clay he made eighty platters, eighty Heavenly small jars and sacred jars,[1] with which he went up to the upper waters of the River Nifu and sacrificed to the Gods of Heaven and of Earth. Immediately, on the Asa-hara plain by the river of Uda, it became as it were like foam on the water, the result of the curse cleaving to them.[2]
Moreover the Emperor went on to utter a vow, saying:—"I will now make ame[3] in the eighty platters without using water. If the ame is formed, then shall I assuredly without effort and without recourse to the might of arms reduce the Empire to peace." So he made ame, which forthwith became formed of itself.[4]
Again he made a vow, saying:—"I will now take the sacred jars and sink them in the River Nifu. If the fishes, whether great or small, become every one drunken and are carried down the stream, like as it were to floating maki[5] leaves, then shall I assuredly succeed in establishing this land. But if this be (III. 19.) not so, there will never be any result." Thereupon he sank the jars in the river with their mouths downward. After a while the fish all came to the surface, gaping and gasping as they floated down the stream. Then Shihi-netsu-hiko, seeing this, represented it to the Emperor, who was greatly rejoiced, and plucking up a five-hundred-branched masakaki tree of the
- ↑ The reader who wishes to realize what the ancient pottery of Japan was like should visit the British Museum and inspect the Gowland collection. There is also a collection in the Uyeno Museum in Tokio. Ninagawa Noritane's work entitled "Kwan-ko-dzu-setsu" gives very good drawings of ancient pottery. The common Japanese name for this ware is Giōgi-yaki, Giōgi being the name of a Buddhist priest who lived 670–749, and who is credited with the invention of the potter's wheel. But the wheel was certainly known in Japan long before his time. This very passage contains an evidence of this fact. Both the Chinese characters and the Japanese word ta-kujiri given in the ancient commentary for the small jars here mentioned mean "hand-made," leading to the conclusion that this was exceptional. Indeed, nearly all the pottery of the Nihongi period which has come down to us is wheel-made.
- ↑ Foam on water is a favourite emblem of the transitoriness of human life.
- ↑ Ame (sweetness) is usually made of millet, malted, and is nearly identical in composition with what our chemists call "malt extract." It is a favourite sweetmeat in the far East.
- ↑ Cf. Judges vi. 36.
- ↑ Podocarpus macrophylla.
