hiko
no mikoto,
(Prince), 244, 246
Waka-tarashi, Princess, 375
Waka-toshi-no-kami, 110
Waka-yama-kuhi-no-kami, 110
Waka-yamato-ne-ko-hiko-oho-bibi,
196, 201
Waka-ya-no-iratsume, 409
Wakayuwe-be, (Clan), 238
Wake no kimi, (Dukes), 272
Waki-ikadzuchi, 42
Waki no kami, 191
Waki-no-kami, Palace of, 189
Wa-Kun Shiwori, lxxxiv
Waku-go no sukune, 200
Waku-musu-bi-no-kami, 35
Wanami, Estuary of, 233
Wani-kishi, 306
Wani-no-Hifure no omi, (Grandee
of), 294, 297
Wani no omi, (Grandees of), 201,
218, 286, 335. 354
48
Wani, Pass of, 218, 298
Wani, Pool of, 326
Warrior Clan, Ancestor of the, 175
Wash-Prince-of-the-Offing, Deity,
Wash-Prince-of-the-Shore, 48
Washi-hime, (Princess), 202
Wasp, xxxviii, 87
Wata, 373
Watarahi, outer temple of, 132
Wata-tarashi-hiko, 274.
Water, 345
Water Caltrop, x1, 302
Water-Directors, 331
Water-Gates, Deity of, 31, 125
Water, hot, trial by, lxvi
Water, purification by, lxvil
Water - Spoilt - Blossom - of Fuka-
buchi, (the Deep Pool), 80
Water-Sprinkling-Deity, 110
Wave Limit -Cormorant - Thatch-
Meeting-Incompletely, Prince,
-
15
Weaving Maiden, 119
Wedge, xxviii
Wega, 291, 323, 357
Weha, King, 410
Wells, August-Deity-of, 90
Well, True-Pool-, 56, 57
We-kuri, King, 413
Wen Hsüan, 13
Wet-nurses, xliv
Whale, xxxvii
Wheat, 71
Wheat, bearded, 71
White-Copper, 65
White-Sun, Deity, 106
White-Sun-Youth, Land of, 26
Wi-hika, Deity, 166
Wild cherry, xxxix, 366
Wild chive, xxxix, 172, 258
Wild-duck, xxxvii
Wild-goose, xxxvii, xl
Williams, Dr., 177
Wina, Dukes of, 410
Wind, Deity of, 32
Winter-cherry, xxxix, 74
Wi-same, Spring of, 263
Wistaria, xxx, 318
Wo, River, 161
Woad, xxxiv
Wo - asadzuma - no - waku-go no
sukune, (Noble), 324, 325, 354
INDEX
493
Wobashi Channel, 326
Wobashi-no-kimi, (Duke of), 176
Wobe, His A. 399
Wodate, 396, 398
Wodo-hime, (Princess), 387, 393,
394
Wodzu no kimi, (Dukes of), 273
Wo-gaha, (River), lxii, 284
Wohari, King, 412
Wohari no murazhi, Chiefs of, 189,
197, 209, 292
Wohari, Province of, 185, 191, 192,
206, 224, 232, 233, 246, 255,
260, 355
Woharida, 15, 370
Woharida no omi, (Grandees of),
199
Woharida, Palace of, 413
Woharita, King, 411
Wo-haye no miko, (King), 295
Wo-hatsuse Tribe, 408
Wo-hatsuse no miyatsuko, (Rulers
of), 184
Wo-hatsuse no Waka-Sazaki, 184
Wo-hatsuse-no - wake - sazaki, His
Grandeur, 408
Wo-ishi-hime, 410
Wokada, Palace of, 158
Wo-kahi, King, 411
Wokamoto, Palace of, 412
Woke-no-ihasu-wake, 402
Woke, Prince, 374, 396, 399, 400,
401, 402
Woke-tsu-hime, 204
Wo-kuma-ko-no-iratsume, 412
Wo-kumi-no-iratsume, (Princess),
409
Wo-mata no miko, (King), 202,
205
Womochi, 409
Womuro, Peak of, 383
Wondrous August Spirit, 282
Wondrous - Deity-of-Eighty-Evils,
49, 51
Wondrous - Deity-of-Great-Evils,
49
Wondrous - Divine - Producer - the
August-Ancestor, 125
Wondrous Eight - Spirits, Deity,
125
-
132
Wondrous-Inada-Princess, 73
Wondrous Increasing Offerings,
Deity of, 125
Wondrous-Rock-True-Gate-Deity,
Wo-nu-no-iratsume, 409
Wonu no omi, (Grandees of), 190
Worship, objects of, lxv
Wosada, Palace of, 411
Wosada Tominobu, x
Wotsu, Cape, 264
Wotsuki no yama no kami, (Moun-
tain Dukes of), 225
Wo-usu, His A., 243, 246, 248, 249
slays Deity of Ashigahara Pass,
258
slays his brother, 249
slays Idzumo Bravo, 252, 253
slays Kumaso Bravoes, 250-252
slays Rulers of Sagamu, 255, 256
Wo-ye-hime, 411
Wozabe, King, 222
Wo-zaho no miko, (King), 203, 205
Wren, xxxix, 102, 293, 341
Wrist Pads, xxviii
Writing, xlviii, xlix
Ya-chi-hoko-no-kami, 81
Ya-he-koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami,
98, 121
Ya-kaha-ye-hime, 100, 294
Yakami-hime, (Princess), 82, 83, 90
494
KO-JI-KI," OR RECORDS OF ANCIENT MATTERS
(C
Yakidzu, 256
Yamabe, see Yamanobe
Yama-be, (Tribe), 305
Yamaji no kimi, (Dukes of), 322
Yama-mori-be, 305
Yamanobe, or Yamabe, 224, 274,
342
Yamanobe-no-ohotaka, 232
Yamanobe no wake, (Lords of),
224
Yamanobe, Road, 220
Yamashiro, King of, 411, 412
Yamashiro, Land of, 61, 190, 197,
202, 205, 206, 217, 218, 221,
222, 239, 271, 286, 287, 294,
297, 332, 333, 334, 335, 337,
374
Yamashiro-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko,
61
Yamashiro - no-oho - Tsutsuki no
ma-waka no miko, 204
Yamashiro no Uchi no omi, (Gran-
dees of), 197
Yamashiro, River, 333
Yamashiro Topography of, 109
Yama-shita-kage, Princess, 197
Yama-suwe-no-oho-nushi-no-kami,
108
Yamato, Ancestors of the Rulers of
the Land of, 159
Yamato, Chiefs of, lv, lxx
Yamato, conquest of, lxxvii, 291
Yamato, Province of, lv, lvii, lviii,
lxxii, lxxiii, 25, 27, 28, 94,
106, 155, 164, 175, 183, 184,
186, 188, 189, 190, 192, 195,
196, 197, 200, 202, 203, 205,
207, 208, 209, 213, 220, 224,
232, 234, 236, 238, 241, 242,
251, 265, 276, 285, 292, 294,
321, 330, 331, 334, 344, 348,
351, 352, 354, 355, 366, 370,
383, 391, 395, 399, 405
Yamato-hiko, (Prince), 209, 210
Yamato hime, Her A., 221, 224,
249, 254, 255, 409
Yamato's hundred-fold wondrous
brilliant
young ornamental
Princess, 193
Yamato's hundred thousand- fold
illustrious Princess, 193
"Yamato Monogatari," (Tales of),
xxxi, lxxxiv
Yamato-ne-ko, His A., 244
Yamato-no-kuni no miyatsuko, 159
Yamato - oyu-shiki- tomi-toyo-asa-
kura-ake-tatsu, 235
Yamato - Take, see also Wo-usu,
xlviii, lvi, lvii, lxxvi, 1xxvii,
157, 221, 225, 244, 245, 246,
248, 251, 252, 253, 257, 259,
260, 262, 263, 266, 267, 268,
270, 272
death of, 267
turns into a white bird, 268
Yamato-to-bi-haya-waka-ya- hime,
193
Yamato-wo-guna, His A. 244
Yamazaki Suiga, 44
Yasaka - no-iri - biko - no - mikoto,
(Prince), 209, 244
Yasaka -no-iri - bime no mikoto,
(Princess), 244
Ya-shima-muji-no-kami, 99
Ya-shima-zhi-nu-mi, 79
Ya-so-maga-tsu-bi-no-kami, 49
Yasu, Suzerains of, 206
Yasu, Land of, 271
Yasumaro, Futo no, v, lxxxiv, 3,
4, 13, 15
Yata, 294
Yata, King, 410
INDEX
495
Yata-be, (Tribe), 340
Yata-no-waki-iratsume, 294, 325,
331, 332, 339, 340
Yatsu-mimi-no-Tai-shi, 57
Yatsuri, 355
Yatsuri-iri-biko no miko, (King),
204
Yatsuri, Village of, 204
Yena, Princess, 202
Yebisu, lxxii
Ye-hime, 231, 247
Yemishi, lxxii, lxxiii, 258
Yenuma no omi, (Grandees of), 200
Yeshiki, 174
Yeshinu or Yoshino, 7, 303, 304,
382
Yeshinu, River, 165, 382
Yeshinu no kuzu, (Territorial
owners of), 166, 303, 305
Yeshinu no obito, (Headmen of),
166
Yezo, lxxii,, 73, 258, 344
Yi Ching, lxxxv, 8
Yodo, River, 159, 332
Yoko, River, 9
Yokoyama Yoshikiyo, lxxxiii
Yō-mei Tenno, 412
Yomo-tsu-hira-saka, 43
Yomo-tsu-kami, 42
Yomo-tsu-oho-kami, 45
Yomo-tsu-shiko-me, 43
Yorodzu - hata - toyo - aki - dzu- shi-
hime-no-mikoto, 128
Yoru-no-wosu-kuni, 52
Yosami, Pool of, 220, 301, 326
Yoshino, see Yeshinu
Yoshino, Mountains of, 9
Yoso-taho-bimė-no mikoto, (Prin-
cess), 189
Young-August-Food-Master, His
A., 155
Young-Day-Female-Deity, 101
Young-Harvest-Deity, 110
Mountain
Deity, 110, 111
Young - Rice - Transplanting - Fe-
male-Deity, 110
Young-Thunder, Deity, 42
Young
-
-
-
Young Wondrous Producing -
Deity, 35
Young-Yamato - lord-prince-great,
196
-
Integrator,
Younger Princess, the Truly Young
Princess, 321
Youth-of-the- Wind - Breath-the-
Great-Male, Deity, 30
Yugori, 201
Yumi-hari, Princess, 412
Yura, Harbour of, 346
Yu-riaku Tenno, lxvii, 183, 191,
224, 227, 375, 376, 377, 379,
380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 385,
386, 387, 388, 392, 393, 395,
403, 406
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