Kojiki (Chamberlain, 1882)/Section 99

by Ō no Yasumaro

[Sect. XCIX.—Emperor Chiū-ai (Part V.—The Empress Jin-gō Fishes in Tsukushi).]

Again when, having reached the village of Tamashima^[1] in the Department of Matsura^[2] in Tsukushi, she partook of an august meal on the bank of the river, it being then the first decade of the fourth moon, she then sat on a shoal^[3] in the middle of the river, picked out threads from her august skirt, used grains of rice as bait, and hooked the trout^[4] in the river. (The name by which the river is called is the Wo-gaha;^[5] again the name by which the shoal is called is Kachi-do-hime.^[6]) So down to the present time it is an uninterupted [custom] for women in the first decade of the fourth moon to pick out threads from their skirts, use grains as bait, and hook trout.

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1. I.e., “jewel-island.”
2. Matsura-gata. The “Chronicles” give an absurd derivation of Matsura from the Adjective medzurashi, “astonishing,” which the Empress is supposed to have ejaculated on finding a trout hooked to her line! The obvious etymology is matsu-ura, “pine-beach.”
3. The character in the original is 礒 (for 磯), Japanese iso, which may or may not be connected with the word ishi, “stone.” In any case Motowori is not justified in saying that it must be understood to mean “stone” in this place, as iso means rather a sandy than a stony place, rising above the water level.
4. In Japanese ayu, a small species of the salmon family (Plecoglossus altivelis).
5. I.e., “little river.”
6. I.e., “princess of the gate of victory.” But though the words lend themselves to this interpretation, it can hardly be supposed that such is their real etymology, and indeed the editor of 1687 draws attention in a Note to the difficulty of accepting the statement in the text.