(I. 2.) [1]became transformed into a God, and was called Kuni-toko-tachi no Mikoto.[2]
[The character 尊 is used owing to the extreme dignity of this Deity. For the others the character 命 is used. Both are read Mikoto. This rule is followed below.[3]]
Next there was Kuni no sa-tsuchi no Mikoto,[4] and next Toyo-kumu-nu no Mikoto,[5] in all three deities.[6]
- ↑ The marginal references are to the Shukai edition of the original.
- ↑ Land-eternal-stand-of-august-thing.
- ↑ This distinction is, of course, an invention of the persons who committed the myths to writing, and it is by no means consistently adhered to even in the "Nihongi."
The passage in italics is from what is called the "Original Commentary," for which see introduction.
- ↑ Land-of-right-soil-of-augustness, i.e. his augustness the true soil of the land. Sa, which I have rendered "right," is a mere honorific. Tsuchi is written with a Chinese character which means "mallet," but it must be taken here as put phonetically for tsuchi, land or soil.
- ↑ Rich-form-plain-of-augustness. The meaning of many of the names of the gods is obscure, and these renderings must be accepted with caution. Compare the notes to Chamberlain's "Kojiki," where much attention has been given to this subject. It may be remarked that there is great and inextricable confusion as to the early deities between the various ancient authorities, the "Kojiki," the "Kiujiki," the "Kogojiui," the various documents quoted in the "Nihongi," and the "Nihongi" itself.
- ↑ The Chinese 三神 means simply three deities. But the interlinear Kana has mi-bashira no Kami, i.e. Deities, three pillars, hashira or bashira being the usual auxiliary numeral (like our head of cattle, sail of ships, etc.) for gods in the ancient literature. Historical Shinto has no idols, but does not this use of the word hashira suggest a time when the gods of Japan were wooden posts carved at the top into a rude semblance of the human countenance, such as are seen at this day in many savage lands? In Corea, closely related to Japan, there are gods of this kind. The mile-posts there have their upper part fashioned into the shape of an idol, to which some pompous title is given, and at a village not far from Söul, on the Wönsan road, I have seen a group of a dozen or more of these pillar gods, set up, I was told, as guardians to the inhabitants during an epidemic of small-pox.
The word Kami, deity, has a very wide application in Japanese. It means primarily upper, and hence nobles, the sovereign, gods, and generally any wonderful or mysterious thing. The leopard and wolf are Kami, the peach with which Izanagi put to flight the thunders which pursued him in the land of Yomi, etc. See Hirata's interesting remarks translated by Satow in "Revival of Pure Shinto," "J.A.S.T.," p. 42 (reprint).
The Aino ideas regarding Kamui are very similar. See Batchelor in "J.A.S.T.," XVI., Pt. I., p. 17.
