Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 159

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. CLIX.—Emperor Yū-riyaku (Part X.—The Mound of the Metal Spade).]

Again when the Heavenly Sovereign made a progress to Kasuga to wed Princess Wodo,^[1] daughter of the Grandee Satsuki of Wani,^[2] a maiden met him by the way, and forthwith seeing the Imperial progress, ran and hid on the side of a mound. So he composed an august Song. That august Song said:

“Oh! the mound where the maiden is hiding! Oh for five hundred metal spades! then might [we] dig her out!”^[3]

So that mound was called by the name of the Mound of the Metal Spade.^[4]

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1. Wodo-hime. The signification of this name is obscure.
2. Wani no Satsuki no omi. For Wani see Sect. LXII, Note 11. Satsuki is the old Japanese name of the fifth moon.
3. Moribe thus paraphrases this Song: “The Monarch had met a girl carrying a spade in her hand, and, as she was beautiful, wished to address her; but she ran off and hid on the hill-side, leaving her spade behind her. His words express a desire for five hundred spades like hers, with which to break down the hill-side and dig her out …. It is in joke that he talks of the maiden who was on the other side of the hill as being inside it.” That in ancient times all digging implements were not made of metal will be seen by reference to Sect. CXXIV, Note 6.
4. Kanasuki no woka.