BOOK ET THE EMPEROR KAMI-YAMATO IHARE-BIKO.’ (JIMMU TENNO.)
THE Emperor Kami Yamato Ihare-biko’s personal name was 1 Emperor is as near an equivalent as possible of the Chinese FE Si. Both are foreign words. The Japanese interlinear gloss is Sumera Mikoto “supreme majesty,” sumera having the same root as suberu, “to unite as a whole”; hence, ‘‘to have general control of.” See Satow, “ Rituals,” Salt aXe Aye V bik, ddisetaeoerlag) Yamato, see above, note to p. 13.
Ihare is the name of a district of Yamato; Hiko means prince.
Jimmu (divine valour) is a posthumous name. These names for the earlier Mikados were invented in the reign of Kwammu (782—806), after the “ Nihongi” was written, but it is necessary to mention them, as they are in universal use by Japanese writers.
In this narrative we have probably a legendary echo of a real movement of population from Kiushiu eastwards to Yamato, at some time before the Christian epoch, but it is not safe to go further than this. The details are manifestly fictitious, some of them, as the quotations from Chinese books put into the mouth of Jimmu Tenn6, demonstrably so.
Granting foramoment that the narrative of the Conquest of Yamato by Jimmu Tenn is substantially true, the question arises, Of what race were the tribes whom he found there? I would suggest that they may have been the Southern Wa mentioned in the “ Shan hai king,” a very ancient Chinese book, as being, along with the Northern Wa, subject to the kingdom of Yen. The Chinese in ancient times had a. notion that Yamato lay to the south of Kiushiu. Yen, a kingdom of Northern China, had an independent existence from B.C. 1122 to B.C. 265.' Chamberlain has pointed out that the ancient legends of Japan are connected with three distinct centres—Idzumo, Yamato, and Tsukushi, which is some indication that these places were also centres of governmental authority. The names given to the chieftains subdued by Jimmu Tenn6 are unmistakably Japanese, as are also those of the places which they inhabited. ] cannot agree with Chamberlain in deriving Yamato, Ki, Shima, etc., from Aino-words, when obvious Japanese explanations are available. There is another Yamato in Chikugo, where the Aino derivation is surely out of place, I have no desire, however, to dispute all his Aino derivations of place names HL 5e 33 110 NIHONGI.
Hiko-hoho-demi. He was the fourth child ' of Hiko-nagisa-take- u-gaya-fuki-ahezu no Mikoto. His mother’s name was Tama- yori-hime, daughter of the Sea-God. From. his birth, this Emperor was of clear intelligence and resolute will. At the age of fifteen he was made heir to the throne. When he grew up, he married Ahira-tsu-hime, of the district of Ata in the province of Hiuga, and made her his consort. By her he had Tagishi-mimi no Mikoto and Kisu-mimi no Mikoto.
When he reached the age of forty-five, he addressed his elder brothers and his children, saying:—‘‘Of old, our Heavenly Deities Taka-mi-musubi no Mikoto, and Oho-hiru-me no Mikoto, pointing to this land of fair rice-ears of the fertile reed- plain, gave it to our Heavenly ancestor, Hiko-ho no ninigi no Mikoto. Thereupon Hiko-ho no ninigi no Mikoto, throwing open the barrier of Heaven and clearing a cloud-path, urged on his superhuman course until he came to rest. At this time the world was given over to widespread desolation. It was an age of darkness and disorder. In this gloom, therefore, he fostered justice, and so governed this western border.’ Our Imperial ancestors and Imperial parent, like gods, like sages, accumulated _ happiness and amassed glory. Many years elapsed. From the date when our ene ancestor descended until now it is over 1,792,470 years.” But the remote regions do not yet enjoy the blessings of Imperial rule. Every town has always been allowed to have its lord, and every village its chief, who, each one for himself, makes division of territory and practises mutual aggression and conflict.
Now I have heard from the Ancient of the Sea,‘ that in the East there is a fair land encircled on all sides by blue mountains. Moreover, there is there one who flew down riding in a Heavenly Rock-boat. I think that this land will undoubtedly in this part of Japan, and I think it very probable that the first Japanese who settled here drove out a population of Aino race.
1 Primogeniture was evidently not recognized in Japan at the time this story was written.
2 i.e. Kiushiu.
3 This is in imitation of the great number of years ascribed to the reigns of the early Chinese monarchs.
4 Shiho tsutsu no oji.
Jimmu. III be suitable for the extension of the Heavenly task,! so that its glory should fill the universe. It is, doubtless, the centre of the world.” The person who flew down was, I believe, Nigi- haya-hi.* Why should we not proceed thither, and make it the capital?” oe; All the Imperial Princes answered, and said:—‘‘ The truth of ‘this is manifest. This thought is constantly present to our minds also. Let us go thither quickly.” This was the year Kinoye Tora (51st) of the Great Year.* In that year, in winter, on the Kanoto Tori day (the 5th) of the roth month, the new moon of which was on the day Hinoto ' Mi, the Emperor in person led the Imperial Princes and a naval force on an expedition against the East. When he arrived at the Haya-suhi gate,® there was there a fisherman who came riding in a boat. The Emperor summoned him; and then in- quired of him, saying:—‘‘ Who art thou?” He answered and said:—‘‘ Thy servant is a Country-God, and his name is Utsu- hiko.’ I angle for fish in the bays of ocean. Hearing that the son of the Heavenly Deity was coming, therefore I forth- with came to receive him.” Again he inquired of him, saying:— “‘Canst thou act as my guide?”’ He answered and said:—“ I will do so.””. The Emperor ordered the end.of a pole of shihi wood® to be given to the fisher, and caused him to be taken and pulled into the Imperial vessel, of which he was made pilot.
1 i.e. for the further development of the Imperial power.
2 The world is here the six quarters, N., S., E., W., Zenith, Nadir. This is, of course, Chinese, as indeed is this whole speech.
‘4 The great year is the Chinese cycle of sixty years. This system of reckoning time is described in Legge’s “ Classics,” Chalmers’ “Essay in prolegomena to Shooking,” “ Japanese, Chronological Tables,” by E.M.S., Bramsen’s “ Chronological Tables,” Mayers’ “‘ Chinese Manual,” etc. It was not in use to record years before the Christian era even in China, and could hardly have been known in Japan before the introduction of writing in the 5th century, A.D. It ismeedless to add that such dates are, in this part of the “ Nihongi,” purely fictitious.
> The days of the month are throughout the “ Nihongi” given in this clumsy fashion. I have not thought it necéssary to follow the example, except in this one instance.
6 The Quick-suck-gate or Bungo Channel, so called from its rapid tides.
III. 4.
III. 5.
Reo: 112. ‘NIHONGI.
A name was specially granted him, and he was called Shihi-ne- tsu-hiko.! He was the first ancestor of the Yamato no Atahe.
Proceeding on their voyage, they arrived.at Usa’ in the Land of Tsukushi. At this time there appeared the ancestors of the Kuni-tsu-ko* of Usa, named Usa-tsu-hiko and Usa-tsu- hime. They built a palace raised on one pillar * on the banks of the River Usa, and offered them a banquet. Then, by Imperial command, Usa-tsu-hime was given in marriage to the Emperor’s attendant minister Ama no tane* no Mikoto. Now Ama no tane no Mikoto was the remote ancestor of the Nakatomi Uji.’
t1th month, gth day. The Emperor arrived at the harbour of Oka’. inthe Land of Tsukushi.
12th month, 27th day. He arrived at the province of Aki, where he dwelt in the Palace of Ye.
The year Kinoto U, Spring, 3rd month, 6th day. Going onwards, he entered the land of. Kibi,* and built a tem- porary palace, in which he dwelt. It was called the Palace of Takashima. Three years passed, during which time he set in order the helms? of his ships, and prepared a store of pro- visions. It was his desire by a single effort to subdue the Empire. ‘.
The year Tsuchinoye Muma, Spring, 2nd month, 11th day. The Imperial forces at length proceeded eastwards, the prow of one ship touching the stern ofanother.. Just when they reached Cape Naniha they encountered a current of great swiftness. Whereupon that place was called Nami-haya (wave-swift) or ~ * Prince of shihi root..
> Usa is now a district (k6ri) in the province of Buzen. Tsukushiis used by old writers both for the whole island of Kiushiu and for the northern part of it, 3 Or Kuni no miyakko, local hereditary nobles.
4 Vide Ch. K., p. 130, and “Night of the Gods,” p.- 224, where a curious coincidence with an Irish legend is noted. “In Mailduin’s voyage he came to an island called Aenchoss, that is One-foot, so called because it was supported by a single pillar in the middle.” The “ Kojiki” anda note to the “ Nihongi” have for one pillar, “one foot.” Possibly there is here a _ reminiscence of a nomadic tent life.
° Heavenly seed.
6 i.e. house, or noble family. "4 In Chikuzen.
8 Including the present provinces of Bizen, Bittchiu, and Bingo.. ® Or oars.
JimMu. eS pe: Nami-hana (wave-flower). It is now called Naniha,' which is a corruption of this.
3rd month, roth day. Proceeding upwards against the stream, they went straight on, and arrived at the port of Awo- kumo no Shira-date, in the township of Kusaka, in the province of Kafuchi.?
Summer, 4th month, gth day. The Imperial forces in martial array marched on to Tatsuta. The road was narrow and pre- cipitous, and the men were unable to march abreast, so they returned and again endeavoured to go eastward, crossing over Mount Ikoma. In this way they entered the inner country.’
Now when Naga-sune-hiko* heard this, he said:—‘‘ The object of the children of the Heavenly Deity in coming hither is assuredly to rob me of my country.”’ So he straightway leviedall the forces under his dominion, and intercepted them at the Hill of Kusaka. A battle was engaged, and Itsuse no Mikoto was hit by a random arrow on the elbow. The Imperial forces were unable to advance against the enemy. The Emperor was vexed, and revolved in his inmost heart a divine plan, saying:—<‘ I am the descendant of the Sun-Goddess, and if I proceed against the Sun to attack the enemy, I shall act contrary to the way of Heaven. Better to retreat and make a show of weak- ness. Then sacrificing to the Gods of Heaven and Earth, and bringing on our backs the might of the Sun-Goddess, let us follow her rays and trample them down. If we do so, the enemy will assuredly be routed of themselves, and we shall not stain our swords with blood.” They all said:—‘“ It is good.” Thereupon he gave orders to the army, saying:—‘‘ Wait a while, and advance no further.’”’ So he withdrew his forces, ‘and the enemy also did not dare to attack him. He then re- tired to the port of Kusaka, where he set up shields, and made a warlike show. Therefore the name of this port was changed to Tatetsu,® which is now corrupted into Tadetsu.
Before this, at the battle of Kusaka, there was a man who * Naniha is now a poetical name for Ohosaka. The current referred to is no doubt the tide on the bar at the river-mouth, a most dangerous place for small craft in bad weather.
2 Pronounced Kawachi. 3 Yamato.
* Prince Longshanks. Naga-sune is the name of a place.
LIL 7.
RES III. 9.
IG. Ko}, II4 NIHONGI.
hid in a great tree, and by so doing escaped danger. So pointing to this tree, he said:—‘‘ I am grateful to it, as to my mother.”. Therefore the people of the day called that place Omo no ki no Mura.'
5th month, 8th day. The army arrived at the port of Yamaki in Chinu [adso called Port Yama no wi|. Now Itsuse no Mikoto’s arrow wound was extremely painful. He grasped his sword, and striking a martial attitude, said:—‘‘ How exaspera- ting it is that a man should die of a wound received at the hands of slaves, and should not revenge it!”’ The people of that day therefore called the place Wo no minato.’
Proceeding onwards, they reached Mount Kama in the Land of Kii, where Itsuse no Mikoto died in the army, and was therefore buried at Mount Kama.
6th month, 23rd day. The army arrived at the village of Nagusa, where they put to death the Tohe* of Nagusa. Finally they crossed the moor of Sano, and arrived at the village of Kami* in Kumano. Here he embarked in the rock-boat of Heaven, and leading his army, proceeded onwards by slow degrees. In the midst of the sea, they suddenly met with a violent wind, and the Imperial vessel was tossed about. Then Ina-ihi no Mikoto exclaimed and said:—‘‘ Alas! my ancestors were Heavenly Deities, and my mother was a Goddess of the Sea. Why do they harass me by land, and why moreover do they harass me by sea?’’ When he had said this, he drew his sword and plunged into the sea, where he became changed into the God Sabi-mochi.’
Mike Irino no Mikoto, also indignant at this, said:— ‘““My mother and my aunt are both Sea-Goddesses: why do they raise great billows to overwhelm us?” So treading upon the waves, he went to the Eternal Land.‘ The Emperor was now alone with the Imperial Prince Tagishi-mimi no Mikoto. Leading his army forward, he arrived at Port Arazaka in Kumano [also called Nishiki Bay|, where he put to death the Tohe of Nishiki. At this time the Gods belched up ' Mother-tree-village. 2 Port Man (vir). * Tohe seems to have been a word for chieftain.
* Or it may be of the Deity of Kumano.
® ie. the blade-holder. ° Toko-yo no Kuni.
— JimMu. 115 a poisonous vapour, from which everyone suffered. For this reason the Imperial army was again unable to exert itself. Then there was there a man by name Kumano no Takakuraji, who unexpectedly had a dream, in which Ama-terasu no Oho- kami spoke to Take-mika-tsuchi no Kami,! saying:—‘I still hear a sound of disturbance from the Central Land of Reed- Plains. Do thou again go and chastise it.” Take-mika-tsuchi no Kami answered and said:—‘ Even if I go not, I can send down my sword, with which I subdued the land, upon which the country will of its own accord become peaceful.” To this Ama-terasu no Kami assented. Thereupon Take-mika-tsuchi no Kami addressed Takakuraji, saying:—‘* My sword, which is called Futsu no Mitama, I will now place in thy storehouse. Do thou take it and present it to the Heavenly Grandchild.” Takakuraji said ‘“ Yes,” and thereupon awoke. The next morning, as instructed in his dream, he opened the storehouse, and on looking in, there was indeed there a sword which had fallen down (from Heaven), and was standing upside down? on the plank floor of the storehouse. So he took it and offered it to the Emperor. At this time the Emperor happened to be asleep. He awoke suddenly, and said:—‘ What a long time I have slept!” On inquiry he found that the troops who had been affected by the poison had all recovered their senses and were afoot. The Emperor then endeavoured to advance into the interior, but among the mountains it was so precipitous that there was no road by which they could travel, and they wandered about not knowing whither to direct their march. Then Ama-terasu no Oho-kami instructed the Emperor in a dream of the night, saying:—‘ I will now send thee the Yata- garasu,” make it thy guide through the land.” Then there did * Yata-garasu. The Chinese characters used here mean “ The crow with a head eight feet long.” But this is a case where we must put aside the Chinese characters, and attend solely to the Japanese word which they are meant to represent. This is undoubtedly yata-garasu, as we know from the “Kojiki” and from the traditional Kana rendering. Muchhas been written about this bird by Motowori and other Shinto scholars, which is, I venture to think, wholly wide of the mark. The clue to its meaning is afforded by the “ Wami6- sho,” a Chinese- Japanese vocabulary of the tenth century, which says, on the authority of the “Shiki,” still more ancient commentaries on the “ Nihongi,” LEE.
ELI.
116 NIHONGI.
indeed appear the Yata-garasu flying down from the Void. The Emperor said:—‘‘The coming of this crow is in due accordance with my auspicious dream. How grand! How splendid! My Imperial ancestor, Ama-terasu no Oho-kami, desires therewith to assist me in creating the hereditary institution.” * At this time Hi no Omi? no Mikoto, ancestor of the Oho- tomo ® House, taking with him Oho-kume* as commander of the main body, guided by the direction taken by the crow, looked up to it and followed after, until at length they arrived at the district of Lower Uda. Therefore they named the place which they reached the village of Ukechi’ in Uda.
that the Yang-wu or Sun-crow isin Japanese yata-garasu. The Yang-wu is a bird with three claws, and ofa red colour, which, according to Chinese myth, inhabits the sun. If we accept this identifi- cation, the meaning of the epithet yata becomes clear. It means eight hands, or, as ya in ancient Japanese meant also many or several, many hands, a sufficiently accurate description for popular myth of the Yang-wu with its three claws. The late M. Terrien de La-Couperie, in his ‘“ Western Origin of Early Chinese Civilization,’ says that “the first allusion to the three-legged crow supposed to roost in the sun occurs in the “ Li Sao” of Kiii-yuen, the poet of Ts’u, 314 B.c. in China. A three- legged bird in various forms was figured on coins of Pamphylia and Lycia of older times. Comte Goblet d’Alviella has reproduced some of them in his interesting work on “ La Migration des Symboles,” 1891, p. 222. See a paper on Sun-crow. theHi si0-maruin'* TAS.J.,7 VOL OCXILL 5 p27; and Ch. K., p. 136..The-guidance of con- querors or colonists to their destination by a supernatural bird or beast is a familiar feature of old-world story. See Lang, “Custom and Myth,” Meer Ale 1 The sovereignty. 2 Hi means sun; Omi, minister.
3 Oho-tomo means “ great companion.” The Oho-tomo were the Imperial guards.
4 Oho-kume, as Chamberlain points out, probably means simply a great force. But when the “ Kojiki” and “ Nihongi” were written, this meaning was forgotten, and it was supposed to be a man’s name.
’ Ugatsu means to pierce, and the name was given because they penetrated the mountains to this place. All these derivations are very fanciful.
JIMMv. | KE?
_ At this time, by an Imperial order, he commended Hi no Omi no Mikoto, saying:—‘‘ Thou art faithful and brave, and art moreover a successful guide. Therefore will I give thee a new name, and will call thee Michi no Omi.’’!
Autumn, 8th month, 2nd day. The Emperor sent to summon Ukeshi the Elder and Ukeshi the Younger. These two were chiefs of the district of Uda. Now Ukeshi the Elder did not come. But Ukeshi' the Younger came, and making obeisance at the gate of the camp, declared as follows:—‘‘ Thy servant’s elder brother, Ukeshi the Elder, shows signs of resistance. Hearing that the descendant of Heaven was about to arrive, he forthwith raised an army with which to make an attack. But having seen from afar the might of the Imperial army, he was afraid, and did not dare to oppose it. Therefore he has secretly placed his troops in ambush, and has built for the occasion a new palace, in the hall of which he has prepared engines. It is his intention to invite the Emperor to a banquet there, and then to do him a mischief. I pray that his treachery be noted, and that good care be taken to make preparation against it.” The Emperor straightway sent Michi no Omi no Mikoto to observe the signs of his opposition. Michi no Omi no Mikoto clearly ascertained his hostile intentions, and being greatly enraged, shouted at him in a blustering manner:—‘‘ Wretch! thou shalt thyself dwell in the house which thou hast made.” So grasping his sword, and drawing his bow, he urged him and drove him within it: Ukeshi the Elder being guilty before Heaven, and the matter not admitting of excuse, of his own accord trod upon the engine and was crushed to death. His body was then brought out and decapitated, and the blood which flowed from it reached above the ankle. Therefore that place was called Uda no Chi-hara.? After this Ukeshi the Younger prepared a great feast of beef and sake,® with which he entertained the 1 The Minister of the Road. 2 The bloody plain of Uda.
* We might be inclined to infer from this (what was probably the case ) that the Ancient Japanese lived more on animal food than their descendants in modern times. But there is much room for suspicion that this statement s nothing more than a reminiscence of a passage in a history of the Later Han dynasty of China, which speaks of beef and sake being presented to the Emperor Kwang Wu Ti, who came to the throne A.D. 25.
PUL sre BETA.
BEI V5: 118 NIHONGI.
Imperial army. The Emperor distributed this flesh and sake to the common soldiers, upon which they sang the following verses:— tree I set a snare for woodcock, And waited, But no woodcock came to it; A valiant whale came to it.} In the high Lae; of Uda This is calleda Kume’ song. At the present time, when the Department of Music performs this song, there is still the?® measurement of great and small by the hand, as well as a distinction of coarse and fine in the notes of the voice. This is by a rule handed down from antiquity.
After this the Emperor wished to inspect the Land of Yoshino, so taking personal command of the light troops, he made a progress round by way of Ukechi mura in Uda.
- When he came to Yoshino, there was a man who came out _ of a well. He shone, and had a tail. The Emperor inquired of him, saying:—‘‘ What man art thou?” He answered and said:—‘‘ Thy servant is a local Deity, and his name is Wi- hikari.””* He it is who was the first ancestor of the Yoshino no Obito. Proceeding a little further, there was. another man with a tail, who burst open a rock and came forth from it.. The Emperor inquired of him, saying:—“ What man art thou?” He answered and said:—‘‘ Thy servant is the child of Iha-oshi- 1 Ki in the first line of this poem means probably both tree and castle. The words are put into the mouth of Ukeshi the Elder, who found a whale (the Emperor) in his springe instead of the harmless woodcock he expected. The wild boar is now called the yama-kujira or mountain-whale, and ‘is perhaps the animal intended here.
I confess that I can make no satisfactory sense of the remainder of this poem. ‘The version given by Chamberlain (Ch. K., p. 140), following Moribe, is as good as any, but it seems to me very conjectural. It should be noted, however, that this part of the poem contains an indication of the polygamous customs of the Japanese at this time in the use of two words signify- ing respectively elder wife (konami) and younger wife (uhanari), The “ Nihongi” omits the interjectional refrain given in the “ Kojiki.”
> Kume means no doubt “soldier” in this passage.
3 Beating time is perhaps meant. * Well-brightness.
JimMu. 119 wake.”' It is he who was the first ancestor of the Kuzu® of Yoshino. | Then skirting the river, he proceeded westward, when, there appeared another man, who had made a fish trap and was catching fish. On the Emperor making inquiry of him, he answered and said:—‘“‘ Thy servant is the son of Nihe-motsu.” * He it is who was the first ancestor of the U-kahi of Ata.’ | gth month, 5th day. The Emperor ascended to the peak of Mount Takakura in Uda, whence he had a prospect over all the land. On Kuni-mi*® Hill there were descried eighty bandits. Moreover at the acclivity of Me-zaka°® there was posted an army of women, and at the acclivity of Wo-zaka‘ there was stationed a force of men. At the acclivity of Sumi- zaka* was placed burning charcoal. This was the origin of the names Me-zaka, Wo-zaka and Sumi-zaka.
Again there was the army of Ye-shiki,’ which covered all the village of Ihare. All the places occupied by the enemy ” were strong positions, and therefore the roads were cut off and ‘obstructed, so that there was no room for passage. The Emperor, indignant at this, made prayer on that night in person, and then fell asleep. The Heavenly Deity appeared to him in a dream, and instructed him, saying:—‘‘ Take earth from within the shrine!' of the Heavenly Mount Kagu, and of it make eighty Heavenly platters. Also make sacred jars” and therewith sacrifice to the Gods of Heaven and Earth. More- over pronounce a solemn imprecation. If thou doest so, the ’ Rock-push-divide.
Kuzu were local chiefs. They are mentioned again in Ojin’s reign. Food-holder or purveyor.
U-kahi means cormorant-keepers. Fishing with cormorants is still practised in Japan.
7 Men’s acclivity. The terms Me-zaka and Wo-zaka are now applied to two roads or stairs leading up to the same place, one of which (the women’s) is less precipitous than the other..
8 Sumi-zaka means charcoal acclivity.
® Shiki the Elder. 10 Lit. Robber-slaves or prisoners.
” A shrine, like a templum, might be merely a consecrated plot of ground. Kagu-yama is a mountain in Yamato.
% Idzube. The platters were for rice, the jars. for sake. See Satow’s “ Rituals” in J.A.S.T.,” VIL., ti. ps 109.
120 NIHONGI.
enemy will render submission of their own accord.” The Emperor received with reverence the directions given in his dream, and proceeded to carry them into execution.
Now Ukeshi the Younger again addressed the Emperor, saying:—‘‘ There are in the province of Yamato, in the village of Shiki, eighty Shiki bandits. Moreover, in the village of Taka-wohari [some say Katsuraki] there are eighty Akagane’ bandits. All these tribes intend to give battle to the Emperor, and thy servant is anxious in his own mind on his account. It were now good to take clay from the Heavenly Mount Kagu, and therewith to make Heavenly platters with which to sacrifice to the Gods of the Heavenly shrines and of the Earthly shrines. If after doing so, thou dost attack the enemy, they may be easily driven off.” The Emperor, who had already taken the words of his dream for a good omen, when he now heard the words of Ukeshi the Younger, was still more pleased in his heart. He caused Shihi-netsu-hiko* to put on ragged garments and a grass hat, and to disguise himselfas an old man, He also caused Ukeshi the Younger to cover himself with a winnowing tray, so as to assume the appearance of an old woman, and then addressed them, saying:—‘‘ Do ye two pro- ceed to the Heavenly Mount Kagu, and secretly take earth from its summit. Having done so, return hither. By means of you I shall then divine whether my undertaking will be successful or not. Do your utmost and be watchful.”
Now the enemy’s army filled the road, and made all passage impossible. Then Shihi-netsu-hiko prayed, and said:—‘ If it will be possible for our Emperor to conquer this land, let the road by which we must travel become open. But if not, let the brigands surely oppose our passage.” Having thus spoken they set forth, and went straight onwards. Now the hostile band, seeing the two men, laughed loudly, and said:—‘‘ What an uncouth old man and old woman!’ So with one accord they left the road, and allowed the two men to pass and proceed to the mountain, where they took the clay and returned with it. Hereupon the Emperor was greatly pleased, and with this * Akagane means red metal, i.e. copper, but the text is doubtful. The “ Kiujiki” has a different reading. * See above, p. 11k.
JimMu. 121 clay he made eighty platters, eighty Heavenly small jars and sacred jars,' with which he went up to the upper waters of the River Nifu and sacrificed to the Gods of Heaven and of Earth. Immediately, on the Asa-hara plain by the river of Uda, it became as it were like foam on the water, the result of the curse cleaving to them.’
Moreover the Emperor went on to utter a vow, saying:—‘‘ I will now make ame? in the eighty platters without using water. If the ame is formed, then shall I assuredly-without effort and without recourse to the might of arms reduce the Empire to peace.” So he made ame, which forthwith became formed of itself.* - Again he made a vow, saying:—‘‘I will now take the sacred jars and sink them in the River Nifu. If the fishes, whether great or small, become every one drunken and are carried down the stream, like as it were to floating maki* leaves, then shall I assuredly succeed in establishing this land. ‘But if this be not so, there will never be any result.” Thereupon he sank the jars in the river with their mouths downward. After a while the fish all came to the surface, gaping and gasping as they floated down the stream. Then Shihi-netsu-hiko, seeing this, represented it to the Emperor, who was greatly rejoiced, and plucking up a five-hundred-branched masakaki tree of the * The reader who wishes to realize what the ancient pottery of Japan was like should visit the British Museum and inspect the Gowland collection. There is also a collection in the Uyeno Museum in Tokio. Ninagawa Noritane’s work entitled “‘ Kwan-ko-dzu-setsu” gives very good drawings of ancient pottery. The common Japanese name for this ware is Gidgi-yaki, Giodgi being the name of a Buddhist priest who lived 670-749, and who is credited with the invention of the potter’s wheel. But the wheel was cer- tainly known in Japan long before his time. This very passage contains an evidence of this fact. Both the Chinese characters and the Japanese word ta-kujiri given in the ancient commentary for the small jars. here mentioned mean “hand-made,” leading to the conclusion that this was exceptional. Indeed, nearly all the pottery of the Nihongi period which has come down to us is wheel-made.
* Foam on water is a favourite emblem of the transitoriness of human life.
* Ame (sweetness) is usually made of millet, malted, and is nearly identical in composition with what our chemists call “ malt extract.” It is a favourite sweetmeat in the far East.
+ Cf. Judges vi. 36. * Podocarpus macrophylla.
JU leg 2X0}5 122 NIHONGI.
upper waters of the River Nifu, he did worship therewith to all the Gods. It was with this that the custom began of setting sacred jars.’
At this time he commanded Michi no Omi no Mikoto, say- ing:—‘‘ We are now in person’? about to celebrate a public’ festival to Taka-mi-musubi no Mikoto,.and I appoint thee Ruler of the festival, and grant thee the title of Idzu-hime.* The earthen jars which are set up shall be called the Idzube or sacred jars, the fire shall be called Idzu no Kagu-tsuchi or sacred-fire-elder, the water shall be called Idzu no Midzu-ha no me or sacred-water-female, the food shall be called Idzu- uka no me or sacred-food-female, the firewood shall be called Idzu no Yama-tsuchi or sacred-mountain-elder, and the grass shall be called Idzu no No-tsuchi or sacred-moor-elder.”’
Winter, roth month, 1st day. The Emperor tasted® the food of the Idzube, and arraying his troops set forth upon his march. He first.of all attacked the eighty bandits at Mount Kunimi, routed and slew them. It was in this campaign that the Emperor, fully resolved on victory, made these verses, saying:— Like the Shitadami Which creep around The great rock Of the Sea of Ise Where blows the divine wind — Like the Shitadami, My boys! my boys!
We will creep around, And smite them utterly, And smite them utterly.° ' A note says that they were set up in the courtyard.