He has displayed the qualities of an Imperial scion, so that all who see him let fall tears. The pitiable gentry will rejoice to bear the gladness of sustaining the Heavens: the wretched black-haired people will be delighted to enjoy the happiness of treading the earth. Therewith the four corners of the earth will be made solid, so as to flourish perpetually to ten thousand (XV. 15.) ages. His meritorious work will approach that of creation; his honest policy will illuminate the age. How pre-eminent! How recondite! Words fail me to describe. How shall I, albeit his elder, put myself forward before him? If, having no merit, I should accept the throne, self-reproach would surely be the result. I have heard that the office of Emperor ought not to remain long vacant, and that the will of Heaven should not be evaded out of humility. Let the Great Prince make the Temples of the Earth and of Grain his thought, and let him make the people his heart." As he uttered these words, his earnest emotion led him to shed tears. Upon this the Emperor saw that if he persisted in his refusal to come forward, he would be[1] acting contrary to his elder brother's wishes, and gave his consent. But he would not take his place on the Imperial throne. The world was rejoiced to see how well they sincerely yielded in each other's favour, and said:—"Excellent! With such good feeling between elder and younger brother, the Empire will tend to virtue: with such love between relations, the people will stimulate benevolence."
A.D. 485. 1st year, Spring, 1st month, 1st day. The Oho-omi and the Ohomuraji made a representation to the Emperor, saying:—"The (XV. 16.) Prince Imperial Ohoke, out of the abundance of his wisdom, has delivered over the Empire. Your Majesty, in his rightful governance, ought to accept the vast inheritance, and thus becoming the Lord of the Temple of Heaven, to continue the infinite line of his ancestors, so as, above, to correspond to the mind of Heaven, and, below, to satisfy the hopes of the people. To refuse to enter upon the Dignity would be to cause the destruction of the hopes of all the Gold and Silver[2] frontier lands, and of all the functionaries both far and near. It belongs
