¶ SECT. CVI.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART III.—HE WOOES PRINCESS MIYA-NUSHI-YA-KAHA-YE).
One day [^1868] 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: [245]
“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.” [^1869]
[ p. 305 ]
So when he reached the village of Kohara, [^1870] 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, [^1871] and my name is Princess Miya-nushi-ya-kaha-ye.” [^1872] 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 commands are] to be respected. My child, respectfully serve him!”—and so saying he grandly decorated the house, and awaited [the Heaven ly Sovereign’s return], whereupon he came in on the next day. [1] So when [the father] served [the Heavenly Sovereign] a great august feast, he made his daughter Her Augustness [2] Princess Ya-kaha take the great august [246] liquor-cup and present it. Thereupon, while taking the great 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 p. 306 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 women I met, the child I saw and wanted in this way, the child I saw and wanted in that way, oh! she is opposite to me at the height of the feast! oh! she is at my side!” [3]
[247] Ita auguste coivit [cum illâ], et procreavit filium Uji-no-waki-iratsuko.
[ p. 307 ]
[ p. 308 ]
¶ SECT. CVII.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART IV.—HE GRANTS PRINCESS KAMINAGA TO HIS SON OHO-SAZAKI).
The Heavenly Sovereign, hearing of the beauty of Princess Kaminaga, [4] daughter of the Duke of Muragata [5] in the land of Himuka, and thinking to employ her [6] sent down for her, [7] whereupon the Heir Apparent [8] His Augustness Oho-sazaki, having seen the maiden land at [248] the port of Naniha, and being charmed with the grace of her appearance, forthwith directed the Prince Minister the Noble Taka-uchi, to intercede for him in the 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, [9] 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, [10] gave Princess Kami-naga the great august liquor oak-[^1883]] 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!’ [11]
[249] Again he augustly sang, saying:
“Driving the dyke-piles into Lake Yosami p. 309 where the water collects, my heart (ignorant of the pricking of the stumps of the water-caltrop, ignorant of the creeping of the roots of the Brasenia peltata), being more and more laughable, is now indeed repentant.” [12]
Having thus sung, he bestowed [her on the Heir Apparent]. So after having been granted the maiden, the Heir Apparent sang, saying:
“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.” [13]
Again he sang saying":
“I think lovingly ah! of how the maiden [250] of Kohada in the back of the road sleeps [with me] without disputing” [14]
[ p. 310 ]
[ p. 311 ]
¶ SECT. CVIII.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART V.—SONGS OF THE TERRITORIAL OWNERS OF YESHINU).
Again, the Territorial Owners of Yeshinu, [15] seeing the august sword which was girded on His Augustness Oho sazaki, sang, saying:
“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.” [16]
Again, having made a cross-mortar [17] at Kashifu [18] in [251] Yeshinu, and having in that cross-mortar distilled [19] some great august liquor, they, when they presented the great august liquor [to the Heavenly Sovereign], sang as follows, drumming with their mouths:
“We have made a side-mortar at Kashinofu, and in the side-mortar we have distilled some great august liquor, which do thou sweetly partake of, oh our lord!” [20]
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].
[ p. 312 ]
¶ SECT. CIX.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART VI.—VARIOUS DEEDS)
In this august reign were graciously established the Fisher Tribe, [21] the Mountain Tribe, [22] the Mountain Warden Tribe, [23] and the Ise Tribe. [24] Again the Pool of Tsurugi was made. Again there came over [to Japan] some [ p. 313 ] people from Shiragi. Therefore His Augustness the Noble Take-uchi, having taken them with him and set them to labour on pools and embankments, made the Pool of Kudara. [25]
[252]
¶ SECT. CX.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART VIII.—TRIBUTE FROM KOREA).
Again King Shō-ko, [26] the Chieftain of the land of Kudara, sent as tribute by Achi-kishi [27] one stallion and one mare. (This Achi-kishi was the ancestor of the Achiki Scribes. [28]) Again he sent as tribute a cross-sword, [29] and likewise a large mirror. Again he was graciously bidden [30] 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, [31] and likewise by this man he sent as tribute the Confucian Analects [32] in ten volumes and the Thousand Character Essay [33] in one volume,—altogether eleven volumes. [ p. 314 ] [253] (This Wani-kishi was the ancestor of the Fumi Grandees.) [34] Again he sent as tribute two artisans,—a smith from Kara named Taku-so [35] and a weaver from Go [36] named Sai-so. [37]
¶ Footnotes
304:1 Literally, “one time.” ↩︎
304:2b 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-dare (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. ↩︎
305:3 In the district of Uji in the province of Yamashiro. The characters with which the name is written signify “tree-flag.” ↩︎
305:4 Wani no Hifure no omi. For Wani no omi see Sect. LXII, Note 11. The meaning of Hifure is obscure. ↩︎
305:5 Miya-nushi ya-kata-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. ↩︎
305:6 I.e., that day having passed by, the Emperor came on the next day according to his promise. ↩︎
305:7 Motowori supposes with apparent reason that the character
, p. 307 “Augustness,” has only crept into the text through the attraction of the following character 
, “made,” which it resembles in appearance. ↩︎306:8 It must be understood that in this Song the Imperial singer 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 traveller must pass through a hundred other places before reaching his destination. “Whither reaches its sideward motion?” signifies “whither 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 commentators, as the name of a place, and the description of the maiden’s teeth is misunderstood 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 warrant. On other minor points, too, his decisions do not seem so happy as Moribe’s. The view of both commentators will be found at length in Motowori’s Commentary, Vol. XXXII, pp. 33.51, and in Moribe’s “Idzu no Kato-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. ↩︎
308:1 Kami-naga-hime. The name signifies “the long-haired princess.” ↩︎
308:2 Murakata no kami. Murakata seems to signify “many towns.” ↩︎
308:4 Literally, “summoned her up.” The same phrase occurs immediately below. ↩︎
308:5
. Mabuchi thinks that 
, “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. ↩︎308:6 I.e., the Emperor’s orders. ↩︎
308:7 The native term translated “copious feast” is toyo no akari, variously written with the characters
, 
, 
, 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 denoted 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. ↩︎308:8 I.e., an oak-leaf which was used as a cup to sip out of. Leaf-platters p. 310 for food have already been mentioned. Motowori says that the word kashika (properly the name of a deciduous oak, the Quercus dentata) was employed to denote any kind of leaf thus used. ↩︎
308:9 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). ↩︎
309:10 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! ↩︎
309:11 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 “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 p. 311 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. ↩︎
309:12 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 into English the force of the string of Particles wo shi zo mo in the penultimate line. ↩︎
311:1 p. 312 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. ↩︎
311:2 According to Moribe, whose interpretation seems best to the translator. the signification of this difficult poem is: “The sword worn by Prince Oho-sazaki, son of the Emperor Homuda (O-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 “Gō-Gan Shō” in loco and Motowori’s Commentary, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 2-5, should be consulted for Keichiū’s, Mabuchi’s and Motowori’s views on the disputed point.—The expression “solar august child” signifies “sun-descended prince,” in allusion to the supposed descent of the Japanese monarchs from the Sun-Goddess. ↩︎
311:3 Yoko-usu or yokusu (
). 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. Keichiū’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. ↩︎311:4 In the Song this same name is read Kashinofu; but the commentators 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.” ↩︎
311:5 See Sect. XVIII, Note 16. The character
, 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.” ↩︎311:6 In this simple Song the Territorial Owners of Yoshino beg the Monarch to deign to partake of the sake which they have made. ↩︎
312:1 p. 313 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.” ↩︎312:2 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 “gentile names.” ↩︎
312:3 Yama-moribe. ↩︎
312:4 Ise-be. Nothing is known of this tribe or guild. ↩︎
313:5a Doubtless so named after the Korean labourers employed upon it,—Kudara and Shiragi, as different parts of the same peninsula, being confounded in thought. ↩︎
313:1 p. 314
, according to the Japanese kana spelling, Sen-ko. ↩︎313:2
. Other forms of the name are Ajiki and Atogi, and all three are but attempts at transcribing phonetically into Japanese a Korean name, the proper characters for which are not given. 
is not properly part of the name, but is simply an official title ( 
here stands for 
). ↩︎313:3 Achiki no fumi-bito, Pumi-bito (abbreviated to Fubito) became a “gentile name.” ↩︎
313:4 See Sect. XLV, Note 5. ↩︎
313:5b Q.d., by the Japanese Emperor. ↩︎
313:6 Here written phonetically
, but properly, 
, i.e. “the Official Wang In.” He is generally spoken of simply as Wani. ↩︎313:7
. (“Lun Yu,” or according to the Japanese pronunciation “Rongo.”) ↩︎