Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 46

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. XLVI.—Emperor Jim-mu (Part III.—The Gigantic Crow and Gods with Tails).]

“Then His^[1] Augustness the Great-High-Integrating-Deity again commanded and taught, saying: ‘August son of the Heavenly Deity! make no progress hence into the interior. The savage Deities are very numerous. I will now send from Heaven a crow eight feet [long].^[2] So that crow eight feet [long] shall guide thee. Thou must make thy progress following after it as it goes.” So on [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] making his progress following after the crow eight feet [long] in obedience to the Deity’s instructions, he reached the lower course of the Yeshinu^[3] river, where there was a person catching fish in a weir.^[4] Then the august child of the Heavenly Deity asked, saying: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I^[5] am an Earthly Deity^[6] and am called by the name of Nihe-motsu no Ko.”^[7] (This is the ancestor of the Cormorant-Keepers of Aha).^[8] On [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] making his progress thence, a person with a tail^[9] came out of a well. The well shone. Then [His Augustness] asked: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Wi-hika.^[10]” (This is the ancestor of the Headmen of Yeshinu).^[11] On his forthwith entering the mountains,^[12] His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko again met a person with a tail. This person came forth pushing the cliffs apart. Then [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] asked: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Iha-oshi-waku no Ko. I heard [just] now that the august son of the Heavenly Deity was making his progress. So it is for that that I have come to meet thee.” (This is the ancestor of the Territorial Owners of Yeshinu).^[13] Thence [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] penetrated over on foot to Uda.”^[14] So they say: “The Ugachi of Uda.”^[15]

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1. The intention of the writer is here obscure, but he probably meant the following passage to form part of the dream, as is the case in the parallel passage of the “Chronicles.” The inverted commas are therefore continued in the translation.
2. The characters 八咫烏 (ya-ta-garasu), with which the original of this expression is written, combined with the mention in the Preface of the “great crow,” have determined the translator to adopt the interpretion favoured by Tanigaha Shisei, viz., a “crow eight feet [long].” Motowori understands the expression to mean “an eight-headed crow.” For the arguments on both sides see the “Perpetual Commentary on the Chronicles of Japan,” Vol. VIII, p. 16, and Motowori’s Commentary, Vol XVIII, pp. 60–62, and Vol. VIII, pp. 34–38. See also for the translation of a parallel passage Sect XVI, Note 23.
3. Better known by the classical and modern form of the name, Yoshino. It seems to signify “good moor.” Yoshino, which is in the province of Yamato, has from the earliest times been renowned for the beauty of its cherry-blossoms, and also figures largely in the early and mediæval history. Motowori points out geographical difficulties in the Imperial progress as here detailed. In the “Chronicles,” the verisimilitudes of the journey are better observed.
4. The character 筌, here rendered “weir” for want of a better word, is defined as signifying “a bamboo trap for catching fish.”
5. The First Personal Pronoun is here represented by the humble character 僕, “servant.” The other tailed deity mentioned immediately below uses the same expression.
6. See Sect. I, Note 11 and Sect. XLIV, Note 22, for the considerations that make it better to translate thus than to render by “I am a Deity of the Land.”
7. I.e., “Offering-Bearing Child.” Here and elsewhere the word ko, “child,” as part of a proper name, should be understood as a kind of Honorific, employed probably in imitation of Chinese usage.
8. Ada no U-kahi. This must be understood to be a “gentile name” (kabane) The etymology of Ada is uncertain. The practice of fishing with the help of cormorants, though now almost obsolete, seems to have been very common in Japan down to the Middle Ages.
9. Commenting on a similar passage a little further on, Motowori naïvely remarks: “It appears that in very ancient times such persons were occasionally to be met with.” It should be added that they are also mentioned in Chinese literature.
10. I.e., “Well-Shine.”
11. Yeshinu no obito. For Yeshinu see Note 3.
12. I.e., disappearing among the mountains.
13. Yeshinu no kuzu. Kuzu is a contraction of kuni-nushi (properly 國主, with which characters the name is found written at the commencement of Sect. CVIII, though elsewhere the semi-phonetic rendering 國巢 or 國栖 is employed).
14. Etymology obscure.
15. Uda no ugachi. The meaning of the sentence is: “Hence the name of the Ugachi of Uda.” Ugachi signifies “to penetrate.” But the etymology seems a forced one, and Motowori is probably correct in identifying this “gentile name” with that of Ukashi, mentioned in the next sentence.