sions, also to construct a Palace of worship[1] in the village of Wayamada.
3rd month, 1st day. The Empress, having selected a lucky day,[2] entered the Palace of worship, and discharged in person the office of priest.[3] She commanded Takechi no Sukune to play on the lute,[4] and the Nakatomi, Igatsu no Omi, was designated as Saniha.[5] Then placing one thousand pieces of cloth, high pieces of cloth, on the top and bottom of the lute, she prayed, saying:—"Who is the God who on a former day instructed the Emperor? I pray that I may know his name." After seven days and seven nights there came an answer, saying:—"I am the Deity who dwells in the Shrine of split-bell Isuzu in the district of hundred-transmit Watarahi in the province of divine-wind Ise,[6] and my name is Tsuki-sakaki idzu no mi-tama ama-zakaru Muka-tsu hime[7] no Mikoto.
(IX. 3.) Again she inquired:—"Other than this Deity, are there any Deities present?" The answer was:—"I am the Deity who comes forth on the ears of the flag-like Eulalia,[8] and my dwelling is in the district of Aha in Ada-fushi in Oda." She inquired:—"Are there others?" There was an answer, saying:—"There is the Deity who rules in Heaven, who rules in the Void, the gem-casket-entering-prince, the awful Koto-shiro-nushi."[9]
- ↑ Lit. religious abstinence. See above, p. 176.
- ↑ "Lucky day" is probably a Chinese trait.
- ↑ Kannushi.
- ↑ The Japanese or Adzuma koto, described as an instrument five or six feet long, with six strings.
- ↑ Saniha is explained as the official who examines the utterances prompted by the Deity. The literal meaning is "pure court," from the place in which he stood during the ceremony. See Ch. K., p. 229.
- ↑ The epithets split-bell, hundred-transmit and divine-wind are makura-kotoba or pillow-words, which have no meaning to us. Split-bell is put before Isuzu because suzu means bell (Fr. grêlot). Wataru, "to cross over," suggests the phrase momo-tsutahe (hundred-transmit). See Ch. K., p. 247.
- ↑ The awful spirit of the planted Cleyera, the lady of sky-distant Mukatsu. Mukatsu, as appears from p. 221, is Corea. The Deity who dwells at Ise is the Sun-Goddess. But she chooses (apparently) to represent herself as a Corean Deity. Sakaki (Cleyera Japonica) is the sacred tree of Shintō.
- ↑ A tall grass, like pampas grass, hence the epithet flag-like.
- ↑ Koto-shiro-nushi, thing-know-master. Thing-know is a Chinese idiom for "to rule," and it is the same word which is rendered rule just above.
