Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 142

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

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Ō no Yasumaro4692170Kojiki1882Basil Hall Chamberlain

[Sect. CXLII.—Emperor In-giyō (Part VI.—War Between Prince Karu and Prince Anaho).]

Therefore all the officials^[1] and likewise the people of the Empire turned against the Heir Apparent Kara, and towards the August Child Anaho. Then the Heir Apparent Karu, being alarmed, fled into the house of the Grandee the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe,^[2] and made a provision of implements of war. (The arrows made at this time^[3] were provided with copper arrow-insides;^[4] so those arrows are called by the name of Kara arrows.) Prince Anaho likewise made implements of war. (The arrows made by this Prince were just the arrows of the present time:^[5] they are called Anaho arrows.) Thereupon Anaho raised an army, and beleaguered the house of the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe. Then, when be reached the gate, heavy ice-rain^[6] was falling. So he sang, saying:

“Come thus under cover of the metal gate of the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe! We will stand till the rain stops.”^[7]

Then the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe came singing, lifting his hands, striking his knees, dancing, and waving his arms. The Song said:

“The courtiers are tumultuous, [saying] that the small bell of the garter of the courtiers has fallen off. Country-people, too, beware!”^[8]

This Song is of a Courtier’s Style.^[9] Singing thus, he came near and said: “August Child of our Heavenly Sovereign! Come not with arms against the King thine elder brother. If thou shouldst come against him with arms, people will surely laugh. I^[10] will secure him and present him to thee.”^[11] Then Prince Anaho disbanded his troops and went away. So the Noble Oho-mahe Wo-mahe secured Prince Karu, and led him forth, and presented him [to Prince Anaho]. The captive Prince sang, saying:

“Maiden of heaven-soaring Karu! if thou cry violently, people will know. Cry quietly like the doves on Mount Hasa.”^[12]

Again he sang:

“Maiden of heaven-soaring Karu! Come and sleep, and [then] pass on, oh maiden of Karu!”^[13]

↑ See Sect. CXII, Note 4.
↑ Oho-mahe Wo-mahe sukune no omi (according to the old reading Oho-saki Wo-saki, etc.). Motowori considers this double name to denote two brothers, the words oho and wo (“great” and “small”) naturally lending themselves to the interpretation of “elder” and “younger.” Moribe, on the contrary, thinks that there was but one, and is supported both by the authority of the “Chronicles of Japan” and by the fact that, except in the “Chronicles of Old Matters of Former Ages,” which is believed to be a forgery, no second brother is anywhere mentioned. He explains the use of the double name in the prose text as having crept in through the influence of the text of the following Song (sec Note 7 below). This seems to the translator the better view.
↑ I.e., “on this occasion.”
↑ There is here an evident corruption of the text, and Motowori aptly conjectures that arrow-heads, or, as they are called in Japanese, arrow-points, are intended. He adds that up till then arrow-heads had always been made of iron.
↑ The author’s style is here rather at fault; for he apparently wishes to say that the arrows employed by Prince Anaho were those which had been used in ancient times and were still the most universally employed—that, in fact, they were the usual style of arrow in contradistinction to those of Prince Karu’s invention.
↑ See Sect. LXXXVIII, Note 5.
↑ The prince, in this Song, bids his troops follow his example, and take refuge from the rain under cover of the gate of Oho-mahe’s house. Such, at least, is the actual sense of the words used; but Motowori sees in them nothing less than a slightly veiled exhortation to his followers to attack the castle, while Moribe, on the other hand, thinks they were meant to convey to Oho-mahe a hint of his presence, and enable the beleaguered prince, for whom (as being his elder brother) Prince Anaho retained a great affection and respect, to devise some method of escape. This seems extremely far-fetched.—The word “metal” probably refers only to the fastenings of the gate, and not to its whole structure.
↑ The exact purport and application of this Song is disputed, but this much seems clear: that the composer of it seeks to quiet both the besieging army (out of politeness called courtiers), and the peasants who had joined the fray, by making light of the whole occurrence, which he compares to so trival an accident as the falling of a bell from a man’s “garter” or “loggings.” The custom of ornamenting this article of dress with a small bell is, however, not mentioned elsewhere. The word yume, which concludes the Song and is here rendered “beware,” is identified by Motowori and Moribe with the Imperative of the Verb imu, “to avoid,” “to shun,” “not to do.”
↑ Miya-hito-buri. This is one of the cases which lend support to Motowori’s view that the names of the so-called styles of Songs are derived from their initial words.
↑ Written with the humble character 僕, “servant.”
↑ The word used in the text, here and also in the next sentence, is that which properly denotes the presenting of tribute.
↑ Another reading gives this sense:

“As, if the maiden of heaven-soaring Karu cried violently, people would know, she cries quietly like the doves on Mount Hasa.”

According to this reading, the poet simply explains the reason of the undemonstrativeness of his mistress’s grief; according to that in the text, he implores her not to weep too passionately.—Amadamu or amatobu ya, “heaven-soaring,” is the Pillow-Word for Karu, applied to it punningly on account of its similarity in sound to the word kari, “a wild-goose,” which well deserves the epithet “heaven-soaring.” Of Mount Hasa nothing is known.
↑ Rendered thus according to Moribe’s exegesis, which quite approves itself to the translator’s mind, this Song signifies: “Oh! maiden of Karu! come and sleep with me but once, before my impending banishment renders it hard for us to meet again.” Motowori chooses to interpret nete as a crasis of nayete, “bending,” and sees in the Song an invitation to the maiden to come quietly bending her head and passing along quietly so as not to attract observation.—The final word, translated “maiden,” is wotome-domo, properly a Plural, bat here used in a Singular sense, as watakushi-domo, “I” (properly “we”), so constantly is in the modern Colloquial Dialect. For the Pillow-Word “heaven-soaring” see preceding Note.

[1] See Sect. CXII, Note 4.

[2] Oho-mahe Wo-mahe sukune no omi (according to the old reading Oho-saki Wo-saki, etc.). Motowori considers this double name to denote two brothers, the words oho and wo (“great” and “small”) naturally lending themselves to the interpretation of “elder” and “younger.” Moribe, on the contrary, thinks that there was but one, and is supported both by the authority of the “Chronicles of Japan” and by the fact that, except in the “Chronicles of Old Matters of Former Ages,” which is believed to be a forgery, no second brother is anywhere mentioned. He explains the use of the double name in the prose text as having crept in through the influence of the text of the following Song (sec Note 7 below). This seems to the translator the better view.

[3] I.e., “on this occasion.”

[4] There is here an evident corruption of the text, and Motowori aptly conjectures that arrow-heads, or, as they are called in Japanese, arrow-points, are intended. He adds that up till then arrow-heads had always been made of iron.

[5] The author’s style is here rather at fault; for he apparently wishes to say that the arrows employed by Prince Anaho were those which had been used in ancient times and were still the most universally employed—that, in fact, they were the usual style of arrow in contradistinction to those of Prince Karu’s invention.

[6] See Sect. LXXXVIII, Note 5.

[7] The prince, in this Song, bids his troops follow his example, and take refuge from the rain under cover of the gate of Oho-mahe’s house. Such, at least, is the actual sense of the words used; but Motowori sees in them nothing less than a slightly veiled exhortation to his followers to attack the castle, while Moribe, on the other hand, thinks they were meant to convey to Oho-mahe a hint of his presence, and enable the beleaguered prince, for whom (as being his elder brother) Prince Anaho retained a great affection and respect, to devise some method of escape. This seems extremely far-fetched.—The word “metal” probably refers only to the fastenings of the gate, and not to its whole structure.

[p298-8] The exact purport and application of this Song is disputed, but this much seems clear: that the composer of it seeks to quiet both the besieging army (out of politeness called courtiers), and the peasants who had joined the fray, by making light of the whole occurrence, which he compares to so trival an accident as the falling of a bell from a man’s “garter” or “loggings.” The custom of ornamenting this article of dress with a small bell is, however, not mentioned elsewhere. The word yume, which concludes the Song and is here rendered “beware,” is identified by Motowori and Moribe with the Imperative of the Verb imu, “to avoid,” “to shun,” “not to do.”

[9] Miya-hito-buri. This is one of the cases which lend support to Motowori’s view that the names of the so-called styles of Songs are derived from their initial words.

[10] Written with the humble character 僕, “servant.”

[11] The word used in the text, here and also in the next sentence, is that which properly denotes the presenting of tribute.

[12] Another reading gives this sense:

“As, if the maiden of heaven-soaring Karu cried violently, people would know, she cries quietly like the doves on Mount Hasa.”

According to this reading, the poet simply explains the reason of the undemonstrativeness of his mistress’s grief; according to that in the text, he implores her not to weep too passionately.—Amadamu or amatobu ya, “heaven-soaring,” is the Pillow-Word for Karu, applied to it punningly on account of its similarity in sound to the word kari, “a wild-goose,” which well deserves the epithet “heaven-soaring.” Of Mount Hasa nothing is known.

[p299-13] Rendered thus according to Moribe’s exegesis, which quite approves itself to the translator’s mind, this Song signifies: “Oh! maiden of Karu! come and sleep with me but once, before my impending banishment renders it hard for us to meet again.” Motowori chooses to interpret nete as a crasis of nayete, “bending,” and sees in the Song an invitation to the maiden to come quietly bending her head and passing along quietly so as not to attract observation.—The final word, translated “maiden,” is wotome-domo, properly a Plural, bat here used in a Singular sense, as watakushi-domo, “I” (properly “we”), so constantly is in the modern Colloquial Dialect. For the Pillow-Word “heaven-soaring” see preceding Note.

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