Having thus spoken [he hid himself.[1] So in accordance with his word,[2]] they built a heavenly august abode on the shore[3] of Tagishi[4] in the land of Idzumo; and the Deity Wondrous-Eight-Spirits,[5] grandson of the Deity of Water-Gates,[6] was made butler to offer up the heavenly august banquet, when,[7] having said prayers, the Deity Wondrous-Eight-Spirits turned into a cormorant, went down to the bottom of the sea, took in his mouth red earth from the bottom, made eighty heavenly platters, and, cutting sea-weed[8] stalks, made a fire-drill mortar, and made a fire-drill pestle out of stalks of komo,[9] and drilled out fire, saying: “This fire which I have drilled will I burn until, in the Plain
- ↑ I.e., disappeared.
- ↑ The passage placed within brackets is supplied by Motowori to fill up an evident omission in the text.
- ↑ Literally “little shore.” See Note 10 to this Section.
- ↑ The derivation of Tagishi is doubtful; but conf. Sect. LXXXIX, Note 2. Motowori remarks that we seem to have here the old name of the place now known only, on account of the temple which it contains, as Kidzuki no Oho-yashiro, i.e. “the pestle-hardened great shrine.”
- ↑ Kushi-ya-tama-no-kami. Motowori proposes to consider tama as a contraction of tamuke, “offering,” and to take the name to signify “the Deity of Wondrous Increasing Offerings.” Hirata’s interpretation, which is followed in the translation, seems better, as the term “eight spirits” or “eight [fold] spirit” accords with the religious role attributed to this Deity without necessitating any hazardous philological conjectures. The actual character used to write the disputed word is 玉, “jewel.”
- ↑ See Sect. VI. Note 9.
- ↑ The word “when” must be understood resumptively, as signifying that the way in which he carried out his task was by turning into a cormorant, making platters, etc.
- ↑ It is uncertain whether the word me (海布), here rendered sea-weed, is a general designation or the name of a particular species.
- ↑ Supposed to be the same as, or similar to, the modern hon-dahara (Halochloa macrantha).
Hades or for Hades itself (Conf. Sect. XCVI, Note 7). In rendering the last sentence of the passage (that commencing “Again, as for my children,” etc.), which is particularly vague, the translator has been guided by Motowori’s opinion, which seems the most satisfactory one. It must be understood that the deities whose rear and van the Deity Thing-Sign-Master is to become, are those who are about to escort the new sovereign down from heaven.
