to the Emperor. The Emperor forthwith suspected that Mita had debauched this Uneme, and conceiving to himself the thought of executing him, charged the Mononobe with this duty. At this time Hada no Sake[1] no Kimi was in attendance. He wished by the voice of his lute to make the Emperor understand, so placing his lute crosswise, and playing upon it, he said:—
Prosperity
To the maid of Ise
Of Ise
(Of the divine wind),
And until it is spent
Let me attend
With faithful service
On the Great Lord.
Let my life, too,
Be as long,
Said the carpenter,
The poor carpenter![2]
Hereupon the Emperor understood the voice of the lute, and pardoned the offence.
A.D. 469. 13th year, Spring, 3rd month. Hadane no Mikoto, great-great-grandson of Saho-hiko,[3] secretly seduced the Uneme Yamanobe no Koshimako. When this came to the Emperor's ears, he gave Hadane no Mikoto in charge to Mononobe no Me no Ohomuraji, and made him call him to account for it. Hadane no Mikoto purged his offence by the payment of eight horses and eight swords, and then made a song, saying:—
Of Yamanobe,
- ↑ Sake is 酒 rice-beer. This person was, perhaps, a descendant of the Corean Prince Chhyu mentioned above, A.D. 353, and whose name is written with the same character. The word Hada, however, points to a Chinese ancestry. Hada is the Japanese traditional rendering of the character for T‘sin, the Chinese dynasty of that name.
- ↑ Some commentators explain part of this poem differently. The metre is irregular.
- ↑ It is not clear why so remote a descendant of a Mikado should be called Mikoto.
