Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 98

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. XCVIII.—Emperor Chiū-ai (Part IV.—The Empress Jin-gō Conquers Korea).]

So the wave^[1] of the august vessel pushed up onto the land of Shiragi,^[2] reaching to the middle of the country. Thereupon the chieftain^[3] of the country, alarmed and trembling, petitioned^[4] [the Empress], saying: “From this time forward obedient to the Heavenly Sovereign’s commands, I will feed his august horses and will marshal vessels every year, nor ever let the vessels’ keels^[5] dry or their poles and oars dry, and will respectfully serve him without drawing back while heaven and earth shall last.”^[6] So therefore the Land of Shiragi was constituted the feeder of the august horses, and the Land of Kudara^[7] was constituted the crossing store.^[8] Then the Empress stuck her august staff on the gate of the chieftain of Shiragi, and having made the Rough August Spirits^[9] of the Great Deities of the Inlet of Sumi^[10] the guardian Deities of the land, she laid them to rest,^[11] and crossed back. So while this business^[12] was yet unconcluded, [the child] with which she was pregnant was about to be born. Forthwith, in order to restrain her august womb, she took a stone and wound it round the waist of her august skirt,^[13] and the august child was born after she had crossed [back] to the Land of Tsukushi.^[14] So the name by which the place was called where the august child was born was Umi.^[15] Again the stone which she wound round her august skirt is at the village of Ito^[16] in the Land of Tsukushi.

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1. I.e., “the wave on which the august vessel was riding.”
2. In Sinico-Japanese Shin-ra (新羅), one of the three states into which Korea was anciently divided, the other two being known in pure Japanese as Kudara and Koma (in Sinico-Japanese Hiyaku-sai and Kō-rai, 百濟 and 高麗). Shiragi is evidently a mere corruption of the Sinico-Japanese form, which closely resembles the native Korean Sin-la. The origin of the pure Japanese forms of the other two names is obscure.
3. The editions previous to Motowori’s have “King” (王 instead of 主); but as the latter character is used in all parallel passages of this work, we must attribute the occurrence of the former in this single place to a copyist’s error, and accuse the author rather than his commentator of the ill-natured degradation of the Korean King into a mere chieftain (more literally a “master”).
4. The character 奏, which is here used, is that employed in speaking of a subject’s addressing his sovereign.
5. Literally “bellies.”
6. Literally, “with heaven and earth.”
7. See Note 2.
8. I.e., “the sea-store.” The author means to say that from the Land of Kudara tribute was to be paid with the regularity implied by the King’s asseveration to the effect that the keels, poles, and oars of the [tribute-bearing] vessels should never remain dry.
9. Ara-mi-tama, the antithetical term to which is Nigi-mi-tama, “Gentle August Spirit.” We also find Saki-mi-tama, and Kushi-mi-tama, which signify respectively “August Luck-Spirit” and “Wondrous August Spirit.” In this passage it must be understood that the spirits which floated above the Imperial junk to protect it were the “Gentle August Spirits,” while the “Rough August Spirits” presided at the Empress’s feats of arms and kept the enemy in subjection. Motowori warns us not to fall into the mistake of supposing that the Rough and Gentle Spirits of a god were separate individualities, they being only, according to him, various manifestations of the same individuality. The student is advised to consult his beautifully written note on the subject of these spirits in Vol. XXX, pp. 72–75 of his Commentary.
10. See Sect. X Note 22.
11. Literally “established and worshipped.” Motowori says that this mention of their being laid to rest is made with an implied reference to the journey on which the deities in question had accompanied the Imperial army. He also tries to prove that this laying to rest of the deities must have occurred after the return of the Empress to Japan, as it is not possible to suppose that the gods could find a home in a foreign land (!). But the wording of the text is against him.
12. Literally “government.”
13. I.e., as Motowori suggests, “she wrapped the stone up, and tied it onto the waist of her skirt in something resembling a sash.”
14. In Sonth-Western Japan.
15. I.e., “bearing.” The word, however, also signifies “sea.” According to the “Chronicles” the original name of the village was Kada.
16. This word signifies “thread,” and would therefore, one might think, find a more appropriate place in the legend next narrated, where the “threads” of the Empress’s garment are specially mentioned.