[ p. 416 ]
¶ SECT. CLXVI.—EMPEROR SEI-NEI (PART IV.—PRINCE OHOKE CEDES THE EMPIRE TO PRINCE WOKE).
Then each of the two Princes ceded the Empire to the other, and His Augustness Ohoke [finally] ceded it to the younger brother His Augustness Woke, saying: “Had not Thine Augustness revealed our names when we dwelt in the house of Shizhimu in Harima, we should never have arrived at being the lords of the Empire. This is quite owing to Thine Augustness’s deed. So, though I be the elder brother, do Thine Augustness rule the Empire first,”—and [with these words] he urgently ceded [his claim]. So, being unable to refuse, His Augustness Woke ruled the Empire first.
¶ SECT. CLXVII.—EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART I.—THE OLD WOMAN OKI-ME).
His Augustness Woke-no-ihasu-wake dwelt at the palace of Chika-tsu-Asuka, [^2384] and ruled the Empire for [ p. 417 ] eight years. The Heavenly Sovereign wedded the Queen of Naniha, [^2385] daughter of the King of Ihaki. [^2386] He had no children. At the time when this Heavenly Sovereign was searching for the august bones of the King his father, King Ichinobe, [^2387] there came out from the land of Afumi [to the palace] a poor old woman, who said: “The place where the prince’s august bones are buried is specially well known to me, [^2388] and moreover [his skeleton] can be known by his august teeth.” (His august teeth were teeth uneven like a lily.) Then people were set [1] to dig the [334] ground and search for the august bones; and the bones having been forthwith obtained, an august mausoleum was made on the mountain east of the Moor of Kaya, [2] and they were interred, and the children of Kara-fukuro [3] were made to guard the august mausoleum. Afterwards the august bones were brought up [to the Capital]. So having returned up [to the Capital, the Heavenly Sovereign] sent for the old woman, praised her for having, without forgetting, kept the place in mind, and conferred upon her the name of the Old Woman Oki-me: [4] thus did he send for her into the palace, and deign to treat her with deep and wide kindness. So he built a house for the old woman to dwell in dose to the palace, and always sent for her every day. So he hung a bell by the door of the great hall, and always rang it when he wished to call the old woman. So he composed an august Song. That Song said:
“Oh! the far-distant bell tinkles when she has past the moor with its low eulalias and the little valley. Oh! Oki-me must be coming!” [5]
Hereupon the old woman said: “I am very aged, [335] [ p. 418 ] and would fain depart to my native land.” So when the Heavenly Sovereign let her depart according to her request, he saw her off and sang, saying:
“Ah Okime! Okime from Afumi! from to-morrow [onwards] wilt [thou] be hidden behind the deep mountains, and alas! not seen!” [6]
[ p. 418 ]
[ p. 419 ]
¶ SECT. CLXVIII.—EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART II.—HE SLAYS THE BOAR-HERD).
The Heavenly Sovereign searched for the old boar-herd who had seized his august provisions at the time when he first met with adversity and was fleeing; [7] and, having sought him out, sent for him up [to the Capital], beheaded him in the bed [8] of the River Asuka, [9] and cut the knee-tendons of all his kindred. Wherefore down to the present time his descendants, on the day when [10] they [285] come up to Yamato, always limp of their own accord. So the man’s abode had been well seen and divined. [11] So the place was named Shimesu. [12]
[ p. 420 ]
¶ SECT. CLXIX.—EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART III.—THE EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU’S MAUSOLEUM IS DISFIGURED).
The Heavenly Sovereign, deeply hating the Heavenly Sovereign Oho-hatsuse, who had slain the King his father, wished to be revenged on his spirit. [13] So when wishing to destroy the august mausoleum of the Heavenly Sovereign Oho-hatsuse, he [was about to] send people [to execute this design], his elder brother, His Augustness Ohoke, addressed’ him, saying: “To demolish this august mausoleum thou shouldst not send other people. None but myself shall go, and I will demolish it according to the Heavenly Sovereign’s august heart. [14] Then the Heavenly Sovereign commanded: ”Make thy progress, then, according to thy decree,“ [15] Wherefore His Augustness Ohoke, having proceeded down himself, slightly excavated the side of the august mausoleum, and returned up [to the capital], and reported that he had dug up and demolished it. Then the Heavenly Sovereign, astonished at the quickness of his return up, asked how he had demolished it. He replied, saying: ”I slightly excavated the earth at the side of the august mausoleum.“ The Heavenly Sovereign said: ”Wishing to be revenged on the enemy, of the King our father, I had counted on. [ p. 421 ] the complete demolition of the mausoleum, Why hast thou [only] slightly excavated it? “He replied, saying: [337] ”The reason why I did so was that the wish to be revenged on the spirit of the foe of the King our father is truly just. Nevertheless the Heavenly Sovereign Oho-hatsuse, though he were our father’s foe, was still our uncle, and moreover was an Heavenly Sovereign who ruled the Empire. So if we now, simply from the consideration of his having been our father’s enemy, were completely to demolish the mausoleum of an Heavenly Sovereign who ruled the Empire, after-generations would surely revile us. Meanwhile the wrongs of the King our father must not be unrevenged. So I slightly excavated the side of the mausoleum. This insult will quite suffice as a token to future ages.“ On his thus addressing him, the Heavenly Sovereign said: 'This also is very just, Be it as thou sayest.”
¶ SECT. CLXX.—EMPEROR KEN-ZŌ (PART IV.—HIS AGE AND PLACE OF BURIAL).
So the Heavenly Sovereign died, and His Augustness Ohoke ruled the succession of Heaven’s sun. [16] The Heavenly Sovereign’s august years were thirty-eight [ p. 422 ] years. His august mausoleum is on the mound of Ihatsuki at Katawoka. [17]
¶ Footnotes
416:1 p. 418 See Sect. CXXXIII, Note 11. ↩︎
417:2 Naniha no miko. For Naniha see Sect. XLIV, Note 26 ↩︎
417:3 Ihaki no miko. ↩︎
417:4 Who had been treacherously slain by the Emperor Yū-riyaku (see Sect. CXLVIII). ↩︎
417:5 I.e., says Motowori, “it is known to me, and to none besides.” ↩︎
417:6 The character used is
, which is more applicable to the raising of troops than to the setting to work of peasants. It seems however here to be used in the latter sense; or perhaps we should consider it to mean that people were got together. ↩︎417:7 See Sect. CXLVIII, Note 3. Possibly the “mountain east” should be a Proper Name,—Eastern Mountain,—but it is not taken as such by Motowori. ↩︎
417:8 See Sect. CXLVIII, Note 1. ↩︎
417:9 I.e., “keeping an eye.” q.d., on the place of burial of the Emperor’s father. Grammar would lead us to expect the order of the words forming the name to be reversed thus, Mo-oki; but see Motowori’s remarks in Vol. XLIII, p. 56. ↩︎
417:10 This Song is not comprehensible except by reference to the text of the “Chronicles,” whose author gives a somewhat varying version of the story. He tells us that, as a support to the infirm old lady, the Emperor had a string or rope stretched as a sort of hand-rest along the way she was obliged to pass in order to reach the Imperial apartments, and that at the end of the rope was a bell whose tinkling notified the Emperor of her approach. The conjectural exclamation which closes the little poem has therefore an obvious sense, which would be wanting if the bell were at the other end, as in the version here given; for the Emperor would not give expression to surprise at her approach, if he had himself just rung for her to come.—“Far-distant” is an imperfect attempt to represent the Pillow-Word momo-dzutafu, which here alludes to the stages p. 419 along which the old woman may be supposed to be travelling. The valley and the moor overgrown with short grass form an allusion to the way,—long and arduous for her,—which Oki-me had to traverse to reach the Imperial. apartments, and they contain possibly a further allusion to her original journey to the capital. ↩︎
417:11 The meaning of this Song is quite clear.—The second time the name Oki-me occurs, it might, instead of being as here taken as an exclamation, be made the subject of the sentence, thus: “Oki-me from Afumi will by to-morrow, etc.” The words “wilt [thou],” which represent ka of the original Japanese may be taken either as an exclamation properly so-called, or as a sort of rhetorical interrogation whose force is simply exclamatory. The meaning comes to the same in either case, and is literally rendered by the same English words; but according to the latter view, we should have to replace the point of exclamation by a point of interrogation. ↩︎
419:1 p. 419 See Sect. CXLIX. ↩︎
419:2 Motowori would have us understand the text to mean “in the neighbourhood of the river.” There is, however, no difficulty in accepting the author’s statement literally, as any one who is acquainted with the broad, stony beds of Japanese rivers will readily admit. ↩︎
419:3 p. 420 Asuki-gaka. For Asuka see Sect. CXXXIII. Note 11. ↩︎
419:4 I.e., probably “whenever.” ↩︎
419:5 I.e., “discovered by augury,” or else simply “found and pointed out,”—by whom does not appear. ↩︎
419:6 The real etymology of this name is obscure, but the author’s intention is to connect it with the “dividing ”or “pointing out” mentioned in the preceding sentence, which is given phonetically as [mi] shimeki. ↩︎