[ p. 233 ]
¶ SECT. LXXI.—EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART III.—BIRTH OF PRINCE HOMU-CHI-WAKE AND DEATH OF THE CONSPIRATORS)
At this time the Empress [^1434] was pregnant. Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign could not restrain [his pity for] the Empress, who was pregnant and whom he had loved for now three years. So he turned his army aside, and did not hasten the attack. During this delay, the august child that she had conceived was born. So having put out the august child and set it outside the rice-castle. she caused [these words( to be said to the Heavenly Sovereign: “If this august child be considered to be [189] the Heavenly Sovereign’s august child, let him [^1435] deign to undertake it.” Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign said: [^1436] “Although detesting the elder brother, I yet cannot repress my love for the Empress,” and forthwith planned to secure the Empress. Wherefore, choosing from among his warriors a band of the strongest and deftest, he charged [them, saying]: “When ye take the august child, likewise abduct the queen its mother. Whether by the hair or by the hands, or wherever ye may best lay hold of her, clutch her and drag her out.” Then the Empress, knowing his intention beforehand, shaved off all her hair and covered her head with her hair, and likewise made her jewel-string rotten and wound it thrice round her arm, and moreover made her august garments rotten by means of rice-liquor and put on the garments as if they were whole. Having made these preparations, she took the august child in her arms and pushed it outside the castle. Then the strong men, taking the august child, forthwith clutched at the august parent. Then, on their clutching her august hair, the august hair [ p. 234 ] fell off of itself; on their clutching her august arms, the jewel-string likewise snapped; on their clutching her august garments, the august garments at once tore. Therefore they obtained the august child, but did not get the august parent. So the warriors came back [to the Sovereign], and reported, saying: “On account of her august hair falling off of itself, of her august garments easily tearing, and moreover of the jewel-string which was wound round her august hand at once snapping, we have not got the august parent; but we have obtained the august child.” Then the Heavenly Sovereign, sorry and angry, hated the people who made the jewels, [190] and deprived them all of their lands. [^1437] So the proverb says: “Landless jewels-makers.” [1] Again did the Heavenly Sovereign cause [2] the Empress to be told, saying: “A child’s name must be given by the mother; by what august name shall this child be called?” Then she replied, saying: “As he was born now at the time of the castle being burnt with fire and in the midst of the fire, it were proper to call him by the august name of Prince [3] Homu-chi-wake.” [4] And again he caused her to be asked: “How shall he be reared?” [5] She replied, saying: “He must be reared by taking an august mother [6] and fixing on old bathing-women and young bathing-women.” [7] So he was respectfully reared in accordance with the Empress’s instructions. Again he asked the Empress, saying: “Who shall loosen the fresh small pendant [8] which thou elitist make fast?” She replied, [191] saying: “It were proper that Ye-hime and Oto-hime, [9] daughters of King Tatasu-michi-no-ushi [10] prince of Taniha, should serve thee, for these two queens are of unsullied parentage.” [11] So at last [the Heavenly Sovereign] slew King Saho-biko, and his younger sister followed him. [12]
[ p. 235 ]
[ p. 236 ]
[ p. 237 ] [192]
¶ SECT. LXXII.—EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART IV.—THE DUMB PRINCE HOMU-CHI-WAKE).
So the way they led about and amused the august child was by making a two-forked boat [13] out of a two-forked cryptomeria from Ahidzu in Wohari, [14] bringing it up and floating it on the Pool of Ichishi and on the Pool of Karu [15] in Yamato, [thus] leading about and amusing the august child. Nevertheless the august child spoke never a word, though his eight-grasp beard reached to the pit of his stomach. [16] So [17] it was on hearing the cry of a high-flying swan [18] that he made his first utterance. [19] Then [the Heavenly Sovereign] sent Yamanobe-no-Ohotaka [20] (this is a name of a person) to catch the bird. So this person, pursuing the swan, arrived in the Land of Harima from the Land of Ki, and again in his pursuit crossed over to the Land of Inaba, then reaching the Land of Taniba and the Land of Tajima; [thence] pursuing round [193] to the eastward, he reached the Land of Afumi. and thereupon crossed over into the Land of Minu; and, passing along by the Land of Wohari, pursued it into the Land of Shinanu, and at length, reaching in his pursuit the Land of Koshi, spread a net in the Estuary of Wanami, [21] and, having caught the bird, brought it up [to the capital] and presented it [to the Sovereign]. So that estuary is called the Estuary of Wanami. It had been thought that, on seeing the bird again, he would speak; but he did not speak, as had been thought. [22] Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, deigning to be grieved, augustly fell asleep, when, in an august dream, he was instructed, saying: “If thou wilt build my temple like unto thine august abode, the august child shall surely speak.” When he had been thus instructed, [the Heavenly [ p. 238 ] Sovereign] made grand divination to seek what Deity’s desire [23] this might be. Then [it was discovered that] the curse was the august doing of the Great Deity of Idzumo. [24] So when about to send the august child to worship [at] that Great Deity’s temple, [^1462]] by whom it were well to have him attended. Then the lot fell on King Ake-tatsu. [25] So he [194] made King Ake-tatsu swear, [26] saying: “If there is truly to be an answer [27] to our adoration of this Great Deity, may the heron dwelling on the tree by the Pool of Sagisu [28] here fall [through my] oath.” When he thus spoke, the heron that had been sworn by fell to the ground dead. Again on his commanding it to come to life] in answer to his] oath, it then came to life again. [29] Moreover he caused to wither by an oath and again brought to life again by an oath a broad-foliaged bear-oak on Cape Amakashi. [30] Then [the Heavenly Sovereign] granted to Prince Ake-tatsu the name of Prince Yamato-oyu-shiki-tomi-tomi-toyo-asakura-ake-tatsu. [31] So when the august child was sent off with the two Princes, Prince Ake-tatsu and Prince Una-kami, [32] as his attendants, it was divined [33] that [if they went out] by the Nara gate, [34] [195] they would meet a lame person and a blind person; [35] [if they went out] by the Ohosaka [36] gate, they would likewise meet a lame person and a blind person, and that only the Ki gate,—a side gate, [37]—would be the lucky gate; and when they started off, they established the Homuji clan [38] in every place they arrived at. So when they had reached Idzumo and had finished worshipping the Great Deity, and were returning up [to the capital], they made in the middle of the River Hi [39] a black plaited bridge and respectfully offered a temporary palace [for the august [ p. 239 ] child] to dwell in. [40] Then when the ancestor of the rulers of the Land of Idzumo, whose name was Kihisa-tsu-mi, [41] [196] having made an imitation green-leafed mountain, [42] placed [it] in the lower reach of the river, and was about to present the great august food the august child [43] spoke, saying: “What here resembles a green-leafed mountain in the lower [reach of the] river; looks like a mountain, but is not a mountain. Is it perchance the great court [44] of the deacons [45] who holds in reverence the Great Deity Ugly-Male-of-the-Reed-Plains [46] that dwells in the temple of So at Ihakuma in Idzumo? [47] [Thus] he deigned to ask. Then the Kings, who had been sent in august attendance [on him], hearing with joy and seeing with delight, [48] set the august child to dwell in the palace of Nagaho at Ajimasa, [49] and despatched a courier [to inform the Heavenly Sovereign]. Then the august child wedded [197] Princess Hinaga [50] for one night. So, on looking privately at the beautiful maiden, [he found her] to be a serpent, at the sight of which he fled away alarmed. Then Princess Hinaga was vexed, and, illuminating the sea-plain, [51] pursued after them in a ship; and they, more and more alarmed at the sight, pulled the august vessel across the mountain-folds, [52] and went fleeing up [to the capital]. Thereupon they made a report, saying: ”We have come up [to the capital] because thy great and august child has become able to speak through worship-ping the Great Deity." So the Heavenly Sovereign, delighted, forthwith sent King Unakami back to build the Deity’s temple. Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, on account of this august child, established the Totori Clan, the Torikahi Clan, the Homuji Clan, the Ohoyuwe and the Wakayuwe. [53]
[ p. 240 ] p. 241 p. 242 p. 243
[ p. 244 ]
¶ SECT. LXXIII. EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART. V.—HIS LATER WIVES.)
Again, in accordance with the Emperor’s words, he summoned Her Augustness Princess Hibasu, next Her Augustness Princess Oto, next Her Augustness Princess Utakori, next Her Augustness Princess Matonu, [54] daughters of Prince Michi-no-ushi—four Deities in all. Now he [198] kept the two Deities Her Augustness Princess Hibasu and Her Augustness Princess Oto; but as for the two Deities the younger queens, he sent them back to their native place on account of their extreme hideousness. Thereupon Princess Matonu said with mortification: “When it is known in the neighbouring villages that, among sisters of the same family, we have been sent back on account of our ugliness, it will be extremely mortifying;” and, on reaching Sagaraka [55] in the Land of Yamashiro, she tried to kill herself [56] by hanging herself from a branch of a tree. So that place was called by the name of Sagariki. It is now called Sagaraka. Again, on reaching Otokuni, [57] she at last killed herself by jumping [58] into a deep pool. So that place was called by the name of Ochikuni. It is now called Otokuni.
[ p. 245 ]
¶ SECT. LXXIV.—EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART VI.—TAJI-MORI BRINGS BACK THE ORANGE FROM THE ETERNAL LAND.)
Again the Heavenly Sovereign sent Tajima-mori, [59] ancestor of the Chiefs of Miyake, [60] to the Eternal Land [61] to fetch the fruit of the everlasting [62] fragrant tree. So Tajima-mori at last reached that country, plucked the fruit of the tree, and brought of clubmoss eight and of spears eight; but meanwhile the Heavenly Sovereign had died. Then Tajima-mori set apart of clubmoss four and [ p. 246 ] of spears four, which he presented to the Great Empress, [63] and set up of clubmoss four and of spears four as an offering at the door of the Heavenly Sovereign’s august mausoleum, [64] and, raising on high the fruit of the tree, wailed and wept, saying: “Bringing the fruit of the ever-lasting fragrant tree from the Eternal Land, I have come to serve thee;” and at last he wailed and wept himself to death. This fruit of the everlasting fragrant tree is what is now called the orange. [65]
[ p. 247 ] [200]
¶ SECT. LXXV.—EMPEROR SUI-NIN (PART VII.—HIS DEATH AND THAT OF THE EMPRESS HIBASU.)
This Heavenly Sovereign’s august years were one hundred and fifty-three. His august mausoleum is in the middle of the moor of Mitachi at Sugahara. [66] Again in the time of the Great Empress Her Augustness Princess Hibasu, [67] the Stone-Coffin-Makers [68] were established, and also the Earthenware-Masters’ Clan [69] was established. This Empress was buried in the mausoleum of Terama near Saki. [70]
¶ Footnotes
Tanigaha Shisei also appropriately quotes the following:
Futari shite
Musubiski himo wo
Hitori shite
Ware ha toki-mizhi
Tada ni afu made ha.
a literal rendering of which would run thus: “I will not, till we meet face to face, loosen alone the girdle which we two tied together.”
233:1 p. 235 I.e., Her Augustness Saho-bime, who was the subject of the preceding sentence. ↩︎
233:2 I.e., the Sovereign. The import of this passage is, according to Motowori, that the Empress imagined that her own conduct might perhaps influence the Emperor to refuse to give the child’ she bore him its proper rank,—not from doubts as to its legitimacy, but as having a rebel mother. By “undertaking ”the child is of course meant undertaking the care and education of it. ↩︎
233:3 Motowori supposes the Chinese character rendered “said” to be an error, and prefers to consider this clause as containing not the words, but the thought of the Monarch. It would certainly be more convenient to adopt this view, if it were sanctioned by any text. ↩︎
234:4 Or, as Motowori prefers to read, “deprived them of all their lands.” ↩︎
234:5 There is nowhere else any reference to this saying. Motowori supposes it to point to those who, hoping for reward, get punishment instead, these jewellers having doubtless rotted the, string on which the beads were strung by special desire of the Empress, whereas they ended by getting nothing but confiscation for their pains. ↩︎
234:6 Motowori (following Mabuchi) is evidently correct in supposing the character
in this place, and again a little further on, to be a copyist’s error for 
, “caused,” and the translator has rendered it accordingly, ↩︎234:7 “Prince ”is here written
. ↩︎234:8 This name may also be read Ho-muchi-wake, and is in the “Chronicles” given as Ho-muchi-wake while it appears as Homuchi-wake at the commencement of Sect. LXIX. The first two elements apparently signify “fire-possessing;” while wake is the frequently recurring Honorific signifying either “lord ”or “young and flourishing.” ↩︎
234:9 Lit., “his days be reverently prolonged.” The same expression is repeated thrice below. ↩︎
234:10 I.e., foster-mother. ↩︎
234:11 The characters
used in the original of this passage would, if they stood alone, be of difficult interpretation. But a comparison with the passage in “One account” of “Chronicles,” which relates the nursing of Fuki-ahezu-no-mikoto, the father of the first “Earthly Emperor ”Jim-mu, leaves no doubt that the author intended to speak of bathing-women attached to the service of the Imperial infant. ↩︎234:12 The words midzu no wo-himo, literally rendered “fresh small pendant,” call for some explanation. Midzu, which includes in a single p. 236 term the ideas of youth, freshness, and beauty, is here used as an Honorific. The “small pendant ”is interpreted by Mabuchi and Motowori to signify the “inner, girdle” which held together the under-garment of either sex. The old literature of Japan teems with allusions to the custom of lovers or spouses making fast each other’s inner girdle, which might not be untied till they met again, and the poets perpetually make a lover ask some such question as “When I am far from thee, who shall loosen my girdle?” The translator cannot refrain from here quoting, for the benefit of the lover of Japanese verse (though he will not attempt to translate them), the two most graceful of the many stanzas from the “Collection of a Myriad Leaves” brought together by Motowori to illustrate this passage:
Wagimoko ga
Yuhiteshi himo wo
Tokame ye mo:
Toyeba tayu to mo
Tada ni afu made ni,
Unabara wo
Tohoku watarite
Toshi-fu to-mo
Ko-ra ga musuberu
Himo toku na yume. ↩︎234:13 I.e., the “Elder Princess and the Younger Princess.” ↩︎
234:14 Motowori is probably right in explaining tatasu as the Honorific Causative of tatsu, “to stand” and michi no ushi as michi-nushi or kuni-nushi, i.e., “owner of the province,” “ruler.” ↩︎
234:15 Lit., “are pure subjects.” ↩︎
234:16 I.e., was slain with him. ↩︎
237:1 p. 240 From a comparison with a passage in the “Chronicles,” where the same expression occurs, one is led to suppose that the craft here mentioned was a sort of double boat, in each half of which passengers could sit. ↩︎
237:2 Nothing is known of any place called Ahidzu in the province of Wohari. ↩︎
237:3 Karu has been mentioned in Sect. LVII, Note 1. The Pool of Ihare. ↩︎
237:4 Lit., “in front of his heart.” This phrase descriptive of a long beard has already occurred at the commencement of Sect. XII. ↩︎
237:5 Motowori reasonably supposes the character
in this sentence to be a copyist’s error for the emphatic 
, and the translation has been made accordingly. ↩︎237:6 The original has the character
, which is now applied to a small species of swan (Cignus minor, Pallas; Cygnus Bewickii, Yarrell). But it is uncertain what bird is intended by the author. ↩︎237:7 A more or less inarticulate utterance is probably meant; but the expression in the original is obscure. ↩︎
237:8 Motowori supposes the Note in the original to refer only to the word Ohotaka, while he takes Yamamobe to be the name of a place (already mentioned in Sect. LXVIII, Note 1). The surname of Ohotaka, signifying “great hawk,” was, according to the same commentator, giver to the worthy here mentioned in consequence of the incident related in the text. As the bird was not a hawk, this does not seem very convincing, and Motowori’s apparent idea that the man was likened to a hawk because he pursued the other bird as a hawk would do, is extremely far-fetched. It is moreover doubtful whether the name should not be read Oho-washi (this is Mabuchi’s reading), “great.” The “Chronicles ”give an altogether different name, viz., Ame-no-yukata-tana. ↩︎
237:10 The various texts and printed editions all differ slightly in their reading of this passage, and from some it might be gathered that the prince did indeed speak as it had been thought that he would do, u t could not speak freely. The translation follows Motowori’s emended text. ↩︎
238:11 Literally, “heart.” ↩︎
238:12 I.e., Oho-kuni-nushi (the Master of the Great Land), the aboriginal monarch of Idzumo, the descendant of the Sun Goddess, whose p. 241 abdication of the .sovereignty of Japan in favour of the descendant of the Sun Goddess forms the subject-matter of Sect. XXXII. The word tatari, here written with the Chinese character
and rendered “curse,” signifies properly the vengeance of a spirit, i.e., either of a deity or of the ghost of a dead man. The word translated “doing ”is literally “heart.” ↩︎238:13 That some such words must be supplied is evident, and the translator has followed Mabuchi and Motowori in supplying them. ↩︎
238:14 Lit., “King Ake-tatsu at the divination.” ↩︎
238:15 Remember that the original word ukehi combines the meanings of our words “wager,” “oath,” “pledge,” “curse,” etc.,—being in fact a general name for all words to which any mysterious importance attaches. ↩︎
238:16 Lit., a “sign,” a “proof.” ↩︎
238:17 Sagisu no ike, a pool in Yamato. Sagi-su, signifies “heron’s nest.” ↩︎
238:18 The reading of the characters
(rendered “then”) in this passage has been a crux to all the editors. Fortunately they make no difference to the sense. ↩︎238:19 Amakashi no saki, Perhaps “Amakashi Point ”would be a better rendering if, as Motowori supposes, an inland place in the province of Yamato is meant. It might be the point or extremity of a hill or bluff. Ame-kashi signifies literally “sweet oak.” The “broad-foliaged bear-oak” mentioned immediately above is supposed by Motowori to be the usual evergreen oak, and not any special kind. The epithet “broad-foliaged” is not, as he remarks, specially appropriate, and he moreover supposes the word kuma, “bear,” to be a corruption of kumi or kumori, words which would refer to the thick luxuriance of the foliage. The dictionaries do not help us much to a decision on the point. ↩︎
238:20 The component parts of this tremendous name, which is happily abbreviated to Ake-tatsu in the subsequent portions of the text, are somewhat obscure, especially the word oyu, whose reading rests only on a conjecture of Motowori’s, who emends the evidently erroneous character
to 
(oyu,) “old.” Toyo, “luxuriant,” is an Honorific, ake and tatsu signify respectively “dawn” and “rise,” while the rest seem to be names of places of which this Prince may be supposed to have been the possessor. ↩︎238:21 Or, the Prince of Unakami, as Unakami is the name of a place Kadzusa. ↩︎
238:22 I.e., shown by divination. ↩︎
238:23 p. 242 Nara in Yamato, which is here mentioned for the first time, was the capital, of Japan from A.D. 710 to 784, and has always been famous in Japanese history and literature. The name is derived by the author of the “Chronicles ”from the verb narasu, “to cause to resound,” the hosts of the Emperor Su-jin having, it is said, caused the earth to resound with their trampling when they went out to do battle with Haniyasu. A more probable derivation is from nara, the name of a kind of deciduous oak, the Quercus glandulifera. The word rendered “gate” should possibly be taken simply in the sense of “exit ”or "approach.’ ↩︎
238:24 Or, “lame people and blind people,” a peculiarly unlucky omen for travellers, to whom, as Motowori remarks, sound feet and good eye-sight are indispensable to carry them on their way. ↩︎
238:25 See Sect. LXIV, Note 25. ↩︎
238:26 In the text the word “gate ”is here, by a copyist’s error written “moon.” When the author says that the Ki gate, i.e., gate or exit leading to the province of Ki, as a “side-gate,” he means that it was; not the one by which travellers would naturally have left the town:—the province of Ki, indeed, is to the South of Yamato where the capital was, whereas the province of Idzumo, whither they were bound, was to the north-west. This road into Ki over Matsuchi-yama is one famous in the classical poetry of Japan. ↩︎
238:27 Homuji-be. The meaning of the clause is that they granted the surname of Homuji to persons in every important locality through which they passed on their journey. ↩︎
238:28 See Sect. XVIII, Note 2. ↩︎
239:29 The signification of this passage is: “They built as a temporary abode for the prince a house in the River Hi (whether with its foundations actually in the water or on an island is left undetermined), connecting it with the main land by a bridge made of branches of trees twisted together and with their bark left on them” (this is here the import of the word “black”). Such bridges have been met with by the translator in the remote northern province of Deha, where the country people call them shiba-bashi (or, rather, in their patois suba-bashi, i.e., “twig-bridge”). The traveller is so likely to fall through interstices into the stream below, that it is not to be wondered at that they should now be confined to the rudest localities. ↩︎
239:30 Motowori supposes Kihisa to be the name of a place, and tsu-mi to stand as usual for tsu mochi, “possessor,” according to which view the name would mean “lord” or "possessor of Kihisa. ↩︎
239:31 p. 243 No book of reference with which the translator is acquainted throws any light on this curious expression, and there is no parallel passage in the “Chronicles” to look for help. ↩︎
239:32 Viz., to the Prince (“the august child”). The preparations which Kihisa-tsu-mi is here said to have made are supposed by Motowori to have been prompted by a desire to add beauty to the feast. But the whole passage is very obscure. ↩︎
239:33 Viz., the court in front of, or the approach to, the shrine, which would naturally be planted with the sacred tree, the saka-ki (Cleyera japonica), and thus justly the prince’s comparison to it of the artificial grove at which he was looking. ↩︎
239:34 I.e., the priest attached to the worship of, etc. For “deacon” see Note 33 to Sect. LXII. ↩︎
239:35 Ashihara-shiko-wo, one of the many names of the Deity Oho-kuni-nushi (“Master of the Great Land,” see Sect. XX, Note 19). the Deity whom the Prince and his followers had just been worshipping. ↩︎
239:36 These names cannot now be identified, and are of uncertain etymology. Ikakuma seems, however, to mean “curve in the rock.” One would have expected in this place, instead of these unknown names, to find a reference to the main temple of the Deity, which was styled Kidzuki no oho-yashiro, i.e., “the great shrine of Kidzuki.” ↩︎
239:37 Some such words as “the changed and more intelligent appearance of the Prince, and his attainment of the power of speech ”must be mentally supplied in order to bring out the sense which the author intends to convey. ↩︎
239:38 These names cannot be identified. Nagaho signifies “long-rice-ear,” while ajimasa in modern usage is the name of a palm (the Levistona Sinensis); but Motowori supposes that it formerly designated the palmetto or some cognate tree. ↩︎
239:39 Hi-naga-hime. The signification of the name is obscure, but it would seem most natural to suppose it connected with the River Hi which figures in the Idzumo cycle of legends. A proposal of Motowori’s to read Koye-naga instead of the traditional Hi-naga seems scarcely to be meant in earnest. If accepted, it would give us the meaning of “fat and long princess,” with reference to the story of her being a serpent. ↩︎
239:40 It will be remembered that the Province of Idzumo is a maritime one, and that the fugitives might be supposed to reach the sea-shore in their flight. It is true that this is exactly the reverse of the direction which they would be obliged to take in travelling up to the capital, which was in Yamato. ↩︎
239:41 I.e., p. 244 the depressions or valleys separating one mountain from another. ↩︎
239:42 In the original Totori-be, Torikahi-be, Homuji-be, Oho-yuwe and Waka-yuwe. All these “gentile names” have a meaning connecting them either really or apparently with the story above related,—to-tori signifying “bird-catcher” and tohi-kahi “bird-feeder,” while the name of the Homuji Clan is of course derived from that of the Prince (Homuchi or Homuji), and Oho-yuwe and Waka-yuwe signify respectively “elder bather ”and “younger bather.” ↩︎
244:1 p. 245 Hibasu-hime, Oto-hime, Utakori-hime and Matonu-hime. The first two of these names have already appeared above, where the etymology of Hibasu was said to be doubtful, while Oto signifies “younger sister.” Matonu has likewise already appeared, and is of uncertain derivation. Motowori supposes this last name to be in this place but an alias for Utakori, which he explains in the sense of “sad heart” with reference to the story of this princess as here told. In any case there is confusion in the legend, for in the parallel passage of the “Chronicles” five princesses are mentioned, whereas at the end of Sect. LXXI of these “Records” the Empress is made to speak of only two. The father’s name has been already there explained. ↩︎
244:2 The real derivation of this name is obscure. The ancient (perhaps here and elsewhere suppositious ancient) form Sagari-ki signifies “hanging-tree.” Saga-raka is written
, a good example of the free manner in which some Chinese characters were anciently used for phonetic purposes. San-raku, Sa-raku or Sa-gara would be the only readings possible in the modern tongue. ↩︎244:3 Literally, “wished to die.” Motowori supposes that her design was frustrated by her attendants. ↩︎
244:4 Written with characters signifying “younger country,” but here supposed by the author to be derived from ochi-kuni, “falling country,” in connection with this legend. ↩︎
244:5 Lit. “died by falling.” ↩︎
245:1 p. 246 The meaning of this name, which is written phonetically both here and in the “Chronicles,” has, given rise to differences of opinion, some deriving it from the name of the province of Tajima (itself of obscure origin) and from the word mori “keeper,” while others think it comes from tachibana, the Japanese word for orange, with reference to the story here told. The supporters of the former view, on the other hand, derive the tachibana from Tajima-mori. ↩︎
245:2 Miyake no murazhi. Whether miyake is simply the name of a place or whether it should be taken in the sense of “granary,” is uncertain. If the latter view be adopted, it would be natural to suppose that this family had originally furnished the superintendents of the Imperial Granaries. In any case it traced its origin to a Korean source (see the “Catalogue of Family Names,” and the genealogies in Sect. CXV). ↩︎
245:3 See Sect. XXV. ↩︎
245:4 Written in the parallel passage of the “Chronicles ”with characters signifying literally “timeless.” The whole of this circumlocution for the orange has indeed to be interpreted by the help of the “Chronicles.” it being here written phonetically and offering some difficulties as it stands. ↩︎
246:5 This corrupt and obscure passage seems to be well restored by Motowori, whose explanation of it is likewise as convincing as it is ingenious. The expression “clubmoss-oranges ”signifies oranges as they grow on the branch surrounded by leaves, while “spear-oranges ”are the same divested of leaves, and hanging to the bate twig. Thus the words clubmoss “and ”spear “come to be used as ”Auxiliary Numerals "for oranges plucked in these two different manners. ↩︎
246:6 Viz., says Motowori, Princess Hibasu, who however, according to the account in the “Chronicles,” was already dead at this time. ↩︎
246:7 p. 247 The word tachibana (written
) in the text should probably be taken as a specific and not as a general term. In modern usage it designates the Citrus japonica. But it is a matter of dispute whether the application of the term has not altered since ancient times, and whether we should not understand by it one of the other kinds of orange now to be found in Japan,—perhaps the Citrus nobilis. ↩︎247:1 Both the locality and the etymology of Mitachi are obscure. Sugahara (“sedge-moor”) is known to be in the province of Yamato. ↩︎