[ p. 139 ] [114]
¶ SECT. XXXVI.—THE DEITY PRINCE OF SARUTA AT AZAKA.
Now when this Deity Prince of Saruta dwelt at Azaka, [^766] he went out fishing, and had his hand caught by a hirabu shell-fish, [^767] and was drowned in the brine of the sea. So the name by which he was called when he sank to the bottom was the Bottom-Touching-August-Spirit; [^768] the name by which he was called when the sea-water gurgled up was the Gurgling-up-August-Spirit; [^769] the name by which he was called when the bubbles formed was the Bubble-Bursting-August-Spirit. [1] Thereupon [Her Augustness the Heavenly-Alarming-Female], having escorted [back] the Deity Prince of Saruta, came back, [2] and at once drove together all the things broad of fin and the things narrow of fin, [3] 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-de-mer, saying: ”Ah! this mouth is a mouth that gives no reply!"—and [with these words] slit the mouth with her stiletto. [4] So at the present day the [115] bèche-de-mer has a slit mouth. Wherefore [from august reign to] august reign, when the offerings of the first-fruits of Shima [5] are presented [to the Emperor], a portion of them is granted to the Duchesses of Saru.
[ p. 140 ]
¶ SECT. XXXVII.—THE CURSE OF THE DEITY GREAT-MOUNTAIN-POSSESSOR.
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, [6] and my name is the Divine-Princess-of-Ata, [7] another name by which I am called being Princess-Blossoming-Brilliantly-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees.” [8] Again he asked: “Hast thou [ p. 141 ] any brethren?” [9] She replied, saying: “There is my elder sister, Princess-Long-as-the-Rocks.” [10] Then he charged her, [saying]: “Ego sum cupidus coiendi tecum. Tibi quomodo videtur?” She replied, saying: “I [11] am not able to say. My father the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor will say.” So he sent a request [for her] to her father the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor, who, greatly delighted, respectfully sent her off, joining to her her [116] elder sister Princess Long-as-the-Rocks, and causing merchandise to be carried on tables holding an hundred. [12] So then, owing to the elder sister being very hideous, [His Augustness Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty] 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 offspring [13] of the Heavenly Deity, [14] though the snow [15] fall and the wind blow, might live 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, [16] I offered [17] them. But owing to thy thus sending back [18] Princess Long-as-the-Rocks, and keeping only Princess-Blossoming-Brilliantly-Like-the-Flowers-of-the-Trees, the august offspring of the Heavenly Deity shall be but as frail [19] as the flowers of the trees. So it is for this [117] [ p. 142 ] reason that down to the present day the august lives of Their Augustnesses the Heavenly Sovereigns [20] are not long.
[ p. 143 ]
¶ 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 on [21] [^791] 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; [22] so I tell thee.“ Then [His Augustness Prince Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty] said: ”Princess-Blossoming-Brilliantly! [23] what! pregnant after one night! [24] It cannot be my child. It must surely be the child of an Earthly Deity.“ [25] Then she replied, saying: ”If the child with [118] which I am pregnant be the child of an Earthly Deity, [ p. 144 ] my delivery will not be fortunate. If it be the august child of the Heavenly Deity, [26] it will be fortunate;"—and thereupon she built a hall eight fathoms [long] without doors, [27] went inside the hall and plastered up [the entrance] with earth; and when the time came for her delivery, she set fire to the hall and was delivered. [28] So the name of the child that was born when the fire was burning most fiercely was His Augustness Fire-Shine [29] (this is the ancestor of the Hayabito, Dukes of Ata); [30] the name of the child born next was His Augustness Fire-Climax; [31] the august [32] name of the child born next was His Augustness [119] Fire-Subside, [33] another name for whom is His Augustness Heaven’s-Sun-Height-Prince-Great-Rice-ears-Lord-Ears [34] (three Deities in all). [35]
[ p. 145 ]
¶ SECT. XXXIX.—THE AUGUST EXCHANGE OF LUCK.
So His Augustness Fire-Shine was a prince who got his luck [36] 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, [ p. 146 ] and use each other’s luck.” [Nevertheless], 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. Thereupon 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.” [37] To which the younger 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 sabre [38] that was augustly girded [120] on him, made [of the fragments] five hundred fish-hooks as compensation; 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.”
[ p. 147 ]
¶ SECT. XL.—THE PALACE OF THE OCEAN-POSSESSOR.
Hereupon, as the younger brother was weeping and lamenting by the sea-shore, the Deity Salt-Possessor [39] came and asked him, saying: “What is the cause of the Sky’s-Sun-Height’s [40] weeping and lamentation? ”He replied, saying: “I had exchanged a fish-hook with my elder brother, [41] 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 [121] 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, [42] 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; [43] 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. [44] When thou reachest the august gate of that deity['s palace], there will be a multitudinous[-ly branching] cassia-tree [45] 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.” So following [these] instructions, [His Augustness Fire-Subside] went a little [way], and everything happened as [the Deity Salt-Possessor] had said; and he forthwith climbed the cassia-tree, and sat [there]. Then when the hand-maidens of the Sea-Deity’s daughter Luxuriant-Jewel-Princess, [46] bearing jewelled vessels, were about to draw water, there was a light in the well. [47] On looking up, there was a beautiful young man. They thought it very strange. [122] [ p. 148 ] 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 handmaidens 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 hand-maidens, 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 illustrious even than our king. Lo, 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 separate this [from the other], [48] we have brought [the vessel] with [the jewel] in it to present to thee.” Then Her Augustness 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 him-self went out to look, and saying: “This person is the Sky’s-Sun-Height, the august child of the Heaven’s-Sun-Height,” [49] led him into the interior [of the palace], and spreading eight layers of rugs of sea-asses [50] skins, and spreading on the top other eight layers of silk rugs, and setting him on the top of them, arranged merchandise on tables holding an hundred, [51] made an august banquet, [ p. 149 ] 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 [123] thought of what had gone before, [52] and heaved one [53] 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 saying: “This morning I heard 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 tahi [54] has complained of something sticking in its throat [55] preventing it from eating; so it doubtless has taken [the hook].” On the throat of the tahi 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.’ [56] Having [thus] spoken, bestow it with thy back hand. [57] [124] Having done thus,—if thine elder brother make high [ p. 150 ] fields, [58] 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 jewel [59] 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, [60] 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. [61] Who will in how many days respectfully escort him, and bring back a report?” [62] 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 [63] will escort him, and come back in one day.” So then [the Sea-Deity] [125] 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!” [64] 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 [65] which was girded on him, and, setting it on the crocodile’s neck, [66] sent [the latter] back. So the crocodile one fathom [long] is now called the Deity Blade-Possessor. [67]
[ p. 151 ]
[ p. 152 ]
¶ Footnotes
139:1 p. 139 Etymology unknown. ↩︎
139:2 What species was denoted by this ancient name is not clear; but one of Motowori’s suggestion, to the effect that it may have been identical with the modern sarubo-yahi (a shell of a family Arcadæ, probably Arca subcrenata), the origin of whose name would thus be traced up to the mythological age, is at least ingenious. ↩︎
139:3 p. 140 Soko-daku-mi-tama. ↩︎
139:4 Tsubu-tatsu-mi-tama. ↩︎
139:5 Aka-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. ↩︎
139:6 The characters rendered “came back ”are
. 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 Sara in the’ first-fruits of the province of Shims. 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 pro-posed 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. ↩︎139:7 I.e. all the fishes both great and small. ↩︎
139:8 Literally, “small string-sword,” supposed to have been so called from its having been carried inside the garments, attached to the under-belt. ↩︎
139:9 The smallest of the Japanese provinces, situated to the East of Ise. The name signifies “island,” and it is possible that it ought here to be taken in that sense as a common noun. ↩︎
140:1 p. 142 See Sect. VI. Note 17. ↩︎
140:2 Kamu-ata-tsu-hime. Ata is a place in Satsuma. ↩︎
140:3 Or “Tree.” Ka-no-hama-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. This 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 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). ↩︎
141:4 Or perhaps, so written
, the original expression were here better rendered by “sisters.” ↩︎141:5 I.e., as enduring as the rocks. The original name is Iha-naga-hime. ↩︎
141:6 The character used here and immediately below for the First Personal Pronoun is
“servant.” ↩︎141:7 I.e., every kind of goods as a dowry for his daughters. ↩︎
141:8 The usual word child (
)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. ↩︎141:9 I.e., either of the Sun-Goddess or of Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-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. ↩︎
141:10 Or “snow and rain,” the reading being uncertain. ↩︎
141:11 Or “having sworn this,” or “pledged [myself to the accomplishment of] this.” ↩︎
141:12 The Chinese characters used are those properly denoting the presenting of tribute. ↩︎
141:14 p. 143 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
, i.e. “fading and falling like the flowers of the trees.” ↩︎142:15 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 contend, 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 Japanese commentators is correct. The ancient pure native term seems to have been Sumera-mikoto, for which Mr. Satow has proposed the rendering of “Sovereign Augustness.” ↩︎143:1 p. 144 More literally “came to”; but the character which is employed implies that her visit was to a superior. ↩︎
143:2 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. ↩︎143:3 I.e. “secretly,” “without telling thee.” ↩︎
143:4 In this one instance only is the name thus abbreviated. Motowori supposes it to be on account of the scorn implied in the god’s words ↩︎
143:5 Literally, “one sojourn.” ↩︎
143:6 See Sect. I, Note 11. Here of course one of the gods of the same country-side is meant. ↩︎
144:7 I.e. “thy child and the Sun-Goddess descendant.” ↩︎
144:8 That is to say that it remained doorless after she had, as stated immediately below, plastered up the entrance. ↩︎
144:9 Viz. of child, not from the flames. There is no ambiguity in the Japanese expression. ↩︎
144:10 Ho-deri-na-mikoto. ↩︎
144:11 Hayabito-ata-no-kimi. 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 p. 145 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 mentioned 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.” ↩︎
144:12 Ho-suseri-no-mikoto. ↩︎
144:13 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. ↩︎
144:14 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 ”. ↩︎
144:15 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. ↩︎
144:16 The actual word in the text is not kumi, “deity,” but its Auxiliary Numeral hashira. ↩︎
145:1 p. 146 For the archaic Japanese work 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 negotiated below was doubtless that of the bow and arrows of one deity for the other deity’s fish-hook. ↩︎
146:2 I.e., “Some men are naturally good hunters, and others naturally good fishermen. Let us therefore restore to each other the implements necessary to the successful following of our respective avocations.”—The clause rendered “Let each of us now restore to the other his luck ”is a little confused in the original; but the kana readings both old and new agree in interpreting it as has here been done. ↩︎
146:3 See Sect. VIII, Note 1. ↩︎
147:1 p. 151 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 Shinsei’s “Perpetual Commentary on the Chronicles of Japan” Vol. VII, p. 3) adds another reason for rejecting both Motowori’s far-fetched derivation of the name for Shiri-oho-tsu-mochi, “Great Possessor of Knowledge,” and his assertion that it denotes no individual deity, but any one gifted with superior wisdom. ↩︎147:2 Sora-tsu-hi-daka. It will be remembered that Ama-tsu-hi-daka, “Heaven’s-Sun-Height,” was the first part of Prince Fire-Subsides’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 reigning sovereign. Both were therefore equally applicable to Prince Fire-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. ↩︎
147:3 I.e., “I had received a fish-hook from my elder brother in exchange for a bow.” The text is here concise to obscurity. ↩︎
147:4 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. ↩︎
147:5 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, throughout the work we have 
or 
alone. ↩︎147:6 See Sect. VI, Note 8, where the Adjective “Great” is prefixed to the name. ↩︎
147:7 See Sect. XXXI, Note 10. ↩︎
147:8 Toyo-tama-hime. ↩︎
147:9 The character
properly “light,” “refulgence,” is here taken by Motowori in the precisely opposite sense of “shadow” (the parallel p. 152 passage in the “Chronicles” having 
“human shadow”), and his view is absolved from unreasonableness by the fact of the confusion 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. See also Sect. XLVI, Note 9-10. ↩︎148:10 Or, taking the character
as an initial Particle, “So, as we were not able to separate [one from the other].” ↩︎148:11 See Note 2 to this Section. ↩︎
148:12 This is a literal translation of the Chinese characters
, by which the Archaic word michi, here written phonetically, is elsewhere represented. Perhaps the sea-lion (Otaria arsina) or a species of seal may be intended. ↩︎148:13 See Sect. XXXVII, Note 7. ↩︎
149:14 Literally, “thought of the first things.” ↩︎
149:15 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.” ↩︎
149:16 Pronounced tai in modern parlance. Perhaps we should rather add aka-dahi, “red tahi,” as in the parallel passage of the “Chronicles.” Both these fishes belong to the family Sparoidei, the former being the Pagrus cardinalis, the latter probably the P. major. ↩︎
149:17 Or, “of a fish-bone in its throat.” ↩︎
149:18 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 means unintelligent; hence we have a hook which, not serving its purpose, will be of no use whatever, but rather a road to lead [him 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.” ↩︎
149:19 p. 153 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). ↩︎
150:20 By “high fields ”and “low fields ”are meant respective upland 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. ↩︎
150:21 Shiho mitsu tama. The “tide-ebbing jewel ”mentioned in the next sentence is in the Japanese shiho hiru tama. ↩︎
150:23 Uha tsu kuni,
. ↩︎150:24 I.e., “Which of you will most speedily escort him home to the upper world, and bring back news of his safe arrival there?” ↩︎
150:25 Written with the respectful
, “servant.” ↩︎