Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 26

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. XXVI.—The Deities the August Descendants of the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land.]

So this Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land wedded Her Augustness Torrent-Mist-Princess, the Deity dwelling in the inner temple of Munakata,^[1] and begot children: the Deity Aji-shiki-taka-hiko-ne,^[2] next his younger sister Her Augustness High-Princess,^[3] another name for whom is Her Augustness Princess Under-Shining.^[4] This Deity Aji-shiki-taka-hiko-ne is he who is now called the Great August Deity of Kamo.^[5] Again the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land wedded Her Augustness Princess Divine-House-Shield^[6] and begot a child: the Deity Thing-Sign-Master.^[7] Again he wedded the Deity Bird-Ears,^[8] daughter of the Deity Eight-Island-Possessor,^[9] and begot a child: the Deity Bird-Growing-Ears.^[10] This Deity wedded Hina-teri-nakata-bichi-wo-ikochini,^[11] and begot a child: the Deity Land-Great-Wealth.^[12] This Deity wedded the Deity Ashi-nadaka,^[13] another name for whom is Princess-Eight-Rivers-and-Inlets,^[14] and begot a child: the Deity Swift-Awful-Brave-Sahaya-Lord-Ruler.^[15] This Deity wedded Princess Luck-Spirit,^[16] daughter of the Deity Heavenly-Awful-Master,^[17] and begot a child: the Deity Awful-Master-Prince.^[18] This Deity wedded Princess Hina-rashi,^[19] daughter of the Deity Okami,^[20] and begot a child: the Deity Tahiri-kishi-marumi.^[21] This Deity wedded the Deity Princess-Life-Spirit-Luck-Spirit,^[22] daughter of the Deity Waiting-to-See-the-Flowers-of-the-Holly,^[23] and begot a child: the Deity Miro-na-mi.^[24] This Deity wedded Princess Awo-numa-nu-oshi,^[25] daughter of the Deity Master-of-Shiki-yama,^[26] and begot a child: the Deity Nunoshi-tomi-tori-naru-mi.^[27] This Deity wedded the Young-Day-Female-Deity,^[28] and begot a child: the Deity Heavenly-Hibara-Great-Long-Wind-Wealth.^[29] This Deity wedded the Deity Toho-tsu-ma-chi-ne,^[30] daughter of the Deity Heavenly-Pass Boundary,^[31] and begot a child: the Deity Toho-tsu-yama-zaki-tarashi.^[32]

From the above-mentioned Deity Eight-Island-Ruler down to the Deity Toho-tsu-yama-zaki-tarashi are called the Deities of seventeen generations.^[33]

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1. See Sect. XIII, Note 15 and Sect. XIV, Note 2.
2. Aji-shiki-taka-hiko-ne-no-kami. The meaning of the first two members of this compound name is altogether obscure. Taka-hiko-ne signifies “high-prince lord.”
3. Taka-hime-no-mikoto. Taka-hime is supposed by Hirata to be a mutilated form of Taka-teru-hime, “High-Shining-Princess,” which would make the two names of this personage properly complementary.
4. Shita-teru-hime-no-mikoto. This goddess is popularly supposed to have been extremely beautiful, whence perhaps the name, which might be taken to imply that her beauty shone forth from under her garments as in the case of So-towori-hime (see Sect. CXXXVII, Note 9).
5. Because there worshipped. The etymology of Kamo is not clear.
6. Kamu-ya-tate-hime-no-mikoto. The translation here follows the Chinese characters. Another proposal of Motowori’s is to regard the syllables ya-tate as a corruption of iya-taka-teri, “more and more high shining,” which would give us for the whole name in English “Divine-More-and-More-High-Shining-Princess.”
7. I.e., “the Deity who gave a sign of the thing he did.” The Japanese original is Koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami. The translation of the name here given follows Motowori’s interpretation, which takes it to contain an allusion to the act by which its bearer symbolized his surrender of the sovereignty of the land to the descendant of the Sun-Goddess. Lengthened forms of the name are Ya-he-koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami (“the Deity Eight-Fold-Thing-Sign-Master”) and Tsumi-ba-ya-he-koto-shiro-nushi-no-kami, the first three syllables of which latter are obscure. Both of the lengthened forms are supposed to contain a reference to the manifold “green branches” mentioned in the legend referred to,—that, viz., which forms the subject-matter of Sect. XXXII.
8. Tori-mimi-no-kami. Motowori suggests that tori, “bird,” may be but the name of a place in Yamato.
9. Ya-shima-muji-no-kami. “Possessor” is the probable meaning of muji, regarded here and elsewhere as an alternative form of mochi. Motowori suggests that Yashima may be meant for the name of a district in Yamato, in which case both this god and his daughter would have been named from the places of their birth or residence, which are near each other in the same province.
10. Tori-naru-mi-no-kami. The above interpretation, which is proposed by Motowori, seems more acceptable than “Bird-Sounding-Sea,” which the Chinese characters yield. Tori, “bird,” if taken above to be the name of a place, must be likewise so considered here.—Motowori reasonably conjectures that a clause to the following effect is here omitted: “He wedded such and such a princess, daughter of such and such a Deity, and begot a child: the Deity Take-mi-na-gata” [i.e. probably Brave-August-Name-Firm] (See Sect. XXXII, Note 21). Hirata’s text, in his “Exposition of the Ancient Histories,” is 娶高志之沼河比賣命而令生給之子謂御穂須美命亦名健御名方神.
11. The text is here evidently corrupt, and Motowori proposes to read either Hina-teri-nukata-bichi-wo-no-kami no musume Iko-chini-no-kami, which would give us in English “the Deity Ikochini, daughter of the male Deity Hina-teri-nukata-bichi,” or else to take the whole as the father’s name, and to suppose that the name of the daughter has been accidentally omitted. Hina-teri means “Rustic Illuminator,” and the name resembles that of a deity mentioned in Sect. XIV, Note 6. Nukata and Bichi (or Hiji, reversing the position of the nigori) are supposed to be names of places. Ikochini is altogether obscure.
12. Kuni-oshi-tomi-no-kami, oshi, as in other instances, being considered a contraction of ohoshi, “great.”
13. Ashi-nadaka-no-kami. It is not clear whether this is a personal name or, as Motowori supposes, the name of the place where the goddess resided. He quotes places named Ashidaka and Ashida; but this hardly seems satisfactory. In any case the name remains obscure.
14. Ya-kaha-ye-hime. The translation follows the meaning of the Chinese characters with which the name is written. It is, however, also open to us to consider Yaka-ha-ye as a corruption of iya-ko-haye, “more and more flourishing.”
15. Haya-mika-no-take-sahaya-ji-nu-mi-no-kami. The syllables sahaya are obscure, and Motowori’s proposal to consider them as the name of a place has only been followed in the translation for want of something more satisfactory.
16. Saki-tama-bime.
17. Ame-no-mika-nushi-no-kami.
18. Mika-nushi-hiko-no-kami.
19. Hina-rashi-bime. Motowori takes Hina to be the name of a place, and rashi, to be an apocopated form of tarashi or some such word. But this is mere guesswork.
20. Okami-no-kami. See Sect. VIII, Note 9.
21. Tahiri-kishi-marumi-no-kami. The meaning of this name is quite obscure. Motowori throws out the suggestion that Tahiri may stand for Tari-hiri and Kishi-marumi for Kizhima-tsu-mi,—Tari-hiri and Kizhima being names of places, and tsu-mi, as usual, being credited with the signification of “possessor.”
22. Iku-tama-saki-tama-hime.
23. Hihira-gi-no-sono-hana-madzu-mi-no-kami. The interpretation of the name here given is conjectural as far as the words “waiting to see” (taken on Tominobu’s authority to be the most likely meaning of madzu-mi) are concerned. Motowori suggests that hihira-gi no may be but a sort of Pillow-Word, and not part of the actual name at all, and the remaining characters corrupted. Hihira-gi rendered “holly,” is properly the Olea Aquifolia.
24. Miro-na-mi-no-kami. Meaning obscure. Miro is supposed by Motowori to be the name of a place, and na and mi to be Honorific appellations.
25. Awo-numa-nu-oshi-hime. Meaning obscure.
26. Shiki-yama-nushi-no-kami. Shiki-yama is supposed to be the name of a place in Echizen.
27. Nunoshi-tomi-tori-naru-mi-no-kami. Nunoshi is supposed to be the name of a place, and identical with Nunoshi, which forms part of the mother’s name. Motowori takes tomi to be an Honorific, and Tori (as previously in the case of the deities Tori-mimi and Tori-naru-mi (See Notes 8 and 10) to be the name of another place. The translator would prefer to take both words in their common signification, and (leaving nunoshi aside as incomprehensible) to render the rest of the name thus: “Wealth-Bird-Growing-Ears.”
28. Waka-hiru-me-no-kami.
29. Ame-no-hibara-oho-shi-na-domi-no-kami. Motowori supposes Hibara to be the name of a place, a view which the translator has adopted for want of a better.
30. Toho-tsu-ma-chi-ne-no-kami. Motowori supposes Tohotsu to be the name of a place, and the remaining syllables to be Honorifics.
31. See Sect. VI. Note 20.
32. Toho-tsu-yama-zaki-tarashi-no-kami. Toho-tsu (lit. “distant”) and yama-zaki (“mountain-cape”) are both considered by Motowori to be names of places. Tarashi signifies “perfect” or “perfection.” We might perhaps render the name thus: “Perfection-of-the-Distant-Mountain-Cape.”
33. I.e. “seventeen generations of Deities.” But the construction is curious. Motowori points out that there is here an error in the computation, as the text enumerates but fifteen generations. The names of the gods and goddesses mentioned in this section offer unusual difficulties. Motowori says that it is with hesitation that he proposes many of his interpretations, and it is with still greater hesitation that the translator has accepted them.