[Sect. XXXIII.—The August Descent from Heaven of his Augustness the August Grandchild.]
Then the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity and the High-Integrating-Deity[1] commanded and charged the Heir Apparent[2] His Augustness Truly-Conqueror-I-Conquer-Swift-Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears[3] [saying: “The Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male-Deity] says that he has now finished pacifying the Central Land of Reed-Plains. So do thou, in accordance with our gracious charge, descend to and dwell in and rule over it.” Then the Heir Apparent His Angustness Truly-Conqueror-I-Conquer-Conquering-Swift-Heavenly-Great-Great-Ears replied, saying: “While I[4] have been getting ready to descend, there has been born [to me] a child whoso name is His Augustness Heaven-Plenty-Earth-Plenty-Heaven’s-Sun-Height-Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty.[5] This child should be sent down.” [[6]As for this august
- ↑ Taka-gi-no-kami. See Sect. XXXI. Note 13.
- ↑ It will be remembered that this god was son of the Sun-goddess (or of her brother Susa-no-wo, “the Impetuous Male”;—see Sect. XII. Note 18, and also the first two sentences of Sect. XIV and the first sentence of Sect. XV). The characters rendered “Heir Apparent” are 太子, which form the usual Chinese equivalent of that term, and were borrowed by the Japanese. Motowori’s reading of them as Hi-tsugi no miko, “Prince of the Sun’s Succession,” has no authority but his own patriotic fancy.
- ↑ For this tremendous name see Sect. XIII Note 18.
- ↑ The humble character 僕, “servant” is used for the First Personal Pronoun.
- ↑ Ame-nigishi-kuni-nigishi-ama-tsu-hi-daka-hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi-no-mikoto. Excepting as regards the final gi of ni-nigi, which it is surely better with Hirata to consider as helping to form the word nigi, “plenty,” than to take it as a separate word signifying “lord,” as Motowori does, the translation follows Motowori’s interpretation of the various component parts of this tremendous name, which is mostly abbreviated to its latter portion. It is precisely to this latter portion (the syllables hiko-ho-no-nigi) that considerable doubt attaches. Ho might mean “fire” rather than “rice-ears,” and Motowori himself suggests that ni-nigi should perhaps be regarded as a corruption of nigi-kahi, “plentiful spikes of grain,” rather than as “ruddy plenty.” About the meaning of the rest of the name there cannot be much doubt. “Heaven’s Sun Height” must be understood as an honorific designation signifying “high as the sun in heaven.”
- ↑ The translator puts this sentence between brackets because it is an evident interruption of the main story. Indeed the edition of 1687 prints it as a note to the text. The grammar of it is curious, as, on a first reading, one would be tempted
