Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 15

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. XV.—The August Ravages of His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness.]

Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness said to the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity: “Owing to the sincerity of my intentions I have, in begetting children, gotten delicate females. Judging from this,^[1] I have undoubtedly gained the victory.” With these words, and impetuous with victory, be broke down the divisions of the rice-fields^[2] laid out by the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity, filled up the ditches, and moreover strewed excrements^[3] in the palace where she partook of the great food.^[4] So, though he did thus, the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity upbraided him not,^[5] but said: “What looks like excrements must be something that His Augustness mine elder brother has vomited through drunkenness. Again, as to his breaking down the divisions of the rice-fields and filling up the ditches, it must be because he grudges the land [they occupy^[6]] that His Augustness mine elder brother acts thus.” But notwithstanding these apologetic words, he still continued his evil acts, and was more and more [violent]. As the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity sat in her awful^[7] weaving-hall^[8] seeing to the weaving of the august garments of the Deities, he broke a hole in the top^[9] of the weaving-hall, and through it let fall a heavenly piebald horse which he had flayed with a backward flaying,^[10] at whose sight the women weaving the heavenly garments were so much alarmed that impegerunt privatas partes adversis radiis et obierunt.^[11]

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1. Literally “if one speak from this.”
2. The character used is 田, which in Chinese does not necessarily signify a rice-field. But in Japanese it seems to have been always limited to this narrower meaning, to which likewise the context here clearly points.
3. In the original written 屎麻理, which is partly ideographic and partly phonetic for kuso-mari. Motowori interprets it to signify “excrements and urine”; but the parallel passage of the “Chronicles” which he himself quotes goes to prove that mari had not the latter meaning, as does also another well-known passage in the “Tale of a Bamboo-Cutter.”
4. 大嘗 read oho-nihe. The word nihe now denotes “a sacrifice,” and oho-nihe no matsuri is the religious festival of the tasting of the first new rice of the season.
5. We might, following classical usage, translate the Verb togamezu, which is written phonetically, by the words “took no heed” or “made no observation”; but in this passage it certainly seems to have the stronger and more specialized signification of “upbraiding,” “scolding,” which attaches to it in the colloquial dialect.
6. I.e., he thinks that none of the land should be wasted in ditches and embankments, but should all be devoted to the production of food.
7. The character used is 忌, “to shun,” which in Japanese has approximately the meaning of “sacred.” Thus a certain family of priests was called by the name of Imibe, lit. “the shunning clan,” on account of the uncleanness from which they were bound to abstain.
8. Written with characters signifying literally “garment-house,” but the meaning, as understood by the native commentators, is that given in the text.
9. 項. This character is taken by the native commentators in the sense of 棟, mune, “ridge-pole.”
10. I.e., it is supposed, beginning at the tail. That this was considered criminal may be seen by comparing Sect. XCVII, Note 3.
11. In the parallel passage of the “Chronicles” it is the goddess who injures herself with her shuttle, but without dying of the effects of the accident.