Hereupon Kagehime, when the funeral was over, and she was about to return home, said, with an utterance choked by grief:—"Alas! to-day I have lost my beloved husband." So she burst into tears of sorrow, and in a state of distraction made a song, saying:—
Like a deer
That, drenched with water, hides
In the valley of Nara,—
(Of fertile soil)—
Is the young lord of Shibi—
(The water-besprinkled[1]):—
Make him not thy prey. Oh! thou wild boar!
Winter, 11th month, 11th day. Ohotomo no Kanamura no Muraji spake to the eldest son, saying:—"The rebel Matori ought to be slain. I pray thee let me attack him." The eldest son said:—"We are about to have civil war in the Empire, and without a rare warrior, we shall be unable to accomplish anything. When I consider this well, I find that (XVI. 6.) thou art the man."[2] So he laid his plans in concert with him.
Hereupon Ohotomo no Ohomuraji,[3] in personal command of the troops, led them to besiege the house of the Oho-omi, and setting fire to it, burnt it. His style of command was like the scattering of clouds.
Matori no Oho-omi, resenting the failure of his enterprise, and feeling that his life was doomed, that his designs had reached a limit, and that his hopes had vanished, cursed the salt (sea) far and wide, and at length was put to death along with his people. When he uttered the curse, the only place which he forgot was the sea-brine of Tsunoga, and this he did
- ↑ This line has reference to the meaning of Shibi, viz. tunny-fish.
- ↑ This speech is adapted from a Chinese author.
- ↑ He was not Ohomuraji till afterwards. See below.
one's pillow." This is probably why makura is here associated with Takahashi. Oho-yake means great storehouse. Hence the epithet attached to it. "Of the spring-day" is a regular makura-kotoba or pillow-word of Kasuga, because kasuga is like kasumeru, to be hazy, and the weather is hazy in spring. Wosaho contains wo, male, which accounts for the epithet "spouse-retiring" in the next line. The commentators have much more to say about these verses. The metre is irregular.
