[ p. 315 ]
¶ SECT. CXI.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART VIII.—THE EMPEROR INTOXICATED).
Again there came over [to Japan] the ancestor of the Hada Rulers, [^1911] the ancestor of the Aya Suzerains, [^1912] and likewise a man who knew how to distil liquor, and whose name was Nim-pan, [^1913] while another name for him was Susukori. [^1914] So this [man] Susukori distilled some great august liquor, and presented 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 become intoxicated with the soothing liquor, with the smiling liquor.” [^1915]
On his walking out singing thus, he hit with his [254] august staff a large stone in the middle of the Ohosaka [1] road, upon which the stone ran away. So the proverb says: “Hard stones get out of a drunkard’s way.”
[ p. 316 ]
¶ SECT. CXII.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART IX.—TROUBLES WHICH FOLLOWED HIS DECEASE)
So after the decease of the Heavenly Sovereign, His Augustness Ohosazaki, in conformity with the Heavenly Sovereign’s commands, ceded the Empire to Uji-no-waki-iratsuko. Thereupon His Augustness Ohoyama-mori, disobeying the Heavenly Sovereign’s commands, and anxious in spite thereof to obtain the Empire, had the design to slay the Prince [2] his younger brother, secretly raised an army, and prepared to attack him. Then His Augustness Oho-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 throne [3] one of his retainers to pretend that he was the King, [4] the manner in which all the officials [5] reverentially went and came being just like that [usual] in the King’s presence. And moreover, preparing for the time [255] when the King his elder brother [6] should cross the river, he arranged and decorated a boat and oars, and moreover [7] ground [in a mortar] the root of the Kadzura japonica, and having taken the slime of its juice, rubbed [ p. 317 ] therewith the grating [8] inside the boat, so as to make any who should tread on it fall down, and then himself [9] 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, and [his elder brother] to fall into the water. [10] 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.”’ [11]
Thereupon the troops that had been hidden on the [256] 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 [ p. 318 ] Point. [12] So on their searching with hooks [13] the place where he had sunk, [the hooks] struck on the armour inside his clothes, and made a rattling sound. [14] So the place was called by the name of Kawara Point. Then when they hooked up [15] his bones, the younger King, sang saying:
“Catalpa bow, Evonymus 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 came [back] without cutting it,—the Catalpa bow, the Evonymus.” [16]
[257] So the bones of His Augustness Oho-yama-mori were buried on the Nara [17] mountain. His Augustness Oho-yama-mori (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Hijikata, [18] the Dukes of Heki, [19] and the Dukes of Harihara. [20])
[ p. 319 ]
[ p. 320 ]
¶ SECT. CXIII.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART X.—PRINCES OHO-SAZAKI AND UJI-NO-WAKI-IRATSUKO CEDE THE EMPIRE TO EACH OTHER)
Thereupon while the two Deities [21] His Augustness Oho-sazaki and Uji-no-waki-iratsuko were, each of them, ceding the Empire to the other, [22] a fisherman [23] came with a great feast as tribute. [24] So they each resigned it to the other. So the elder brother refused it, and caused [258] 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: [ p. 321 ] “Ah! the fisherman weeps on account of his own things.” [25] Meanwhile Uji-no-waki-iratsuko died early. [26] So His Augustness Oho-sazaki did rule the Empire.
¶ 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, [27] child of the ruler of the land of Shiragi. This person crossed over here [to Japan]. The reason of his crossing over here was [this]: In the land of Shiragi there was a certain lagoon, [28] called by the name of the Agu Lagoon. [29] On the bank of this lagoon [30] a certain poor girl was [taking her] midday sleep. Tunc solis radii, coelesti arcui similes, in privatas partes impegerunt. Again there was a certain poor man, [259] who, thinking this occurrence [31] strange, constantly watched the woman’s behaviour. So the woman, having conceived from the time of that midday sleep, gave birth to [ p. 322 ] 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. [32] This person, having planted a rice-field in a valley, [33] had loaded a cow [34] with food for the labourers, 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 trans-formed 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 woman who ought to be the wife of such as thou. I will go to the land of my ancestors;”—and forthwith she secretly embarked in a boat, and fled away across here [to Japan], and landed [35] at Naniha. [36] (This is the deity called Princess Akaru, [37] who dwells in the shrine of Hime-goso [38] at Naniha.) Thereupon Ame-no-hi-boko, hearing [260] of his wife’s flight, forthwith pursued her across hither, and was about to arrive at Naniha, when the Deity of the passage [39] prevented his entrance. So he went back again, and landed in the country of Tajima. [40]
[ p. 323 ]
¶ SECT. CXV.—EMPEROR Ō-JIN (PART XII.—DESCENDANTS OF AMA-NO-HI-BOKO, AND TREASURES BROUGHT BY HIM.)
Forthwith staying in that country, he wedded Saki-tsu-mi, [41] daughter of Tajima-no-matawo, [42] and begot a child: Tajima-morosuku. [43] The latter’s child was Tajima-hi-ne. [44] The latter’s child was Tajima-hinaraki. [45] The [ p. 324 ] latter’s children were Tajima-mori, [46] next Tajima-hitaka, [47] next Kiyo-hiko [48] (three Deities). [49] This Kiyo-hiko wedded Tagima-no-mehi, [50] and begot children: Suga-no-morowo, [51] next his younger sister Suga-kama-yura-domi. [52] So the above mentioned Tajima-hitaka wedded his niece Yura-domi, and begot a child: Her Augustness Princess Takanuka of Kadzuraki. [53] (This was the august parent [54] of Her Augustness Princess Okinaga-tarashi.) So the things which Ama-no-hi-boko brought over here, and which were called the “precious treasures,” [55] were: two strings of pearls: [56] likewise a wave-shaking scarf, a wave-cutting scarf, a wind-shaking scarf, and a wind-cutting scarf; [57] likewise a mirror of the offing and a mirror of the shore, [58]—eight articles in all. (These are the Eight Great Deities of Idzushi.) [59]
[ p. 325 ]
¶ Footnotes
315:1 p. 315 Hada na miyatsuko,
, a “gentile name.” Hada is the native Japanese word used as the equivalent of the Chinese name 
, Ch’in. Its origin is uncertain. ↩︎315:2 Aya no ataha
, a “gentile name.” The use of Aya to represent the Chinese name 
, Han, is as difficult to account for as is that of Hada mentioned in the preceding Note. ↩︎315:3
. Another and more Japanese-like reading, Niho, is invented 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-pon. ↩︎315:4 Written phonetically
. ↩︎315:5 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-guzhi-ni,—are in reality extremely obscure, and Moribe understands them to signify, “Oh! p. 316 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; 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. ↩︎
315:6 See Sect. LXIV, Note 25. ↩︎
316:1 p. 318
. This is the only passage in the work where this expression occurs. Uji-no-waki-iratsuko is the personage thus designated. ↩︎316:2 The same expression has been in Sect. XXXI (near Note 16) rendered “couch.” The characters in the original are
or 
. ↩︎316:3 I.e., Uji-na-maki-iratsuko. ↩︎
316:4 The Chinese phrase
, “the hundred officials,” is here used. ↩︎316:5 Q.d., his Augustness Oho-yama-mori. ↩︎
316:6 The text has the character
, which, in combination with the preceding words “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”? ↩︎317:7 A bamboo grating. ↩︎
317:8 Literally “that king’s son.” ↩︎
317:9 It must be understood that Uji-no-waki-iratsuko and his men. p. 319 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. ↩︎
317:10 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 capsized 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 kone 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.). ↩︎
318:11 Kawara no saki. The author, in the next sentence, derives this name from the rattling sound made by the books 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.” ↩︎
318:12 The word kagi here used occurs elsewhere to denote the hooks employed for fastening doors, and in later times took the specific meaning of “key.” ↩︎
318:13 Literally, “sounded kawara.” ↩︎
318:14 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]. ↩︎318:15 The signification of this Song is: “I came here meaning to kill thee as I might cut down and kill that Catalpa tree, that Evonymus, 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 ma-yumi, here respectively rendered ”Catalpa bow “and ”Evonymus,“ 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 p. 320 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 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. ↩︎
318:16 See Sect. LXXII, Note 23. ↩︎
318:17 Tohotafumi (Tōtōmi). In the original Hijikata no kimi. ↩︎
318:18 Heki na kimi. Of Heki nothing is known, ↩︎
318:19 Harihara no kimi. In Tohotafumi. Harihara signifies “alder plantation.” ↩︎
320:1 It is not actually the word kami, “deity,” that is here used in the original, but hashira, which is the Auxiliary Numeral for Deities. ↩︎
320:2 Neither being willing to accept the Imperial dignity. ↩︎
320:3 Or, “some fishermen,” and similarly in the Plural throughout. ↩︎
320:4 I.e., came to present fish to His Majesty. ↩︎
321:5a 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. ↩︎
321:6 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. ↩︎321:1 p. 323 Or, according to Motowori’s reading, Ame no-hi boko. The characters in the next,
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.” ↩︎321:2 Apparently nothing more is meant than that there was “a lagoon;” but still the one (
) in this context is curious, and Motowori 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. ↩︎321:3 Agu-numa. The meaning of this name is unknown. ↩︎
321:4 The Old Printed Edition has the word “mud” instead of “lagoon.” ↩︎
321:5b Literally, “this appearance.” ↩︎
322:6 Literally, “attached to his loins.” ↩︎
322:7 The words rendered “in a valley ”are in the text
, of which the commentators find it difficult to make proper Japanese. The translator has followed them in neglecting the character 
, “mountain.” ↩︎322:8 Or bull, or bullock; for Japanese does not distinguish Genders. ↩︎
322:9 Literally, “stopped.” ↩︎
322:10 See Sect. XLIV, Note 26. ↩︎
322:11 Akaru-hime, i.e., “Brilliant Princess.” ↩︎
322:12 The signification of this name is obscure. Motowori identifies the place with the modern Kodzu (
). ↩︎322:13 I.e., the water-god of the sea near Naniha. ↩︎
322:14 See Sect. LXXIV, Note 1. ↩︎
323:1 p. 324 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. ↩︎
323:2 Matawo seems to signify “complete (i.e., healthy or vigorous) male.” Observe that the word Tajima enters into the designations of most of his descendants. ↩︎
323:3 In the “Chronicles” Morosuke, and elsewhere Morosugi. The etymology of these names is obscure except that of the last-mentioned, which signifies “many cryptomerias.” ↩︎
323:4 Hi-ne may perhaps signify “wondrous lord.” ↩︎
323:5 The meaning of this name is obscure, but that of Hina-rashi-hime in Sect. XXVI (Note 19) may be compared. ↩︎
324:6 See Sect. LXXIV, Note 1. ↩︎
324:7 Hi-taka may signify either “sun-height” or “wondrous height.” ↩︎
324:8 This name signifies “pure prince.” ↩︎
324:9 As usual, it is not the actual word Deity that is used, but the Auxiliary Numeral for Deities. ↩︎
324:10 Tagima is the name of a place, not to be confounded with the province of Tajima. The signification of mehi is quite obscure. ↩︎
324:11 Suga may either be the name of place in Tajima, as proposedp. 325 by Motowori, or identical with the Suga of Sect. XIX. The meaning of Morowo is obscure. ↩︎
324:12 The signification of this name is obscure. But Suga, Kama, and Yura are apparently the names of places. ↩︎
324:13 Kadzuraki no Taka-nuka-hime. Kadzuraki is the name of a department, and Takanuka that of a place in that department, in the province of Yamato. ↩︎
324:14 Literally, “ancestress.” But see Sect. XXII, Note 4. It will be remembered that Okinaga-tarashi-hime was the Empress Jin-go. ↩︎