battle. Now there was a man called Kuma[1] no Kori, who formed the vanguard of Prince Oshikuma's army.
One version says:—"Ancestor of the Obito of Katsurano no ki." Another says:—"The remote ancestor of the Kishi of Tako."
Accordingly, in order to encourage his men, he sang with a loud voice, saying:—
Beyond the river
Is the rough pine-clad plain—
To that pine-clad plain
Let us cross over,
With bows of tsuki,
And store of sounding arrows.
My dear fellow!
My dear fellows!
My cousin too!
My cousins!
Come! let us join battle
With Uchi no Aso![2]
(Within a tile
Is there any sand?)[3]
(IX. 20.) Come! let us join battle!
Then Takechi no Sukune, giving command to the three divisions of the army, made them all bind up their hair mallet-wise. Accordingly he made an order, saying:—"Let every one of you have spare bow-strings concealed in your top-knots, and gird on wooden swords." Having done so, in accordance with the commands of the Empress, he deluded Prince Oshikuma, saying:—"I am not greedy to possess the Empire. Only, while cherishing the infant Prince, we will obey my Lord the Prince. Why should I contend with thee in battle?
- ↑ The reader will have noticed how frequently Kuma, bear, occurs in proper names. It is, I think, the race Kuma (in Corean, Koma) to which they should be referred.
- ↑ Aso is the same as Ason or 'Asomi, probably derived from Ason (阿飡), the 6th Silla official rank. This is the first mention of this title. The reference is to Takechi (Take-uchi) no Sukune. Uchi has a pillow-word (tamaki haru) prefixed, which is quite untranslatable. Cf. Ch. K., p. 283.
- ↑ These two lines are, of course, utterly irrelevant. They are brought in for the sake of a play of words, with which it is not worth while troubling the reader.
