16
“Ko-ji-ki,” or Records of Ancient Matters.
[Vol. III.
Deity,[1] next the Heavenly-Eternally-Standing-Deity.[2] These two Deities were likewise born alone, and hid their persons.
The five Deities in the above list are separate Heavenly Deities.[3]
[Sect. II.—The Seven Divine Generations.]
The names of the Deities that were born next were the Earthly-Eternally-Standing-Deity,[4] next the Luxuriant-Integrating-Master-Deity.[5]
- ↑ Umashi-ashi-kabi-hiko-ji-no-kami. For hiko here and elsewhere rendered “prince” see Introduction p. xvi; ji is rendered “elder” in accordance with the opinion expressed by Motowori and Hirata, who say that it is “an Honorific designation of males identical with the ji meaning old man.”
- ↑ Or, the Deity-Standing-Eternally-in-Heaven, Ame-no-toko-tachi-no-kami. The translation of the name here given follows the natural meaning of the characters composing it, and has the sanction of Tanigaha Shisei. Motowori and Hirata take toko to stand for soko, “bottom,” and interpret accordingly; but this is probably but one of the many instances in which the Japanese philologists allow themselves to be led by the boldness of their etymological speculations into identifying words radically distinct.
- ↑ This is a note in the original, where such notes are indented, as has also been done in the translation. The author’s obscure phrase is explained by Motowori to mean that these Heavenly Deities were separate from those who came into existence afterwards, and especially from the Earthly-Eternally-Standing-Deity (Kuni-no-toko-tachi-no-kami) who in the “Chronicles” is the first divine being of whom mention in made. These five were, he says, “separate” and had nothing to do with the creation of the world. It should be stated that the sentence will also bear the interpretation “The five Deities in the above list are Deities who divided Heaven” (i.e., presumably from Earth); but this rendering has against it the authority of all the native editors. As the expressions “Heavenly Deity” and “Earthly Deity” (lit., “Country Deity”) are of frequent occurrence in these “Records,” it may be as well to state that, according to Motowori, the “Heavenly Deities” were such as either dwelt in Heaven or had originally descended to Earth from Heaven, whereas the Earthly Deities were those born and dwelling in Japan.
- ↑ Or, the Deity-Standing-Eternally-on-Earth, Kuni-no-toko-tachi-no-kami. Conf. Note 10 to Sect. I.
- ↑ Toyo-kumo-nu-no-kami. There is much doubt as to the proper interpretation of this name. The characters 雲野 (“cloud-moor”), with which the syllables read kumo-nu are written, are almost certainly phonetic, and the translator has followed Motowori’s view as corrected by Hirata, according to which kumo is taken to stand for kumu, “integrating,” and nu is considered to be an apocopated form
