Called in one writing (I. 12.) Tsuki-yumi[1] no Mikoto, or Tsuki-yomi no Mikoto.
His radiance was next to that of the Sun in splendour. This God was to be the consort of the Sun-Goddess, and to share in her government. They therefore sent him also to Heaven.
Next they produced the leech-child, which even at the age of three years could not stand upright. They therefore placed it in the rock-camphor-wood boat of Heaven, and abandoned it to the winds.
Their next child was Sosa no wo no Mikoto.[2]
Called in one writing Kami Sosa no wo no Mikoto or Haya Sosa no wo no Mikoto.[3]
This God had a fierce temper and was given to cruel acts. Moreover he made a practice of continually weeping and wailing. So he brought many of the people of the land to an untimely end. Again he caused green mountains to become withered. Therefore the two Gods, his parents, addressed[4]
- ↑ Yumi means bow, yomi darkness. Neither is inappropriate as applied to the moon.
- ↑ This name is written indifferently Sosa no wo and Susa no wo. The accepted derivation refers Susa to Susamu, a verb which means "to be impetuous." Hence the "Impetuous Male" of Chamberlain's and Satow's translations. I am disposed to prefer a derivation suggested by the "Idzumo Fudoki," a very old book, which states:—
"Village of Susa. Nineteen ri due west of the Town-house of the district. Kamu Susa no wo no Mikoto said:—'This is only a small country, but it is a Kuni-dokoro (local capital?). Therefore my name shall not be affixed to wood or stone.' This was accordingly the place where he allowed his august spirit to repose. There were, therefore, established by him the Greater Susa rice-lands and the Lesser Susa rice-lands."
Susa no wo is therefore simply the "male of Susa." It will be remembered that by one Japanese tradition, Idzumo is the home of the Gods, and that several of the legends respecting them relate to this locality. It is, however, probable that the older derivation is really a volks-etymologie, which has given colour to the stories told of this deity. Idzumo is a chief home of the worship of Susa no wo at the present day. His wife's mother was called Susa no Yatsu-mimi, but it has not occurred to anybody to make her an "impetuous female." Hirata rejects the modern identification of this God with Godzu Tennō.
- ↑ Kami, deity; haya, quick.
- ↑ The character used is that appropriate to a sovereign addressing his subjects.
