Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/374

The Great Lord,When he heard this,Stood at his throneEntwined with jewels,Stood at his throneEntwined with cloth:Waiting for the gameWhilst I^[1] remained:Waiting for the wild-boarWhilst I was standing,My arm in the fleshy part,Was stung by a gad-fly:But soon a dragon-flyThat gad-fly did bite.Even a creeping insectWaits upon the Great Lord.Thy form it will bear,O Yamato, land of the dragon-fly!^[2]

One book has, instead of "the great presence," "the great Lord."

One book has, instead of "stood at his throne," "remained in his throne."

One book has, instead of from "even a creeping insect" (inclusive) to the end, the following:—

That in this wiseIt should be famous,The Heaven-filling^[3]Land of YamatoWas called the Land of the Dragon-fly.^[4]

Therefore in honour of the Dragon-fly this place was called (XIV. 15.) Akitsu no.^[5]

1. The change from the third to the first person is much less marked in the Japanese. It is not to be supposed that the Emperors actually composed these verses themselves, nor perhaps any others ascribed to them in the "Nihongi." The hand of the Court-poet is plain in the honorific epithets and forms given to him therein.
2. The word for throne is agura. It was no doubt something of the nature of a camp-stool.
3. Heaven-filling. See above, p. 135, note 5. The metre is irregular naga-uta.
4. This is the "Kojiki" version.
5. The moor of the Dragon-fly. See above, p. 134, note 8.