makers' Be of Kibi, went home on some urgency. Sakitsuya Omi of Lower Kibi [In one book it says:—"The Kuni no Miyakko, Yama, Kibi no Omi"], detained Oho-sora, and for several months would not consent to allow him to go up to the capital. The Emperor sent Mike no Kimi, a man of valour, to fetch him. Oho-sora came in obedience to the summons, and said:—"Sakitsuya took young girls to represent the Emperor's men, and grown-up women to represent his own men. Then he made them fight with one another, and on seeing that the young girls were victorious, drew his sword and slew them. At another time he took a small cock, which he called the Emperor's cock, and pulled out its feathers and clipped its wings. Then he took a large cock, which he called his own cock, attached to it a bell,[1] and armed its spurs with metal. Then he matched them together, and when the naked bird got the better of the other, he again took out his sword and killed it." When the Emperor heard this story, he sent thirty soldiers of the Monono Be, who put Sakitsuya to death, with seventy persons of his household.
This year Tasa, Omi of Upper Kibi, while on duty beside the Palace, praised Waka-hime abundantly to his friends, (XIV. 20.) saying:—"Of all the beautiful women in the Empire, there is none to compare with my wife. How blooming! How gentle! How graced with various charms! How radiant! How genial! What perfection in every feature! She uses not flower of lead:[2] she adds not oil of orchids. Through the wide ages her equals are but few: in the present day she stands alone and peerless." The Emperor inclined his ear, and listening from a distance, rejoiced in his heart. So with the object of obtaining Waka-hime for himself, and making her one of his concubines, he appointed Tasa Governor of Imna,[3] and promptly favoured Waka-hime. When Tasa no Omi wedded Waka-hime, she bore to him Ye-kimi and Oto-kimi."[4]
Another book says:—"Tasa no Omi's wife, by name
