also announced himself, saying:—'Here am I, the child of the Heavenly Deity, and my name is Hiko-ho-ho-demi no Mikoto. Where are my father and my elder brothers?' After that, their mother, Ataka-ashi-tsu-hime, came forth from amidst the embers, and approaching, told him, saying:—'The children which thy handmaiden has brought forth, and thy handmaiden herself, have of our own accord undergone the danger of fire,[1] and yet have suffered not the smallest hurt. Will the Heavenly Grandchild not look on them?' He answered and said:—'I knew from the first that they were my children, only, as they were conceived in one night, I thought that there might be suspicions, and I wished to let everybody know that they are my children, and also that a Heavenly Deity can cause pregnancy in one night. Moreover, I wished to make it evident that thou dost possess a wonderful and extraordinary dignity, and also that our children have surpassing spirit. Therefore it was that on a former day I used words of mockery.'"
In one writing it is said:—"Ame no Oshi-ho-ne no Mikoto took to wife Taku-hata-chichi-hime Yorodzu-hata[2] hime no Mikoto, daughter of Taka-mi-musubi no Mikoto."
Another version says:—"Honoto-hata-hime-ko-chichi-hime no Mikoto, daughter of Taka-mi-musubi no Mikoto." She bore to him a child named Ama-no-ho-no-akari no Mikoto. Next she bore Ama-tsu-hiko-ne-ho-no-ninigi-ne no Mikoto. The child of Ama-no-ho-no-akari no Mikoto was called Kayama no Mikoto. He is the ancestor of (II. 29.) the Ohari no Muraji.
When Taka-mi-musubi no Mikoto was sending down the Heavenly Grandchild Ho-no-ninigi no Mikoto to the Central Land of Reed-Plains, she commanded the eighty myriads of Gods, saying:—"In the Central Land of Reed-
- ↑ The ordeal by fire is here alluded to. In later times the ordeal of boiling water was also practised. Both customs are kept up by Shintō devotees in modern times. See Lowell's "Esoteric Shintō," in the "T.A.S.J." A picture in Hokusai's "Mangwa" represents two in persons the garb of Buddhist priests passing through the ordeal of fire.
- ↑ Myriad looms, or rather webs. The currency of ancient Japan consisted of pieces of cloth. Hence Yorodzu-hata means wealthy.
