Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/154

In this poem, by the great rock is intended the Hill of Kunimi.

After this the band which remained was still numerous, and their disposition could not be fathomed. So the Emperor privately commanded Michi no Omi no Mikoto, saying:—"Do thou take with thee the Oho-kume, and make a great muro at the village of Osaka.^[1] Prepare a copious banquet, invite the enemy to it, and then capture them." Michi no Omi no Mikoto thereupon, in obedience to the Emperor's secret behest, dug a muro at Osaka, and having selected his bravest soldiers, stayed therein mingled with the enemy. He secretly arranged with them, saying:—"When they have got tipsy with sake, I will strike up a song. Do you, when you hear the sound of (III. 21.)my song, all at the same time stab the enemy." Having made this arrangement they took their seats, and the drinking-bout proceeded. The enemy, unaware that there was any plot, abandoned themselves to their feelings, and promptly became intoxicated. Then Michi no Omi no Mikoto struck up the following song:—

At Osaka
In the great muro-house,
Though men in plenty
Enter and stay,
We the glorious
Sons of warriors,
Wielding our mallet-heads,
Wielding our stone-mallets,
Will smite them utterly.^[2]

Now when our troops heard this song, they all drew at the

here does not seem very appropriate. Perhaps the meaning is "in number like the turbinidæ." Cf. Ch. K., p. 143. The "Shukai" editor thinks that the shitadami represent the bandits. The great rock is, perhaps, the Miyôto-seki at Futami, so often represented in Japanese pictures. See Anderson's Catalogue, p. 320, or Satow and Hawes' Handbook, p. 150.

1. In Yamato. To be distinguished from the city of Ohosaka.
2. The muro-ya is a pit-dwelling (see above, p. 71). The poem speaks of mallet-heads, but the text which follows of mallet-headed swords. I have little doubt that the former is the true phrase, and that stone weapons are referred to. The stone-mallets are unmistakably the weapons figured above (p. 87). The mallet-heads and stone-mallets are perhaps the same thing under different names.