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“ Thine Augustness, the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! Being a maiden like a drooping plant, my heart is just a bird on a sand-bank by the shore; it will now indeed be a dotterel. Afterward it will be a gentle bird; so as for thy life, do not deign to die. ”

“ After giving his reasons for coming to woo the Princess of Nuna-kaha, the god declares that he is in such haste to penetrate to her chamber, that he does not even stay to ungird his sword or take off his veil, but tries to push or pull open the door at once. During these vain endeavors, the mountainside begins to re-echo with the cries of the birds announcing the dawn, when lovers must slink away. ”

“ Then he deigned to ask: "Who are ye?" So the old man replied, saying: "I am an Earthly deity, child of the deity Great-Mountain-Possessor. I am called by the name of Foot-Stroking-Elder, my wife is called by the name of Hand-Stroking-Elder, and my daughter is called by the name of Wondrous-Inada-Princess." Again he asked: "What is the cause of your crying?" The old man answered, saying: "I had originally eight young girls as daughters. But the eight-forked serpent of Koshi has come every year and devoured one, and it is now its time to come, wherefore we weep." ”

“ So when he had received the imperial command and started off, he went into the temple of the Great August Deity of Ise, and worshiped the deity's court, forthwith speaking to his aunt, Her Augustness Yamato-hime, saying: "It must surely be that the Heavenly Sovereign thinks I may die quickly; for after sending me to smite the wicked people of the West, I am no sooner come up again to the capital than, without bestowing on me an army, he now sends me off afresh to pacify the wicked people of the twelve circuits of the East. ”

“ But the deity Great-Name-Possessor, who came last of all, saw the hare, and said: "Why liest thou weeping?" The hare replied, saying: "I was in the Island of Oki, and wished to cross over to this land, but had no means of crossing over. For this reason I deceived the crocodiles of the sea, saying: 'Let you and me compete, and compute the numbers of our respective tribes. So do you go and fetch every member of your tribe, and make them all lie in a row across from this island to Cape Keta. ”

“ Again on the night of the next day the Impetuous-Male deity put him into the centipede and wasp-house; but as she again gave him a centipede and wasp-scarf, and instructed him as before, he came forth calmly. Again the Impetuous-Male deity shot a whizzing barb into the middle of a large moor, and sent him to fetch the arrow, and, when he had entered the moor, at once set fire to the moor all round. Thereupon, while he stood knowing no place of exit, a mouse came and said: "The inside is hollow-hollow; the outside is narrow-narrow." ”

“ The feathers of the arrow were brought in their mouths by all the mouse's children. Hereupon his wife the Forward-Princess came bearing mourning-implements, and crying. Her father the great deity, thinking that the deity Great-Name-Possessor was already dead and done for, went out and stood on the moor, whereupon the deity Great-Name-Possessor brought the arrow and presented it to him, upon which the great deity, taking him into the house and calling him into an eight-foot spaced large room, made him take the lice off his head. ”

“ The names of the deities that were next born from her urine were the deity Mitsuhanome and, next, the Young-Wondrous-Producing deity. The child of this deity was called the deity Luxuriant-Food-Princess. So the deity the Female-Who-Invites, through giving birth to the deity of Fire, at length divinely retired. (Eight deities in all from the Heavenly-Bird-Boat to the deity Luxuriant-Food-Princess.) The total number of islands given birth to jointly by the two deities the Male-Who-Invites and the Female-Who-Invites was fourteen, and of deities thirty-five. ”

“ Yamazaki Suiga, as quoted by Tanigaha Shisei, is more sensible when he remarks that each country naturally considers itself central and foreign countries barbarous, and that Japan is not peculiar in being looked on by its inhabitants as the center of the universe. ”

“ They here represent the Japanese word Yomo or Yomi, which we find phonetically written in the name of Yomo-tsu-shiko-me a little further on, and which is defined by Motowori as "an underworld, . . . the habitation of the dead, . . . the land whither, when they die, go all men, whether noble or mean, virtuous or wicked." The orthodox Japanese derivation of Yomi is from Yoru, "night," which would give us for Yomo-tsu-kuni some such rendering as "the Land of Gloom." ”

“ These are the gods of Shinto, that is, the ancestors of the Japanese. Hence, in a way, they are scarcely gods at all. Indeed we only thus translate the Chinese character for these old figures because we scarcely know how else to tell their story unless we call them deities. These crude, barbaric figures are not gods in the sense of being all-powerful, or even of ruling earth, or of being immortal. They are just "ancestors," barbaric men and women magnified by time.
Hence the tales of the "Kojiki" soon begin to center on Ama-terasu the Sun-goddess and her children ”

“ Then the Heaven-Shining-Great-August deity said: "If that be so, whereby shall I know the sincerity of thine intentions?" Thereupon His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness replied, saying: "Let each of us swear, [77] and produce children." ”

“ The author's obscure phrase is explained by Motowori to mean that these Heavenly deities were separate from those who came into existence afterward, and especially from the Earthly-Eternally-Standing deity who, in the "Chronicles," is the first divine being of whom mention is made. ”

“ A suggestion quoted by Arawi Hakuseki ("Toga" article Idzumi) that the word may really be but a mispronunciation of Yama, the Sanskrit name of the Buddhist god of hell, is however worthy of consideration; but it seems best on the whole to translate Yomi or Yomo by "Hades," a term which is itself of uncertain derivation, and the signification attached to which closely resembles the Japanese Shinto notion of the world beyond, or rather beneath, the grave. ”

“ Hereupon he said: "As for the deity of this mountain, I will simply take him empty-handed" [159] and was ascending the mountain, when there met him on the mountainside a white boar whose size was like unto that of a bull. [160] Then he lifted up words, [161] and said: "This creature that is transformed into a white boar must be a messenger from the deity. [162] Though I slay it not now, I will slay it when I return" and so saying, ascended. Thereupon the deity caused heavy ice-rain [163] to fall, striking and perplexing His Augustness Yamato-take. ”

“ It is allowed that the gloss is a late addition, and its statement might perhaps be considered a mere invention made to account for the peculiar expression in the text. Motowori tells us, however, that "it is said by the natives" that these actions are still (latter part of 18th century) considered unlucky in the province of Ihami, and the same superstition also survives, as the translator is assured, in Yedo itself. It is to be understood that it was the large tooth broken off from the comb which the god lighted. ”

“ It has, however, been supposed to have originally denoted the whole of the island in question. In any case the name is not inappropriate, as the island has a long eastern sea-board. ↑ Aki-guhi-no-ushi-no-kami. The English rendering of this obscure name proceeds on the assumption that Motowori is correct when he proposes to consider kuhi as "mouth." The gaping trousers no longer filled by the deity's legs would perhaps suggest the idea of an open mouth, though it is true that this is not the deity said to have been actually born from that portion of the attire. ”

“ According to this, the "eight feet" (which Moribe takes to mean simply "several feet") must be supposed to refer to the length of the necklace which, he says, probably resembled a Buddhist rosary, only that the beads were somewhat larger. Mr. Satow, adopting some of the bolder etymologies of the Japanese commentators, translates thus: the "ever-bright curved (or glittering) jewels, the many assembled jewels," and concludes that "a long string of, perhaps, claw-shaped stone beads" was what the author meant to describe. ↑ Hirata supposes this additional quiver to have been slung in front. ”

“ Then the Empress and likewise the august children, though they tore their feet treading on the stubble of the bamboo-grass, forgot the pain, and pursued him with lamentations. At that time they sang, saying:
"Our loins are impeded in the plain overgrown with short bamboo-grass. ”

“ This name is said by Motowori to be taken from that of a place in the province of Shinano. But Moribe shows that at any rate the etymology of the word may be traced to ama-tsu-mochi, "possessors of fishermen." ↑ Attention must again be drawn to the vagueness of the Japanese perception of the distinction between singular and plural. As three deities are particularly and repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing text, we are forced to translate this passage in the plural; and yet how could one child have three fathers? ”