[ p. 81 ]
¶ 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-of-the-Great-Land. The reason for their leaving it was this: Each of these eighty Deities had in his heart the wish to marry the Princess of Yakami [^472] in Inaba, [^473] 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, [^474] [they found] a naked hare lying down. Then the eighty Deities spoke to the hare, saying: “What thou shouldest do is to bathe in the sea-water here, and lie on the slope of a high mountain exposed to the blowing of the wind.” So the hare followed the instructions of the eighty Deities, and lay down. Then, as the sea-water dried, the skin of its body all split with the blowing of the wind, so that it lay weeping with pain. But the Deity Great-Name-Possessor, who came last of all, saw the hare, and said: “Why liest thou weeping?” The hare replied, saying: “I was in the Island of Oki, [^475] and wished to cross over to this land, but had no means of crossing over. For this reason [69] I deceived the crocodiles [1] of the sea, saying: ‘Let you [ p. 82 ] and me compete, and compute the numbers of our [respective] tribes. So do you go and fetch every member of your tribe, and make them all lie in a row across from this island to Cape Keta. Then I will tread on them, and count them as I run across. Hereby shall we know whether it or my tribe is the larger.’ Upon my speaking thus, they were deceived and lay down in a row, and I trod on them and counted them as I came across, and was just about to get on land, when I said: ‘You have been deceived by me.’ As soon as I had finished speaking, the crocodile who lay the last of all seized me and stripped off all my clothing. As I was weeping and lamenting for this reason, the eighty Deities who went by before [thee] commanded and exhorted me, saying: ‘Bathe in the salt water, and lie down exposed to the wind.’ So, on my doing as they had instructed me, my whole body was hurt.” Thereupon the Deity Great-Name-Possessor instructed the hare, saying: “Go quickly now to the river-mouth, wash thy body with the fresh water, then take the pollen of the sedges [growing] at the river-mouth, spread it about, and roll about upon it, whereupon thy body will certainly be restored to its original state.” [2] So [the hare] did as it was instructed, and its body became as it had been originally. This was the White Hare of Inaba. [3] 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.”
[ p. 83 ]
¶ SECT. XXII.—MOUNT TEMA.
Thereupon the Princess of Yakami answered [4] the eighty Deities, saying: “I will not listen to your words. I mean to marry the Deity Great-Name-Possessor.” So [70] the eighty Deities, being enraged, and wishing to slay the Deity Great-Name-Possessor, took counsel together, on arriving at the foot of Tema [5] 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, [6] he got stuck to and burnt by the stone, and died. Thereupon Her Augustness his august parent [7] cried and lamented, and went up to Heaven, and entreated His Divine-Producing-Wondrous-Augustness, [8] who at once sent Princess Cockle-Shell [9] and Prince Clam [10] to bring him to life. Then Princess Cockle-Shell triturated and scorched [11] [her shell], and Princess Clam carried water and [ p. 84 ] smeared [him] as with mother’s [12] milk, whereupon he became a beautiful young man, and wandered off. Hereupon the eighty Deities, seeing [this], again deceived him, [71] taking him with them into the mountains, where they cut down a large tree, inserted a wedge in the tree, [13] and made him stand in the middle, whereupon they took away the wedge and tortured him to death. [14] Then on Her Augustness his august parent again seeking him with cries, she perceived him, and at once cleaving the tree, took him out and brought him to life, and said to him: [15] “If thou remain here, thou wilt at last be destroyed by the eighty Deities.” Then she sent him swiftly off to the august place of the Deity Great-House-Prince [16] in the land of Ki. [17] Then when the eighty Deities searched and pursued till they came up to him, and fixed their arrows [in their bows], he escaped by clipping under the fork of a tree, and disappeared.
[ p. 85 ]
[ p. 86 ]
¶ SECT. XXIII.—THE NETHER-DISTANT-LAND.
[^493]] saying: “Thou must set off to the Nether-Distant-Land where [72] dwells His Impetuous-Mate-Augustness. That Great Deity will certainly counsel thee.” So on his obeying her command and arriving at the august place [18] of His Impetuous-Male-Augustness, the latter’s daughter the Forward-Princess [19] came out and saw him, and they exchanged glances and were married, and [she] went in again, and told her father, saying: “A very beautiful Deity has come.” Then the Great Deity went out and looked, and said: 'This is the Ugly-Male-Deity-of-the-Reed-Plain,“ [20] and at once calling him in, made him sleep in the snake-house. Hereupon his wife, Her Augustness the Forward-Princess, gave her husband a snake-scarf, [21] 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; [22] 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 [23] 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 [24] came and said: ”The inside is hollow-hollow; the outside is narrow-narrow.“ [25] Owing to its speaking thus, he trod on the place, where, upon he fell in and hid himself, during which time the [ p. 87 ] 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, [26] and crying. Her father the Great Deity, thinking that [the Deity Great-Name-Possessor] was already dead and done for, went out and stood on the moor, whereupon [the Deity Great-Name-Possessor] brought the arrow and presented it to him, upon which [the Great Deity], taking him into the house and calling him into an eight-foot spaced large room, [27] made him take the lice off his head. So, on looking at the head [he saw that] there were many centipedes [there]. Thereupon, as his wife gave to her husband berries of the muku tree [28] 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, [29] and taking his wife the Forward Princess on his back, then carried off [74] the Great Deity’s great life-sword [30] and life-bow-and-arrows, [31] as also his heavenly speaking-lute, [32] and ran out. But the heavenly speaking-lute brushed against a tree, and the earth resounded. So the Great Deity, who was sleeping, started at the sound, and pulled down the house. But while he was disentangling his hair which was tied to the rafters, [the Deity Great-Name-Possessor] fled a long way. So then, pursuing after him to the Even Pass [ p. 88 ] of Hades, [33] 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 earnest, pursue thy half-brethren [34] till they crouch on the august slopes of the passes, [35] and pursue them till they are swept into the reaches of the rivers, and do thou, wretch! [36] become the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land; [37] and moreover, becoming the Deity Spirit-of-the-Living-Land, and making my daughter the Forward-Princess thy [75] consort, [38] do thou make stout the temple-pillars at the foot of Mount Uka [39] in the nethermost rock-bottom, and make high the cross-beams to the Plain-of-High-Heaven, and dwell [there], thou villain!" [40] 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, [41] he did pursue them till they were swept into every river, and then he began to make the land. [42] Quamobrem Hera Yamaki, 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. [43] So the child was called by the name of the Tree-Fork-Deity, [44] and another name was the Deity-of-August-Wells. [45]
[ p. 89 ]
[ p. 90 ]
[ p. 91 ]
¶ SECT. XXIV.—THE WOOING OF THE DEITY-OF-EIGHT-THOUSAND-SPEARS.
This Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears, [46] when he went forth [47] to woo the Princess of Nuna-kaha, [48] in the land of Koshi, on arriving at the house of the Princess of Nuna kaha sang, saying:
“[I] His Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears, [76] 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 moor, the pheasant, resounds; the bird of the yard, the cock, crows. Oh! the pity that [the] birds should sing! Oh! these birds! Would that I could beat them till they were sick! Oh! swiftly-flying heaven-racing messenger, the tradition of the thing, too, this!” [49]
Then the Princess of Nuna-kaha, without yet opening [77] the door, sang from the inside saying:—
[ p. 92 ]
“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!” [50]
[78] [^527]]
When the sun shall hide behind the green mountains, in the night [black as] the true jewels of the moor will I come forth. Coming radiant with smiles like the morning sun, [thine] arms white as rope of paper-mulberry-bark shall softly pat [my] breast soft as the melting snow; and patting [each other] interlaced, stretching out and pillowing [ourselves] on [each other’s] jewel-arms,— true jewel-arms,—and with outstretched legs, will we sleep. So speak not too lovingly, Thine Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! The tradition of the thing, too, this!" [51]
Quamobrem eâ nocte non coierunt, sed sequentis diei nocte auguste coierunt.
[ p. 93 ] p. 94
[ p. 95 ]
¶ SECT. XXV.—THE CUP PLEDGE.
[79] Again this Deity’s Chief Empress, [52] Her Augustness the Forward-Princess, was very jealous. So the Deity her husband, being distressed, was about to go up from Idzumo to the Land of Yamato; and as he stood attired, with one august hand on the saddle of his august horse and one august foot in the august stirrup, he sang, saying:
“When I take and attire myself so carefully in my august garments black as the true jewels of the moor, and, like the birds of the offing, look at my breast,—though I raise my fins, [I say that] these are not good, and cast them off on the waves on the beach. When I take and attire myself so carefully in my august garments green as the kingfisher, and, like the birds of the oiling, look at my breast.—though I raise my fins, [I say that] these, too, are not good, and cast them off on the waves on the beach. When I take and attire myself so carefully in my raiment dyed in the sap of the dye-tree, the pounded madder sought in the mountain fields, and. like the birds of the offing. look at my breast,—though I raise my fins, [I say that] they are good. My dear young sister. Thine Augustness! Though thou say that thou wilt not weep,—if like the flocking birds, I flock and depart, if, like the led birds, I am led away and depart, thou wilt hang down thy head like p. 96 a single eulalia upon the mountain and thy weeping shall indeed rise as the mist of [80] the morning shower. Thine Augustness [my] spouse like the young herbs! The tradition of the thing, too, this!” [53]
Then his Empress, taking a great august liquor-cup, and drawing near and offering it to him, sang, saying:—
“Oh! Thine Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! [Thou], my [dear] Master-of-the-Great-Land indeed, being a man, probably hast on the various island-headlands [81] that thou seest, and on every beach headland that thou lookest on, a wife like the young herbs. But as for me alas! being a woman, I have no man except thee; I have no spouse except thee. Beneath the fluttering of the ornamented fence, beneath the softness of the warm coverlet, beneath the rustling of the cloth coverlet, [thine] arms white as rope of paper-mulberry bark softly patting [my] breast soft as the melting snow, and patting [each other] interlaced, stretching out and pillowing [our selves] on [each others arms],—true jewel arms, and with outstretched legs, will we sleep. Lift up the luxuriant august liquor!” [54]
She having thus sung, they at once pledged [each other] by the cup with [their hands] on [each other’s] necks, [55] and are at rest till the present time. These are called divine words. [56]
[ p. 97 ]
¶ Footnotes
81:1 p. 82 Yakami-hime. The etymology is uncertain. ↩︎
81:2 The name of a province not far from that of Idzumo. The word may possibly, as Motowori suggests, be derived from ina-ba, “rice-leaves.” ↩︎
81:3 p. 83 Kita-no-saki. The etymology of the name seems uncertain. The meaning of the word keta is “the beams of a roof, the yards of a sail.” But perhaps Keta and keta may be nothing more than homonyms of independent origin. ↩︎
81:4 Not far from the coast of Idzumo and of Inaba. ↩︎
82:6 Literally “to its original skin”; that is to say that its skin would again be covered with fur. ↩︎
82:7 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. ↩︎
83:1 p. 84 It must be understood that in the meantime they had arrived at her dwelling and begun to court her. ↩︎
83:2 Etymology unknown. ↩︎
83:3 The text is here concise to obscurity, but yet there ought not to be much doubt as to the author’s intention. ↩︎
83:4 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. ↩︎83:5 Kami-musu-bi-no-mikoto. See Sect. I, Note 6. ↩︎
83:6 Kisa-gahi-hime. The kiga-gahi here mentioned is the modern aka-gahi, a cockle, the Arca inflata. ↩︎
83:7 Umugi-hime. The umugi here mentioned is the modern hamagari, a clam of the family Mactridæ, the Cytherea Mereirix. ↩︎
83:8 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 time in Japan the two characters were used interchangeably. ↩︎84:9 p. 85 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. We shall be justified in applying an inverse interpretation to the legend. ↩︎
84:10 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 occurring 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. ↩︎84:12 Literally “to her child.” ↩︎
84:13 Oha-ya-biko-no-kami. This Deity is identified with the Deity I-dakeru mentioned in the “Chronicle” 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 connecting the agricultural and arboricultural renown of the Deity bearing it with the name of the province of Ki is doubtless quite fanciful. ↩︎
84:14 I.e., “the land of tree” (
). Later the character 
was 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. ↩︎86:1 p. 88 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 Motowori 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). ↩︎
86:2 I.e., the Palace. ↩︎
86:3 p. 89 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. ↩︎
86:4 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). ↩︎
86:5 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.” ↩︎
86:6 The word hachi, translated “wasp,” is a general name including other insects of the family of Vespidæ. ↩︎
86:7 I.e., “arrow.” The original expression is nari-kabura (
), 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 a 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. ↩︎86:8 Or “rat.” ↩︎
86:9 The translator cannot think of any better English equivalents for the child-like onomatopoeias hora-hora and subu-subu of the Japanese original. ↩︎
87:10 The edition of 1687 reads the two characters
(here translated “mourning implements,”) mo-gari no sonahe, i.e., “preparations for the funeral.” Such preparations are detailed in the latter part of Sect. XXXI. ↩︎87:11 This is Mabuchi’s interpretation, as quoted by Motowori, of the expression ya-ta-ma no oho-muro-ya. Motowori’s own view is that ya-ta stands for ya-tzu, which 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.” ↩︎87:12 Aphananthe Aspera, also sometimes called Celtis Muku. ↩︎
87:13 I.e., “a rock which it would require five hundred men to lift.” ↩︎
87:14 Iku-tachi (
), supposed by Motowori to be “a sword having the virtue of conferring long life upon its possessor.” ↩︎87:15 Iku-yumi-ya (
). ↩︎87:16 Ame no nori-goto (
), so called because, as will be seen Sect. XCVI, divine messages were conveyed through a person playing p. 90 on the lute. Hirata, in his “Exposition of the Ancient Histories.” invents the reading ame no nu-goto ( 
), “heavenly jewelled lute.” ↩︎88:17 See Sect. IX. (Note 16). ↩︎
88:18 They were not born of the same mother. The Chinese characters 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. ↩︎88:19 Or “hills.” ↩︎
88:20 The word in the text is ore, an insulting equivalent Second Personal Pronoun. If we were translating into German, we might perhaps approximately represent its force by “er.” ↩︎
88:21 Thus according to this legend, “Master-of-the-Great-Land” (Oho-kuni-nushi) was not the original name of the Deity commonly designated by it, and his sovereignty over the Land of the Living (whence the appropriateness of the second name in this context) was derived by investiture from the god of the Land of the Dead. ↩︎
88:22 The characters
, which are here used, designate specifically the chief or legitimate wife, as opposed to the lesser wives or concubines. ↩︎88:23 Uka-no-yama. No satisfactory etymology of Uka is forthcoming. ↩︎
88:24 I.e., “Firmly planting in the rock the pillars forming the foundation 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!” ↩︎
88:25 Or “hill.” ↩︎
88:26 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). ↩︎88:27 Q.d., to Inaba. ↩︎
88:28 Ki-no-mata-no-kami. ↩︎
88:29 Mi-wi-no-kami. He is supposed to have benefitted the country by digging wells in many places. ↩︎
91:1 p. 92 In this Section, the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land is spoken of under this alias. See Sect. XX, Note 20). ↩︎
91:3 Kuna-kawa-hime. Nana-kaha or Nu-na-kaha (“lagoon-river”), is supposed to be the name of a place in the province of Echigo. ↩︎
91:4 p. 93 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 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-huni (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 flesh is a certain cure for the hiccough.” The character 
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 messenger,” 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 messenger, ”run down to future ages, 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 p. 94 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. ↩︎92:5 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 thy 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 “Kōgan-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. ↩︎
92:6 There is no break in the text; but the commentators rightly consider the following to be a separate poem. ↩︎
92:7 The import of this very plain-spoken poem needs no elucidation.—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 “coming 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.” ↩︎
95:1 p. 97 I.e., chief wife. ↩︎