blew them away, were Her Augustness Torrent-Mist-Princess,[1] another august name for whom is Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Island-of-the-Offing; next Her Augustness Lovely-Island-Princess,[2] another august name for whom is Her Augustness Good-Princess; next Her Augustness Princess-of-the-Torrent.[3] The august name of the Deity that was born from the mist [of his breath] when, having begged the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity to hand him the augustly complete [string] of curved jewels eight feet [long],—of five hundred jewels,—that was twisted in the left august bunch [of her hair], and with the jewels making a jingling sound having brandished and washed them in the True-Pool-Well of Heaven, and having crunchingly crunched them, His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness blew them away, was His Augustness Truly-Conqueror-I-Conquer-Conquering-Swift-Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears.[4] The august name of the Deity that was born from the mist [of his breath] when again, having begged her to hand him the jewels that were
- ↑ This is the interpretation of the original name Ta-kiri-bime-no-mikoto which is proposed by Moribe. It is less far-fetched, and agrees better with the name of the sister deity Princess-of-the-Torrent, than do the other explanations that have been attempted. The alternative name is Oki-tsu-shima-no-mikoto.
- ↑ Ichiki-shima-hime-no-mikoto, ichiki being an unusual form of itsuki. The island, which is in the Inland Sea, is still celebrated, but bears in common parlance the name of Miya-zhima, i.e., “Temple Island.” The alternative name is Sa-yori-bime-no-mikoto, in which sa is an Ornamental Prefix not calling for translation.
- ↑ Tagi-tsu-hime-no-mikoto.
- ↑ Masa-ka-a-katsu-kachi-hayabi-ame-no-oshi-ho-mimi-no-mikoto. The word mimi (耳 “ears”) forms part of a large number of Ancient Japanese proper names. Motowori, who of course passes over in silence the fact that large ears are considered lucky, not only in Japan, but also in China and Korea, suggests the etymology hi hi or bi bi (靈々), i.e. the word “wondrous” or “miraculous” repeated. But there are examples of such names in which the interpretation of mimi as “ears” is unavoidable. Thus Prince Umayado (commonly called Shō-toku Tai-shi) had also the name of Ya-tsu-mimi no Tai-shi 八耳太子 bestowed upon him on account of his extraordinary intelligence. Is it not therefore simpler in all cases to allow to the word this its natural meaning? The proper names in mi do however undoubtedly offer some difficulty, and Motowori scarcely seems content with his own derivation of the troublesome syllable. Oshi, as in other cases, is taken to represent ohoshi, “great”; and after much hesitation the translator has followed Motowori in regarding ho likewise as an abbreviated form of that word.
