Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 92

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. XCII.—Emperor Kei-kō (Part XVII.—Yamato-take’s Descendants).]

This [Prince] His Augustness Yamato-take wedded Her Augustness Princess Futaji-no-iri,^[1] daughter of the Heavenly Sovereign Ikume, and begot an august child: His Augustness Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko^[2] (one Deity). Again, wedding Her Augustness Princess Oto-tachibana^[3] who [afterwards] entered the sea,^[4] he begot an august child: King Waka-take^[5] (one Deity). Again, wedding Princess Futaji,^[6] daughter of Oho-tamu-wake,^[7] ancestor of the Rulers of the Land of Yasu in Chika-tsu-Afumi,^[8] he begot an august child: King Ine-yori-wake^[9] (one Deity). Again wedding Princess Oho-kibi-take,^[10] younger sister of Take-hiko, [ancestor of the] Grandees of Kibi,^[11] he begot an august child: King Take-kahiko^[12] (one Deity). Again, wedding Princess Kukuma-mori of Yamashiro,^[13] he begot an august child, King Ashi-kagami-wake^[14] (one Deity). A child by another wife was King Okinaga-ta-wake.^[15] Altogether the entire [number] of the august children of His Augustness Yamato-take was six Deities. So His Augustness Tarashi-naka-tsu-hiko [was he who afterwards] ruled the Empire. The next, King Ine-yori-wake (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Inukani^[16] and of the Dukes of Takebe.)^[17] The next, King Take-kahiko (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Aya in Sanugi,^[18] the Dukes of Wake in Iyo,^[19] the Lords of Towo,^[20] the Headmen of Masa^[21] and the Lords of Miyaji.)^[22] King Ashi-kagami-wake (was the ancestor of the Lords of Kamakura,^[23] the Dukes of Wodzu,^[24] the Lords of Ihashiro^[25] and the Lords of Fukita.)^[26] The child of the next, King Okinaga-ta-wake was King Kuhimata-naga-hiko.^[27] This King’s children were: Her Augustness Princess Ihinu-ma-guro,^[28] next Okinaga-ma-waka-naka-tsu-hime,^[29] next Oto-hime^[30] (three Deities). So the above mentioned King Waka-take wedded Princess Ihinu-ma-guro, and begot King Sume-iro-oho-naka-tsu-kiko.^[31] This King wedded princess Shibanu,^[32] daughter of Shibanu-iri-ki^[33] of Afumi, and begot a child, Her Augustness Princess Kaguro.^[34] So the Heavenly Sovereign Oho-tarashi-hiko wedded this [lady] Her Augustness Princess Kaguro, and begot King Oho-ye^[35] (one Deity). This King wedded his younger half-sister Queen Shiro-kane,^[36] and begot children: King Oho-na-gata,^[37] and next Her Augustness Oho-naka-tsu-hime^[38] (two Deities). So this [lady] Her Augustness Oho-naka-tsu-hime was the august mother^[39] of King Kagosaka^[40] and King Oshikuma.^[41]

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1. For this name see Sect. LXIX, Note 24.
2. I.e., “the perfect middle prince,” a name which is justified by the genealogy as given in the “Chronicles,” where he is mentioned as the second of three sons borne by this princess.
3. Oto-tachibana-hime no mikoto. Oto signifies “younger [sister],” and tachibana is the name of the orange.
4. See the story in Sect. LXXXIV.
5. Waka-take no miko. This name signifies “young brave.”
6. Futaji-hime. Signification obscure. Futaji may be the name of a place.
7. If Tamu is, as Motowori surmises, the name of a place, this personal name signifies “Great Lord of Tamu.”
8. Chika-tsu-Afumi no Yasu no kuni no miyatsuko. For Yasu see Sect. LXII, Note 62.
9. Ine-yori-wake no miko. This name probably signifies “rice-good-lord.”
10. Oho-kibi-take-hime. Oho signifies “great.” For the other two elements of the compound see next Note.
11. The text has Kibi no omi Take-hiko, as if this worthy had been himself the “Grandee of Kibi.” Motowori however compares the commencement of Sect. LXXXII (Notes 2 and 3), and supplies the words “ancestor of.” Kibi is of course the province of that name (the modern, Bizen, Bitchiū, and Bingo), and take signifies “brave.”
12. Take-kahiko no miko. Take signifies “brave,” kahiko is either “egg” or “cocoon,” or else perhaps a corruption of some other word.
13. Yamashiro no Kukuma-mori-hime. This name is obscure. Motowori identifies Kukuma with a place called Kurikuma, and mori is probably the Verb “to guard.”
14. Ashi-kagami-wake no miko. This name is written with characters signifying “foot-mirror-[lord].”
15. Okinaga-ta-wake no miko. This name is obscure. Motowori believes Okinaga to be the name of a place in Afumi, but has no explanation to offer of ta.
16. Inukami no kimi. Imikami is the name of a district in Afumi. Its signification is not clear.
17. Takebe no kimi. Takebe became the name of a place in Idzumo, but it originally signified “brave tribe,” the family having, as in so many other cases, given its name to the place of its residence, instead of being called after the latter. See the origin of the name, given in Motowori’s Commentary, Vol. XXIX, pp. 35–36.
18. Sanugi no Aya no kimi. For Sanugi sec Sect. V, Note 6. Aya is a district in the province; the name is of doubtful origin.
19. Iyo no wake no kimi. For Iyo see Sect. V, Note 4. (The text here has Ise for Iyo, and the word wake is missing, but Motowori’s emendation may be accepted.) Wake is the name of a district in Iyo.
20. Towo no wake. Of Towo nothing is known.
21. Masa no obito. Of Masa nothing is known.
22. Miyaji (宮道) no wake. This is Motowori’s ingenious emendation of the characters in the text, 官首, out of which it is impossible to make a family name. Miyaji is the name of a place in the province of Mikaha, and signifies “temple road.”
23. Kamakura no wake. Kamakura is the name of a district in the province of Sagami, which became famous during the Middle Ages as the site of an immense town,—the capital of the Shōguns, and the centre of the feudalism which then ruled Japan. The import of the name (literally “sickle-store”) is not clear, though it has been fancifully explained by native etymologists.
24. Wodzu no kimi. The words no kimi are supplied by Motowori, this name and the next being in the text run into one. Wodzu seems to be the name of a place in Afumi, and signifies “little mart.”
25. Ihashiro no wake. Motowori says that this Ihashiro is not the province of that name, but a place in Kishiu. The meaning of the name is obscure.
26. Fukita no wake. This is but Motowori’s conjectural restoration (founded on a statement in the “Chronicles of Old Matters of Former Ages”) of the name as given in the text, 漁田.
27. Kuhimata-naga-hiko no miko. Kuhimata (modern Kumata) is the name of a place in Settsu. The signification is obscure. Naga-hiko means “long prince.”
28. Ihinu-ma-guro-hime, i.e., “quite black princess of Ihinu,” the blackness being doubtless predicated of her hair. Ihinu is the name of a district in Ise, and is written with characters signifying “boiled-rice-moor.”
29. For Okinaga see Note 15. Ma-waka means “truly young.” Naka-tsu-hime means “middle princess,” referring to her being the second of three.
30. I.e., “younger princess.”
31. See Sect. LXXVI, Note 29.
32. Shibanu-hime. This name is obscure.
33. Shibunu iri-ko. This name is obscure.
34. Ka-guro-hime, see Sect. LXXVI, Note 28.
35. For the confusion in this portion of the genealogy see Sect. LXXVI, Note 30.
36. Shiro-kane no miko. Shiro-kane means “silver,” but Motowori suspects corruption in the text.
37. Oho-nagata no miko, i.e., “great prince of Nagata,” the latter being the name of a place in Settsu, signifying “long rice-field.”
38. I.e., “great middle princess.”
39. Literally, “ancestress.”
40. Or, “the King of Kagosaka,” for it is uncertain whether Kagosaka should or should not be regarded as the name of a place. The etymology of the name may be kago, “a stag” and saka, “an ascent.” The original form of the name and title is Kagosaka no miko.
41. Or, “the King of Oshikuma,” Oshikuma no miko. Oshikuma is a word of doubtful etymology.