Pathway to Japanese Literature

Death of the Goddess

I

At the very beginning when the world came into being. When heaven and earth first took shape, there was born alongside them our foremost ancestral deity as Japanese people—Ame-no-Minakanushi—who manifested in Takamagahara, the plain of high heaven above. Next came into existence the august deities Takamimusubi-no-Kami and Kamimusubi-no-Kami. At that time, neither heaven nor earth had fully congealed; both remained in a viscous, oil-like state, undulating softly like jellyfish. Into this milieu, much like reed shoots sprouting from mud, two deities were born.

Then again two deities, followed each time by a male deity and a female deity—eight deities in total—were born one after another, after which the male deity Izanagi and the female deity Izanami were born.

Ame-no-Minakanushi summoned these two august deities, “Now, solidify that floating, unsteady land and create the nation of Japan.” and bestowed upon them a splendid spear. Thereupon, the two deities promptly proceeded to Ama-no-Ukihashi—a bridge floating amidst the clouds—and with the spear they had received, stirred the viscous expanse below. When they swiftly lifted it up, the brine clinging to the spear’s tip dripped down *pata-pata*, solidifying into a single small island.

The two deities descended to that island, erected a grand palace there, and took up residence. And first, they fashioned Awaji Island at the very beginning; then they created the island of Shikoku—comprising Iyo, Sanuki, Awa, and Tosa—followed by Oki Island, then what was then called Tsukushi (present-day Kyushu), and finally the three islands of Iki, Tsushima, and Sado. And finally, they created the largest island, Honshu—shaped like a lizard—and bestowed upon it the august name Ōyashima Toyoakitsushima.

With this, counting from Awaji Island, eight islands were created altogether. Therefore, at the very beginning, Japan was called Ōyashima, and was also revered by another name: Toyoashihara no Mizuho no Kuni. Thus, with the land now fully formed, the two deities next proceeded to give birth to a multitude of gods. Along with these, they also gave birth to the gods of wind, sea, mountains, fields, rivers, and fire. Alas, when Izanami gave birth to the final fire god, she suffered burns to her body and ultimately passed away because of it.

Izanagi

“Alas, my beloved wife! To lose you, my precious one, because of that single child…” he lamented deeply. And amidst his tears, he finally laid the goddess’s remains to rest on Mount Hiba at the border between Izumo Province and Hōki Province. The goddess departed from there to the Land of Yomi—a pitch-dark realm where the dead journey—and came to dwell there. Izanagi immediately afterward drew out the long sword known as the Ten-Fist Sword and struck down the fire god who had been the source of the goddess’s calamity in one stroke.

However, the god’s profound grief could not be assuaged by such an act. The god, resolved by any means to meet the goddess once more, at last pursued her trail and proceeded to the pitch-dark Land of Yomi.

II

The goddess had, of course, long since arrived at the palace of the Yomi deities. Then, when the husband deity had come there after a long journey, the goddess hurried to the entrance to greet him. Izanagi called out to the goddess from within the darkness, “O my beloved wife, goddess. The land we were building together still remained unfinished. Please return once more,” he entreated. Then the goddess, with a look of regret,

“If only you had come sooner to retrieve me,” she said with regret. “Since I have already eaten food cooked by this land’s defiled fires, I can never return to that world again. Yet since you have gone to such lengths to come here, I shall at least consult with the Yomi deities. While I do so, I beg you—no matter what occurs—do not gaze upon my form. This concerns the afterlife itself.” Having firmly delivered these words, the goddess withdrew into the palace’s innermost depths.

Izanagi remained motionless at the entrance for a long time. However, the goddess remained as she was and did not emerge, no matter how much time passed. In the end, Izanagi could no longer endure the torment of waiting. At last, he removed the comb from his left hair bun, broke off one large tooth from its end, lit it as a torch, and while faintly illuminating the darkness, groped his way deep into the palace.

Then, in the deepest part of the palace, the goddess lay in repose. When he beheld her form in the torchlight, her entire body had already completely rotted into a slimy, putrid decay, and a foul, unbearable stench assailed his nostrils. And all over her slimy, putrid body, maggots swarmed thickly. Moreover, upon her head, chest, abdomen, both thighs, and both arms and legs crouched thunder gods—one at each location, eight in total—born from that impurity, their faces twisted in terror.

When Izanagi beheld this sight, he was so startled and horror-stricken that he hurriedly fled.

The goddess abruptly sat up, “Ah! Despite my earnest entreaties, you have finally beheld this form of mine.” “Oh, what a detestable man you are!” “You have subjected me to terrible shame.” “Ah, how humiliating!” she exclaimed and flew into a terrible rage, promptly summoning female demons. “Now, quickly, go capture that god!” she commanded, gnashing her teeth.

The female demons,

"Halt!" they cried as they pursued him relentlessly. Izanagi, realizing capture by those demons would be dire, ran while plucking the black katsura leaves adorning his hair and flung them repeatedly behind him. Then, in the blink of an eye, where the katsura leaves had fallen, clusters of grapes grew thick and lush. The female demons abruptly seized those grapes and began devouring them.

In that brief respite, the god desperately ran and finally thought he had managed to escape a short distance when, before long, the female demons closed in from behind once more.

The god,

“Oh no, this won’t do,” he thought, and this time pulled out the comb from his right hair bun, breaking off its teeth one by one and hurling them. Then, the comb’s teeth transformed into bamboo shoots one after another. The female demons, upon seeing the bamboo shoots, immediately began pulling them up and munching on them.

Izanagi, seizing that opportunity, this time managed to flee a considerable distance ahead. And thinking himself now surely safe, when he glanced back over his shoulder, unexpectedly this time the eight thunder deities who had surrounded the goddess earlier came desperately pursuing him, leading an army of fifteen hundred demons. When the god beheld this, he frantically unsheathed the Ten-Fist Sword and, brandishing it fiercely behind him, desperately fled for his life. And at last, he managed to flee to the base of the slope called Yomotsu Hirasaka, which forms the boundary between this world and the Land of Yomi.

III

Then, at the base of that slope, there stood a single peach tree.

Izanagi took three peaches from the tree, waited for the demons to draw near, and with all his might hurled those three peaches. Then, the thunder gods were startled and all scattered in disarray, fleeing every which way.

Izanagi turned to those peaches,

“You shall henceforth aid all people of Japan in their hour of suffering, just as you have aided me now,” declared Izanagi, solemnly bestowing upon them the august name Ōkamuzumi no Mikoto. At that moment, the goddess, finally grown impatient, this time chased after him herself. When the god beheld this, he hurriedly seized the massive boulder that lay there, heaved it into place, and sealed shut the entrance to the slope.

The goddess, barred by that boulder and unable to advance a single step beyond it, glared at the rock with bitter resentment while,

"My husband god, since this is my retribution, I shall strangle a thousand people across Japan each day—you may hold this certainty," declared the goddess.

The god declared, “O my beloved wife, if you commit such atrocities, I shall have fifteen hundred children born across Japan each day—it matters not to me in the slightest,” and continued his swift retreat without pause.

The god declared, “Ah, I have been to a filthy place. “Let me quickly wash my body and purge this defilement,” he declared, and proceeded to a place called Awagihara in Hyūga Province.

There was a clean river flowing there. The god cast away his staff upon the riverbank and then removed his belt and lower hakama trousers entirely—along with his upper garment, crown, and bracelets fitted upon both arms. Then, each time he removed one of those items—one by one—a deity was born each instance with effortless swiftness, until twelve august gods had come into being in total. The god, while gazing upon the river’s flow,

The upper rapids have a swift current, The lower rapids have a gentle current. Having declared this, he descended into the midstream rapids at an opportune moment, poured water over himself, and washed his entire body. As a result of the impurity clinging to his body, two calamity deities were born. Therefore, Izanagi, in order to eliminate the calamities created by those deities, this time gave birth to three good deities. Then, when he submerged to the river’s depths to purify his body, two more deities were born; next, when he crouched within the waters to wash himself, another pair came into being; and when he emerged upon the water’s surface to rinse himself, yet another two deities were born. And finally, when he washed his left eye, there came into being alongside it an exquisitely beautiful, august goddess.

Izanagi bestowed upon this august goddess the name Amaterasu Ōmikami. When he next washed his right eye, the deity Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto was born, and when he finally washed his nose at the very end, the deity Susanoo-no-Mikoto was born. Izanagi beheld these three august deities, “Though I have borne many children until now, at last I have brought forth the finest one,” declared Izanagi with boundless joy. He promptly removed his jeweled necklace and, shaking it with a gentle rustle, presented it to Amaterasu Ōmikami. And then,

“You shall ascend to heaven and rule over Takamagahara,” declared Izanagi. Then, to Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, “You shall rule over the Land of Night,” he commanded, and to the third one, Susanoo-no-Mikoto,

“You shall govern the seas,” he proclaimed.

Ama-no-Iwato

I Amaterasu Ōmikami and her second august brother, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, obeyed their father’s august command and assumed governance over the great heavens and the Land of Night, respectively.

However, Susanoo-no-Mikoto alone—the youngest august child—disregarded his father’s divine command. Not only did he refuse to govern the sea even as time passed, but even after growing into a towering adult with a magnificent beard that cascaded down to his chest, he still raged like an infant, howling incessantly until he became utterly unmanageable. The extent of his dreadful weeping was such that the vegetation of the verdant mountains withered from the clamorous wailing, and the waters of rivers and seas dried up completely under the blazing intensity of those cries.

Then, various evil gods took advantage of that turmoil and clamored noisily as they caused commotions all around. Thanks to this, every conceivable calamity erupted all at once upon the land. When Izanagi beheld this, he was greatly astonished and promptly summoned Susanoo-no-Mikoto. “Just what is the meaning of this? You refuse to heed my words—why do you persist in this frenzied weeping?” he strictly rebuked.

Thereupon, Susanoo-no-Mikoto became vehement, “I weep because I wish to be by my dear mother’s side,” he declared. When Izanagi heard this, he became greatly angered,

“Such a willful child cannot remain in this land. “Get out and go wherever you will!” declared Izanagi. Susanoo-no-Mikoto remained unperturbed, “In that case, I shall bid farewell to my elder sister,” declared Susanoo-no-Mikoto as he began ascending vigorously toward Takamagahara in the heavens above. Now, being a mighty giant of a deity, when he stomped forward with all his strength—each thudding step taken with violent force—the mountains and rivers groaned and shifted, and the entire world shuddered and quaked.

Amaterasu Ōmikami was startled by the reverberation, “That my younger brother ascends here with such force is certainly no ordinary matter.” “He certainly came here intending to seize my country without fail.”

Having declared this, she promptly began preparing herself. The goddess first hurriedly undid her hair, styled it into a male topknot, and adorned both temples and wrists with magnificent ornaments called the Eight-Foot Curved Jewels. Upon her back she bore a mighty quiver of five hundred—nay, a thousand—arrows, while gripping a bow in her right hand and stamping her feet vigorously as she stood poised. The tremendous force of her stomping sent the garden’s hardened soil scattering like powdered snow, swirling upward in billowing clouds.

II

Before long, Susanoo-no-Mikoto arrived in the great heavens. When the goddess beheld his form, she raised her voice in a resounding tone, “Mikoto, what business brings you here?” she rebuked abruptly. Thereupon, Mikoto, “No, I have certainly not come to do anything evil. When Father beheld me weeping and rebuked me for why I cried, I explained that it was because I wished to go where Mother dwells. Then he grew exceedingly wrathful and suddenly declared, ‘Get out!’ Therefore, I have come to bid you farewell,” he pleaded in excuse.

But the goddess did not deign to trust him immediately, “Then show me proof that you harbor no ill intent,” she declared. Mikoto,

“Then let us bear children together to establish proof.” “By the children born, the true nature of our two hearts shall be revealed,” declared Susanoo-no-Mikoto. Thereupon, the siblings took their positions on opposite banks of the river called Ama-no-Yasukawa. Then first, the goddess took Susanoo-no-Mikoto’s Ten-Fist Sword, broke it into three pieces, washed them in the well called Ama-no-Manai, crunched them with a grating sound, and blew out a mist—whereupon from within her breath, three goddesses were born.

Next, Mikoto took the Eight-Foot Curved Jewel ornament adorning the goddess's left temple, washed and rinsed it in the well called Ama-no-Iwato while making them clatter noisily, then crunched it with a grating sound and blew out a mist—whereupon a single male deity was born together with it. That deity is Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto. Then next, he took the jeweled ornament from the goddess's right temple, and when he blew his breath in the same manner as before, another male deity was born from within it.

Next, he received the jeweled ornament of her hair vine, washed it in the Manai Well, crunched it with a grating sound, and blew his breath—whereupon another male deity was born from within it. Finally, when he chewed the jeweled ornaments on the goddess’s right and left arms and blew his breath each time, one male deity was born on every occasion—thus bringing the total to five male deities born altogether.

Amaterasu Ōmikami declared, “The three goddesses born first were created from your sword; therefore, they are your children. The five male deities born afterward were created from my jeweled ornaments; therefore, they are my children.”

Mikoto declared, "Exactly! I have prevailed." "As proof I bear no malice—are not all my children gentle goddesses?" "Well then? Am I still a villain?" he boasted with swelling pride. Then, riding high on his momentum, he began his rampage—shattering the dikes of rice paddies the goddess had ordered cultivated, clogging irrigation ditches, and ultimately defiling the hall where she received first-fruit offerings by scattering excrement in an appalling display of violence.

The other gods, seeing this, were utterly appalled and came to report to the goddess.

However, the goddess did not become angry at all, “What? Leave it be.” “He certainly does not act with ill intent.” “The filthy matter—he must have vomited it in a drunken stupor.” “As for the destruction of the banks and ditches—he must have found it a waste to leave such precious ground marred by mere ditches.” Having said this, she instead deigned to defend Mikoto. Then Mikoto, growing ever more emboldened, finally tore open the roof of the weaving hall where women were crafting the goddess’s sacred garments, and through the gaping hole, he flung down the flayed hide of a dappled horse, drenched in gore, with a thunderous crash. The weaving women, startled and fleeing in confusion, in their panic stabbed their lower abdomens with shuttles and died.

The goddess，finally unable to endure Susanoo-no-Mikoto’s excessive violence，concealed herself within a stone chamber called Ama-no-Iwato. And having tightly sealed the stone door at the entrance，she withdrew into seclusion there. Then，since the goddess was the Sun Deity，when she concealed her form，both Takamagahara and the earth below were plunged into utter darkness all at once—truly becoming a world of endless night where no distinction remained between day and night.

Then, various evil gods took advantage of that darkness and began clamoring in raucous uproar. Because of this, all manner of calamities erupted across the world all at once. And so it was that the heavenly gods, finding themselves in dire straits, gathered at Ama-no-Yasukawa riverbed in the heavens above. There they earnestly consulted together, seeking any means by which they might persuade Amaterasu Ōmikami to emerge from her rock cave.

Then, Omoikane-no-Kami—the wisest of gods—devised an excellent plan. At the god’s command, they promptly gathered a great number of chickens and had them crow incessantly before the rock cave. Meanwhile, on another front, they brought hard rock from the upper reaches of the Ama-no-Yasukawa river, fashioned it into an iron anvil, had them forge a magnificent mirror called the Eight-Span Mirror, and had them craft a chest ornament using a splendid jewel known as the Eight-Foot Curved Jewel. Then, they uprooted a sakaki tree from Mount Ama-no-Kaguyama and brought it forth. To its upper branches they attached the Eight-Foot Curved Jewel, hung the Eight-Span Mirror upon its middle branches, and suspended white and blue cloth strips from its lower branches. And one deity stood before Ama-no-Iwato holding the sakaki tree, while another deity beside them recited a ritual invocation.

Then once more before the rock cave, they laid an empty barrel face down and had the goddess Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto drape vine from Ama-no-Kaguyama across her shoulders as a sash, adorn herself with katsura leaves as hair ornaments, then mount the barrel and perform a dance.

Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto bared her breasts, belly, and thighs, stomping her feet rhythmically while whirling in a frenzied dance as if possessed. Then, as this spectacle proved utterly comical, thousands of gods burst out laughing all at once, tumbling about in uproarious mirth. Thereupon, the chickens crowed in unison—Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo!—and such was the clamor that it threatened to burst eardrums.

Amaterasu Ōmikami, upon hearing the tremendous clamor, wondered what had occurred, slightly opened the rock cave’s door, and quietly peered out. And she turned to Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto and, “Now see here—if I am hidden here, the heavens above should be plunged into darkness. Yet why are you dancing about so merrily?” “And why are all the other gods laughing so uproariously?” she inquired.

Then Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto replied, “It is because a deity more noble than you has appeared, and all are rejoicing in celebration.” At that very moment, a deity abruptly thrust forward the sakaki tree bearing the Yata Mirror before Ōmikami. Her face flashed across the mirror’s surface. When Ōmikami beheld this reflected visage, “My, who might this be?” she murmured while leaning closer to observe, emerging halfway through the doorway.

Then, Tajikarao-no-Mikoto—the mighty god who had been hiding and lying in wait near the rock cave all this time—suddenly seized the goddess’s hand and pulled her fully outside. At the same time, a deity circled around behind the goddess, “I humbly beseech you to never again enter this dwelling henceforth,” they entreated, and then stretched a sacred rope across the entrance. And so, throughout the entire world, the long night finally ended, and bright day came once more.

With that, the gods were finally able to rest assured. Thereupon, without delay, they all deliberated and imposed upon Susanoo-no-Mikoto—as punishment for his dreadful rampage—the complete forfeiture of his possessions. Moreover, they shaved off his magnificent beard, tore out the nails from his hands and feet, and cast him down to the earthly realm. At that time, Susanoo-no-Mikoto commanded the goddess Ōgetsuhime-no-Mikoto to prepare something for him to eat. Ōgetsuhime-no-Mikoto, in accordance with his command, promptly produced various foods from her nostrils and mouth, prepared them in diverse ways, and presented them.

Then, Susanoo-no-Mikoto observed what Ōgetsuhime-no-Mikoto was doing,

“Hey! You expect me to eat that filth you’ve spewed from your mouth and nose? You impudent wretch!” he roared in fury, suddenly drawing his sword and cutting down Ōgetsuhime-no-Mikoto with a single strike. Then, from the head of the corpse, silkworms were born; in both its eyes grew rice, and in its two ears grew millet. Then in the nose grew adzuki beans, and in the belly grew wheat and soybeans.

Kamimusubi-no-Kami deigned to gather these and made them into seeds for all the grains throughout Japan.

Susanoo-no-Mikoto proceeded to descend to the earthly realm just as he was.

Yamata-no-Orochi

1.

Susanoo-no-Mikoto was driven down from the heavens and descended to a place called Torikami at the upper reaches of the Hino River in the land of Izumo. Then a bridge came flowing down the river. Susanoo-no-Mikoto beheld it,

"So, there must be people living upstream along this river," he deduced, and promptly set out to search in that direction. Then there appeared an old man and an old woman who had seated a daughter between them, all three wailing loudly.

Susanoo-no-Mikoto inquired of them, "Who are you?"

The old man wiped away his tears and replied, “I am a child of Ōyamatsumi-no-Kami of this land and am called Ashinazuchi. My wife is named Tenazuchi, and this daughter is named Kushinadahime.” Susanoo-no-Mikoto inquired once more, “Then why are all three of you weeping?”

The old man wiped away tears,

“We two originally had eight daughters, but a fearsome great serpent called Yamata-no-Orochi would come forth every year and devour them one by one, until finally only this child remains.” “Even this child will soon be devoured by that great serpent.” Having said this, he explained their reason for weeping. “And what exactly does this great serpent look like?” inquired Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

“This great serpent has but a single body, yet its heads and tails split into eight. Upon each of those eight heads are eyes as crimson as red winter cherries, blazing like fire.” “Moreover, its entire body is overgrown with moss and trees such as Japanese cypress and cedar.” “The full length of its body is such that it could encircle the bases of eight valleys and eight mountains—truly an enormous, colossal great serpent.” “Its belly is always festering with blood and bright red,” he recounted fearfully.

Susanoo-no-Mikoto nodded gravely. “Hmph, very well.” Then turning again to the old man, he declared, “If that daughter is yours, will you give her to me as my bride?” “Though these are your august words,” the old man fearfully replied, “I know not from where or who you hail.” Susanoo-no-Mikoto revealed his name: “In truth, I am the full brother of Amaterasu Ōmikami, having just now descended from the heavens.” At this, both Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi—

“Is that so? This is most reverent! Then we shall offer her as you command,” they declared, pressing both hands to the ground. Susanoo-no-Mikoto received Kushinadahime and instantly transformed the princess into a comb. He then tucked the comb into his topknot and commanded Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi: “You two shall now masticate rice to brew copious fine sake. Next, erect a circular fence around this area with eight gates. Construct one platform at each gate, place a large vat upon every platform, fill each vat to overflowing with the sake you brew, and await my signal.”

The two prepared everything exactly as commanded and waited. Before long, the time for the great serpent’s arrival was drawing near. Susanoo-no-Mikoto, having heard this, lay in unwavering wait when—just as described—an enormous eight-headed serpent emerged, its massive crimson eyes blazing fiercely as it lumbered forth. The great serpent, seeing eight sake barrels arrayed before it, plunged each head into a vat and gulped down the potent liquor in relentless swallows until every drop vanished. Soon the alcohol surged through its monstrous frame; it collapsed where it lay and began snoring thunderously.

Susanoo-no-Mikoto stealthily observed its snoring but, determining the moment had come at last, swiftly drew his Ten-Fist Sword and began slashing again and again with cries of “Now! Now!” When he struck the middle tail among the eight tails, there was something hard inside that tail, and the tip of his sword chipped slightly. Susanoo-no-Mikoto,

“Hmm, this is strange,” he thought, and when he cut open that spot to investigate, from within emerged an extraordinarily sharp and magnificent sword. Susanoo-no-Mikoto realized this mysterious object had come into his possession. That sword was later reverently offered to Amaterasu Ōmikami. Susanoo-no-Mikoto finally chopped the great serpent’s massive body into pieces. And then,

“Ashinazuchi, Tenazuchi, come and see.” “Behold, it is done!” he declared. When the two came out trembling violently, the entire area was filled with blood gushing from the great serpent’s body, which had been torn to shreds. The blood poured steadily into the Hino River, and the river’s waters turned bright red as they flowed downstream.

Susanoo-no-Mikoto then walked here and there with Kushinadahime, searching for a site to erect a palace where they intended to dwell in the land of Izumo just as they were. And finally, when they arrived at a place called Suga,

“Ah, since arriving here, my spirit feels cleansed,” he declared. “This is an excellent place.” He had a palace erected there and appointed Ashinazuchi-no-Kami as chief of the palace officials. Susanoo-no-Mikoto successively begat children and grandchildren in rapid succession. To the child of his eighth-generation descendant was born the noble deity Ōkuninushi, also called Ōanamuchi.

Centipede chambers, serpent chambers.

1.

Now, this Ōkuninushi had a great many siblings known as the Eighty Deities—scores upon scores of them. The Eighty Deities heard there was a beautiful woman called Yakami-hime in Inaba Province. Each resolved to take her for his bride, and so they all set out together for distant Inaba. Taking advantage of Ōkuninushi’s meek nature, they pressed him into service as their porter, loading him with baggage and making him follow behind. When they reached Keta coast in Inaba, there lay a hairless crimson rabbit sprawled on the ground, heaving its whole body with labored breaths.

When the Eighty Deities saw this, “Hey there, hare.” “If you want fur to grow back on that body of yours, go bathe in this sea’s tide, then climb up a high mountain and lie there letting the wind blow over you.” “Then your fur will grow back thick and fast,” they jeered. The hare took this as truth and promptly waded into the sea, becoming utterly drenched before clambering unsteadily up the mountain to lie down as told. As the seawater dried, the skin across its entire body tightened and tore apart with a ripping sound. Overwhelmed by the searing, excruciating pain, the hare crumpled to the ground wailing. Then Ōkuninushi, trailing last among the procession, came upon this scene and took notice.

“Oh, Mr. Hare, why are you crying so?” he kindly asked.

The hare, weeping and sobbing, “I was originally a hare from Oki Island, but though I wished to cross to this mainland, I had no means to do so. So I deceived the sharks in the sea, saying: ‘Let us settle once and for all whether you or I have more kin. Bring every last one of your clan and line them up from here all the way to Keta Point yonder. Then I shall walk across your backs and count them for you.’”

Then the sharks were utterly deceived, and whether emerging or arriving, they swarmed together in such numbers that they turned the sea black. “And just as I had instructed, they lined up in perfect formation all the way to this shoreline.” “I counted ‘fifty, eighty!’ while briskly crossing over their backs, and just as I was about to step onto this shore with one final leap, I taunted, ‘Ha! You dimwitted sharks—got you good!’ Then the very last shark flared up in anger, suddenly seized me, and stripped me completely bare like this.”

“So there I lay prostrate and weeping when those Eighty Deities who had just passed by earlier said, ‘We’ll teach you a good trick—do this and that!’ So I bathed in seawater and let the wind blow over me as they instructed, and then my skin stiffened all over and split apart like this with a tearing sound.” Having said this, the hare burst into wailing tears.

Ōkuninushi, having heard the story and deeming it pitiable, “Then go quickly to that river mouth over there, wash your entire body thoroughly with fresh water, pluck the cattail flowers growing there, spread them beneath you, and lie down. If you do that, it will heal properly back to how it was.” Having said this, he instructed. The hare, upon hearing this, rejoiced greatly and expressed his gratitude. And then, after that, the hare said.

“Those wicked Eighty Deities will never make Yakami-hime their own. Though you carry bags on your back and follow them, I say Yakami-hime shall surely become your bride. You shall see this come to pass,” he declared.

Before long, the Eighty Deities arrived at Yakami-hime’s dwelling. Then, taking turns, they each said, "Become my bride!" but Yakami-hime rejected every one of them,

“No… it will not be at your discretion.” “I will have the honor of becoming Ōkuninushi’s bride,” she declared.

When the Eighty Deities heard this, they became furious and all together resolved to conspire to kill Ōkuninushi. They took Ōkuninushi to the base of Mount Tema in Hōki Province and,

“In this mountain dwells a crimson boar.” “We’ll drive the beast down from above—you wait below to catch it.” “Bungle this and let it escape, we’ll slaughter you,” they proclaimed. Then they scrambled up the mountainside, kindled a roaring blaze, and within its flames seared a massive boulder fashioned like a boar until it glowed vermilion,

“There! Catch it!” they declared, rolling it down with a thunderous crash. At the mountain’s base, Ōkuninushi, who had been lying in wait, no sooner beheld it than he rushed forth in haste. But when he grappled with it in all his might, his body instantly adhered to the scorched surface of that red-hot stone. “Ah!” he exclaimed—and with that, he perished on the spot.

2.

When Ōkuninushi’s birth mother heard this, she grieved deeply and, weeping, soared into the heavens to beseech Takamimusubi-no-Kami—the divine ancestor dwelling in Takamagahara—for aid. Then Takamimusubi-no-Kami immediately sent down to the earthly realm two shell women named Kisagai-hime and Hamaguri-hime—an ark shell and a clam. When the two hurriedly descended and looked, they found Ōkuninushi charred completely black, collapsed at the mountain’s base. Kisagai-hime promptly scraped off her own shell, burned it, and prepared a black powder. Hamaguri-hime hurriedly brought out water, kneaded the black powder into a milky paste, and together they smeared it all over Ōkuninushi’s body.

Then, Ōkuninushi’s grievous burns were instantly healed, and he rose up once more as the beautiful young god he had always been. And he walked steadily back to his home.

When the Eighty Deities saw this, they were astonished and once again began conspiring in hushed tones among themselves. And once again, they skillfully deceived Ōkuninushi and led him into another mountain this time. Then, they all swarmed around, cut down a large standing tree at its base, drove a wedge into the cleft, and made Ōkuninushi enter the gap. Having done so, they suddenly knocked out the wedge with a sharp crack and crushed him to death.

When the young god disappeared once more, Ōkuninushi’s mother was alarmed and searched for him everywhere. And when at last she found him killed again, she hurriedly split open the tree trunk and extracted her divine child’s corpse. And with devoted care, she revived him once more. Mother,

“You can no longer remain heedless in this land.” “Flee now to Ne-no-Kuni where Lord Susanoo dwells. If you do, he will assuredly devise favorable means for you.”

Having said this, she had the young god set off immediately in that direction.

Ōkuninushi, doing exactly as he had been told, arrived at the place where Lord Susanoo resided. Then, Suseri-hime, the honorable daughter of Lord Susanoo, acted as an intermediary, “Father, a beautiful god has arrived,” she declared.

The great deity Father, upon hearing this, hurriedly came out himself to see,

“Ah, that is the god called Ōkuninushi,” he declared. And promptly had him summoned. The princess immediately came to greatly adore Ōkuninushi, finding him a truly beautiful and good figure. For the great deity, first and foremost, this was not to his liking. Therefore, resolved to cause trouble for this young god, that night he had Ōkuninushi sleep in the Serpent Hall—an ill-omened room teeming with large and small snakes.

At this, the kind Suseri-hime felt profoundly sorry for him. Then, she quietly handed Ōkuninushi her own *hire*—a ceremonial cloth used like a shoulder drape— “If the snakes come to bite you, wave this cloth three times to ward them off,” she instructed. Before long, the snakes all raised their hoods and came surging forward in a slithering mass. Ōkuninushi promptly did as he had been told and shook the decorated cloth three times. Then, wondrously, the snakes of their own accord drew back, remained motionless and clustered together, and throughout the night inflicted no harm whatsoever. Thanks to this, the young god slept soundly and comfortably, and when morning came, he appeared before the great deity with an unperturbed countenance.

Then, the great deity had him sleep that night in a room teeming with centipedes and wasps. However, since Suseri-hime once again secretly handed him another piece of a necklace ornament, Ōkuninushi was able to drive away the centipedes and wasps that night as well and once again slept comfortably throughout the night. The great deity, seeing that Ōkuninushi had calmly endured both nights unscathed, inwardly declared, *Very well—this time I will show him*, and loosed a fearsome large arrow—a whistling arrow with a hollowed tip that whizzed shrilly when shot—into the very center of a vast field overgrown with dense, towering grass. And, facing Ōkuninushi,

“Now, go retrieve the arrow that was just shot,” commanded Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

The young god obediently heeded the divine command and immediately began parting the dense grass and pressing forward into the field. The great deity observed this intently, then suddenly set fire all around the perimeter of the field and began vigorously burning it away. Ōkuninushi, before he could even think “Oh?,” was suddenly surrounded by flames from all directions and found himself utterly bereft of means of escape. And as he stood there, startled and bewildered over what to do, a mouse came forth.

“Hollow inside, narrow outside,” it said. This meant that within lay emptiness while without grew constricted. The young god instantly comprehended its meaning and stomped down fiercely beneath his feet. There exactly where he struck, a great cavity had formed belowground, into which he plunged whole. He kept utterly still, curled small in concealment, until at length the flames that had crept perilously near coursed over the pit’s mouth and dwindled into the distance.

Before long, the mouse from earlier properly located the whistling arrow that the great deity had shot and, holding it in its mouth, brought it to him. When he looked, the arrow’s feathers had already been gnawed away and devoured entirely by the mouse’s children.

Three Princess Suseri, being entirely unaware of such matters, believed the beautiful young god must have perished in the flames and grieved alone. As soon as the flames subsided, she hurriedly gathered funerary tools and, weeping all the while, went searching for him. The great deity Father, thinking that he must surely be dead this time, came after the princess to see.

Then, Ōkuninushi emerged from the scorched aftermath in his original form. And he properly presented the whistling arrow into his hands. The great deity too was secretly astonished by this and, having no choice, returned together to the palace. And leading him into a large hall, as soon as they entered, he flopped down sideways. “Hey, get the lice off my head!” he suddenly commanded.

Ōkuninushi humbly parted his long, long hair to inspect it, only to find not lice but a great many centipedes swarming within. Then, Suseri-hime came near and secretly handed over a muku nut and red clay before departing. Ōkuninushi crushed each muku nut one by one, chewed small amounts of red clay, and spat them out together with pfft pfft sounds. When the great deity observed this,

"Hoh—crushing each centipede one by one," he thought. Finding this impressive, he drifted peacefully into slumber. Ōkuninushi, convinced that lingering further would only invite greater peril, seized the opportunity while Susanoo-no-Mikoto slept soundly. Dividing his lengthy hair into multiple bundles, he fastened each to the surrounding taru trees. He then quietly propped an immense boulder—requiring five hundred men to move—against the doorway to barricade it from within. Grasping the great deity's sword, bow and arrows, and the jewel-adorned noble koto, he hurriedly lifted Suseri-hime onto his back and slipped stealthily away from the palace.

Unfortunately, the koto he was carrying struck a tree trunk and rang out with a tremendous clang-clang-clang.

The great deity was startled by the sound and bolted upright to his feet. Now, since his hair had been bound to all the surrounding taru trees, when the mighty great deity abruptly rose to his feet, the chamber suddenly collapsed with a splintering crash.

The great deity became utterly enraged—"Damn you brat of a god!"—and while laboriously untying his hair bundle by bundle, Ōkuninushi desperately continued running, swiftly escaping far into the distance.

Then, the great deity soon gave chase and finally arrived at the top of the slope called Yomotsu Hirasaka. And from there, calling out to Ōkuninushi from afar, he shouted at the top of his voice and spoke thus: “Hey, hey, brat god! “With that sword and bow and arrows, pursue your eighty brothers to mountain bases and river depths—cut them down wherever they flee! Become chief of this land’s gods! Build your palace at Mount Uka’s foot and dwell there! “I’ll give my daughter to you as bride! “Understood?!” he bellowed.

Ōkuninushi, in accordance with the command, took up the great deity’s sword and bow and arrows—which had been granted to him—and went forth to subjugate the eighty gods. And pursuing them as they scattered in all directions, he cut them down and cast them into the bases of slopes and depths of rivers throughout the area, until finally not a single one remained—he had annihilated them all. And so he became chief of the land’s gods, built his palace beneath Mount Uka, and lived joyfully together with Princess Suseri.

Four In time, the aforementioned Yakami-hime—who had long yearned for Ōkuninushi—journeyed from afar to seek him out. But Ōkuninushi had already taken Princess Suseri as his splendid bride, so she returned home dejectedly once more. Ōkuninushi then continued subduing the four directions one by one and gradually expanded the land he ruled.

As he was thus engaged, one day when he had gone to the seashore of Miho no Saki in the land of Izumo, a tiny, tiny deity came rowing vigorously toward him from far across the sea, accompanied by attendants. The boat they rode was made from a small fruit of a grass called gagaimo, and the garments they wore were fashioned from the peeled skin of hitorimushi.

Ōkuninushi faced that deity,

“May I ask who you are?” he inquired. However, the god kept his mouth shut and did not reveal his name. Ōkuninushi asked his attendant gods, but none of them could ascertain who the god was. Then, a toad came waddling out there, “If it’s Kuebiko, he would surely know about that deity,” said the toad.

Kuebiko was a scarecrow standing in the mountain fields. Kuebiko’s legs were immobile, so he could not take a single step, yet despite this, he knew absolutely everything about the mortal realm. So Ōkuninushi hurriedly inquired of Kuebiko,

“Ah, that deity is the child of Kamimusubi-no-Kami who dwells in the great heavens—the one called Sukunabikona-no-Kami,” he answered. Ōkuninushi then promptly inquired of Kamimusubi-no-Kami, and the god declared, “That is indeed my child.” And facing Sukunabikona-no-Kami once more, he commanded: “You shall become brothers with Ōkuninushi, and the two of you shall open up and solidify the nations.”

Ōkuninushi, in accordance with those divine words, proceeded to gradually create and develop the land together with Sukunabikona-no-Kami, the two of them working side by side. However, Sukunabikona-no-Kami later suddenly departed for Tokoyo-no-Kuni—a distant land across the sea—and vanished entirely. Ōkuninushi was utterly disheartened. “Alone, I cannot possibly develop this land as intended,” he lamented. “Is there no god who might lend me strength?” So saying, he slumped in profound dejection.

Just at that moment, a deity approached, glittering across the entire sea surface as he drew near. That was the deity known as Ōtoshi-no-Kami, child of Susanoo-no-Mikoto. That deity faced Ōkuninushi, “If you enshrine me with due reverence, I shall join you in building and solidifying this land. You alone can’t possibly do it,” he declared.

“In that case, how may I properly perform your enshrinement?” he inquired. “If you enshrine me upon the summit of Mount Mimoro in Yamato, that will suffice,” he declared. Ōkuninushi enshrined that deity there in accordance with those words, and together with that deity, he gradually expanded the land as they proceeded.

The Pheasant's Messenger

**One**

In time, Amaterasu Ōmikami of the heavens turned to her child Ame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto and—

“The land you see below—that Toyoashihara-no-Mizuho-no-Kuni—is the realm you must govern,” she declared, then commanded him to descend immediately. Mikoto received the command with reverence.

However, when he came to the Heavenly Floating Bridge and looked down from there, below he saw rampant gods running wild in every direction, causing an uproar. The August Lord hurriedly turned back and reported this to the Great Deity. Therefore, the Great Deity and Takamimusubi-no-Kami promptly summoned all the myriad gods to the riverbank of Ama-no-Yasukawa, "That Mizuho Country is a land our descendants must govern," they proclaimed, "yet now violent gods run rampant there with fierce intensity." "To make those gods submit to our will—who should we dispatch?" Thus they consulted with all present.

Thereupon, the aforementioned thoughtful Omoikane-no-Kami held council with all present and, “In that case, I humbly propose dispatching Ame no Hohi no Kami—this would be most fitting,” he reverently submitted. Thereupon, the great deities promptly dispatched that Ame no Hohi. However, when Ame no Hohi reached the lower world, he became Ōkuninushi’s subordinate instead, and even after three years had passed, sent no reply whatsoever to the heavens.

Therefore, the great deity and Takamimusubi-no-Kami once again summoned the multitude of gods, "Ame no Hohi has not yet returned—who should we send this time?" they inquired. Omoikane-no-Kami, "In that case, Ame no Wakahiko, child of Amatsukunitama-no-Kami, would be most suitable," he reverently proposed. The great deities, heeding those words, bestowed upon Ame no Wakahiko a magnificent bow and arrows, then had him carry these to the lower world as they sent him forth.

Yet that young Ame no Wakahiko—though he properly had a true wife in the heavens—no sooner descended below than he took Ōkuninushi’s daughter Shitateruhime as his bride as well. What’s more, with designs to eventually seize Mizuho Country for himself, even after eight full years had passed, he neither sent reply nor returned to the great deities. Amaterasu and Takamimusubi once more gathered all the gods and,

“The second envoy we dispatched—Ame no Wakahiko—still has not returned after all this time. Why on earth has he remained in the lower world so long? We must have him rebuked and brought back—but whom should we send this time?” they inquired.

Omoikane-no-Kami said, "In that case, Nakiname the Pheasant would be most suitable," he reverently proposed. The two great deities summoned that pheasant and,

“You must now go and rebuke Ame no Wakahiko,” they commanded. “Was it not to subdue the gods of this land that we sent you to Mizuho Country? Yet why have you given no reply these eight years? Go and demand an explanation for this!” Nakiname the Pheasant journeyed far from the heavens, alighted upon a maple tree beside Ame no Wakahiko’s gate, and relayed everything as the great deities had ordered.

Now, a woman named Ama no Sagume who served at Ame no Wakahiko’s residence heard these words and said, “Over there sits a bird emitting disagreeable cries. Make haste and shoot it down,” urging Ame no Wakahiko.

Ame no Wakahiko,

“Alright,” he said, taking out the bow and arrows he had received from the great deities long ago, and abruptly shot the pheasant dead. Then the arrow that had struck pierced through Nakiname’s chest, rebounded upside down into the heavens above, and fell beside Amaterasu Ōmikami and Takamimusubi-no-Kami at the riverbank of Ama-no-Yasukawa.

When Takamimusubi-no-Kami took hold of that arrow and examined it, blood clung to its fletching. Takamimusubi-no-Kami, "This arrow was sent to Ame no Wakahiko," he proclaimed as he displayed it before all assembled deities.

“If this arrow flew here after Wakahiko shot evil gods, let it not strike Wakahiko. If Wakahiko harbors evil intent, kill him,” he declared while thrusting down the arrow with all his might through the hole in the sky from which it had earlier come. Then the arrow pierced clean through the center of Wakahiko’s chest as he lay on his back in the lower world, killing him in a single strike.

Shitateruhime, Ame no Wakahiko’s bride, was startled and let out a loud wail, weeping tumultuously. The sound of their weeping was carried by the wind and reached up to the heavens. When Amatsukunitama-no-Kami—Ame no Wakahiko’s father—along with his true wife and children heard it, they were startled and descended to the lower world. Weeping and wailing, they constructed a mourning hut there—a cabin to lay out the dead—and appointed a heron as the offering bearer, a kingfisher as the fish catcher for tributes, a sparrow as the rice pounder for offerings, and brought a pheasant as a professional mourner. For eight days and eight nights, they played instruments beside Ame no Wakahiko’s corpse to console his departed soul.

While they were thus engaged, Ajisukitakahikone-no-Kami—Ōkuninushi’s child and Shitateruhime’s elder brother—arrived to offer his condolences. Then Ame no Wakahiko’s father, wife, and children— “Oh!” they exclaimed in surprise, clinging to the god’s arms and legs while— “Oh! You’re alive after all?” “Oh! You have not passed away after all?” they exclaimed, and everyone burst into tears of joy, sobbing uncontrollably. This was because Ajisukitakahikone-no-Kami’s face and figure bore an exact likeness to Ame no Wakahiko, so everyone, without a moment’s hesitation, had assumed he was Wakahiko.

Then Takamimusubi-no-Kami,

“What mockery is this?!” he roared, his face flushing crimson with rage, “How dare you treat someone who comes expressly to offer condolences as if they were some filthy corpse?!” While bellowing this, he drew his long sword in one motion and reduced the mourning hut to splinters, kicked the debris aside with sharp stomps of his feet, then stormed off seething with fury. At that moment, his younger sister Shitateruhime sang a song declaring that this beautiful young deity was her elder brother of such description, proudly informing Ame no Wakahiko’s father, wife, and children.

Two

Amaterasu Ōmikami, for such reasons, once again faced the gods and graciously consulted them: “Whom should we send this time?”

Omoikane-no-Kami and all the gods addressed them: “It is now imperative that you graciously dispatch either Ohabari-no-Kami—who resides in the Heavenly Rock Cave above Ama-no-Yasukawa River—or else his child Takemikazuchi-no-Kami. There remains no alternative but to send one of these two.” “However, Ohabari-no-Kami has dammed up the waters of Ama-no-Yasukawa River, rendering the path impassable. Thus, ordinary gods cannot even approach to summon him.” “In that case, perhaps Your Majesty should graciously dispatch Ame no Kaku to have Ohabari-no-Kami convey his response for your august consideration,” they reverently proposed.

Upon hearing this, Amaterasu Ōmikami swiftly dispatched Ame no Kaku to have him convey it.

Thereupon, Ohabari-no-Kami declared, "This is too gracious an undertaking. Though I myself would immediately answer this summons, for affairs of this nature, I humbly believe my child Takemikazuchi would prove most serviceable."

Having said this, he promptly had that god attend before the great deity. The great deity graciously dispatched Takemikazuchi-no-Kami, assigning Ame no Torifune-no-Kami to accompany him. The two gods soon descended and arrived at a shore called Inasa in Izumo Province. Then, drawing their long swords in a row, they planted them blade-up into the sea and perched cross-legged on their points as they confronted Ōkuninushi with their demands.

“We have come here by the august command of Amaterasu Ōmikami and Takamimusubi-no-Kami,” they declared. “The great deities proclaim that this Central Land of Reed Plains under your governance shall be ruled by their august child. Will you fully yield this land in accordance with their decree? Or do you refuse?” Ōkuninushi responded: “This is not for me to decide alone. My son Yaegikotoishironushi-no-Kami would offer such an answer in my stead, but he has presently gone fishing at Mihotsu-no-Saki.”

Upon hearing this, Takemikazuchi immediately dispatched Ame no Torifune to Mihotsu-no-Saki and had Kotoshironushi summoned. They then relayed to Ōkuninushi precisely what they had been commanded to say. Thereupon Kotoshironushi faced his father and declared, “Truly, this is an exceedingly gracious decree.” While speaking these words—“In accordance with your august words, let this land be offered to the heavenly deities’ divine child”—he stepped onto the boat he had ridden back upon, tilting it askew. When he performed an incantatory handclap, the vessel instantly transformed into a blue-tinted fence. Kotoshironushi hastily concealed himself within this newly formed enclosure.

Takemikazuchi faced Ōkuninushi and inquired, “Kotoshironushi has now stated his position as you heard, but are there any other children who hold differing opinions?”

Ōkuninushi replied, “In addition to Kotoshironushi, I have another child called Takeminakata-no-Kami. That is all.” At that very moment, Takeminakata-no-Kami emerged hefting an enormous boulder—so massive that even a thousand men could not budge it—in both hands. “Hey! Who are you sneaking into my land and whispering secrets?! Come on! Let’s test our strength! First I’ll grab your hand!” he roared while hurling down the boulder and lunging to seize Takemikazuchi’s wrist—whereupon the thunder god’s hand instantly transformed into a pillar of ice. As Takeminakata gaped in shock—“Huh?!”—the frozen hand morphed into a gleaming sword blade.

When Takeminakata-no-Kami, utterly terrified, began to timidly shrink back, Takemikazuchi— “Now it’s my turn,” declared [Takemikazuchi] while seizing Takeminakata-no-Kami’s wrist—swift as grasping a fresh-cut reed—crushing it to pulp in an instant, then hurling the severed hand-tip away with a forceful throw. Takeminakata-no-Kami turned deathly pale and desperately fled. Takemikazuchi,

“Wait!” he shouted as he chased after him relentlessly without pause, further and further. Having finally cornered him by Lake Suwa in Shinano, when Takemikazuchi suddenly tried to twist and kill him with a single wrenching motion, Takeminakata-no-Kami trembled violently while—

“I am truly overcome with fear.” “I beg you to spare at least my life.” “As I am now, I will not set a single foot outside this Shinano.” “Furthermore, in accordance with what my father and elder brother have declared, I shall offer this Central Land of Reed Plains to the august child of the heavenly deities,” he prostrated himself in apology.

Thereupon, Takemikazuchi returned once more to Izumo and pressed Ōkuninushi with questions. “Both your sons have declared they will not defy the command of the great deities. With this, you surely have nothing left to say—what say you?” “I have no objections whatsoever.” “This Central Land of Reed Plains shall be offered entirely to the august child of the great deity, exactly as commanded.” “In addition to that, my sole request is that you deign to erect for me a shrine—magnificent and sturdy, like the august palaces of the heavenly deities.” “If you deign to do so, I shall serve the august descendants of the great deity forevermore from a distant world.” “In truth, I have many other children besides these, but so long as Kotoshironushi serves with due reverence, none of the remaining children will voice any complaint.”

Having said this, he nobly met his end on the spot.

Therefore, Takemikazuchi promptly erected a magnificent large shrine at a shore called Tageshi in Izumo Province and enshrined [Ōkuninushi] exactly as desired. And he assigned Kushihatahime-no-Kami, a deity who prepares ritual offerings, as a cook to accompany him. Then Kushihatahime-no-Kami dove down, brought up soil from the seafloor, and with it fashioned various earthenware cups for presenting offerings. Then, using the stem of a certain seaweed, she fashioned a fire-drill mortar and fire-drill pestle, rubbed them together to strike fire, and addressed Takemikazuchi as follows.

“With this fire I have struck, I shall unfailingly burn it until the surroundings are filled with soot like the kitchen of the heavenly deities’ palace, and ceaselessly fuel it until the base of the hearth hardens like bedrock at the earth’s depths. I will cook in abundance the great sea bass that the fishermen bring, and always—always—offer splendid feasts worthy of the heavenly deities’ partaking,” she declared. With that, Takemikazuchi was temporarily relieved and ascended back to the heavens. And he reported all of this matter in full detail to Amaterasu Ōmikami and Takamimusubi-no-Kami.

Kasasa Shrine

I

Since Takemikazuchi and his company had successfully brought the chaotic lower world—which had been in such turmoil—under their control and returned, Amaterasu Ōmikami and Takamimusubi-no-Kami promptly summoned Ame-no-Oshihomimi-no-Mikoto and—

“The Central Land of Reed Plains has now been fully pacified.” “You shall descend at once and govern that land as originally commanded,” they declared.

Ameno Oshiho-mimino Mikotono obeyed the divine command and immediately began making preparations for departure. At that very moment Princess Akitsushibime no Mikotono gave birth to a male child. Ameno Oshiho-mimino Mikotono proceeded to the august presence of the great deities,

“To us two, a successor child has been born.” “We have named him Hiko Hono Ninigi no Mikoto.” “To dispatch to the Central Land of Reed Plains, I deem this child most suitable,” he proclaimed.

Therefore, when their august grandson, Prince Ninigi, had grown to maturity, the great deities summoned him once more to their presence, “The Central Land of Reed Plains that appears below is the country you shall govern,” they declared. The Prince reverently complied,

“In that case, I shall descend immediately,” he declared, and began hastening his preparations. And before long, just as he was about to depart in earnest, at a crossroads along the heavenly path, a certain deity stood blocking the way, glittering with blinding radiance—illuminating all above to the very heights of Takamagahara and shining brightly across the entirety of the Central Land of Reed Plains below.

When Amaterasu Ōmikami and Takamimusubi-no-Kami saw this, they summoned Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto in haste, “Though you are a woman, you are a deity who does not falter even before the fiercest gods. Therefore, we send none but you.” “Go to that deity obstructing the path, deliver these words, and return.” “Go forth and sternly interrogate this one who dares block the way as the august child of the heavenly deities prepares to descend—demand to know what manner of being stands before us!” they commanded.

Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto promptly rushed over and sternly rebuked [the deity]. Then, the deity lowered his voice and,

“I am a deity of the lower world called Sarutahiko-no-Kami,” he answered. “Having heard that the august child of the heavenly deities would soon descend, I have come here now to humbly offer myself as your guide along the path—though my abilities are meager—and thus present myself to welcome you.” The great deities were put at ease upon hearing this. They then assigned five deities—Ame-no-Koyane, Futodama, Ame-no-Uzume, Ishikoridome, and Tamanooya—as chief attendants to accompany their august grandson Prince Ninigi. At the final moment of parting, they personally bestowed upon Prince Ninigi three sacred treasures from their own possessions: the Yasakani no Magatama—a truly resplendent jeweled necklace—the divine Yata Mirror, and the sharp sacred sword that Susanoo-no-Mikoto had long ago retrieved from within the great serpent’s tail.

“Think of this mirror as my very soul,” she declared, “and continue revering and enshrining it with utmost care, just as you have served me until now.” Then they further assigned Omoikane—the wisest among the heavenly deities—and Tajikarao—the mightiest in strength—as additional attendants. “Omoikane,” they commanded, “you shall take charge of conducting the rituals for that mirror with due diligence.” Ninigi-no-Mikoto led these deities along with a multitude of attendant gods as he finally departed his heavenly abode. Parting layer upon layer of distant cloud peaks that stretched endlessly afar, he advanced with regal dignity until crossing even the Heavenly Floating Bridge and majestically descended toward the earthly realm below. At the very forefront marched two elite warrior gods—Ame-no-Oshihi-no-Mikoto and Amatsu-Kume-no-Mikoto—bearing a massive suspended sword while shouldering a great bow and mighty arrows as they valiantly cleared the path ahead.

Finally, the august party arrived at the summit of Kushifuru Peak—a rugged crag upon Mount Takachiho in Hyūga Province. Then proceeding further to a peak called Karakuni-dake, they gradually descended from there to flat land, searching and searching for a place to establish their dwelling before setting out toward the sea.

Before long, they arrived at Kasasa no Misaki in the same Hyūga Province.

Ninigi-no-Mikoto,

“Here where the morning sun shines directly upon us and the evening sun bathes this land in its glow—truly a refreshingly splendid place,” he declared, having taken complete liking to it. And so at last he finally decided to take up residence there. And promptly upon solid ground he had a large, spacious palace erected.

Ninigi-no-Mikoto then summoned the aforementioned Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto and— “You have known since the beginning that Sarutahiko-no-Kami who guided us on our path.” “Therefore, you shall accompany him and escort that deity back to his dwelling.” “Furthermore, as a token commemorating that deity’s service, you shall take on the name Sarutahiko and serve me as if you and that deity were one,” he declared. Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto reverently complied and escorted Sarutahiko-no-Kami back.

Sarutahiko-no-Kami had been living in a place called Aza in Ise thereafter, but one day when he went out fishing, his hand became caught in a large flat-shelled clam, and he was ultimately dragged into the sea just like that, drowning to death.

When Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto had escorted that deity back and returned, she drove all manner of fish—large and small—to the seaside of Kasasa, “Will you offer your service to the august child of the heavenly deities?” she inquired. Then, every single fish without exception,

“Yes, yes! We shall reverently serve the august child,” they replied, but among them, only one sea cucumber remained silent without answering. Then Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto became angry, “So this is the mouth that refuses to answer?” she declared, and with a swift motion drew her dagger and slit the sea cucumber’s mouth open with a forceful yank. Therefore, the sea cucumber’s mouth remains split even now.

Two

In time, Ninigi-no-Mikoto one day encountered a beautiful young woman at the same cape. “Whose daughter are you?” he inquired, and the woman replied, “I am called Kishoku Sakuya-hime, daughter of Oyamatsumi-no-Kami.” “Do you have any siblings?” he inquired once more.

“I have one elder sister called Iwanaga-hime,” she replied. Ninigi-no-Mikoto, “I wish to take you as my bride. Will you come?” he inquired. Then Princess Sakuya replied,

“That is not something I can answer on my own. I humbly beseech you to inquire with my father, Oyamatsumi-no-Kami,” she replied. Ninigi-no-Mikoto promptly dispatched a messenger to formally request Princess Sakuya’s hand in marriage from Oyamatsumi-no-Kami. Oyamatsumi-no-Kami was overjoyed and immediately assigned Princess Sakuya’s elder sister Iwanaga-hime as her attendant, having her bring an abundant array of celebratory gifts.

Ninigi-no-Mikoto was overjoyed and promptly held the wedding ceremony with Kishoku Sakuya-hime. However, as her elder sister Iwanaga-hime was a woman with a dreadful face—truly ugly—and as he found it disagreeable to have her live together in the same palace, he immediately sent her back to her father, the deity Oyamatsumi-no-Kami. Oyamatsumi-no-Kami, deeply ashamed, conveyed the following through a messenger. “The reason I specifically assigned Iwanaga-hime as an attendant to Kishoku Sakuya-hime was this: not only would you, by taking Sakuya-hime as your bride, flourish eternally like blooming flowers in full glory—as her name signifies—but if you were to employ Iwanaga-hime within the same palace, then just as her name implies—unchanging and steadfast like a rock enduring rain and wind—so too would your august form remain unaltered for all time. It was with this prayer that I sent her to accompany you.” “Yet since you have taken only Sakuya-hime as your bride and sent back Iwanaga-hime, you yourself—and the lifespans of your descendants for generations to come—shall be like blossoms that scatter all too swiftly after blooming, never enduring long,” he conveyed thus.

Before long, Konohanasakuya-hime was soon to give birth to her august child. When she informed Ninigi-no-Mikoto of this, he deemed it strange that the birth was occurring so soon, “Could that be the child of us two?” he inquired. Konohanasakuya-hime, being addressed thus, “How could this child belong to anyone other than the two of us?” “If this child were not of the two of us, I could never give birth safely.” “As proof that this is truly the child of the two of us, no matter how I give birth, it will undoubtedly be born safely.”

Having said this, she deliberately constructed a dwelling without any entrance or exit, entered inside it, and meticulously plastered every single gap with earth until they were completely sealed. And just when she was about to give birth, she set fire to that dwelling and burned it. However, even though she gave birth in such a violent manner, three children were safely born. The princess first bestowed the name Hoderi-no-Mikoto upon the one born as flames raged and fire spread throughout the dwelling. Then, one after another, Hosuseri-no-Mikoto and Hoori-no-Mikoto—the two august ones—were born. Hoori-no-Mikoto was also reverently called Hiko Hoho Demi-no-Mikoto.

Jewels of the Full Tide and Jewels of the Ebb Tide

One

The three august siblings grew before long into sturdy young adults. Among them, Hoderi-no-Mikoto, the eldest brother, was exceptionally skilled at fishing in the sea and always returned with a great many large and small fish of various kinds. As for Hoori-no-Mikoto, the youngest brother, he was exceptionally skilled at hunting in the mountains and would always return with a great many birds and beasts of various kinds.

One day, Lord Hoori turned to his Lord Elder Brother and, “Why don’t we try exchanging our tools and switching our posts to hunt in each other’s domains?” he proposed. Even though Lord Younger Brother made this request three times, Lord Elder Brother refused each time and would not comply. However, as Lord Younger Brother persisted so insistently, in the end, he reluctantly agreed to exchange them.

Lord Younger Brother promptly took the fishing tools and departed for the seaside. However, fishing proved entirely different from what he was accustomed to; no matter how much he rushed, not only could he not catch a single fish, but in the end, he even dropped his fishing hook into the sea.

Since Lord Elder Brother was unaccustomed to mountain hunting and there was absolutely no prey, he became disheartened and turned to his younger brother, “Return my fishing tools. For both sea hunting and mountain hunting, we must use what we’re each accustomed to. Now, I shall return this bow and arrows,” he said.

Lord Younger Brother said, “I have done a terrible thing. Before I could catch a single fish, I ended up dropping the hook into the sea.” Then Lord Elder Brother became extremely angry and sternly ordered him to retrieve that hook by any means necessary. Lord Younger Brother, having no other recourse, smashed the long sword he wore at his side, fashioned five hundred fishhooks from it, and offered them in substitution.

However, Lord Elder Brother declared he would not accept anything but the original hook and resolutely refused to yield. Thereupon Lord Younger Brother fashioned a thousand hooks anew and entreated, "I humbly beseech your forgiveness with these," yet Lord Elder Brother persisted unwaveringly, demanding none but the original hook.

And so Lord Younger Brother found himself at a loss, standing alone by the seashore as he wept bitterly. Thereupon, the deity known as Shiozuchi-no-Kami appeared before him.

"Excuse me, why are you weeping so bitterly?" he inquired. Lord Younger Brother: “I borrowed my elder brother’s fishing hook to fish and ended up losing that hook in the sea.” “So I fashioned many replacement hooks and offered them in return, but my elder brother insists on having the original hook back and refuses to listen.” Having said this, he explained the circumstances.

When Shiozuchi-no-Kami heard this, he felt deeply sympathetic. "Then I shall properly arrange things for you," he said while hastily crafting a tightly woven small basket-like boat—ensuring not a speck of water would enter—and placed Hoori-no-Mikoto inside it.

“Then I shall push it out for you, so keep going straight out to the middle of the sea. And when you proceed for a while, a fine path will lie between the waves ahead. Follow it wherever it flows, and you will finally arrive at a vast, vast palace with countless roofs standing row upon row like fish scales. That is the august palace of the sea deity known as Watatsumi-no-Kami. At the side of the august palace’s gate, there is a well. A katsura tree overhangs the well, so climb onto it and wait there. Then the daughter of the sea deity will find you and make proper arrangements for you,” he said, pushing the boat out with all his strength.

Two

Lord Hoori proceeded steadily onward, carried by the current. Then, exactly as Shiozuchi-no-Kami had said, after some time had passed, he arrived at a vast, vast palace. Lord Hoori promptly climbed the katsura tree beside the gate and perched there to wait. Then, soon after, a maidservant attending Toyotama-hime, daughter of Watatsumi-no-Kami, came to draw water from the well beneath the katsura tree, bearing a jeweled vessel. When the woman peered into the well and saw a human figure reflected within, she thought it strange; then looking upward, there in the katsura tree sat a noble man.

Lord Hoori requested water from the woman. The woman hurriedly drew water into a jeweled vessel and presented it. However, Lord Hoori did not drink the water; instead, he untied the decorative beads he wore around his neck, placed them into his mouth, spat them into the jeweled vessel, and handed it to the woman. When the woman received the vessel and tried to take out the beads, they had become firmly stuck to the bottom, and no matter what she did, they would not come free. And so, carrying it just as it was into the house, she presented the vessel to Toyotama-hime.

Toyotama-hime looked at the beads. "Is there someone at the gateway?" she asked. The woman replied:

“There is a noble man present atop the katsura tree beside the well. That very person surpasses even the king here in nobility; he is an exceedingly august lord. Since that lord commanded me to give him water, I promptly drew it into this vessel and offered it, but he did not partake of the water—instead placing the beads from his necklace within it. When I did so, the beads, as you can see, simply would not come free from the bottom of the vessel,” she said.

When Toyotama-hime saw Lord Hoori’s form, she immediately went to her father, the Sea God, and,

“There is a noble person present at the gateway,” she said.

The Sea God took the trouble to go out himself to see, "Oh my, that noble one is the august child of a deity who descended from the great heavens," he said while hurriedly guiding him into the palace. He laid out eight layers of seal fur, stacked eight layers of silk cushions atop them, had him sit there, arranged a lavish feast of all varieties, and entertained him with utmost courtesy. And he gave Toyotama-hime in marriage.

And so Lord Hoori continued to reside there together with Toyotama-hime. Before long, before one knew it, three years had passed. Then one evening, Lord Hoori suddenly recalled that fishing hook and heaved a deep sigh. The following morning, Toyotama-hime quietly went to her father the Sea God's side, "Father, though Lord Mikoto had resided in this palace for three years and never once shown a troubled countenance until now, last night alone he heaved a deep sigh. Has some sudden concern arisen?" she said.

The Sea God, upon hearing this, later addressed Lord Hoori, "My daughter has just informed me that although you have resided in this place for three years and not once shown sorrow over anything，last night you sighed for the first time." "Might there be some reason for this?" "Why on earth did you come to this sea of all places in the first place?" Having said this，he inquired.

Lord Hoori explained that he had come to search for the fishing hook for these reasons. When the Sea God heard this, he promptly summoned every last fish throughout the sea—both large and small— and inquired: “Has any among you taken Lord Hoori’s hook?” The fish then replied: “A female sea bream has had a thorn lodged in her throat for some time now, leaving her unable to eat and greatly distressed. Without doubt, she must have swallowed the fishing hook of which you speak,” they said.

The Sea God promptly summoned that sea bream and felt around inside its throat. Sure enough, it had swallowed one large fishing hook. The Sea God took it out, washed it clean, and presented it to Lord Hoori. Then, that was indeed the very fishing hook Lord Hoori had lost. The Sea God,

“Now then,” said Watatsumi-no-Kami solemnly while stroking his beard that shimmered like seaweed strands caught in moonlight,“when you return and present this to your elder brother...” His voice deepened like rumbling underwater currents as he demonstrated:“You must turn your back while declaring:‘Accursed fishhook! Malicious fishhook! Foolish fishhook!’ Let these words carry divine censure.” He raised both hands ceremoniously.“From this day forth when your brother builds his paddies high upon terraced slopes,” his fingers traced imaginary rice fields through salt-tinged air,“you shall cultivate lowland marshes.” The Sea God’s eyes glowed like phosphorescent jellyfish.“Should he reverse course seeking fertile valleys,” his palms flipped dramatically,“claim instead stony hilltops.” Watatsumi-no-Kami spread his arms wide enough to encompass oceans.“All waters answer my command.” His declaration made coral tremble.“Since he tormented you over mere metal,” coldness entered his voice like winter tides,“his fields shall parch while yours drown in abundance.” Leaning closer with kelp-scented breath:“Three years hence he’ll crawl through dust,” his words carried finality,“and come murderous.” From his robes he produced two glowing orbs - one swirling like storm-tossed waves,the other still as tidal pools.“When murderous intent arrives,” he pressed High Tide Jewel into Hoori’s palm,“unleash these waters.” The jewel pulsed dangerously.“Should he beg mercy...” Low Tide Jewel followed,“...show restraint.” His concluding words held ancient wisdom:“Proper punishment requires measured wrath.”

Having said this, he presented those two precious Tide-Jeweling Stones to Lord Hoori. Then he summoned all his vassal crocodiles,

“Now, the august child of the deity of the great heavens shall return to the terrestrial realm. How many days will it take you to escort Lord Hoori and return?” he inquired.

The crocodiles, each taking into account their own body size, replied one by one. Among them, a large crocodile measuring about six feet said, "I shall go and return within a single day." The Sea God commanded, "Then you shall escort him. However, you must never let Lord Hoori feel fear when crossing the sea." After thoroughly instructing it thus, he had Lord Hoori ride upon its neck and sent him off. Then, just as promised, the crocodile escorted Lord Hoori back to his original shore within a single day.

Lord Hoori untied the small sword he had been wearing and, as a reward, tied it around the crocodile’s neck before sending it back. Lord Hoori then immediately went to his elder brother and, exactly as the Sea God had instructed, “Hateful fishing hook, Wicked fishing hook, Foolish fishing hook.” Uttering these words, he turned his back and returned the fishing hook. Then, in creating rice fields, he did exactly as the Sea God had instructed.

As a result, while Lord Hoori’s rice fields yielded increasingly abundant harvests each year, his elder brother’s fields received not a drop of water, and within three years, his elder brother was reduced to utter poverty. Then, just as foretold, the elder brother grew envious of Lord Hoori and attempted to kill him time and again. Lord Hoori promptly took out the Tide-Jeweling Stone (High Tide) and caused a great flood to defend himself. The elder brother, each time nearly drowning, pleaded, “Help me! Help me!” Lord Hoori took out the Tide-Jeweling Stone (Low Tide) and immediately caused the waters to recede. In this way, the elder brother too, having finally realized he could not possibly match Lord Hoori, at last bowed his head and,

“Please forgive me for all that has transpired until now. I solemnly swear that from this day forth, I shall stand guard at your dwelling night and day and serve you faithfully for all my life.” Therefore, it became an ancestral tradition for the descendants of this elder brother’s augustness to perform various comical dances imitating the gestures he made when struggling in the water, continuing this practice for generations to come.

Three In time, Toyotama-hime—the beloved bride whom Lord Hoori had left behind at the sea palace upon his return—one day suddenly emerged from the sea,

“I have long been with child, and now the time has come for me to give birth. However, I thought it would be presumptuous to give birth to the august child of the deity of the great heavens within the sea, and thus I have come all this way here.” Therefore, Lord Hoori hurriedly had a delivery hut called ubaya, a house for childbirth, constructed by the seashore. For the roof, instead of thatch, he had cormorant feathers gathered and thatched.

Then, before that roof had even been completed, Toyotama-hime found herself in labor and hurriedly entered inside.

At that moment, the princess turned to Lord Hoori and, “When all people give birth, everyone follows the customs of their own land and assumes a peculiar form to do so. Therefore, I earnestly beg of you—please do not look upon me when I give birth.” Lord Hoori found it all the more strange that she would make such a solemn request. Later, he went to stealthily peer inside.

Then, Toyotama-hime—who until mere moments ago had been a beautiful woman—had transformed into a terrifying great crocodile measuring eight fathoms long, groaning and moaning as she thrashed about. Lord Hoori, utterly shocked, fled in a panic.

Toyotama-hime, having noticed this and overwhelmed with unbearable shame, after giving birth to her child, turned to Lord Hoori and,

“I had intended to come and go between the sea constantly to visit you, but since you have seen me in such a form, I am truly ashamed and can no longer pay you any further visits.” Having said this, she left her child behind, completely blocked the sea passage, and hurriedly returned to the depths of the sea. And so she remained thus, never emerging again for the rest of her life.

The child of the two was born before the roof of cormorant feathers could be thatched, and thus was named Ugayafukiaezu-no-Mikoto. Though Princess Toyotama resided in her sea palace, she remained so deeply concerned about her child that she sent her younger sister Tamayori-hime here to have her raise the child. Princess Toyotama could never overcome her resentment toward her husband Lord Hoori for having glimpsed her dreadful form, yet still she yearned for and cherished him, unable to forget him even for a moment. Therefore, she had a message conveyed through Tamayori-hime,

The red jewel, Though even the cord shines, White jewel’s, You adorn, How noble you were. She sent this song. This meant: "The red jewel is splendid indeed—when threaded on a cord as ornament, even the cord glows with its light. But surpassing that red jewel, I constantly yearn for your noble form, fair as a white jewel." Lord Hoori was profoundly moved and returned a tender poem filled with compassion, its meaning being: "I too shall never forget you."

Lord Hoori resided at the palace called Takachiho-no-Miya until he reached the age of five hundred and eighty.

Eight-Span Crow (Yatagarasu)

I

After coming of age, Lord Ugayafukiaezu formally established Tamayori-hime as his consort and fathered four sons. Among these four siblings, the second-born Lord Inahi crossed the sea and journeyed afar to the distant land known as Tokoyo-no-Kuni. Next, the third-born Lord Wakamikenunamikoto also journeyed to his mother’s homeland, the Sea Country, where he remained, while the youngest brother, Lord Kamuyamato Iwarehikonomikoto, took residence at Takachiho Palace and governed the realm. However, as Hyūga was an exceedingly remote place and terribly inconvenient for administering governance, Lord Kamuyamato Iwarehikonomikoto consulted together with his eldest brother, Lord Itsuse,

“It would be better to relocate further east,” he declared, and taking all his forces with him, he first set forth toward Chikuzen Province. On the way there, when His Majesty arrived at Usa in Buzen Province, two individuals of that land named Usatsuhiko and Usatsuhime constructed a palace to welcome him and cordially entertained him.

His Majesty proceeded from there into Chikuzen Province. And after residing at the august Okada Palace for one year, His Majesty further proceeded to Aki Province, where he took up residence at Takari Palace for seven years. Then advancing to Bizen, he dwelled at Takashima Palace for eight years. And from there, His Majesty lined up his ships and proceeded eastward over the waves.

When His Majesty arrived at a place called Hayasuhi-no-To, a man came forth from the opposite direction riding on a turtle's back while fishing. Upon seeing His Majesty's ship, he raised both hands and waved them vigorously. His Majesty summoned the man and inquired, "Who are you?" The man replied, "I am the deity of this land, called Uduhiko."

“Do you know the sea routes around here?” His Majesty inquired. “I am well acquainted with them,” Uduhiko replied. “Then will you join my retinue?” he said, “As you command.” “I shall serve you,” he replied, so His Majesty immediately commanded his attendants to extend a pole and bring him aboard the ship.

They steered ever eastward from there, eventually navigating through the Naniwa Sea of Settsu and arriving at the shore called Aokumo no Shirakata Beach in Kawachi Province.

There, a man named Nagasunehiko from Tomari in Yamato positioned himself with his troops lying in wait. As Lord Kamuyamato was about to disembark from the ship, they suddenly unleashed a barrage of arrows; therefore, retrieving a shield from within the vessel and weaving through the whizzing projectiles, he made his landing. And immediately, they vigorously engaged in battle. In the midst of this, Lord Itsuse received a grievous wound from Nagasunehiko’s sharp arrow. Lord Kamuyamato, while covering his wound,

“We are descendants of the Sun God, yet it was a mistake to attack facing toward the Sun,” he said. “That is why their arrows struck us. From now on, we shall take a detour eastward and fight with the sun at our backs.” Having mustered all his forces, he boarded the ship once more with his brother Lord Itsuse and hastened out to the middle of the sea. On the way, His Majesty washed the blood from the wound on his hand.

However, when His Majesty circled southward and arrived at Otoko-no-Minato in Kii Province, the pain from the wound grew increasingly severe. His Majesty cried out in a voice filled with regret, “Ah, how bitter! Must I die from this hand wound inflicted by them?” and thus at last he passed away.

II

Lord Kamuyamato Iwarehikonomikoto made a circuit around from there and arrived at the village called Kumano in the same Kii Province. Suddenly, a large bear appeared and then vanished again as quickly as it had come. However, both Lord Kamuyamato and his accompanying troops were struck by the large bear’s poisonous miasma; their vision spun dizzily, and every last one of them collapsed unconscious on the spot. Then, Takakuraji of Kumano came forth holding a single sword and presented it to Iwarehikonomikoto, who lay prostrate there. Along with that, Lord Kamuyamato suddenly regained his senses and,

"My, I've slept quite long," His Majesty said as he received the sword offered by Takakuraji. Through the divine authority imbued within that blade, the savage mountain deities of Kumano—those who had dispatched the bear earlier—collapsed dead of their own accord. Simultaneously, the lord's army all at once recovered from the poison that had overcome them and sprang back to their feet with vigor. The lord, struck with awe, inquired of Takakuraji about the provenance of this sacred sword.

Takakuraji reverently began, "I must humbly report that last night I had a sudden dream. In that vision, Amaterasu Ōmikami and Takamimusubi-no-Kami summoned Takemikazuchi-no-Kami, saying: 'Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni now seethes with turmoil. Our descendants strive to pacify it but suffer under evil gods' torment.' They declared: 'Since you first subdued that land long ago, you must descend once more to quell it.' To this, Takemikazuchi-no-Kami replied: 'Then I need not go myself. Here lies the blade I wielded when I pacified that realm before - this sword shall suffice.' He then answered thus: 'I shall pierce through the ridge of Takakuraji's storehouse and let it fall there.'"

Then Takemikazuchi-no-Kami instructed me, saying, “I shall pierce through the ridge of your storehouse and drop this sword there. Present it without delay tomorrow morning to the descendant of the Heavenly Deities.” “When I awoke and went to check the storehouse, there indeed lay the very sword as had been commanded. Thus I hastened here to present it.” Having said this, he related the circumstances.

In time, Takamimusubi-no-Kami, from above the clouds, addressed Iwarehikonomikoto,

“O Child of the Heavenly Deities, you must never enter beyond here. Beyond this point lies a horde of savage gods. Now I shall send down the Eight-Span Crow; follow wherever that crow flies,” he solemnly instructed.

Before long, as commanded, that crow descended. Lord Kamuyamato followed as the crow led him onward, and before long arrived at the estuary of the Yoshino River in Yamato. There, someone had set up a fish weir and was catching fish.

“Who are you?” he inquired. “I am a god of this land, and my name is Niemochi no Ko,” he reverently replied. Then, as they pressed onward, this time a human with a tail protruding from their rear emerged from a well. And then the well shone with a glittering light.

When His Majesty inquired, “Who are you?” “I am a deity of this land called Ihikaku,” he humbly replied. His Majesty took each of those individuals along as attendants and proceeded through the mountains from there when he encountered yet another person with a tail. This person pushed aside the rock and emerged.

When His Majesty inquired, “Who are you?” “I am a deity of this land, and my name is Iwaoshihaki no Ko. Having heard that the descendant of the Heavenly Deities has now arrived, I have come to most humbly offer my services to join your retinue,” he reverently declared. His Majesty pressed through ever steeper and deeper mountains from there and arrived at a place called Uda in Yamato.

In this Uda, there were two ruffian brothers named Aniukashi and Otooukashi. His Majesty sent the Eight-Span Crow as a messenger to those two,

“Now, the descendant of the Heavenly Deities has arrived. Will you pledge your service?” he had the Eight-Span Crow convey.

Then, Aniukashi, the elder brother, suddenly shot a whistling arrow and repelled the messenger crow. Aniukashi, intending to lie in wait and attack His Majesty upon his arrival, began hastily gathering troops. However, when he ultimately failed to assemble sufficient numbers, he resolved instead to ambush His Majesty through deception. Feigning loyalty on the surface, he constructed a grand hall under the pretense of welcoming His Majesty. And then, inside it, he installed a suspended ceiling trap and lay in wait.

Then, Otooukashi, the younger brother, stealthily came to His Majesty’s presence and, while prostrating himself, “My elder brother Aniukashi plotted to attack and destroy Your Majesty, and began gathering troops, but as he could not assemble them as desired, he has now constructed a suspended ceiling within the hall and lies in wait there.” “Therefore, I have hastened to come and humbly inform you of this.” Thereupon, the two commanders Michio no Mikoto and Okume no Mikoto summoned Aniukashi and,

“Hey Aniukashi! You who built this hall—you enter it first! Show us how you intend to ‘entertain’ our lord with this hospitality of yours!” they roared, gripping their sword hilts and nocking arrows as they forced him into that very hall. As Aniukashi, driven into a frantic escape, fled inside, the suspended ceiling trap he had set dropped with a heavy thud, crushing him instantly. The two commanders pulled out the corpse, cut it into pieces, and threw them away.

His Majesty bestowed upon all his retainers the feast that Otooukashi had presented and held a grand celebratory banquet. His Majesty, at that time, composed a song meaning: "When they set a snipe trap at Uda Castle and waited, no snipe was caught—instead a great whale was snared, shattering the trap to pieces! Ha ha ha, how absurd!" and laughed joyfully at the ruin of Aniukashi’s scheme.

Then, having departed from that Uda and arrived at a place called Oshisaka, there awaited within a large rock shelter a great number of savage villains known as Yasotakeru—tail-bearing hole-dwellers—who lay in wait to crush His Majesty’s forces.

His Majesty prepared a feast and summoned those villains. In advance, he assigned one attendant to each adversary, had each conceal a longsword, and instructed them to strike all at once upon hearing the signal song. When His Majesty sang out, “Now—strike!” they all drew their longswords simultaneously and slaughtered every last one of the Takeru.

However, for His Majesty, far more detestable than those bandits was Nagasunehiko of Tomi, who had taken his elder brother's life. His Majesty's resentment toward them lingered like ginger's sting upon the tongue—a bitterness he could never forget. He yearned to eradicate them root and shoot as one tears leeks from soil; to encircle them thick as barnacles clinging black to sea stones; to leave none standing. This resolve he wove into a valorous song and sang. And in the end, His Majesty utterly destroyed them.

At that time, on Nagasunehiko's side, there existed a god named Nigihayahi-no-Mikoto who likewise belonged to the Heavenly Deities' lineage. This deity approached His Majesty and declared, "I have learned of the divine child of the Heavenly Deities' arrival, and therefore have come to humbly offer my service." He then presented to His Majesty a treasured artifact that attested to his descent from the Heavenly Deities.

His Majesty then subjugated the brothers Anishiki and Otoshiki. In that battle, His Majesty’s forces fought while lining up their shields in the forest of Mount Inasa, but midway their provisions ran out, and they began to weaken. His Majesty, at that time, “Ah, I too am starved and exhausted.” His Majesty composed a song with the meaning: “You people of this land who wield the Tide Jewels! Bring food swiftly and come to our aid!” His Majesty continued further, subduing various other rampaging deities and relentlessly attacking all who resisted until he finally brought peace to the realm. Thus at Kashihara Palace in Yamato did he ascend to become our first Emperor. Emperor Jimmu is none other than this noble Iwarehikonomikoto of whom we speak.

III

When the Emperor first resided in Hyūga, he took Ahiratsuhime as his consort and fathered Tagishimimi no Mikoto and another male child. However, after ascending to the throne, he sought anew a beautiful woman to establish as Empress.

Then Okume no Mikoto,

“For that purpose, there is indeed a beautiful lady of the Heavenly Deities’ divine lineage named Isukeyorihime—this refers to when Ōmononushi-no-Kami of Miwa Shrine transformed himself into a red-lacquered arrow and approached Seyadatarahime. When the princess took that arrow into her chamber, it instantly reverted to its original form as a splendid male deity and became her husband. Princess Isukeyorihime is the noble lady born between those two,” he reverently declared.

Thereupon, the Emperor took Okume no Mikoto with him and went to see that Isukeyorihime. Then, in the same Yamato, at a field called Takasajino, he encountered seven young women enjoying an outing in the fields. Then, just at that moment, Isukeyorihime was among those seven. When Okume no Mikoto noticed this and sang to the Emperor to inquire which of them he would take, the Emperor immediately discerned that the woman at the very front was Isukeyorihime.

“I will take the one at the very front,” His Majesty answered in song. When Okume no Mikoto approached to convey the imperial command, the princess—startled by his large, glaring eyes—sang: “Ame bird, Tsutsu bird, Plover, Mashitoto— Why do your eyes rend like splitting blades?” This meant: “Why do your eyes shine so large and sharp—like those of the ame bird, tsutsu bird, mashitoto bird, and plovers?”

Okume no Mikoto immediately,

“These are eyes that sought to find you,” he sang.

The princess’s home stood by the Saoi River. Upon its banks, mountain lilies bloomed in profusion. The Emperor visited the princess’s dwelling, stayed one night, and departed. Before long, the princess entered the imperial palace and assumed her station as noble Empress. From their union were born three princely sons: Hikoyai-no-Mikoto, Kamiyaimimi-no-Mikoto, and Kamununakawamimi-no-Mikoto.

The Emperor later passed away at the age of 137. His mortal remains were laid to rest at Mount Unebi.

Then, not long after, Tagishimimi no Mikoto—who had been born earlier in Hyūga—proceeded to kill his three half-brothers, Hikoyai-no-Mikoto and the others, and plotted to act as he pleased alone. Her Majesty the Empress Mother discerned that plot and,

“By day at Mount Unebi, clouds lie quiet and still—hanging motionless—but come evening, tempests arise, and fierce winds begin to howl.” She sang a song whose meaning was, “The leaves rustle noisily, like a harbinger,” thereby subtly making her sons realize that Tagishimimi no Mikoto would soon come to kill them. The three children were astonished upon hearing this and held council, resolving to kill Tagishimimi no Mikoto preemptively.

At that time，the youngest brother，Kamununakawamimi-no-Mikoto，turned to his middle elder brother，Kamiyaimimi-no-Mikoto，and... “Then，you must force your way into Mikoto’s residence and slay him，” he declared.

So Kamiyaimimi-no-Mikoto took up his sword and set out, but when the moment came, he began trembling violently and could not bring himself to strike. Thereupon, his younger brother Lord Kamununakawamimi-no-Mikoto took up that sword, advanced forward, and in one breath slew Lord Tagishimimi-no-Mikoto.

Kamiyaimimi-no-Mikoto later addressed his younger brother Lord Kamununakawamimi-no-Mikoto,

“Though I could not slay that foe, you have accomplished it splendidly.” “Therefore, though I am your elder brother, I cannot ascend as ruler of the people.” “I pray you take the Imperial throne and govern the realm. I shall assume the duty of venerating the gods and serve you.” Thereupon, his younger brother Kamununakawamimi-no-Mikoto, setting aside both elder brothers, ascended to the throne, moved to Katsuragi Palace in Yamato, and ruled the land. This was His Majesty Suizei, the Second Sovereign.

His Majesty was short-lived and passed away at the age of forty-five.

Red shields, black shields

1

After seven generations from Emperor Suizei, Emperor Sujin ascended to the throne as the tenth emperor.

His Majesty had twelve children. Among them, Princess Toyosukiirihime became the first to serve at the shrine of Amaterasu Ōmikami in Ise and preside over its rituals. Also, when Prince Wakahiko-no-Mikoto passed away, the custom called hitogaki—burying people alive around the tomb to serve as attendants—began. During the reign of this Emperor, an epidemic spread so severely that nearly all the people were on the verge of perishing.

The Emperor grieved profoundly and, resolving to receive divine guidance about what should be done, purified his august person and humbly seated himself upon his bed. Then, in that night’s dream, Ōmononushi-no-Kami of Miwa Shrine appeared and declared: “This current epidemic has been spread by none other than I. If you wish to utterly eradicate it,” he proclaimed, “have one called Ōtataneko enshrine my shrine.” The Emperor immediately dispatched swift horses to the four directions to search for a person by that name. When he did so, one messenger found that person in a place called Minu Village, Kawachi, and brought him forth.

The Emperor promptly summoned him into his presence, “Whose child are you?” he inquired. Thereupon, Ōtataneko, “I am the child of one called Lord Takemikazuchi, descended from the bloodline of Ōmononushi-no-Kami,” he responded. The reason for this was that five generations prior to Ōtataneko, there lived an exceedingly beautiful woman named Ikutamayorihime, the daughter of a man called Suezu Mimi no Mikoto. This Yorihime once took a young man as her husband. That person, from his facial features to the noble beauty of his bearing, was a splendid and dignified figure without equal in all the world.

Yorihime was soon about to give birth. However, that husband stayed by Yorihime’s side only at night from the very beginning; come dawn, he would vanish somewhere without a trace, never showing his face to anyone—not even to his wife Yorihime did he reveal who he was or where he came from.

Yorihime's father and mother, wanting by any means to determine where that bridegroom was from and who he was, one day addressed Yorihime and said, “Tonight, spread red earth in the room. Then prepare a ball of hemp thread threaded through a needle. When the bridegroom comes, quietly insert that needle into the hem of his robe.”

Yorihime did as she was told that night, piercing the hem of the bridegroom’s robe with a needle threaded with hemp and leaving it there. When morning came and they looked, the hemp thread attached to the needle had trailed out through the keyhole of the door. And the ball of thread had completely unraveled, leaving only a length sufficient to wind three times around a spool remaining inside the room.

Thus, they finally understood that the bridegroom had been entering and exiting through the keyhole of the door. Yorihime proceeded steadily in the direction the thread was trailing and found that it finally entered Miwa Shrine and stopped there. Thus, for the first time, they realized that the bridegroom was none other than Ōmononushi-no-Kami. Ōtataneko was the fourth-generation descendant of the child born between these two. The Emperor promptly appointed Ōtataneko as the chief priest of Miwa Shrine and had him conduct the rituals for Ōmononushi-no-Kami. Together with this, he had a great number of earthenware vessels for offerings made and enshrined the gods of the great sky and the many deities of the lower world. To some of those deities, he specially presented red shields and black-lacquered shields.

In addition, he presented offerings to each and every one without exception—from the mountain deities to the river-rapid deities—and conducted rituals with solemn reverence. As a result, the epidemic eventually ceased completely, and the realm finally became tranquil.

2

The Emperor then dispatched Ōbiko-no-Mikoto to Hokurikudō, his son Takenunakawawake-no-Mikoto to Tōsandō, and other capable warriors to various regions, thereby subjugating the multitudes of evildoers who defied his command.

Ōbiko-no-Mikoto respectfully departed to carry out the command, but when he came to a place called Heirasaka in Yamashiro along the way, there stood a young girl wearing only a loincloth atop that slope,

"Listen well, O Heavenly Sovereign, One seeks to slay you, At the foregate, "

At the back gate, Pacing back and forth, those who lie in wait for an opening, unaware that they are there, Listen here, O Heavenly Sovereign.

And she sang these words. Ōbiko-no-Mikoto thought it strange and specially turned his horse back,

“What was that you just said?” he inquired.

Thereupon, the young girl replied, “I have said nothing at all. I merely sang a song”—and with that, she suddenly vanished, gone to who knows where.

Because Ōbiko-no-Mikoto could not shake off his concern about the words of that song, he ultimately turned back and reported the matter to the Emperor. The Emperor then declared, “That must surely be word of my half-brother Takehaniyasuhiko in Yamashiro plotting evil deeds. You shall now lead the army and go at once to subjugate them,” assigning Lord Hikokuni Fuku to accompany him and dispatching them together.

The two conducted rituals for the gods, prayed for victory, and set out. When they reached Kizu River in Yamashiro, Takehaniyasuhiko—just as anticipated—had rebelled against the Emperor by gathering soldiers and lying in wait. Both armies took positions facing each other across the river as Hikokuni Fuku no Mikoto confronted the enemy. “You there! Lead off—shoot your first arrow!” he bellowed. The enemy general Takehaniyasuhiko immediately responded by loosing a large arrow with a whoosh that veered off course without striking anyone. Then when Hikokuni Fuku no Mikoto loosed an arrow in return, it pierced Takehaniyasuhiko true to its aim and killed him.

When the king perished, the enemy forces immediately collapsed entirely and began fleeing in droves. Hikokuni Fuku no Mikoto’s soldiers relentlessly pursued them, driving the fleeing forces all the way to a river crossing in Kawachi Province. In their desperation, some of the rebel soldiers shit themselves, soiling their lower hakama. Our forces blocked their escape routes and proceeded to slaughter them one after another. The countless corpses floated in the river and flowed downstream just like cormorants.

Ōbiko-no-Mikoto reported all details to the Emperor and departed anew for Hokurikudō. In time, Ōbiko-no-Mikoto and his son along with all others dispatched to various regions pacified their assigned territories and returned. Thus at last none remained who defied the Emperor anywhere under heaven; the realm was peacefully governed, and the people grew ever more prosperous. Thereupon for the first time the Emperor levied tributes from the people: from men a portion of game taken by bow and arrow called the "bow-end tax," and from women a portion of spun or woven goods called the "hand-end tax."

The Emperor also created irrigation ponds for the people in various regions. The Emperor’s lofty virtue was reverently extolled for all eternity, even by generations to come.

Prince Oshi

1

Following Emperor Sujin’s reign, His Majesty’s child, Emperor Suinin, succeeded to the throne. The Emperor took Her Majesty Saho-hime—younger sister of Lord Saho-biko—as his Empress and relocated to Tamagaki Palace in Yamato. That Saho-biko, on one occasion, addressed the Empress, “Between your husband and your brother, which do you hold dear?” he asked. The Empress replied, “I hold my brother dearer.”

“I hold Brother Lord dearer,” she replied with reverence. Then, the King stealthily handed the sharp dagger he had prepared to the Empress, “If you truly care for me, then use this dagger to stab and kill the Emperor where he rests.” “And then the two of us shall rule the realm together forever, shall we not?” he declared, forcibly persuading the Empress.

Because the Emperor was unaware that the two were engaged in such a dreadful scheme, one night, without any suspicion, he laid his head upon the Empress’s lap and fell asleep.

The Empress, thinking this was the moment, suddenly drew the dagger, aimed it at the base of His Majesty’s neck, and raised it three times—but when the critical moment came, she found herself overcome with pity and could not bring herself to strike. And finally, unable to bear her sorrow, the Empress burst into loud sobs. The tears flowed down onto His Majesty’s face. At that very moment, His Majesty the Emperor awoke abruptly and,

"I have just had a strange dream," His Majesty said to the Empress. "From Saho Village came sudden torrential rain that drenched my face. Then a small brocade-patterned snake coiled around my neck. What omen could this portend?" When thus addressed, the Empress started violently. Realizing concealment was impossible, she confessed in full the dreadful plot she and Brother Lord had devised.

When the Emperor heard this, he was greatly surprised,

“No—that was nearly a disastrous blunder,” His Majesty declared while immediately gathering his forces and dispatching them to subjugate Saho-biko.

Meanwhile, on Saho-biko’s side, they had piled straw bundles in a circle to construct a fortress and were lying properly in wait. The Emperor’s army launched an attack aimed at it. When this occurred, the Empress became deeply concerned for Brother Lord once more and could no longer remain still. And so, she finally slipped out through the back gate and hurried into Saho-biko’s fortress.

At that very moment, Her Majesty the Empress was with child.

The Emperor, for she was his Empress whom he had cherished for three long years and who now happened to be with child, felt all the more pity for Her Majesty. Desiring that no harm come to her person, he henceforth issued explicit orders: to merely lay siege from afar and refrain from reckless attempts to storm the fortress.

2

Amidst the prolonged conflict, Her Majesty the Empress gave birth to a prince within Brother Lord’s fortress. The Empress had the prince taken outside the fortress and showed him to the Emperor’s forces, “If Your Majesty would consider this child as your own, please take him into your care and raise him,” she had it conveyed to the Emperor.

When His Majesty the Emperor heard this, he resolved to retrieve the Empress as well. This was because while His Majesty burned with such wrath toward Brother Saho-biko that not even mincing him to death would suffice, toward the Empress alone he continued to hold endless tenderness. Therefore, from among his allied soldiers, His Majesty selected several men strongest in might and swiftest in movement,

“When you receive that Prince, be sure to abduct the mother Empress as well and bring her back.” “Seize her by the hair or hands—whatever you can grab—and forcibly drag her out,” His Majesty commanded. However, the Empress, having keenly discerned that the Emperor would undoubtedly devise such a scheme, had prepared for this moment in advance: she had completely shaved off her hair and softly covered her head with the shorn locks; deliberately rotted the fastening cords of the bead ornaments on her wrists and wrapped them three times around her arms; donned a robe specially treated with sake to weaken its fabric; and thus, cradling the prince indifferently, she emerged from the fortress.

The waiting warriors, upon receiving the prince and attempting to seize the Empress as well, swiftly lunged and grabbed at her hair—whereupon the locks slipped smoothly away and came off in their hands.

“Oh no!” they cried, seizing her hand—but as they did so, the cords of her bead ornaments snapped cleanly, allowing Her Majesty to slip free effortlessly and flee. They frantically gave chase once more and seized hold of her robe. Then, it too instantly tore apart with a ragged rip. In the meantime, the Empress swiftly retreated inside and escaped. The warriors, having no other choice, took the prince in their arms and returned dejectedly.

The Emperor received from those individuals, When he heard, “We grabbed Her Majesty’s hair, but it slipped away; the cords of her bead ornaments and her robes all snapped cleanly—we ultimately failed to capture her,” he was utterly grief-stricken. Because of this, the Emperor came to despise even the court jewelers and craftsmen of ornamental beads, and abruptly confiscated all of the lands those people had been granted as fiefs.

After that, he once again sent an envoy to Her Majesty the Empress, “It is established that a child’s name is given by the mother, but what name shall we give that prince?” he inquired. The Empress responded to that, “The child was born amidst flames as the fortress burned ablaze, so it would be fitting to call him Prince Homutsuwake,” she said. The “homuchi” in his name meant “fire.”

The Emperor then inquired of the Empress, "That child has no mother—how should we raise him henceforth?" Her Majesty replied, "Then if Your Majesty would engage wet nurses and appoint women to draw hot water, entrusting these matters to them would be most fitting."

Finally, the Emperor inquired, “If you are gone, who will take care of me?” Then the Empress responded, “In that case, there are sisters named Anahime and Otohime—daughters of Lord Michino Usu of Tanba. Since these women are of proper lineage, please summon the two of them.” The Emperor, finally having no other choice, stormed the fortress in one fell swoop and had Saho-biko killed.

Her Majesty the Empress also plunged into the blazing flames alongside him and perished.

3

Despite being motherless, Prince Homutsuwake nevertheless grew up happily, steadily and robustly. For the sake of this prince, the Emperor specifically had a large forked cedar tree cut down from a place called Aizu in Owari, then had a forked dugout canoe hollowed out from it as it was. And had it transported all the way to Yamato, where he had it floated on a pond called Ishi no Ike. He then boarded it together with the prince and had the prince play there.

However, even after this prince had fully come of age and his long beard hung down to his chest, he still could not utter a single word.

Then, one day, when he saw a crested ibis crying out as it flew across the sky—for the first time since his birth—

“Ah! Ah!” he uttered. His Majesty the Emperor promptly commanded a man named Yamabe no Ōtaka,

“Go and catch that bird,” His Majesty commanded. Yamabe no Ōtaka obediently chased the bird’s trail without respite—descending through Kii Province and Harima Province, racing across Inaba, Tanba, and Tajima from there, then turning eastward to pass through Ōmi, Mino, and Owari before entering Shinano, finally tracking it as far as the Echigo region. And at last, after setting up trap nets at a port called Wanami, he finally managed to capture that crested ibis. And he hurried back to the capital and presented it to the Emperor.

The Emperor, having wondered whether showing that bird to the prince might lead him to deign to speak, had specifically dispatched someone to capture it. However, the prince still did not utter a single word.

It was impossible to fathom how greatly His Majesty the Emperor's heart had been tormented because of this.

Eventually, one night, he suddenly found himself in a dream— “If my shrine is rebuilt magnificently to match the Emperor’s palace, then the prince will surely gain speech.” Such was the divine oracle he received. The Emperor, wondering which deity had issued this proclamation, urgently commanded his diviners to perform rites of augury. When they did so, it became clear this was an oracle from the Great Deity of Izumo—and that the prince had been born mute due to that god’s curse.

Therefore, the Emperor immediately resolved to send the prince to Izumo to pay worship. When he wondered who should accompany him and had another divination performed, Prince Aketeru was appointed to conduct the rite. The Emperor commanded Prince Aketeru and, as added precaution, had him perform a confirmatory divination prayer. In accordance with the imperial decree, Prince Aketeru went to Sagi’s Nest Pond and,

When Prince Aketeru prayed, "If worshiping the Great Deity of Izumo as instructed in that dream oracle will bring a sign, let this pond's herons die here as proof," all the herons in the pond—perched on the surrounding trees—flapped down into the water at once and perished. Then he prayed again, saying, "May all those herons come back to life," whereupon the once-dead herons instantly revived, returning to their original state. Next, the large-leaved oak tree flourishing atop Old Oak Hill also withered and revived again through Prince Aketeru's prayers in the same manner.

Thus it became certain beyond doubt that the dream oracle truly came from the Great Deity of Izumo. The Emperor promptly assigned Prince Aketeru and Prince Utsutsukou to accompany Prince Homutsuwake and dispatched them to Izumo. At the time of their departure, he again commanded a divination to determine which route they should take. The divination revealed that taking the Nara Kaidō would lead them to encounter cripples and blind people along the way, while the Ōsaka-guchi route would likewise bring meetings with blind people and cripples—both paths being inauspicious for embarking on a journey. It further declared that by taking the detour through the Kii Kaidō, their departure would assuredly be favorable. The entire party set out accordingly.

The Emperor, to ensure the prince’s name would endure through future generations, had the Homutsube tribe established at every place along their journey. The prince at last arrived in Izumo and worshipped at the shrine of the Great Deity. When he prepared to return to the capital, the provincial governor—supreme official governing Izumo—constructed a temporary palace within the Hino River, spanned it with a bridge woven from slender saplings, and there hosted a feast in honor of the prince.

At that time downstream, an artificial mountain made of fresh green leaves had been constructed to comfort the prince's eyes. The prince beheld it,

“That greenery downstream that appears like a mountain—that cannot be a real mountain. Is that perhaps a place where the priests hold festivals for Ōkuninushi?” he abruptly inquired. The attendants, including Prince Aketeru and Prince Utsutsukou, were astonished and overjoyed that the prince had suddenly begun to speak. They immediately dispatched a swift messenger to inform the Emperor of this matter. The prince then proceeded to another palace and took a woman named Hinagahime as his consort.

However, when they later looked upon her, it became clear she was a snake who had transformed into a woman and emerged. The prince, startled, boarded a ship together with everyone and fled in haste. Then, the serpent princess, longing for the prince, hastily prepared another ship and came chasing after them across the glittering sea surface as she relentlessly pursued. The prince grew increasingly unsettled and, in his panic, had the ship hauled up, dragged it across between the mountains, lowered it back into the sea to cross over, and thus finally escaped safely back to the capital.

Prince Aketeru appeared before the Emperor and reported, “When His Highness worshiped the Great Deity in accordance with your imperial command, he soon suddenly gained the ability to speak. Thus, we all accompanied him and have returned.” The Emperor was delighted beyond all measure. He promptly had Prince Utsutsukou dispatched once again to Izumo and had the Great Deity’s shrine magnificently constructed.

4

Now that His Majesty the Emperor had been fully reassured by this outcome, he next sought to address the ongoing difficulties in attending to matters at his side. In accordance with instructions the Empress had previously given and left in place, he summoned the four siblings—Anihime and her brothers—from Tanba. However, as the two younger siblings were exceedingly unattractive in appearance, His Majesty the Emperor retained only Anihime and the next brother, Otōhime, in his service, sending the remaining two directly back home.

Then, the youngest sister Ennohime declared that if all four of them had been summoned together for an audience yet only two were sent home for their unsightly faces making them unfit for service, the shame to their reputation in neighboring villages would be unbearable—she could not possibly go on living. When she had returned as far as Otokuni in Yamashiro along the way, she pitifully cast herself into a deep abyss there and perished. Thereafter, in a certain year, His Majesty the Emperor commanded a man called Tajimamori to journey to Tokoyo-no-kuni and retrieve the fragrant tachibana fruit.

Tajimamori accepted the command with reverence and, after many long years of painstaking effort through hardships, finally reached that distant land beyond the endless great sea. He gathered eight tachibana fruits with their branches and leaves still attached, and eight consisting solely of fruit, as commanded. After another prolonged period, he at last returned to the capital. However, the Emperor had already passed away before his arrival. When Tajimamori learned of this, he became utterly disheartened. He presented four of the leaf-bearing fruits and four without leaves to Anihime, who had served by the Emperor’s side, then offered the remaining four of each type at the Emperor’s tomb. Weeping and wailing, he raised his voice in lamentation,

“Please look.” “As you commanded, I have brought the tachibana fruits.” “Please look,” he cried, holding up the tachibana with both hands. Again and again he shouted before the tomb—until at last he perished from his endless shouting.

White bird

1

The 12th Emperor Keikō possessed a majestic physique—his stature measuring twelve shaku and two sun, with his lower legs alone reaching four shaku and one sun. And he fathered a total of eighty children. Among these, His Majesty the Emperor kept by his side only Prince Wakatarashihiko—who would later succeed him—the prince called Ousu, and one other, while assigning all seventy-seven remaining children to roles as provincial governors, regional administrators, and district chiefs across the land.

On one occasion, His Majesty the Emperor heard rumors that two sisters—Anihime and Otōhime, daughters of a lord named Kamiōne no Ōkimi in Mino—were both exceedingly fair of countenance. After personally verifying this report, he promptly resolved to take them into his palace service. He thus commanded Prince Ōusu no Mikoto to summon and bring the two women to the court. Thereupon, Ōusu no Mikoto took those two women into his own service instead. He then sought out another pair of sisters, passed them off as Anihime and Otōhime, and had them presented before His Majesty the Emperor.

The Emperor had clearly discerned that they were other women. However, on the surface, His Majesty feigned complete ignorance of the deception and allowed the two women to remain in the palace as they were. Instead, His Majesty deliberately assigned even trivial tasks close at hand to other attendants, thereby indirectly provoking their displeasure. After committing such a misdeed, Ōusu no Mikoto felt ashamed to present himself before His Majesty the Emperor and ceased showing his face entirely.

One day, His Majesty the Emperor addressed his younger brother, Prince Ousu: “Why does your elder brother never appear even for morning and evening meals of late? Go and make him understand this properly,” he commanded. Yet even after five days had passed, Prince Ōusu still did not show his face. Thereupon the Emperor summoned Prince Ousu and—

“Why has Brother not come out for meals even now?” “And have you still not told him?” the Emperor inquired. “No, I have informed him,” Prince Ousu replied. “Then, how exactly did you speak to him?” “I simply waited early in the morning for O-Aniisama to enter the privy,” Prince Ousu stated with utter nonchalance, his tone unflinching, “grabbed him, wrenched off his limbs, wrapped the corpse in a mat, and dumped it.”

From that time forth, the Emperor was terrified by Prince Ousu’s harsh and violent temperament and began considering ways to discreetly remove him from his presence. And so, not long after, he summoned Prince Ousu: “In truth, there are siblings named Kumaso Takeru in the west.” “Both are impudent wretches who refuse to obey my commands.” “You shall now go forth and strike them down,” commanded the Emperor. And so Prince Ousu hurried down to Ise and bade farewell to his honorable aunt Yamatohime, who was serving at the Grand Shrine.

Then, from his honorable aunt, he received an imperial garment, trousers, and a dagger as tokens of farewell.

Prince Ousu then immediately proceeded to the regions of present-day Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma. At that time, Prince Ousu was still but a mere boy with his hair tied at his forehead.

2 When Prince Ousu arrived in that land and approached Kumaso Takeru's residence to observe the situation, the brothers had deployed their forces in a threefold encirclement around the dwelling where they resided. Coincidentally, the house had just been completed at that time, and with plans underway for an imminent celebratory banquet, they were engaged in frantic preparations. Prince Ousu wandered aimlessly about the area, biding his time until the day of the feast arrived. When the appointed day finally came, he loosened his bound hair into a maidenly style, clad himself in the garments bestowed by his honorable aunt, and fully assumed the guise of a young girl. Blending in among the other women, he then made his way into the banquet hall of the Kumaso Takeru brothers.

Thereupon, the Kumaso Takeru brothers became utterly convinced that Prince Ousu was truly a woman. So taken were they by his beautiful appearance that they specially seated him between themselves and reveled in great delight with their drinking. Prince Ousu, gauging that everyone was thoroughly engrossed, quietly drew his sword from his robe. No sooner had he done so than he suddenly seized his elder brother Takeru by the collar with one hand and thrust it through his chest, ending his life.

When Younger Brother Takeru saw this, he panicked and tried to flee the room.

Prince Ousu, without delay, chased him down to the foot of the stairs, swiftly grabbed his back, and thrust deeply into his buttocks.

Takeru did not even struggle,

“Please do not move that blade for a moment.” “There is one matter I must relate,” he said. As His Highness kept the dagger embedded and maintained his pinning hold, Takeru—

“Who in the world are you?” he asked. “I am Yamato Wakaō no Ōkimi, son of His Majesty Emperor Ōtarashihiko who reigns over the land from Hishiro Palace in Yamato. Since you two have disobeyed the Emperor’s command and persisted in nothing but insolent conduct, I have come by imperial decree to subjugate you,” Prince Ousu declared with solemn authority.

Takeru, upon hearing this, “Indeed—you must be that noble one without doubt.” “In all this western land, there is not a single person stronger than the two of us.” “Yet in Yamato there exists one who surpasses even us in splendor.” “With all due reverence, I shall bestow upon you a noble name.” “Henceforth I shall address you as Yamato Takeru no Mikoto,” he declared.

As soon as Takeru finished saying that, His Highness cut down the ruffian as if slicing through a ripe melon, savagely hacking him to pieces.

From that time forth, everyone extolled His Highness's martial valor and began reverently referring to him by the noble name of Yamato Takeru no Mikoto. His Highness Yamato Takeru no Mikoto, on his return journey to Yamato, first subdued one after another the evil deities—those so-called mountain gods, river gods, and gods of rocky passes who had entrenched themselves in perilous places across the land—and then proceeded to Izumo Province, where he vanquished the villain Izumo Takeru, who had been dominating those parts.

His Highness Yamato Takeru no Mikoto first visited the villain’s residence and formed an association with him. Afterward, he secretly carved an akahinoki tree into the shape of a sword, decorated it to resemble a splendid tachi and hung it at his side, then lured Takeru out so the two of them might bathe in the waters of Hino River. Then, gauging an opportune moment, he ascended first himself and, while attaching Takeru’s tachi to his person as if in jest,

“How about the two of us exchange these swords?” declared His Highness Yamato Takeru no Mikoto. Izumo Takeru then clambered up sluggishly after him, “Very well, let us exchange,” he said, unknowingly attaching the Prince’s counterfeit sword to his waist as he fell for the deception. His Highness Yamato Takeru no Mikoto,

“Come, let us have a match between the two of us,” declared Yamato Takeru no Mikoto. When both moved to draw their swords, Izumo Takeru’s blade—being counterfeit—refused to yield no matter how he strained. While Izumo Takeru floundered in confusion, Yamato Takeru no Mikoto swiftly drew the true sword and cut down the villain in one stroke. Afterwards, he composed a song mocking how Izumo Takeru had struggled with the unyielding blade and laughed heartily.

3 His Highness, having thus quelled all bandits along his path, returned to Yamato and reported everything to the Emperor. Thereupon, without delay, the Emperor issued another command: His Highness was to subjugate both the malevolent deities of twelve eastern provinces and those rebels who defied imperial authority. He conferred upon him a sacred holly spear and appointed Mikatsutomimimotachi Hiko as his attendant.

His Highness obeyed the command and once again departed immediately. And along the way, he visited the Ise Shrine and bade farewell once again to his honorable aunt Yamato-hime. At that time, His Highness spoke to his honorable aunt: "The Emperor must be intending to have me die quickly. Yet no sooner had I just now returned—after having been away until recently subjugating the western bandits—than His Majesty sends me out again immediately this time to defeat the eastern villains. What could be the reason for this? Moreover, His Majesty does not even grant me anything resembling a proper army. Considering all this, I cannot help but conclude that His Majesty’s intention is none other than to have me perish quickly." His Highness thus spoke and, with tears streaming down his face, attempted to rise.

His honorable aunt gently soothed His Highness's resentment, then bestowed upon him that noble divine sword—a treasure Susanoo-no-Mikoto had retrieved from the tail of the great serpent in the Age of Gods—along with a single bag, commanding thus: "Should sudden peril arise, loosen this bag's cord."

His Highness then entered Owari and stayed at the residence of Miyazu-hime, daughter of the provincial governor there. And having left word that he would surely stop by again on his return, His Highness proceeded further into the eastern lands, subduing one by one the violent gods dwelling in mountains and rivers, along with all other evildoers who refused to serve the Emperor. And before long, His Highness arrived in Sagami Province. Then, the provincial governor there plotted to kill His Highness,

“Out there in the fields lies a large marsh,” declared the provincial governor. “The deity dwelling within that marsh is a truly violent brute, and all are sorely troubled by it,” he deceitfully added. His Highness obligingly accepted this and entered into the midst of that field, whereupon the provincial governor suddenly set fire to the plain and began fiercely burning it from all directions. His Highness realized for the first time that he had been deceived by that brute. Meanwhile, the fire pressed ever closer, and his person became imperiled.

His Highness recalled his honorable aunt's command and hurriedly untied the cord of that bag to look inside, where he found a fire striker. His Highness thereupon swiftly drew the divine sword from among its treasures, mowed down the surrounding grass in great swathes, and using the fire striker set ablaze that cut vegetation—igniting a counter-fire that advanced inversely against the encroaching flames. His Highness finally managed to escape from that field.

And then suddenly, His Highness slaughtered them all—the wicked provincial governor and his underlings—set them ablaze, and thus put an end to them. From that time forth, that place came to be called Yai-zu. From then on, the divine sword with which His Highness had cut through the grass came to be reverently called Kusanagi no Tsurugi. His Highness Yamato Takeru no Mikoto departed from the Sagami Peninsula and attempted to cross by boat toward Kazusa. Then midway through their journey, the Sea God suddenly whipped up a great wave and threw the entire sea into turmoil. His Highness’s ship was instantly spun around and swept away, becoming unable to advance or retreat.

At that moment, Oto Tachibana Hime—the attendant accompanying His Highness Yamato Takeru no Mikoto—

“This must surely be the Sea God’s divine wrath,” she declared. “I shall become your substitute and appease the Sea God. Please fulfill the Emperor’s command and return there triumphantly.” With these words, she had eight sedge mats, six leather mats, and eight silk mats layered upon one another and cast onto the waves—then whirled about and leapt onto them.

The great wave swallowed Hime in the blink of an eye. At that very moment, the sea that had been raging violently until now abruptly stilled and became a tranquil calm. Thanks to her sacrifice, His Highness was finally able to advance his ship and arrive safely at Kazusa's shore.

On the seventh day thereafter, Tachibana Hime's comb was washed ashore on this beach. His Highness had the comb retrieved and had a tomb built for the pitiable Hime.

Regarding the song that Oto Tachibana Hime had sung during her lifetime, O Sagami, In Sagami’s small field, Blazing fire, Standing in the midst of fire, You who inquired of me— This song had been sung as a memorial to never forget that noble sentiment—how even during that perilous moment when His Highness had stood amidst the blazing flames of the fire attack on Sagami Plain, he had shown such deep concern for her, comforting and inquiring after her in countless ways, truly a man of deep compassion.

From there, His Highness pressed ever onward, subjugating unruly evildoers wherever he went and bringing even the violent gods of mountains and rivers under his command.

And so it came to pass that His Highness was finally able to return once more to Yamato. While His Highness was partaking of a meal at the foot of Ashigara Mountain's slope during his journey, the god of the slope transformed into a white deer, appeared before him, and stood staring fixedly at His Highness. When His Highness saw that, he took a leftover piece of garlic chive and hurled it at the deer. Then, it struck right in the eye, and the deer collapsed with a thud.

His Highness then ascended to the summit of the slope, gazed out at the eastern sea from there, and profoundly reflected upon the pitiable Oto Tachibana Hime while— “Ah, Azuma!” "(Ah, my woman!)" he lamented. From that time forth, those surrounding lands came to be called Azuma.

IV

His Highness proceeded from there to Kai Province. And when he took up residence at the palace called Sakawori Palace, “Passing through Niibari and Tsukuba, How many nights have I slept?” When His Highness sang this, an old man tending the bonfire’s light immediately took up the verse after him, “In total, Nights numbered nine, Days numbered ten.” That was, “While subduing the Emishi tribesmen and passing through Niihari and Tsukuba in Hitachi to reach here,” His Highness declared,

It meant that when he counted, it came to nine nights slept and the arrival of the tenth day. His Highness graciously praised the answering song and, as a reward, appointed the old man to the position of Governor of the Eastern Provinces.

After that, His Highness entered Shinano, subjugated the god of that borderland, and temporarily returned to his original destination of Owari. His Highness kept his earlier promise by lodging at Miyazu-hime's residence along the way. Then entrusting the Grass-Cutting Divine Sword to Hime, he set out to subjugate the mountain god of Mount Ibuki in Ōmi. His Highness declared, "A mountain god of this level I could slay even barehanded," and began vigorously ascending. Then along the path appeared a massive white wild boar as large as a cow. His Highness,

Surely this wild boar that had transformed and appeared could not be the mountain god itself. It was likely just a servant of the deity. "There’s no need to kill such a creature now—it will suffice to finish it off on my return," he declared with arrogance, continuing his climb unabated.

Then, suddenly, a great hailstorm began to pour down. As soon as His Highness was assailed by the hailstorm, he grew unsteady and dizzy, his consciousness receding as if he had become intoxicated.

The reason for this was that the white wild boar from earlier was not a servant of the mountain god—it was the mountain god itself transformed into that form. Because His Highness had disdained it so and uttered such bold words, the mountain god became terribly enraged and immediately caused poison-laden hail to fall, tormenting His Highness. His Highness was utterly bewildered, but in any case, he finally managed to descend the mountain and took rest by a spring welling up in a place called Tamakurabe. And at that moment, for the first time, His Highness's condition had stabilized somewhat. However, His Highness ultimately had his body completely ruined by the poison.

Before long, His Highness departed from there and arrived at a field in Mino called Togi no.

“Ah, I always thought I could even fly through the sky, yet now I can no longer walk.” “My legs have become bent like a ship’s rudder,” he lamented. And so His Highness walked on a little further as he was, but soon became utterly exhausted, so he finally leaned on a staff and advanced step by step. In such a manner, when His Highness finally returned to the seaside location of Otsu no Saki in Ise—where stood a single pine tree—the sword he had inadvertently left behind while taking a meal beneath that pine during his previous journey remained there intact, not having been lost.

His Highness,

"Oh single pine! You guarded my sword well." "If you were human, I would gird you with a sword as reward and clothe you in fine robes," he sang joyfully, composing these verses. Then His Highness forced himself onward and reached an unnamed village.

His Highness, at that time, "My legs have become triply bent. I am too exhausted to walk," he lamented. However, even so, he forced himself to walk and arrived at a field called Nobono. His Highness, in the midst of that field, deeply contemplated matters of home, Encircled by those green mountains, How I long for beautiful Yamato! However, oh I— To that beloved land as well, I cannot return.

All living things, now as we cross over, that Mount Heguri’s oak leaves— adorn your hair and revel in celebration. His Highness sang a song that meant: Oh! O direction of my home, clouds come rising.

(Oh, how I yearn— *where my home stands—* From the direction of distant Yamato, Clouds come rising.)

And so he sang. Then, together with that song, His Highness’s condition suddenly turned critical. At last, His Highness— *At the maiden’s bedside edge— the great blade I left behind.* *That sword—ah!* —sang of how even the treasured sword he had left at Miyazu-hime’s dwelling could never again be grasped in his hand. As his song concluded, he departed from this world.

Hayouma's messenger rushed to report this matter to the Emperor.

From Yamato, His Highness’s consorts and children came in startled haste. They built His Highness’s imperial mausoleum and prostrated themselves amid the surrounding rice fields, wailing loudly. Then His Highness—who had passed away—transformed into a great white bird, emerged from within the tomb, soared high into the sky, and flew toward the seashore.

When the consorts and children saw this, they immediately began weeping as they chased after it. Even when bamboo stumps wounded their feet, leaving them bloodied, they forgot the pain and pressed onward with all their might. And in the end, they even entered the sea, splashing noisily as they continued pursuing. The white bird left those people behind and flew onward, passing from rock to rock through the sea.

The consort struggled through the tide as she sobbed loudly.

The bird finally arrived and alighted at a place called Shiki in Kawachi, having come all the way from Ise. And so, they built a tomb there and once enshrined him at that place, but the bird flew out again, soared high into the sky, and vanished to parts unknown.

5.

His Highness had six sons, all male. Among them, the one called His Highness Okinaga Tarashi Hiko later succeeded to the throne after Emperor Seimu, his grandfather's successor. This was none other than Emperor Chūai. While His Highness was subjugating the various regions, a man named Nanatsukahagi always accompanied him as his cook.

His father, Emperor Keikō, passed away at the age of one hundred and thirty-seven.

The Korean Expedition

1.

In a certain year, Emperor Chūai personally went down to subjugate the Kumaso and took up residence at the palace known as Kashii-no-Miya in Chikuzen. At that time, the Emperor, one night, resolved to receive an oracle from the deities regarding strategies for the war. He had Minister Takeuchi no Sukune sit in the ritual space, and while playing the koto himself, the two of them prayed together. Then, a certain deity descended into the body of Empress Okinaga Tarashi Hime and, borrowing her mouth,

“There exists a land to the west,” declared the deity through the Empress’s voice, “overflowing with gold and silver—a veritable trove of dazzling treasures. Rather than that trifling Kumaso territory, I shall first grant you that country.” “Yet even were I to climb high and gaze westward,” replied the Emperor, “that direction shows naught but boundless ocean—no land visible whatsoever.” And in his heart, he thought: This cannot be a true god. Surely some deceitful spirit has possessed her.

This cannot be a true deity. Concluding that a deceitful god must have taken possession, he pushed aside the koto and sat in silence.

Then the deity became greatly angered, “To one who doubts my words like this—I cannot entrust this land to such a person. You should go ahead and die right away,” declared the deity.

When Sukune heard those words, he was startled.

“This is dire! Your Majesty, please play the koto more fervently!” he urgently advised. The Emperor reluctantly drew the koto toward himself and plucked its strings half-heartedly for a time as mere pretense, but soon the sound abruptly ceased. Sukune, sensing something amiss, raised a lamp to look and found the Emperor already breathless, collapsed where he sat.

Both the Empress and Sukune, shocked and terrified by the divine punishment from the deities, hurriedly moved his august remains to a temporary shrine. First and foremost, to appease the deities' wrath, they had those throughout the land who had committed defiling acts—from skinning beasts alive and flaying them upside down, to destroying rice field banks, filling ditches, scattering filth, and other unspeakably vile crimes—each sought out one by one. Using sacred wands, they purified them and eradicated all impurity from the realm entirely. And Sukune once again sat in the ritual space and humbly prayed anew for the deities' oracle.

Then from the deities came a similar decree regarding the western country that had been spoken of before. "Furthermore, this land of Japan shall be governed by the child who now dwells within Your Majesty's womb," declared the deities. The Empress was indeed with child at that very moment. Having heard this decree, Sukune inquired: "If I may ask with utmost reverence—is the child now residing in Your Majesty's womb male or female?"

"The child is a male," declared the deity. Sukune, still wishing to inquire about all matters, spoke: "I truly apologize for my impertinence, but may I inquire as to who Your Excellency is, who deigns to bestow each and every oracle in this manner? I humbly beseech you to kindly reveal your august name." The deity, once again through the mouth of the Empress, proclaimed: "This is all by the divine will of Amaterasu Ōmikami. Moreover, the three gods Sokotsutsunoo-no-Mikoto, Nakatsutsunoo-no-Mikoto, and Uhatsutsunoo-no-Mikoto have also jointly issued this decree." There, for the first time, the deity revealed their august names.

The deity spoke once more: "If you truly wish to obtain that western land, first make offerings to all gods of the great heavens and earth—the mountain gods, sea gods, and deities of ocean and river. Then enshrine our three spirits upon your vessels. Fill gourds with wood ash, craft abundant chopsticks and trays, scatter them afloat across the sea's expanse, and traverse through their midst." Thus did [the deity] impart detailed instructions for the conquest's procedures.

Therefore, the Empress promptly gathered her forces, prepared all provisions in accordance with the gods' words, arrayed an imposing fleet of ships, and valiantly set out into the midst of the vast sea. Then, all the fish in the sea—both large and small—came rushing forth without exception. Together, they lifted all the ships onto their backs and pressed onward valiantly with a "heave-ho, heave-ho!" At that very moment, as if perfectly timed, a fierce tailwind began blowing with increasing force. Therefore, all those ships raced forward as if flying.

Before long, the great waves pressed by those grand ships finally swelled into a massive, fearsome tsunami that suddenly crashed with a thunderous roar onto Silla—a part of what is now Korea—which the Empress was about to subjugate. And in the blink of an eye, it engulfed up to half of the entire country.

The Empress’s army, passing in the wake of that great tsunami, charged in with a thunderous roar without a moment’s pause. Then, the King of Silla, utterly terrified and cowering, immediately surrendered.

The King, “From this day forth, we shall forever obey the Emperor’s commands as horse grooms and menials, devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to his service.” “And every year, we shall prepare ships in such numbers—their hulls never drying, their oars and paddles never ceasing to be soaked—that we may ceaselessly present tribute. We shall serve without end until heaven and earth perish,” he pledged, prostrating himself like a flattened spider.

Therefore, Her Majesty the Empress promptly granted his request, designating the King of Silla as a horse groom and establishing his neighboring Baekje as imperial territory. And as a mark of this, she thrust her staff into the ground at the gate of Silla’s royal palace and had it remain there. Finally, after constructing a shrine and enshrining the three deities—Sokotsutsuo-no-Mikoto and the others—who had provided detailed guidance for this conquest as this land’s clan deities, Her Majesty withdrew from Silla with majestic dignity.

II

Before that, Her Majesty the Empress was about to give birth to the child in her womb while still on her expedition. Therefore, she prayed that she might delay childbirth awhile longer and, as a ritual charm, hung a stone from the waist of her undergarment to keep her womb calm. Then the august child was safely born after her triumphant return to Tsukushi. It was, just as the deity had foretold, a splendid male child. At his birth, this small Emperor bore on his arm a raised mound of flesh shaped precisely like a tomo—the leather archer’s armguard worn on the left forearm when drawing a bow. The Empress took this mark into his name and bestowed upon him the august title Ōtomo-no-Mikoto. He would later be known as Emperor Ōjin. Those who learned of the tomo-shaped flesh declared, “From this alone we understand the Emperor had already ruled the realm from within his mother’s womb,” and all were struck with awe.

Also, before her expedition, the Empress had visited a place called Tamashima in Hizen Province and had taken a meal by the river there.

It was exactly April, the time when sweetfish are caught. Her Majesty the Empress tentatively descended onto a rock in the river's midst, removed thread from her under-hakama to fashion a fishing line, used grains of rice from her meal as bait, and skillfully caught sweetfish that were otherwise impossible to catch under ordinary circumstances. Therefore, in this region, from then on whenever early April arrived, all women would remove threads from their under-hakama, use rice grains as bait to catch sweetfish, and kept this practice as a lasting token to honor the Empress's benevolence.

III

Her Majesty the Empress subsequently pacified Kumaso without difficulty and finally prepared to return to Yamato.

However, in Yamato there were princes of different wombs—Prince Kagosa ka and Prince Oshikuma among others—so Her Majesty became concerned that if she were not vigilant, they might exploit the Emperor’s tender age to devise some wicked scheme. Therefore, Her Majesty the Empress carefully devised a strategy: she had a funeral ship prepared and placed the young Emperor within it.

Her Majesty the Empress spread word that the Emperor had already passed away, then departed from Tsukushi under the pretext of returning with his empty effigy. When the two princes—Kagosa ka and Oshikuma—heard this, they indeed set about seizing the succession for themselves as anticipated. First and foremost resolving to ambush and destroy the Empress's forces, they hastily gathered troops and advanced to a place called Toganono in Settsu Province.

The princes decided to conduct a trial hunt in that field and attempt to divine omens based on their prey. Prince Kagosa ka climbed up a kunugi tree and watched the progress of the hunt. Then, suddenly, a large wounded boar appeared there and began vigorously digging at the base of that kunugi tree. Soon after it had dug through with a heavy thud and toppled the tree, it abruptly leaped at Prince Kagosa ka and ravenously devoured him.

However, His Highness Prince Oshikuma, paying no heed to such ill omens, led his army straight to the seashore and took up position there to wait. Before long, Her Majesty’s ships came into view. Prince Oshikuma, believing no soldiers would be aboard the funeral ship among them, first ordered an attack to be launched against that vessel. However, inside that ship, elite troops had been secretly stationed in advance. The soldiers, the moment the ship touched shore, suddenly leaped down with a roar and immediately commenced a fierce battle.

At that time, Isahi no Sukune had become commander-in-chief of Prince Oshikuma’s army. In response from the Empress’s side emerged Takefutsukuma-no-Mikoto—a formidable warrior—who took command as general and launched an assault. Takefutsukuma-no-Mikoto swiftly routed Sukune’s forces and pursued them relentlessly across the terrain. The enemy troops halted at Yamashiro and stubbornly dug in for a defensive battle. Takefutsukuma-no-Mikoto roared “What are you—?!” as he pressed attack after desperate attack. Yet despite his furious onslaught, the enemy line refused to yield even a single step.

Takefutsukuma-no-Mikoto, finally realizing this would be endless, abruptly rallied his forces and turned to face the enemy army.

“The truth is, Her Majesty the Empress has suddenly passed away, so we no longer have any will to fight,” they declared, while before Isahi no Sukune’s very eyes they made all their soldiers sever their bowstrings and surrendered to him as though in earnest.

Then, Isahi no Sukune, completely letting his guard down at that, had his own side first remove all their bowstrings and put away every last piece of weaponry. Takefutsukuma-no-Mikoto observed this closely. At his signal—"Now!"—his subordinate soldiers retrieved the spare bowstrings hidden in their hair and swiftly strung their bows. With a roar, they raised a war cry and charged.

The enemy, thoroughly outwitted by the surprise attack, collapsed into total disarray and fled. Takefutsukuma-no-Mikoto, riding the momentum of victory, relentlessly pursued and harried them onward. Then the enemy forces fled as far as Ōsaka in Ōmi Province. There they briefly made a stand and fought, but were again routed by the assault and scattered in all directions as they fled. Takefutsukuma-no-Mikoto finally cornered them at Shinoha in Ōmi and slaughtered every last soldier of the enemy army without sparing a single one.

At that moment, Prince Oshikuma and Isahi no Sukune barely managed to leap aboard a ship and fled into the lake waters.

However, since it was clear that if they dawdled any longer they would be caught immediately, the prince said to Sukune, "Come! Rather than be killed by Furukuma—like grebes—let’s dive into these lake waters!"

They sang, plunged into the lake with a mighty splash, and thus drowned to death.

IV With that, Her Majesty the Empress at last made her auspicious return to Yamato. However, Takeuchi Sukune alone, accompanying the young Emperor, traveled around Ōmi and Wakasa to perform purification rituals to cleanse defilement, built a temporary shrine in a place called Tsunuga no Kado in Echizen, and stayed there for some time. Then, the great deity Izasawake Ōkami, who was enshrined in that land, appeared one night in Sukune’s dream and—

“Would you exchange my name with that of the young Emperor?” the great deity spoke.

Sukune replied humbly, "That is an exceedingly gracious proposal indeed. You have my deepest gratitude." The Great Deity declared, "Then accompany me to the seashore tomorrow. I shall bestow upon you tokens of appreciation for exchanging our names."

And so, early the next morning, when Takeuchi Sukune accompanied the Emperor to the coast and looked out, they found truly immense dolphins—all with injuries on the tips of their noses—washed up in great numbers all along the shore. Sukune promptly sent a messenger to the shrine,

“Thank you for bestowing such plentiful fish for our provisions,” he expressed his gratitude. The Emperor then returned to Yamato. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, who had been awaiting [his return], became utterly overjoyed and immediately ordered the prepared sake to be brought out, holding a celebratory feast.

“This sake was not brewed by me,” said the Empress. “The deity of medicine, Sukunabikona-no-Kami, has rejoiced in your divine fortune and brewed this with jubilant revelry to honor it. Drink every last drop without reserve. Come now—partake fully.”

[She] sang these words in verse. Takeuchi Sukune, on behalf of the Emperor, "The one who brewed this sake, Having set a drum upon a mortar, Singing and dancing all the while, Must have crafted it with joyous abandon, For truly this is sake of exceptional quality - When one drinks it, they're compelled to sing, Compelled to dance forth spontaneously. Ah, what delight!"

As they sang this reply song together, they rejoiced in unison. People of later generations praised the numerous valiant and grand deeds of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, reverently bestowing upon her the distinguished name Empress Jingū.

Red Jewel

I

Regarding the maternal ancestors of Empress Jingū, the following tale has been passed down.

Now, this tale reaches back even further than this era—to a time long, long ago in the land of Silla, by a marsh called Agunu, where one day a woman was taking a nap. Then, wondrously, the sunlight transformed into a rainbow and suddenly shot toward the woman’s abdomen. A farmer who happened to pass by saw this phenomenon. Thinking it most peculiar, he began keeping close watch on the woman's movements thereafter. As he observed her, her belly soon swelled, and she gave birth to a single red jewel. The farmer received that jewel from the woman, wrapped it in cloth, and always kept it tied to his waist.

This farmer was cultivating rice fields in the valley. One day, when transporting food for those working in the fields by loading it onto a cow, he encountered Prince Amewakahiko of this land in that same valley.

The Prince saw the farmer leading a cow to an unusual place and, “Now now! Why have you brought this cow loaded with provisions into such a spot? You must mean to slaughter and devour it in secret!” he declared while suddenly seizing the farmer and trying to haul him off to prison. The farmer,

“No, no! I would never do such a thing as kill this cow. “I am merely transporting food for the peasants in this manner,” he truthfully explained. Even so, the Prince, “No, no! That’s a lie!” declared [the Prince], refusing to relent. With no other recourse, the farmer took out the red jewel at his waist, offered it to the Prince, and at last was permitted to go free.

The Prince took that jewel back to his home and placed it in the alcove. Then the red jewel suddenly transformed into a beautiful maiden. The Prince took that maiden as his bride. The bride always prepared various rare dishes and served them to the Prince, but he gradually grew selfish, until finally he began violently berating and driving her away. Then the bride could finally endure no more,

“I shall now return to my parents’ land for good. I was never a woman meant to be mocked as the bride of someone like you,” she declared, slipping out of the residence, boarding a small boat, and journeying far to Naniwa Port in Settsu Province. This woman was later enshrined as the deity Akaruhime in that land. Prince Amewakahiko pursued his bride all the way to Naniwa Bay, but the sea god there barred his entry. With no other choice, he turned back and made his way around to Tajima, where he came ashore. And after living there for some time, he eventually took a bride from the local people and decided to settle there permanently.

The person named Taka no Hime, who was the seventh-generation descendant of this Amewakahiko, gave birth to none other than the mother of Empress Jingū. Tajimamori, who had gone to the Eternal Land to retrieve the tachibana fruit by order of Emperor Suinin, was one of the fifth-generation descendants of Hiboko.

When Amewakahiko crossed over here, he brought eight splendid treasures including jewels and mirrors. Those treasures came to be enshrined as a deity bearing the name Izusu no Ōkami.

II To the deity enshrined with these treasures was born a goddess named Izushi Otome. Many deities sought to take this goddess as their bride, but she refused and would not go to any of them. Among those deities was one named Akiyama no Shitahio. That deity turned to his younger brother, the god called Haruyama no Kasumio, and said: "Even when I try to make that goddess my bride, she absolutely refuses to come." "How about it? Can **you** make her your bride?" he challenged.

“If it were me, I could easily make her my bride,” said the younger brother deity.

“Hmph, is that so? Very well—if you can successfully make that goddess your bride, I’ll give you my robe as celebration. Then I’ll fill a giant jar as tall as myself with sake and prepare rare delicacies from land and sea for a grand feast. But if you fail, will you suffer upon yourself the very punishment I threatened earlier for your empty boasts?”

The younger brother deity swore, "Ah, very well! Then let us make this wager." And when he returned home and told his mother about this, the mother goddess wove and crafted everything from robes to hakama to shoes and socks using wisteria vines in a single night—and moreover fashioned a bow from those same wisteria vines for him.

The younger brother deity completely donned those robes and shoes, took up the bow and arrows, and set out for the goddess's abode. Instantly, wisteria flowers bloomed all at once across every last one of his robes, shoes, bow, and arrows.

The younger brother deity hung the bow and arrows by the toilet, and when the goddess found them, she curiously took them down and carried them away. The younger brother deity promptly followed after her, entered the goddess’s chamber, and said, “Please become my bride.” And he finally made the goddess his bride.

The two of them even bore a child. Therefore, the younger brother deity turned to the older brother deity and said, “As you witnessed, I have properly taken the goddess as my bride. So, as promised, please give me your robe. And then prepare a lavish feast for me.” Then, the older brother deity, consumed with envy toward his younger brother, neither gave him the robe nor prepared the feast. The younger brother deity reported this matter to the mother goddess. Thereupon, the mother goddess summoned the older brother deity and,

“Why do you deceive people so relentlessly? While dwelling in this world, you must act in all matters as the exemplary gods do. Those who mimic base humans, as you do, cannot be left unpunished!” she rebuked harshly. Then she cut down bamboo growing on an island in the nearby river, fashioned a coarse-woven basket from it, and placed inside river stones sprinkled with salt—each wrapped in bamboo leaves—

“May this liar of an elder brother god wither like these bamboo leaves! May this salt shrivel like daylilies! And may these stones sink and collapse!” she cursed, then had the basket placed upon the hearth.

Thereupon, the elder brother god suffered divine retribution - withered and parched for eight full years, afflicted by illness that brought him truly terrible agony. At last utterly weakened, he tearfully apologized to the Mother Goddess. The Mother Goddess finally lifted her curse at that time. Through this grace, the elder brother god regained his original robust form.

Uji Crossing

I

The young Emperor Ōjin eventually came of age in full and began administering governance himself at Aki no Miya in Yamato. One day, the Emperor made an imperial visit to Omi Province. During this journey, when he paused at Ujino in Yamashiro and gazed toward Katsuragi, his eyes fell upon numerous dwellings and abundant fertile land in that direction. As the Emperor transformed this vista into verse and continued onward to Kohata, he encountered an extraordinarily beautiful maiden along the village path.

The Emperor asked, “Whose daughter are you?”

“I am the daughter of Hifureno Omi, and my name is Miyanushi Yakaegihime,” the girl respectfully replied. Then, the Emperor “Then tomorrow, on my return, I shall go to your house,” declared the Emperor.

The princess returned home and recounted everything in detail to her father. Omi, her father,

“In that case, that person is His Majesty the Emperor. What an immense honor! You must take utmost care to avoid any discourtesy and extend proper hospitality,” he instructed. He promptly decorated every corner of his house thoroughly and waited in readiness. As the Emperor had commanded, he came to visit the following day. Omi and his retinue, trembling with reverence, brought forth delicacies and entertained him.

The Emperor took the cup offered by Yakaegihime,

As for the crab in this dish—

Did the crab from Echizen Tsuruga crawl sideways across Ōmi to come here? I too crossed from that Ōmi, Meeting you in Kohata Village. Your figure from behind stands slender as a shield. Your beautiful teeth gleam white like shiinomi fruit. Upon your face lies soil from Kunizaka - The soil there: Red surface layer above, Ruddy black beneath, But the middle layer holds the perfect hue - Crushed into brow ink, Darkening your arches richly.

"You are truly a beautiful child," he sang in poetic verse to praise her. The Emperor later took this beautiful Yakaegihime as his consort. From this consort was born a prince called Uji no Wakiiratsuko. The Emperor had in total eleven imperial princes and fifteen imperial princesses. Among them, he cherished most dearly Prince Wakiiratsuko, whom Yakaegihime had borne.

One day, the Emperor summoned Ōyamamori-no-Mikoto and Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto—the two who were each half-brothers of Prince Wakairatsuko through different mothers—and inquired, "Which do you find more endearing in a child—an elder brother or a younger brother?"

Ōyamamori-no-Mikoto,

“Anyone would find an elder brother more endearing,” he replied bluntly. However, the younger Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto correctly discerned the Emperor’s feelings—that by posing such a question, His Majesty undoubtedly intended to pass the throne to our younger brother Wakairatsuko, setting aside us two. Therefore, in accordance with His Majesty’s intention, “I believe the younger brother would be more endearing. As for the elder brother, he has already reached adulthood, so there is no cause for concern. However, when it comes to the younger brother, he is still a child and thus deserving of sympathy,” he replied.

The Emperor declared, “That is as Sparrow says. I think so too,” then continued anew: “Now then, from this point forward—among you two and Wakairatsuko—Ōyamamori shall govern the seas and mountains. Sparrow shall assist me in managing all other governmental affairs. As for Wakairatsuko, I shall have him succeed me later and ascend to the imperial throne.” With these words, he formally assigned roles to the three of them.

Ōyamamori-no-Mikoto later disobeyed this command and even attempted to kill Prince Wakairatsuko, but Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto alone served faithfully in accordance with the Emperor’s decree until the very end.

Two The Emperor heard that Morogata no Kimi of Hyuga had a daughter named Kaminaga Hime of exceptional beauty, and intending to summon her to the palace, had her brought all the way to the capital. Prince Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto saw Kaminaga Hime arrive by ship at Naniwa Port and was so struck by her loveliness that he turned to Takeuchi Sukune and said: "I beseech you to petition Father that I might take this Kaminaga Hime—she who was summoned from Hyuga—as my bride."

Sukune humbly complied and immediately reported the matter to the Emperor.

Then, Emperor Ōjin soon summoned Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto to the banquet. Then, he had the beautiful Kaminaga Hime hold an oak leaf to pour sake and bestowed her upon Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto as she was. The Emperor, along with this,

I, taking the children with me, As I pass by picking wild onions, That tachibana tree by the roadside— The upper branches ravaged by birds, The lower branches plucked bare by people, Only on the middle boughs do flowers bloom. Within those secret blossoms, Like a small fruit hidden away, Such a modest maiden Suits you perfectly. Now take her with you. He sang these words in celebratory verse. The prince, who had long heard of this beauty's fame, received her as his consort with imperial permission. Overjoyed, he composed his own song of delight and withdrew from the sovereign's presence in great happiness.

Three

During the reign of this Emperor, multitudes of people from Silla crossed over. Takeuchi Sukune employed these people to dig ponds in various places for drawing water to rice fields. Then from the king of Baekje came a stallion and mare accompanied by one Achikishi, along with swords and large mirrors presented as tribute. The Emperor commanded the king of Baekje: "If there are wise men in your realm, send them here." The king accordingly dispatched a scholar named Wani Kishi without delay.

At that time, Wani brought and presented ten volumes of a book called the Analects and one volume of a book called the Thousand Character Classic. Also, various craftsmen—a blacksmith named Takuso, a weaver named Saishi, and additionally, a man named Nibata who was skilled in brewing sake—crossed over together. The Emperor partook of the sake brewed by Nibata, also known as Susukori. And then, “Ah, I’m drunk—pleasantly drunk on the sake that Susukori brewed. Delightfully drunk!”

While singing a song with this meaning, he went outside the palace and, raising his staff, struck a large stone that lay in the middle of the road leading to Kawachi, whereupon the stone, startled, leapt away.

Four

The Emperor finally passed away at the advanced age of one hundred and thirty. Therefore, Lord Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto resolved to enthrone Wakairatsuko in accordance with the command he had long received. However, his elder brother Lord Ōyamamori-no-Mikoto acted against the Emperor’s final decree, attempting to kill Wakairatsuko and seize the realm for himself, and began secretly gathering troops. Lord Ōsazagi-no-Mikoto, having swiftly learned of this matter, immediately dispatched a messenger to inform Prince Wakairatsuko.

When Prince Wakairatsuko heard this, he was startled and hurriedly made various preparations. The prince first secretly positioned soldiers along the banks of the Uji River. Then upon Mount Uji, he had them spread silk curtains and erect screens around the area. He dressed one retainer to resemble a splendid prince and opened one side of the screen so the figure would be clearly visible from the mountain's base, seating him upon a chair within. There he had various retainers respectfully come and go.

Thus, from a distance, to anyone’s eyes, it appeared as if Prince Wakairatsuko himself had made an appearance there. The prince, in tandem with these preparations, deliberately provided only a single boat for Ōyamamori-no-Mikoto to board when crossing the lower river—ensuring he would step aboard smoothly—and coated the floorboards inside this vessel with a viscous liquid made by pounding sanakatsura vine, creating a mechanism whereby anyone setting foot on it would instantly slip and fall.

And His Highness himself donned coarse cloth garments, skillfully altered his appearance to resemble a lowly boatman, took hold of the rudder, and waited within that boat. Then Ōyamamori-no-Mikoto had the soldiers he had brought with him secretly hide in the vicinity, and he himself, casually donning a simple garment over his armor, went out alone to the riverbank.

Then the splendid silk curtains spread out atop that mountain immediately caught his eye. Mikoto became utterly convinced that the person sitting solemnly on the chair within those curtains was Wakairatsuko. So he promptly boarded that boat and began crossing to the other side.

Mikoto addressed the boatman, “Hey, I hear there’s a big boar in that mountain over there. I’d like to hunt that beast. How about it—will you catch it for me?” he said.

The prince-boatman,

“No, I’m afraid that is quite impossible,” he replied. “Why is it impossible?” “That boar—many have tried to catch it before, but none have ever succeeded.” “Therefore, no matter how much you may desire it, it remains quite impossible.”

While he was replying in this manner, the boat had already reached the very center of the river. Then the prince suddenly tilted the boat with a heavy thud and dropped Mikoto into the water with a splash. Mikoto soon surfaced, only his face visible as he was carried along, "Ah! I am being swept away! Someone quickly send a boat— Come and save me!" he sang in a desperate voice.

Then, at that very moment, the soldiers whom Prince Wakairatsuko had earlier hidden rushed out with a resounding cry from all directions at once. To prevent Mikoto from reaching the shore, they all nocked their arrows and took aim, chasing him downstream again and again. Thus, Mikoto could do nothing but be carried along all the way to a place called Kawarazakae, where he ultimately drowned to death.

Prince Wakairatsuko’s soldiers located the corpse of Mikoto, who had sunk bubbling down, using hooks and pulled it up. Wakairatsuko, while beholding it,

“I wavered time and again—should I order the ambushed soldiers to loose their arrows or have them strike him dead? But each time I recalled my father, then thought of my sisters. Though we shared the same father’s blood, though I was those sisters’ brother—it pained me to kill him so needlessly. In the end, I could not loose even a single arrow.”

He composed a song with this meaning and then withdrew directly to Yamato.

And he buried his elder brother’s corpse in the mountains of Nara.

Five Lord Ōsazagi therefore finally recommended that Prince Wakairatsuko ascend the throne in accordance with his father's command.

However, the prince stated that it was truly his elder brother who should rightfully succeed their father. "The act of ascending the throne while setting aside my elder brother—such a thing is something I simply cannot do. Please forgive me," he said, resolving to uphold his elder brother Lord Ōyamamori-no-Mikoto’s honor to the utmost. However, Lord Ōsazagi firmly declared that no matter what might happen, he could not defy their father’s command, and for a long time, the two of them continued deferring to one another.

At that time, a certain fisherman came up bearing tribute for the Emperor.

When the fisherman presented himself before Lord Ōsazagi, His Lordship declared, "Present this to Prince Wakairatsuko—he is the Emperor," and refused to accept it; whereupon the fisherman approached the prince instead, only to be commanded: "Offer this to my elder brother." The fisherman went here and there—not just two or three times—until at last, wearied from all the going and coming, he finally burst into wailing. Because of this, even the proverb "Though not a fisherman, one weeps overwhelmed by their own catch" came to be formed.

The two of them had gone to such lengths in fulfilling their mutual obligations, but when Prince Wakairatsuko suddenly met an untimely demise, Lord Ōsazagi found himself compelled at last to ascend the throne. It is this sovereign who would later be respectfully referred to as Emperor Nintoku by generations to come.

Naniwa Palace

1 When Emperor Nintoku ascended the throne, he established Naniwa Takatsu Palace as the imperial residence and newly appointed Iwano-hime, daughter of a man called Sotohiko of Katsuragi, as Empress. At the time when the Emperor was still Prince Ōsazagi, there had been a year when he visited Hinajima Island in Settsu Province and held a grand banquet there. It happened that geese had laid eggs on that island. Since the prince had never before heard of geese laying eggs in Japan, he found this most extraordinary and later summoned Takeuchi Sukune,

"You are a man of rare longevity in this age, but have you ever heard of geese laying eggs in Japan?" he inquired through a song conveying this meaning.

Sukune, “Indeed, that is a most proper inquiry,” he responded. “Though I have lived this long,” he continued through song in the same manner, “I have never before heard of such an occurrence in Japan until this day.” Then borrowing the koto that lay nearby, he plucked its strings while singing: “This surely must be an auspicious omen signifying that Your Majesty will at last govern the realm.”

The prince indeed, from among his fifteen siblings, ultimately succeeded his father the Emperor.

After ascending the throne, the Emperor once climbed a high mountain and surveyed the villages in all directions. And he became disheartened and issued a command: “As far as the eye can see, all villages lie utterly still—not a single wisp of smoke rises from any house.” “In this state, it seems the people everywhere are so impoverished they lack even food to cook.” “I implore you—for three years henceforth, collect no taxes whatsoever from low or high.” “Moreover, permit them to devote all their labors freely,” he decreed.

And so, for those entire three years, since no offerings whatsoever were sent to the palace from anywhere, even the Emperor suffered terrible hardships. For instance, even if the palace were to collapse into ruin, he had no funds at hand to undertake its repair. Yet the Emperor did not neglect his duties in the slightest. Whenever rain fell heavily, he would bring buckets into the room to catch the pouring leaks streaming inside, while finding spots where droplets did not fall and repeatedly shifting his seat of state to evade them.

Three years later, when he climbed the mountain again and surveyed the land, this time everything had completely changed from before. As far as his eyes could see, every village was filled with smoke rising vigorously. The Emperor beheld this and declared, "All the people have now become thoroughly prosperous," finally able to set his mind at ease. And then, for the first time there, the Emperor imposed taxes and labor duties.

Thus, as the people had now amassed ample reserves, they were able to readily fulfill their obligations, whether in submitting offerings or undertaking labor duties. The Emperor was a person of such deep compassion toward his subjects. Therefore, even by later generations, they have long revered him and refer to his reign as that of the Sacred Emperor.

Two

The Empress Iwano-hime, who served as consort to this Emperor, was fiercely jealous. At the slightest provocation, she would stamp her feet and erupt into uproar as if ignited. Because of this, the women serving in the palace could not even inadvertently enter the Emperor's chambers. One day, the Emperor heard that in a place called Kurosaki within the region then known as Kibi—present-day Bizen and Bitchū provinces—there lived an exceptionally beautiful girl named Kurohime, daughter of a man called Amabe no Atae. He immediately summoned her to serve at the palace.

However, as the Empress persecuted her with excessive jealousy in all things, Kurohime could endure it no longer and finally fled the palace to return home.

At that time, the Emperor ascended to the high tower and watched as Kurohime’s ship departed from Naniwa Port—How pitiful—there goes Kurohime returning home—Out in the offing, amidst many small boats, that woman’s ship departs—and he composed a song with this meaning. Upon hearing this, the Empress became furious and immediately sent people to forcibly drag Kurohime down from the ship, deliberately making her walk all the way back to distant Kibi Province.

The Emperor continued to live while constantly thinking fondly of Kurohime. For this reason, the Emperor finally announced one day that he would go see Awaji Island. After taking care to prepare Her Majesty the Empress's meal, he first went to that island, then secretly journeyed from there to Kibi to visit Kurohime. Kurohime escorted the Emperor to a place called Yamagata. Wishing to prepare a hot broth for His Majesty to eat, she went out to pick greens. When the Emperor also came out to observe, he became profoundly intrigued and composed a song expressing his feelings.

When His Majesty the Emperor was finally about to depart, Kurohime sang a farewell song. For the rest of her life, she could never forget the overwhelming honor of His Majesty taking such pains to visit her in secret for her sake.

Three

Afterward, there was an occasion when Her Majesty the Empress went all the way to Kii Province specifically to gather Mituna-kashiwa oak leaves used for pouring sake at a banquet she was hosting. During her absence, a court lady named Yata no Wakairatsume attended upon His Majesty the Emperor.

Her Majesty the Empress soon loaded the Mituna-kashiwa leaves onto the ship and set course to return to Naniwa. As Her Majesty’s procession journeyed onward, a ship carrying some of the women in her retinue fell behind her vessel. While trailing farther and farther, they reached the Ōwata Sea of Naniwa—where a ship from the opposite direction came into view. Among them was a low-ranking servant from Kibi, who had been working at the water supply office of Takatsu Palace and was now aboard while on leave to return home. As the ships passed each other, that person,

“His Majesty the Emperor has become utterly taken with Lady Yata no Wakairatsume lately, and is immensely fond of her,” they chattered as they went. The women who heard this deliberately hurried to catch up to the Empress’s ship and brought the matter to Her Majesty’s attention. Thereupon, Her Majesty the Empress of renowned temper grew seething with impatience, and all the Mituna-kashiwa leaves she had painstakingly brought that far were utterly discarded into the sea by her hand. Shortly after, the ship returned here, but the more Her Majesty the Empress thought about Wakairatsume, the more resentful she became. In her fit of anger, instead of docking at the port, she had the ship enter Horie directly, then proceeded up the Yodo River all the way to Yamashiro.

At that time, Her Majesty the Empress, "Though I ascended the Yamashiro river so aimlessly, driven by unbearable resentment, when I reflect, I still yearn for His Majesty's presence." Before her eyes at that very riverside grew a Toriyōju tree. Beneath it flourished broad-leaved camellias, their glossy crimson blooms blazing brightly. "Ah, how could I not cherish His Majesty - who shines like those blossoms, whose heart embraces all like those broad leaves, who reigns with such tenderness?" she composed in verse expressing this sentiment.

However, even so, finding it somewhat vexing to return hastily to the palace as things were, she finally disembarked from the ship and detoured toward Yamato.

At that time as well, the Empress, "I have finally ascended the Yamashiro River, passed through Nara and Kodate, and wandered about here and there like this—yet none of these places hold anything I wish to see. There is nothing I wish to see other than Takatsu Palace," she composed in a poem conveying this meaning. Then, returning once more to Yamashiro, Her Majesty proceeded to a place called Tsutsuki and took residence at the home of a naturalized Korean immigrant named Nuritomi who lived there.

His Majesty the Emperor, having heard all matters, turned to an attendant named Toriyama and conveyed through poetic verse, "Go swiftly and meet her," dispatching him to the Empress. Next, His Majesty summoned a man called Maruninoomi Kuchiko and declared, "Though the Empress persists in her sulking refusal to return to the palace, without doubt she holds thoughts of me within her heart." He composed two poems expressing, "Between us two exists that which needs no stubborn posturing," then once more sent Kuchiko to retrieve her.

Upon arriving at Nuritomi's residence, Kuchiko the envoy, determined to present His Majesty the Emperor's poem to the Empress without an instant's delay, approached the garden before her chambers.

At that very moment, a torrential rain was pouring down violently. Undeterred by the pouring rain, Kuchiko prostrated himself before the entrance to Her Majesty the Empress's chambers. The Empress turned coldly and abruptly retreated toward the rear doorway. Kuchiko timidly circled around to that side and prostrated himself again. Then Her Majesty swiftly returned to the front doorway once more. As Kuchiko kept moving back and forth while kneeling on the ground, the rain intensified into a downpour until standing water rose to his waist. Kuchiko wore an indigo-dyed jacket with a red cord, but as the cord became drenched, the red dye bled out completely, eventually staining his blue garment a vivid crimson.

At that time, by the Empress’s side, there was a woman named Kuchihime—Kuchiko’s younger sister—who served Her Majesty. Kuchihime, seeing her brother in that state,

“Oh, how pitiful! Though he goes to such lengths to deliver his message, watching him brings tears to my eyes.” Kuchihime composed a song conveying this meaning. Her Majesty the Empress heard this, “Who is this brother you speak of?” inquired Her Majesty.

“The one who has been prostrating himself over there in the water since earlier is my brother Kuchiko,” answered Kuchihime, holding back her tears. Afterward, Kuchiko consulted with Kuchihime and Nuritomi, and they concluded there was no recourse but to have His Majesty the Emperor come there, thus settling on this plan. Thereupon, Kuchiko hurried back to the palace and reported. “Upon arriving and fully ascertaining the circumstances, I discovered Her Majesty the Empress journeyed there because Nuritomi keeps rare insects in his home—she departed solely to view them.” “There exists absolutely no other reason whatsoever.” “The insect in question begins as a crawling creature, then becomes an egg, next transforms into a flying insect—changing form three times successively—a most curious creature indeed,” declared Kuchiko, skillfully feigning astonishment over the silkworm’s life cycle, a process even children understood.

Thereupon, His Majesty the Emperor declared, “I see. If there are such intriguing insects, I shall go see them myself,” and promptly departed the palace to make an imperial visit to Nuritomi’s residence. Nuritomi had already presented to Her Majesty the Empress the three types of insects exactly as Kuchiko had described, having prepared them in advance. His Majesty the Emperor stood before the door to Her Majesty the Empress’s chambers and declared in verse: “Because you persist in your wrath, all have been compelled to come this far. You have carried this on long enough—return now.” Soon after, he returned in company to Naniwa Palace.

His Majesty the Emperor, along with this, granted Yata no Wakairatsume her leave. However, in exchange for this, His Majesty the Emperor established a tribe called Yatabe to ensure the Lady’s name would endure through the ages.

IV

Thereafter, on one occasion, His Majesty the Emperor sought to summon a certain close relative of noble lineage named Princess Medori into court service, appointing his younger brother Prince Hayabusawake as envoy. Prince Hayabusawake promptly presented himself and conveyed the imperial summons, whereupon Princess Medori shook her head, “No no—I’ve no wish to serve at court. “With Her Majesty the Empress harboring such profound resentment, did not even Lady Yata no Wakairatsume find herself compelled to withdraw from service? “Rather than that—though unworthy as I am—I beg you make me your bride instead,” she entreated.

Therefore, Prince Hayabusawake took Princess Medori as his bride. And toward His Majesty the Emperor, she persisted in never offering any response. When His Majesty the Emperor at last personally visited Princess Medori's residence and stood upon the threshold to peer inside, Princess Medori was precisely engaged in weaving at her loom within. His Majesty the Emperor, "Whose garments do you weave there?" he inquired through verse. Then Princess Medori likewise responded in verse:

“This is humbly prepared to be worn by Prince Hayabusawake,” she replied.

Upon hearing this, His Majesty the Emperor fully grasped the circumstances concerning both of them and immediately returned to the palace. Afterward, when Prince Hayabusawake soon emerged, Princess Medori— “Listen.” “You.” “Do not even skylarks soar swiftly through the heavens?” “Though your august name shares kinship with the swift falcon among raptors, come now—quickly strike down the heron and be done with it!” she chanted in verse. This was none other than Princess Medori’s sinister stratagem: since the Emperor’s name was Ōsasagi no Mikoto—a heron metaphor—she urged his immediate assassination so her husband might seize the throne.

Before anyone knew, word of that song had reached His Majesty the Emperor’s ears. His Majesty the Emperor immediately gathered troops and dispatched them to kill Prince Hayabusawake. When Prince Hayabusawake sensed this, he was startled and fled swiftly to Yamato together with Princess Medori. During their journey, as they crossed steep Mount Kurahashi, the frail Princess Medori found herself in great distress, clinging repeatedly to her husband’s hand until she finally managed to ascend to the summit.

When the two proceeded further to a place called Soni in that same Yamato region, the Emperor’s soldiers caught up to them there and stabbed them to death.

At that time, the one who led the army was Yamabe no Ōtate no Muraji, a formidable warrior. Muraji, seeing the splendid bracelet on the wrist of Princess Medori’s corpse, promptly stripped it off and brought it back to give to his wife. Before long, an imperial banquet was held at the royal palace, and the wives of the vassals were summoned in great numbers to attend. Then, the wife of Ōtate no Muraji proudly adorned her wrist with Princess Medori’s bracelet and came to attend. Her Majesty the Empress bestowed upon those women oak leaves for serving sake with her own hands. They each took turns coming forward before Her Majesty, received them, and withdrew.

At that moment, Her Majesty the Empress suddenly noticed the Muraji’s wife’s bracelet. Now, since it was Princess Medori’s possession—one she had long recognized—Her Majesty the Empress abruptly altered her countenance, refrained from bestowing oak leaves upon this woman alone, and promptly expelled her from the banquet. And without delay, she summoned her husband, Muraji. “You stole someone’s bracelet and gave it to your wife. As for those two, Hayabusawake and Medori—they attempted to commit a terrible crime against His Majesty the Emperor. Therefore, their execution was only natural. However, coming from someone like you—aren’t they both princes of higher standing? To strip the items from someone’s body while their flesh was still warm after death and give them to your own wife—my, how could you commit such an atrocity?” she declared, relentlessly pressing him before mercilessly ordering his immediate execution.

V

During the reign of this Emperor, on the western bank of a river called Usukugawa, there stood an enormous, towering tree. Whenever the morning sun rose, its shadow reached as far as Awaji Island, and when the evening sun cast its light, the shadow stretched even beyond Takakusa Mountain in Kawachi. The local people cut down the tree and fashioned a ship. This became a remarkably swift vessel indeed. Everyone named the ship Kareno. Each morning and evening, they would ride it to draw clean water welling up from Awaji Island and present it for His Majesty's use in the palace.

Later, they burned the ship when it became old and worn-out to make salt and fashioned a koto from the remaining wood. When they played that koto, it is said the sound resonated as far as seven villages.

The Emperor finally passed away at the venerable age of eighty-three.

Ōsuzu Kosuzu

I

Emperor Nintoku had five princes and one imperial princess. Among them, the three—Izanohowake, Mizuhawake, and Wakugo no Sukune—successively ascended to the imperial throne. The eldest brother, Prince Izanohowake, succeeded his late father and ascended to the throne as Emperor Richū at the same Naniwa Palace. At the celebration of his accession to the throne, the Emperor drank copious amounts of sake and fell into a deep slumber while heavily intoxicated.

Then, His Majesty’s younger brother Prince Nakatsu, seizing this opportunity, resolved to assassinate the Emperor and usurp the throne, abruptly setting fire to the palace. The flames instantly spread roaring fiercely in all directions. Everyone in the palace was taken by surprise and thrown into a great panic, causing an uproar. Despite this, the Emperor remained utterly insensible from intoxication. A man called Achi no Naoi promptly lifted him, forcibly placed him upon a horse, and fled toward Yamato.

The Emperor, who had been completely intoxicated, finally awoke atop his horse when he had proceeded as far as Tajihino Field in Kawachi, “Where am I?” His Majesty inquired. Achi no Naoi replied,

“Since Prince Nakatsu has set fire to the palace, I am currently accompanying Your Majesty to Yamato for the time being.” The Emperor heard this and was startled into awareness, “Ah, had I known I would sleep in this Tajihino Field, I would have brought something to shield against the night wind.” His Majesty composed a poem conveying this sentiment. Then he proceeded as far as a slope called Haniubizaka, and when he looked back toward Naniwa in the distance from there, the palace fire still blazed fiercely crimson. The Emperor,

"Ah, so many houses are burning," he lamented. His Majesty composed a poem conveying this sentiment: "Might the palace where my consort dwells also be consumed within those flames?" When His Majesty then reached the foot of Ōsaka Mountain in Kawachi, a woman happened to pass by from the opposite direction. Upon being asked for directions by His Majesty, she advised: "Armed forces block the mountain path above. Should Your Majesty wish to proceed to Yamato, detouring via the Taima route would be most prudent."

The Emperor did as the woman said, safely entered Yamato, arrived at Isonokami Shrine, and took up temporary residence there. Then, the second younger brother, Prince Mizuhawake, visited that shrine and sought an audience with the Emperor. The Emperor, through those by his side,

“You must surely be conspiring with Nakatsu no Ō as well.” “I will not permit an audience,” His Majesty declared. The prince replied, “No no! I harbor no such misguided intentions.” “I am certainly not in league with Nakatsu no Ō or anything of the sort,” he declared.

The Emperor declared, “In that case, return now to Naniwa and defeat Nakatsu no Ō. Once that is done, we shall have our audience.”

II

Prince Mizuhawake returned here in great haste. And he summoned Sohakari, a valiant warrior serving at Nakatsu no Ō’s side,

"If you heed my words, I shall soon become emperor and raise you to minister." "How about it? Shall we govern the realm together thus?" he artfully coaxed. Then Sohakari, overjoyed, "If it be your command, there is nothing I would not do." replied. The prince bestowed various treasures upon Sohakari and,

“Now then, go kill that Nakatsu no Ō whom you serve,” commanded His Highness. Sohakari, “Understood,” replied without ceremony, readily accepting the order. He dashed back and lay in wait for the moment when the king was about to enter the privy, then stabbed him to death with a single thrust. Prince Mizuhawake immediately departed for Yamato together with Sohakari. On the way, when His Highness arrived at the foot of that Ōsaka Mountain, he fell into deep contemplation.

"This Sohakari wretch has indeed rendered me great service, but considered alone, he remains a villain who slew his own master. If left as he is, there's no telling what horrors he might unleash hereafter. I should swiftly eliminate him while I can. Yet unless I praise his deeds thoroughly, people will cease trusting me hereafter."

Having reached this conclusion, he suddenly settled on a plan. So addressing Sohakari directly, “Let us lodge in this village tonight,” “and after conferring upon you the rank of minister, tomorrow we shall make our visit,” he declared, promptly having a temporary palace erected there. Then he hosted a lavish banquet where he installed Sohakari as minister and commanded all officials to pay him homage.

With this, Sohakari declared that his wish had finally been fulfilled and became exceedingly proud and rejoiced. Prince Mizuhawake,

“Then let us drink anew from the same goblet as you, the Minister,” declared His Highness, deliberately having a cup larger than a person’s face filled to the brim. Then, first taking a sip himself, he presented it to Sohakari. Sohakari received it and began gulping it down. The moment Sohakari’s face became hidden behind the goblet, the prince drew the sword he had concealed beneath a straw mat and in an instant severed Sohakari’s head, bringing matters to a close.

Then on the following day he departed from there, proceeded to the village of Tōtōmi no Asuka in Yamato where he stayed another night, performed purification prayers, and on the next day visited Isonokami Shrine. There he reported in accordance with the imperial command that he had subdued Nakatsu no Ō.

The Emperor for the first time permitted the prince into his presence. Then to Achi no Atae as well, His Majesty appointed him to the position of Storehouse Overseer as a reward and granted him extensive rice fields.

III

The Emperor later moved to the Wakasakura Palace in Yamato and ultimately passed away at the age of sixty-four. Following His Majesty's passing, his younger brother Prince Mizuhawake succeeded to the throne. The august name by which this sovereign would later be respectfully known was Emperor Hanzei. His Majesty’s stature measured nine shaku, two sun, and five bu, while his teeth measured one sun in length and two bu in width. These teeth were perfectly aligned top and bottom, as exquisite as strung jewels. At the Shibagaki Palace in Tajihi of Kawachi Province, he administered governance and passed away at the age of sixty.

IV

Following Emperor Hanzei’s passing, His Majesty’s younger brother, Prince Wakugo no Sukune, ascended to the throne as Emperor Ingyō and relocated to Tōtōmi no Asuka Palace in Yamato.

The Emperor, having long been afflicted with an incurable illness, declared that he could not ascend to the throne in his current condition and initially firmly declined. However, as the Empress and all officials insistently pleaded, he reluctantly ascended to the throne.

Then before long from Silla came eighty-one ships bearing tribute. The two envoys accompanying this mission - Kinbachin and Kanki Bu - being both deeply knowledgeable in medicinal arts, swiftly cured His Majesty's longstanding ailment. Through this intervention, His Majesty ultimately lived to seventy-eight years of age. The Emperor grieved that among Japan's many clans, countless individuals carelessly bore false surnames and titles. He therefore established cauldrons called Kutsube in a Yamato village where water boiled furiously, thereby properly determining all clan names and titles across Japan. When each person was made to plunge their hand into this seething water, those truthfully declaring their lineage remained unharmed while false claimants instantly suffered scalded blisters - thus lies and truth could be distinguished one by one.

V After the Emperor had passed away, it had been decided that the eldest prince, Prince Kinashi Karu, would ascend to the throne. However, before the prince could ascend to the throne, he committed an unspeakable transgression in his personal conduct, so all the court officials and low-ranking people alike abandoned him and instead followed his younger brother, Prince Anaho. Prince Karu, fearing that if he remained careless there was no telling what schemes Prince Anaho’s faction might instigate, took refuge with the two brother ministers, Ōmae no Sukune and Koma no Sukune. And he promptly prepared military equipment, fashioning a great quantity of arrows called Karu arrows—arrows with copper arrowheads—and stood ready.

In response to this, Prince Anaho likewise promptly made military preparations. On their side as well, they diligently produced arrows called Anaho arrows, fitted with iron arrowheads like those of later generations.

And before long, Prince Anaho himself took personal command of the military forces and laid siege to the residences of Ōmae and Koma. The prince charged at the forefront through sudden pelting hail and pressed forward to the gate at that very moment.

“Now, all of you—advance following my path! The hail shall soon cease. As this hail ceases, we shall completely dispose of everything! Come now, come!” he proclaimed through song, summoning his allied soldiers. Then Ōmae no Sukune and Koma no Sukune emerged, raising their hands and slapping their knees while singing and dancing. “Why raise such clamor? For matters as trivial as a small bell falling from the cords on courtiers’ hakama hems—neither palace attendants nor villagers need stir themselves so.”

Singing a song with this meaning, they came forth before Prince Anaho’s august presence, “As for Prince Karu, Your Highness need not go to such lengths to attack him. To assail your own full-brother would invite public ridicule. We shall retrieve His Highness and present him ourselves,” they declared. Thereupon Prince Anaho lifted the siege and withdrew his forces to wait in readiness, whereupon the two Sukune ministers formally escorted Prince Karu forth and arrived.

VI

Prince Karu had a full sister called Lady Karu no Ōiratsume, with whom he shared an exceptionally close bond. Lady Ōiratsume possessed beauty so rare in this world that the radiant glow of her fair form shone through her very garments, earning her the alternate name Lady Koromo-doō no Ōiratsume.

Prince Karu, who had been handed over to Prince Anaho, contemplated the sorrow of his beloved sister Lady Ōiratsume, “Ah, my Lady! Should you weep so bitterly, others will hear and mock us. Like the mountain doves of Hasa Mountain, shed your tears in secret,” he sang in a poem. Prince Anaho then exiled Prince Karu to Iyo without delay. At this time, Lady Ōiratsume, her face streaked with tears, offered a poem to her elder brother: “Walk carefully along the shore’s edge, lest oyster shells beneath your feet bring harm to your noble steps.”

Even after his departure, Lady Ōiratsume continued to worry solely about her elder brother, but at last, unable to endure it any longer, she pursued his path all the way to Iyo. Prince Karu was so very delighted that, while taking Lady Ōiratsume’s hand,

“You truly came for me.” “Because you are here—radiant as a mirror, luminous as a jewel—I yearned to return to Yamato. Yet with you beside me here, what need have I for Yamato or home?” he sang in a poem carrying this meaning. Before long, the two of them ended their lives through suicide in that land.

Herds of deer, herds of boars.

I

After exiling his elder brother Prince Karu, Prince Anaho ascended as the twentieth Emperor Ankō and transferred his court to the Anaho Palace at Isonokami in Yamato. The Emperor resolved to secure Princess Wakakusaka—younger sister of Prince Ōkusaka, who served as their great-uncle while being a son of Emperor Nintoku—as bride for his younger brother Prince Ōhatsuse.

Thereupon, His Majesty dispatched a man called Ne no Omi to Prince Ōkusaka’s residence and conveyed his august intention. When Prince Ōkusaka heard this, he prostrated himself four times and then,

"In truth, I too had considered that such an august decree might possibly be issued, so I have kept my sister from even going outside under ordinary circumstances." "Though it is truly awe-inspiring, I shall humbly offer her as Your Majesty commands," he declared with great delight. However, considering that merely replying with words would be discourteous, he sent a splendid jeweled vine hair ornament called Oshiki no Tamakazura from Princess Wakakusaka to the Emperor as a token of gratitude.

Then Ne no Omi, the envoy, outrageously stole that jeweled vine hair ornament along the way and, when facing the Emperor, "I conveyed Your Majesty’s command, but the King did not comply." "How could I hand over my own sister to become such a fellow’s floor mat?" he declared, growing so enraged that he gripped the hilt of his sword. Saying this, he fabricated utterly baseless things and spread terrible slander.

The Emperor flew into a terrible rage and immediately dispatched men to have Prince Ōkusaka killed. And he took Nagata no Ōiratsume, Prince Ōkusaka's queen, and made her his empress.

One day, His Majesty the Emperor was about to take an afternoon nap. As he reclined on his bed while addressing Her Majesty the Empress at his side,

“Is there nothing you harbor in your heart?” His Majesty inquired. The Empress,

“There is absolutely no such thing. Having received such warm benevolence from Your Majesty, what more could I possibly harbor?” she respectfully replied. At that very moment, beneath the palace hall, the child whom Her Majesty the Empress had conceived with the late Prince Ōkusaka—a seven-year-old prince called Mayowa—was playing alone. Since the Emperor was unaware of that, he inadvertently—

“There is one thing that constantly weighs on my mind,” His Majesty declared. “When Mayowa grows older and learns that I killed his father, I fear he may seek revenge against me.” From below, Prince Mayowa heard this and was astonished to realize that it was the Emperor who had killed his father.

Before long, His Majesty the Emperor sank into a deep sleep. Prince Mayowa, seizing that moment, quietly ascended to the palace hall, drew forth the long sword that lay near the pillow, and suddenly severed His Majesty’s head. He then immediately slipped out of the palace and fled into the residence of a man called Tofuraomi. His Majesty the Emperor breathed his last. He was fifty-six years old.

At that time, His Highness Prince Ōhatsuse, the younger brother, was still a boy wearing his hair in the child's style. But when he heard that Prince Mayowa had slain the Emperor, he became so enraged that he immediately rushed to his elder brother Prince Kurohiko's residence. "Brother! A calamity has occurred! Someone has killed the Emperor! What should we do?" he implored. Yet Prince Kurohiko, though he was the Emperor's full brother, remained entirely unperturbed and composed. When Prince Ōhatsuse saw this, he flared up in anger,

“What kind of unreliable person are you? Has our Emperor not been killed? And that person—is he not also your elder brother? How can you listen to this so calmly?” he declared, then suddenly grabbed him by the collar, dragged him out, drew his sword, and struck him dead with a single blow. The prince then went to his next elder brother, Prince Shirahiko, and informed him in the same manner that the Emperor had been killed. Prince Shirahiko was the Emperor’s full brother. Yet despite this, he too maintained a calm expression and remained composed. The prince again grabbed his elder brother by the collar, dragged him out, and pulled him all the way to a village called Koharida. And there, he dug a hole, stood him upright within it, and proceeded to bury him alive.

As earth was rapidly piled upon him and he was buried up to his waist, both of his eyeballs popped out, and thus he died.

II Prince Ōhatsuse then led his army and surrounded the residence of Tofuraomi, who was sheltering Prince Mayowa. Then Tofuraomi's side too had made thorough preparations and lay in wait; at that very moment, just as reed flowers scatter, they loosed a dense barrage of arrows. Prince Ōhatsuse had already decided prior to this to take Tofuraomi’s daughter—a woman called Karanohime—as his bride. Prince Ōhatsuse now stood thrusting his spear amidst the arrows being shot in rapid succession,

“Tofura! Is Karanohime within this house?” he roared. When Tofura heard this, he hurriedly discarded his weapons and came before the prince’s presence. He prostrated himself eight times and addressed him: “I will present my daughter Karanohime to you as promised. Furthermore, I will present my territory of five villages along with my daughter. I only ask that you please wait a little while longer. The reason I cannot present my daughter immediately is this: While I have heard of retainers fleeing to take refuge in the palaces of princes since ancient times, never once have I heard of a noble prince fleeing to shelter with a lowly person. No matter how fiercely I fight with all my strength, I know full well I cannot prevail against you. Yet since Prince Mayowa has deigned to rely on one as humble as myself and entered my wretched dwelling, I cannot abandon him even in death. As for my daughter—please take her after I have fallen in battle.”

Having said this, he withdrew from His Highness’s presence, took up his weapons once more, entered the residence, and fought with all his might. In time, Tofura finally sustained a severe injury. Everyone’s arrows had completely run out. Therefore, Tofura turned to Prince Mayowa and, “As for me, in this state, I can no longer continue the battle. What should I do?” he humbly inquired.

The young Prince Mayowa said, “Then there is no other way. Kill me quickly.” Tofura obeyed this command and immediately stabbed the Prince. Then with that very sword, he cut his own throat and died.

III

Not long after this commotion had settled, one day, a man from Ōmi named Karabukuro came to Prince Ōhatsuse and reported that there were an extraordinary number of deer and wild boars in a place called Kayano over there. Karabukuro reported, “To convey their sheer numbers—their clustered legs resembled a field of swaying pampas grass, while their gathered antlers stood like a grove of withered trees.”

Prince Ōhatsuse declared, "Very well," and immediately departed for Ōmi with Prince Shinobaha—a son of Emperor Ingyō who happened to be his cousin—the two of them together. When Their Highnesses arrived at Kayano, they each built separate temporary huts and took lodging within them.

The following morning, Prince Shinobaha awoke before the sun had even risen. And so, without hesitation, he immediately summoned his horse and proceeded to Prince Ōhatsuse’s temporary hut. Here, Prince Ōhatsuse was still sound asleep. Prince Shinobaha addressed the attendants of Prince Ōhatsuse, “It seems he hasn’t awakened yet. Since day has broken, tell him to depart promptly,” he declared, and without pause spurred his horse onward to depart for the hunting grounds.

The prince’s attendants addressed the prince,

“Prince Shinobaha has just come and said thus,” “Does not his speech strike you as strange?” “Do not for a moment grow complacent.” “Pray arm yourself thoroughly before departing,” they urged with wary suspicion. Thereupon, the prince deliberately donned armor beneath his robes. Then, taking up bow and arrow and summoning his steed, he hastened forth in pursuit of the prince.

Prince Ōhatsuse soon caught up to Prince Shinobaha, and the two of them proceeded side by side on horseback. In time, the prince seized an opening, swiftly nocked another arrow, and suddenly shot down the blameless Prince Shinobaha. Still unsatisfied, he hacked the body into pieces, threw them into a trough used for horse feed, and buried them in the ground.

IV

Prince Shinobaha had two children: Prince Ooke and Prince Oke.

When the two princes heard that their father had been slain, they resolved they could no longer remain complacent and hastily fled from Yamato. As the two princes were eating their lunch at a place called Karuhai in Yamashiro during their journey, an old man—his face tattooed with marks of retired service—appeared and snatched away the meal they had begun consuming. The two princes,

“We care not for such things, but what manner of man are you?” they rebuked.

“I am a boar keeper who raises wild boars for the authorities in Yamashiro,” said the wicked old man. The two then crossed the Kusuba River in Kawachi and finally managed to escape all the way to Harima. They strictly concealed their status, became servants in the household of a man named Shijimu, engaged in the humble work of tending cows and horses, and thus sustained their lives.

The Dragonfly’s Song

I Prince Ōhatsuse soon ascended the throne as Emperor Yūryaku and took up residence at the Asakura Palace in Yamato. For his Empress, he established Princess Wakakusaka, the younger sister of the aforementioned Prince Ōkusaka. When Princess Wakakusaka still resided in Hidakami of Kawachi, one day His Majesty the Emperor took a shortcut from Yamato, crossed Hidakami's Naokoshi Pass, and paid a visit to the Princess.

At that time, when His Majesty the Emperor surveyed the villages in all directions from atop the mountain, there was a house in the distance with katsuogi attached to its ridge. Katsuogi are ridge ornaments shaped like bonito fish that should only be attached to the Emperor’s palace or a deity’s shrine. His Majesty the Emperor beheld this,

“Whose house is that?” inquired His Majesty the Emperor. “That is the residence of the Ōagatanushi of Shiki,” the attendant humbly answered. The Emperor,

“Impudent wretch! You dare build your house to mimic my palace,” roared the Emperor in fury. “Go burn that dwelling to ashes,” he commanded, immediately dispatching his men. At this, the Ōagatanushi was seized by utter terror. “In our foolish ignorance,” he groveled in apology, “we carelessly constructed it without understanding.” As penitence, he dressed a white dog in cloth finery, hung it with bells, and had his retainer Koshihai lead it by a leash to present before the Emperor.

Therefore, the Emperor permitted only the burning of that house as ritual purification and proceeded directly to Princess Wakakusaka’s residence.

The Emperor, with the attendants,

“This is a dog I have just now obtained on the way. As it is a rare creature, I shall present it as a gift,” declared [the Emperor], and with these words, he bestowed the white dog upon Princess Wakakusaka. However, the Princess,

“Today, His Majesty the Emperor came bearing the sun upon his back. Under these circumstances, I stand in too great an awe before the sun’s majesty to meet with you today. In due course, I shall humbly present myself at the palace to serve.”

Having said this, she politely declined. On his return journey, the Emperor stood atop a mountain, composed a poem expressing his yearning for Princess Wakakusaka, and sent it to her. Not long after that, the Princess entered the palace.

II

One day, the Emperor made an imperial visit to the banks of the Miwa River in Yamato. Then, a girl was washing clothes in that river. She was a truly beautiful and lovely girl. The Emperor, “Whose child are you?” he inquired. “I am Akaiko of Hikita no Iratsuko,” the girl answered respectfully. The Emperor,

“Then wait here, for I shall summon you to my palace in due time,” declared the Emperor, and with that, he passed on by.

Akaiko was overjoyed and accordingly did not marry anyone, single-mindedly awaiting her summons to serve. However, even after decades had passed, ultimately no summons came from the imperial court. In time, she had become a terribly old woman. Akaiko,

"In this state I could truly no longer go serve at the imperial palace." "Yet having become thus aged through my earnest waiting for your summons all these years,I must at least come to report my devotion." Thinking this through,Akaiko took various birds,fishes,and vegetables as offerings one day,and made humble approach to the palace. Thereupon,the Emperor, "What manner of crone names herself? For what purpose have you presented yourself?" he demanded.

Akaiko said, "I am one who received Your Majesty’s command in such-and-such month of such-and-such year，stating thus-and-such．I have waited for Your Majesty’s summons until this very day，ultimately spending decades of years．Now that I have become such an old woman，I am of course unfit for service，but I wished solely to convey that I have abided by Your Majesty’s command to the very end—which is why I have made this special visit，" she said． His Majesty the Emperor heard this and was astonished．

“I had long forgotten that matter,” he said. “This is... this is inexcusable. How pitiful.” He then composed two poems praising Akaiko’s steadfast honesty and deeply lamented how she had remained unmarried her entire life for his sake. Upon hearing the Emperor’s songs, Akaiko could no longer contain herself and burst into tears. Her crimson-dyed robe sleeves grew thoroughly drenched from weeping. Then through her sobs she sang:

“Ahhh, who shall I rely on to live from now on? The young women now glow with pride, just like the lotus flowers in Kusaka Inlet. If only I had retained such youth, I could have been employed at the palace immediately,” she conveyed with these words.

The Emperor bestowed numerous articles upon her and then returned directly to the residence.

III

On another occasion, the Emperor went on an imperial hunt to Agitsu Field in Yamato. As His Majesty sat upon a stool at the hunting grounds, a horsefly came flying and bit his arm. Then a dragonfly appeared, swiftly killed that horsefly, and flew away. The Emperor witnessed this and was greatly pleased, composing a poem that meant: "Ah! Truly this insect that holds such regard for its sovereign must be why our land is called Akitsu Island," thus offering praise. In ancient speech, dragonflies were called akitsu.

Next, on another occasion, the Emperor ascended Mount Katsuragi in Yamato. Then, suddenly, a large wild boar came rushing out. The Emperor swiftly nocked a kabura-ya and, without missing his mark, let it fly with a whiz. Then, the boar became terrifyingly enraged and charged forward with a guttural growl. Even His Majesty could not help but be frightened by this. He hurriedly fled up a nearby han-no-ki tree and by doing so narrowly escaped danger.

The Emperor was atop that han-no-ki tree, “Ah, thanks to this tree, I have saved my life.” He composed a poem expressing his profound gratitude: "How grateful, how grateful I am."

IV

After that, the Emperor once again ascended Mount Katsuragi. At that time, all his attendants were wearing indigo-dyed ceremonial robes with red cords attached, which they had received. Then, on the opposite mountain, a stately figure ascending came into view. That person’s attendants too were all clad in indigo-dyed garments adorned with red cords, so that to any observer, they appeared indistinguishable from the Emperor’s own procession.

The Emperor was astonished and immediately dispatched an envoy, "In all Japan, there should be no other Emperor besides myself. And yet you, attended by the same entourage as I—who on earth are you?" he sternly demanded. Then from the opposing side too came a question mirroring his own inquiry. The Emperor flared up in rage and became first to draw and nock an arrow. His attendants all simultaneously nocked their arrows. Whereupon the opposing side likewise nocked their arrows in unison. The Emperor,

“Now then—state your name! Let us exchange names before loosing arrows!” he commanded. From across came:

“Then I shall reveal my name as well.” “I am Hitokotonushi-no-Ōkami of Mount Katsuragi, who delivers but a single oracle for both ill deeds and good,” came the reply. When His Majesty the Emperor heard this, he was astonished, “This is most awe-inspiring! I never imagined the Great Deity would manifest His divine form,” declared His Majesty. He hastily removed his long swords and bows and arrows, along with all his attendants’ indigo-dyed garments, and had them all prostrate themselves in worship as offerings to the Great Deity.

Then, the Great Deity clapped His hands in delight and graciously accepted all the offerings. Then, when the Emperor was returning to the capital, the Great Deity specially descended from the mountain and saw him off as far as the mountain entrance of distant Hase.

V

On another occasion, His Majesty the Emperor held an imperial banquet beneath the great Momoetsuki keyaki tree in Hase. At that time, a court lady named Mie no Uname, who was born in Ise, offered a sake cup to His Majesty the Emperor and poured sake. Then, unfortunately, a single keyaki leaf fell into that sake cup. The court lady, without noticing it either, continued pouring diligently. The Emperor suddenly noticed the leaf in her cup and immediately flared up in rage. He abruptly seized the court lady, pinned her down, drew his sword, and moved to behead her. The court lady,

"Ah!" she cried, shrinking back in terror.

“Please spare my life at least,” she pleaded. “I have something to humbly present,” she said, then sang a lengthy song conveying these meanings: “This palace where morning sun and evening sun alike shine brightly through, This grand palace firmly built upon solid ground. Outside stands towering a great keyaki tree, Its upper branches veiling heaven’s expanse, Middle branches casting shade o’er eastern lands, Lower boughs blanketing all regions beyond. Leaves from topmost twigs descend to middle limbs, Fallen leaves from middle limbs drift down to lower boughs, Till at last a leaf from lowest branch alights, Floating gently into this cup I hold up.”

When one sees this, it brings to mind ancient times when heaven and earth first formed, when this world floated like oil on water. Moreover, it closely resembles how the deity created the islands of Japan in the midst of the great sea and set them afloat. In truth, this is a sacred and auspicious event. "This will undoubtedly be recounted even to future generations." The court lady sang this delightfully while drawing upon an old tradition. The Emperor pardoned her transgression moved by this song. Then the Empress too became greatly pleased,

"In the lofty reaches of Takaichi District in Yamato, a grand broad-leaved camellia blooms in full splendor." "Now, just as those camellia leaves spread wide, His Majesty the Emperor has shown great magnanimity; and as those blossoms are fair, so too has he revealed a heart both beautiful and gentle in granting pardon to this court lady." "Come now, pour sake for our noble Emperor." "This gracious mercy shall be recounted by all for generations to come," Her Majesty the Empress sang in a poem conveying this meaning.

Following that, the Emperor also merrily sang a song, and everyone held a lively sake banquet together. The court lady was not only pardoned for her crime but also received various gifts bestowed upon her and rejoiced with great joy.

The Emperor finally passed away at the venerable age of one hundred and twenty-four.

Cattle keepers, horse keepers

I

After Emperor Yūryaku, his child Emperor Seinei ascended to the throne. The Emperor never took an Empress until the end and had not a single child.

Therefore, when His Majesty passed away with no successor to inherit the throne, all were greatly perplexed and diligently searched for any imperial descendant from previous reigns. Then came Oshinumi no Iratsume—younger sister of Prince Oshiha who had been slain by Emperor Yūryaku—also known as Princess Iitoyo, who established herself at Tsunasaki Palace in Yamato's Katsuragi region. Thus Her Highness was entrusted with provisional governance. None knew that Prince Oshiha's sons Ohohe and Oke yet lived in Harima Province, working as cattle and horse tenders.

Not long after that, Yamabe no Kotate went to Harima Province as its newly appointed governor. Then, a man named Shijimu in that region held a sake banquet at his newly built home. At that time, starting with Kotate, the invited guests began taking turns standing up to dance as the sake circulated. Finally, they even ordered the two fire-tending sibling children by the hearth to dance.

Then, the younger brother said to the older brother, "You dance first." The elder brother said to the younger brother, “You dance first.” Everyone found it amusing how those lowly servant children pretentiously deferred to each other like proper people and roared with laughter.

Eventually, the elder brother danced first. When the younger brother was about to begin his dance afterward, he first sang a song in a loud voice that revealed their true circumstances as brothers: "Even a manly, imposing man adorned with red tassels on his long sword's hilt and red cloth on its scabbard—though his striking appearance draws all eyes—if he enters deep into overgrown bamboo thickets, he becomes hidden and unseen," he began, introducing the phrase "bamboo thickets" before...

“The eight-stringed koto crafted by splitting those large bamboo stalks from the thicket and arranging them—it is exquisitely tuned and flawless. Emperor Ingyō, five generations past, ruled the realm flawlessly and splendidly, just like the melody of that koto. Among his sons was one called Lord Shinuba. ‘O people all, we two are the sons of that Lord Shinuba!’ they sang.”

When Kotate heard this, he was so startled that he tumbled to the floor. And in a great flurry, he promptly drove everyone out without exception, then—having unexpectedly found Princes Ohohe and Oke in such an unlikely place—he seated them upon his left and right knees, and as he reflected on the hardships they had endured until this day, tears streamed down while he wept.

Yamabe no Kotate then hurriedly gathered everyone, built a temporary palace, and respectfully moved the two princes into it. And then, he immediately dispatched a swift horse messenger to Yamato and humbly reported to Her Highness Princess Iitoyo. Upon hearing this, Her Highness Princess Iitoyo was overjoyed and immediately summoned the two princes.

II

The two princes gradually came of age at Tsunasaki Palace. One day, Prince Oke attended a song gathering—an event where many men and women gathered together to exchange songs. At that time, there also came a beautiful woman named Oouo, the daughter of a man called Uda no Obito, whom the prince had long intended to take as his bride. Around that time, Minister Shibi—who had been wielding terrible influence among the courtiers—took Oouo’s hand and, aiming his provocation at Prince Oke,

“Ah, how absurd! The palace roof has warped,” he began singing, directing the song’s concluding verse toward the Prince. The Prince promptly accepted the challenge, “It warped because the carpenter was inept,” he sang in retort. Then Shibi pressed further, “No—no matter how impatiently the Prince may rush, he shall not breach the eightfold brushwood fence I’ve woven. You cannot meddle in the bond between Oouo and me,” he taunted through song. The prince instantly countered:

“In the turbulent waves upon the tidal currents, Shibi flounders. By Shibi’s side clings Shibi’s wife. You fool of a Shibi!” he sang. Then Shibi grew sullen with rage, “No matter how sturdily the Prince’s brushwood fence is woven, I’ll slash through it in an instant! I’ll burn it all down!” he chanted. The prince stood unwavering, “Ahaha, Shibi. You are but a fish. However you bluster, you cannot withstand the fishermen coming to spear you. How pitiful to harbor such fears!” he retorted.

The Prince contended in song in such manner until dawn finally broke and withdrew. Immediately after returning to the palace, he consulted his elder brother Prince Ohohe. Shibi had grown arrogant all by himself and was trampling them underfoot. Those who served their palace came in the morning but gathered at Shibi’s house all day long thereafter to flatter him. Such a man had to be swiftly defeated for the sake of the future. Shibi must have been exhausted and sound asleep by then. There were likely no guards at the gate, so the two resolved that now was the time to strike. They immediately gathered troops, surrounded Shibi’s residence, and effortlessly cut down their target Shibi.

III The two princes were now sufficiently mature in age to govern the realm independently, so by order of precedence, it was proper that the elder brother, Prince Ohohe, should first ascend to the throne. However, Prince Ohohe turned to his younger brother and said: “When we were in Shijimu, had you not announced your name, both of us would have remained buried there as we were.” “That we have reached this point is entirely your doing.” “Therefore, though I was born your elder brother, I ask that you first govern the realm.” Prince Oke persistently declined this matter, but as his elder brother would not hear of it under any circumstances, he finally had no choice but to first ascend to the throne. The one later respectfully referred to as Emperor Kenzō is none other than this very Emperor.

The Emperor thereupon moved to the Chikatsu Asuka Palace in Yamato and welcomed as Empress the one referred to as Prince Naniwa, the child of Prince Ishiki. The Emperor resolved to search for his father Prince Oshiha’s mortal remains and went to great lengths in his efforts.

Then, from Ōmi, a humble old woman came forth and said: "I know well where I buried the Prince’s bones. With all due respect, the Prince had teeth that overlapped like lily roots. If Your Majesty were to look at those teeth, you would immediately recognize them as his." The Emperor promptly went to Kaya Field in Ōmi and ordered the local people to dig at the spot indicated by the old woman, where he indeed discovered his father’s remains. Thereupon, he had an imperial tomb built in the eastern mountains of Kayanuno to inter them, and appointed as tomb guardians those descendants of Karafukuro who had previously advised his father’s hunting party.

After His Majesty returned to the palace, he summoned the aforementioned old woman,

“You have kept good watch over an important place,” praised the Emperor, and bestowed upon her the name Okime Rōmō. For a time, he kept her at the palace and treated her cordially; then, after having her reside anew in a village near the palace, he summoned her to his side once daily without fail and spoke kind words to her. For this purpose, the Emperor specially had a large bell installed at the palace door, and when summoning Okime, he would ring that bell.

Later, Okime said, “As I have grown quite old, I wish to return to the village where I was born.” The Emperor granted Okime’s request. While singing a farewell song that asked, “Does this mean I shall no longer see you from tomorrow?” he personally saw her off. Next, the Emperor had that old boar keeper—who had stolen their lunch during his flight from Yamato long ago with his elder brother—sought out and executed on the banks of the Asuka River in Yamato. That wicked old man had resided in a place called Shimesu. As further punishment, the Emperor had the tendons of the knees severed in that old man’s clan members. Thereafter, whenever these individuals came up to Yamato, they always emerged limping.

IV The Emperor deeply resented Emperor Yūryaku, who had slain His Majesty's father, and resolved to at least take vengeance upon his spirit. Thus he dispatched men to demolish the imperial tomb located in Tajihi, Kawachi. Then his elder brother Prince Ohohe, "If it is to destroy the Emperor's tomb, others must not be sent. I myself shall go and demolish it precisely as Your Majesty intends," he formally petitioned. The Emperor, "Then you may go," granted permission.

“Then you may go,” he granted permission. Prince Ohohe hastened to depart. And he soon returned,

“I have properly destroyed it,” he declared. However, as his return came far too swiftly, the Emperor found this peculiar, “By what means did you accomplish this destruction?” he inquired. His elder brother then responded, “In truth, I merely excavated and overturned a small portion of soil from the imperial tomb.” Hearing this reply, the Emperor pressed, “What reasoning lies behind this?” “Can such half-measures – merely scooping earth – satisfy our duty to avenge Father?” “Why did you not return having razed that tomb completely?” he demanded. The elder brother explained,

“Your command is indeed reasonable on one level. However, even though he was our Father’s enemy, he remains both our uncle and one who reigned as Emperor. Were we to destroy the tomb of an imperial predecessor solely out of vengeance for our Father, we would surely face condemnation from future generations. Yet since the enemy must be avenged without exception, I took soil from the site as proof of this retribution. By inflicting this measure of disgrace, none in ages to come shall find cause for censure.”

Having said this, he explained the reason. Then the Emperor responded, "That is indeed reasonable. What you have done is acceptable," he said with satisfaction.

The Emperor reigned over the realm for eight years and passed away at the age of thirty-eight. The Emperor did not have a single child. Therefore, his elder brother Prince Ohohe ascended the throne as Emperor Ninken.

The Emperor moved to the Isonokami no Hirotaka Palace in Yamato and established Her Ladyship Kasuga no Ōiratsume, a daughter of Emperor Yūryaku, as Empress. Following the Emperor, Prince Ohatsuse Wakasazaki no Mikoto ascended to the throne as Emperor Buretsu. After this, Emperors Keitai, Ankan, Senka, Kinmei, Bidatsu, Yōmei, Sushun, and Empress Suiko ascended to the throne one after another.