Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 50

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. L.—Emperor Jim-mu (Part VII.—The Empire Pacified).]

So then His Augustness Nigi-hayabi^[1] waited on and said to the august child of the Heavenly Deity: “As I heard that [thou], the august child of the Heavenly Deity, hadst descended from Heaven, I have followed down to wait on thee.” Forthwith presenting to him the heavenly symbols,^[2] he respectfully served him. So His Augustness Nigi-hayabi wedded the Princess of Tomi,^[3] sister of the Prince of Tomi, and begot a child, His Augustness Umashi-ma-ji.^[4] (He was the ancestor of the Chiefs of the Warrior-Clan,^[5] of the Grandees of Hodzumi,^[6] and of the Grandees of the Neck-Clan.)^[7] So having thus subdued and pacified the savage Deities, and extirpated the unsubmissive people, [His Augustness Kama-yamato-ihare-biko] dwelt at the palace of Kashibara^[8] near Unebi,^[9] and ruled the Empire.^[10]

---

1. The component parts of this name, rendered according to the analogy of that in Sect. XXXIII, Note 5, may be interpreted to signify “Plenty-Swift.” The genealogy of this god is not known.
2. I.e., the swords, quivers, bows, and arrows mentioned in Sect. XXXIII, as having been brought down from Heaven by the divine attendants of the Emperor Jim-mu’s grandfather.
3. Tomi-ya-bime. The syllable ya is inexplicable, but perhaps merely an Expletive.
4. The signification of this name is by no means clear; but, rendered according to the characters with which it is written in the “Chronicles,” it would mean “Savoury-True-Hand.”
5. Mononobe no murazhi. This and the two following are of course “gentile names.”
6. Hodzumi no omi. Hodzumi, which is the name of a place, signifies “rice-ears piled up.”
7. Une-be no omi. The interpretation of this name is given according to Motowori, who explains that the members of this family,—in particular the female members,—waited at the Emperor’s table, and wore veils over their necks when so employed. The name is commonly corrupted to uneme.
8. Better known as Kashihabara. The name signifies “oak-moor,” or rather “a place planted with oaks.” This is usually, though without sufficient foundation, reckoned the earliest of the historical capitals of Japan. It is in Yamato.
9. Unebi is the name of a hill in Yamato. The etymology of the word is obscure.
10. I.e., “ruled the Empire from his palace of Kashibara near Unebi. For the expression 天下 (literally “[all] beneath Heaven”), here rendered “Empire,” see Sect. XXVII, Note 13.