Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 14

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. XIV.—The August Declaration of the Division of the August Male Children and the August Female Children.]

Hereupon the Heavenly Shining-Great-August-Deity said to His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness: “As for the seed^[1] of the five male Deities born last, their birth was from things of mine; so undoubtedly they are my children. As for the seed of the three female Deities born first, their birth was from a thing of thine; so doubtless they are thy children.” Thus did she declare the division. So Her Augustness Torrent-Mist-Princess, the Deity born first, dwells in the Inner temple of Munakata.^[2] The next, Her Augustness Lovely-Island-Princess, dwells in the middle temple of Munakata. The next, Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Torrent, dwells in the outer temple^[3] of Munakata. These three Deities are the three Great Deities^[4] held in reverence by the Dukes of Munakata.^[5] So His Augustness Brave-Rustic-Illuminator, child of His Augustness Ame-no-hohi, one of the five children born afterwards (^[6]this is the ancestor of the Rulers of the Land of Idzumo,^[7] of the Rulers of the Land of Muzashi,^[8] of the Rulers of the Upper Land of Unakami,^[9] of the Rulers of the Lower Laud of Unakami,^[10] of the Rulers of the Land of Izhimu,^[11] of the Departmental Suzerains of the Island of Tsu^[12] and of the Rulers of the Land of Toho-tsu-Afumi.^[13]) The next, His Augustness Prince-Lord-of-Heaven (is the ancestor of the Rulers of the Land of Ofushi-kafuchi,^[14] of the Chiefs of Nukatabe-no-yuwe,^[15] of the Rulers of the Land of Ki,^[16] of the Suzerains of Tanaka^[17] in Yamato, of the Rulers of the Land of Yamnshiro,^[18] of the Rulers of the Land of Umaguta,^[19] of the Rulers of the Land of Kihe^[20] in Michi-no-Shiri,^[21] of the Rulers of the Land of Suhau,^[22] of the Rulers of Amuchi,^[23] in Yamato, of the Departmental Suzerains of Takechi,^[24] of the Territorial Lords of Kamafu,^[25] and of the Rulers of Sakikusabe^[26]).

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1. I.e., the origin.
2. A place in the province of Chikuzen. The name signifies either “breast-shape” or “body-shape.”
3. Or “sea-shore temple.”
4. Or “the Great Deities of the three shrines.”
5. Munakata no kimi. Remember that all the names in this and similar lists are hereditary “gentile names” (see Introduction, p. xvi), and that “Duke” and the other titles used in this translation to designate them must only be regarded as approximations towards giving the force of the Japanese originals, which are themselves by no means always clear, either etymologically or historically. Indeed Motowori in a chapter entitled “Kuni no Miyotsuko” (國造) in his “Tama-Katsuma,” Vol. VI, p. 25, remarks that the distinctions obtaining between the various titles of Kimi, Wake, Murazhi, etc., are no longer to be ascertained, if indeed they were ever sharply drawn, and that Kuni no Miyatsuko (here rendered “Rulers of the Land”) seems to have been a general term including all the rest, and roughly corresponding to the modern title of Daimiō.—It must be well understood that all these names, though properly and originally denoting an office, were inherited as titles, and ended (after the custom of conferring new ones had died out) by being little more than an extra surname appended to the surname proper (uji). This kind of quasi-official quasi-titular surname is what is called by the Japanese a kabane, which the translator, for want of a better equivalent, renders by “gentile name.” Motowori’s learned note in Vol. XXXIX, pp. 14–15 of his Commentary, should be consulted for a full exposition of this somewhat intricate subject, on which there has been much misapprehension, chiefly owing to the want of a fitting Chinese character to denote the word kabane.
6. Here and throughout the work passages of this nature containing genealogies are in all the editions printed small, and might therefore be supposed to be either intended as foot-notes, or to be later glosses. Motowori however rightly rejects such an inference. To an English reader the word “this” may seam, by disturbing the grammar of the sentence, to support that inference; but in Japanese construction little importance need be attached to the presence of this double Nominative.—The name in the original of the ancestral deity whoso children are here enumerated is Take-Hira-Tori-no-mikoto and the interpretation thereof in the sense given in the translation is Motowori’s, Hira-tori being supposed by him to stand for Hina-teri.
7. Idzumo-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko.
8. Muzashi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. In classical and modern usage Musashi does not take the nigori.
9. Kami-tsu-Unakami-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Unakami was a part of what forms the modern province of Kadzusa. The name probably signifies “on the sea.”
10. Shimo-tsu-Unakami-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko.
11. Izhimu-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Izhimu (given in the “Japanese Words Classified and Explained” as Izhimi) was a portion of the modern province of Kadzusa. The etymology of the name is unknown.
12. Tsushima-no-agata-no-atahe.
13. Toho-tsu-afumi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. In modern times Toho-tsu-afumi has been contracted to Tohotafumi and is pronounced Tōtōmi. The name signifies “distant fresh sea” (i.e. “distant lake”), the province which bears it being thus designated in reference to a huge lagoon which it contains, and in contradistinction to Chika-tsu-afumi, “near fresh sea,” the name of the province in which lies Lake Biha. In modern times the latter has come to be known simply as Afumi (pronounced Ōmi), and the original connection of ideas between its name and that of Tōtōmi is lost sight of.
14. Ohoshi-kafuchi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Ohoshi-kafuchi (in modern times pronounced Ōchikōchi) signifies “within the great rivers.”
15. Nukatabe-no-yuwe-no-murazhi. The meaning of this name is not certain, but yuwe seems to be the word for “bathing woman” mentioned in Sect. LXXI (Note 11). See Motowori’s remarks in Vol. XXIV. p. 56 of his “Commentary” and the story of the origin of the name given in the “Catalogue of Family Names,” Vol. II. pp. 8–9 (edit. of 1834).
16. Ki-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Ki signifies “tree,” and the province doubtless received this name from its forests. Motowori supposes the character 茨 to have been lost in this place, and reads Ubaraki (the modern Ibaraki), a portion of the province of Hitachi. See Vol. VII, pp. 75–76 of his “Commentary.”
17. Tanaka-no-atahe. The word ta-naka signifies “in the middle of the rice-fields.”
18. Yamashiro-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Yama-shiro signifies “behind the mounains,” though it is now, by a play upon words, written with characters signifying “mountain-castle.”
19. Umaguta-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. Umaguta is a portion of the modern province of Kadzusa. The etymology of the name is not known.
20. Kihe-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. The etymology of the name and the position of the place are equally obscure.
21. The modern province of Echigo, or perhaps any not well defined district in the north of the Main Island. (See Section LX. Note 20.)
22. Suhau-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko. The etymology of Suhau is not known; but the name sounds Chinese.
23. Amuchi-no-miyatsuko. The derivation of Amuchi is unknown.
24. Takechi-no-agata-nushi. Takechi means “high market” or “high town.”
25. Kamafu-no-inaki. Kamafu was a portion of Afumi. Motowori’s suggestion that the name may be derived from kama (gama), “a bull-frog,” does not seem a happy one.
26. Sakikusabe-no miyatsuko. Sakikusa-be means literally “lily clan,” saki-kusa, the old name for the lily (or one species of lily) being literally “the luck-plant.” The story of the origin of this cognomen is to be found in the “Catalogue of Family Names,” Vol. II. p. 9.