Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 126

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Kojiki (1882)
by Ō no Yasumaro, translated by Basil Hall Chamberlain

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Ō no Yasumaro4692147Kojiki1882Basil Hall Chamberlain

[Sect. CXXVI.—Emperor Nin-toku (Part VIII.—Death of King Hayabusa-wake and Queen Medori).]

Again the Heavenly Sovereign begged for his younger half-sister Queen Medori, using as middle-man his younger brother King Hayabusa-wake. Then Queen Medori spoke to King Hayabusa-wake, saying: “Owing to the violence of the Empress, [the Heavenly Sovereign] has not deigned to take Yata-no-waki-iratsume [into the Palace]. So I will not respectfully serve him. I will become the wife of Thine Augustness.” Forthwith they wedded each other, wherefore King Hayabusa-wake made no report [to the Heavenly Sovereign^[1]]. Then the Heavenly Sovereign, going straight to the place where Queen Medori dwelt, stood on the door-sill of the palace. Hereupon, Queen Medori being at her loom, was weaving garments. Then the Heavenly Sovereign sang, saying:

“Oh! for whom may be the garments that my Great Lady Medori weaves?”^[2]

Queen Medori replied in a Song, saying:

“For an august veil for the high-going Falcon-Lord.”^[3]

So the Heavenly Sovereign, perceiving her feelings, returned into the palace. At this time^[4] when her husband King Hayabusa-wake came, his wife Queen Medori sang, saying:

“The lark flies to heaven. Oh! high-going Falcon-Lord, catch the wren.”^[5]

The Heavenly Sovereign, hearing this Song,^[6] forthwith raised an army, wishing to slay King Hayabusa and Queen Medori, who then fled away together, and ascended Mount Kurahashi.^[7] Thereupon King Hayabusa-wake sang, saying:

“Owing to the steepness of ladder-like Mount Kurahashi, being unable to clamber [up] the rocks, oh! she takes my hand!”^[8]

Again he sang, saying:

“Though ladder-like Mount Kurahashi be steep, it is not steep when I ascend it with my younger sister.”

So when they fled thence, and reached Soni in Uda,^[9] the Imperial^[10] army pursued, overtook, and slew them.

↑ Scil. of the success of his mediation.
↑ Or, “for whom is the loom [employed], with which my Great Lady Medori weaves?”—The word hata in Archaic Japanese signifies both “garment” and the instrument which is used to weave a garment, i.e. a “loom” (服 and 機). In later times the second meaning has prevailed to the exclusion of the first.
↑ There is here a play on the name of the Queen’s paramour Hayabusa-wake, which signifies “Falcon-Lord” as in the translation.—The parallel passage of the “Chronicles” gives these two Songs as a single one which is put into the mouth of Queen Medori’s handmaidens,—is a more acceptable version of the incident.
↑ Motowori suspects that there is here an error in the text, which should, according to him, read: “After this.”
↑ The gist of this Song is an instigation to murder the Emperor (whose name was Oho-sazaki, i.e., “Great Wren” conf. Sect. CIV, Note 18), addressed to the singer’s husband (whose name was Hayubusa-wake, i.e., “Falcon Lord”). But the allusion to the lark remains obscure. Keichiū suggests that it is simply mentioned as a term of comparison for the falcon’s power of flight, while Motowori opines that the meaning rather is: “The lark flies so high up to heaven that it would be hard to catch it; but the wren is an easy prey.”
↑ Viz., as may be supposed, repeated by some fourth person.
↑ Kurahashi-yama, in Yamato.
↑ This Song, like the next, is too clear to stand in need of explanation. “Ladder-like” is an attempt to render the force of the Pillow-Word hashi-tate. See Mabuchi’s “Dictionary of Pillow-Words,” s.v., for the exact force attributed to it by Mabuchi.
↑ For Uda see Sect. XLVI, Note, 14. The etymology of Soni is equally obscure.
↑ The character 御, though read by the commentators with the usual Japanese Honorific mi, “august,” has here its proper Chinese signification of “Imperial.”

[1] Scil. of the success of his mediation.

[2] Or, “for whom is the loom [employed], with which my Great Lady Medori weaves?”—The word hata in Archaic Japanese signifies both “garment” and the instrument which is used to weave a garment, i.e. a “loom” (服 and 機). In later times the second meaning has prevailed to the exclusion of the first.

[3] There is here a play on the name of the Queen’s paramour Hayabusa-wake, which signifies “Falcon-Lord” as in the translation.—The parallel passage of the “Chronicles” gives these two Songs as a single one which is put into the mouth of Queen Medori’s handmaidens,—is a more acceptable version of the incident.

[4] Motowori suspects that there is here an error in the text, which should, according to him, read: “After this.”

[5] The gist of this Song is an instigation to murder the Emperor (whose name was Oho-sazaki, i.e., “Great Wren” conf. Sect. CIV, Note 18), addressed to the singer’s husband (whose name was Hayubusa-wake, i.e., “Falcon Lord”). But the allusion to the lark remains obscure. Keichiū suggests that it is simply mentioned as a term of comparison for the falcon’s power of flight, while Motowori opines that the meaning rather is: “The lark flies so high up to heaven that it would be hard to catch it; but the wren is an easy prey.”

[6] Viz., as may be supposed, repeated by some fourth person.

[7] Kurahashi-yama, in Yamato.

[8] This Song, like the next, is too clear to stand in need of explanation. “Ladder-like” is an attempt to render the force of the Pillow-Word hashi-tate. See Mabuchi’s “Dictionary of Pillow-Words,” s.v., for the exact force attributed to it by Mabuchi.

[9] For Uda see Sect. XLVI, Note, 14. The etymology of Soni is equally obscure.

[10] The character 御, though read by the commentators with the usual Japanese Honorific mi, “august,” has here its proper Chinese signification of “Imperial.”

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