the good eyes of morning,[1] take it and present it to the august child of the Heavenly Deity.’ So, on my searching my store-house early next morning in accordance with the instructions of the dream, there really was a cross-sword there. So I just present this cross-sword to thee.”
[Sect. XLVI.—Emperor Jim-mu (Part III.—The Gigantic Crow and Gods with Tails).]
“Then His[2] Augustness the Great-High-Integrating-Deity again commanded and taught, saying: ‘August son of the Heavenly Deity! make no progress hence into the interior. The savage Deities are very numerous. I will now send from Heaven a crow eight feet [long].[3] So that crow eight feet [long] shall guide thee. Thou must make thy progress following after it as it goes.” So on [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] making his progress following after the crow eight feet [long] in obedience to the Deity’s instructions, he reached the lower course of the Yeshinu[4] river, where
- ↑ Or, “luckily with morning eyes.” Motowori remarks that even in modern times, special joy is felt at a good discovery made in the morning.
- ↑ The intention of the writer is here obscure, but he probably meant the following passage to form part of the dream, as is the case in the parallel passage of the “Chronicles.” The inverted commas are therefore continued in the translation.
- ↑ The characters 八咫烏 (ya-ta-garasu), with which the original of this expression is written, combined with the mention in the Preface of the “great crow,” have determined the translator to adopt the interpretion favoured by Tanigaha Shisei, viz., a “crow eight feet [long].” Motowori understands the expression to mean “an eight-headed crow.” For the arguments on both sides see the “Perpetual Commentary on the Chronicles of Japan,” Vol. VIII, p. 16, and Motowori’s Commentary, Vol XVIII, pp. 60–62, and Vol. VIII, pp. 34–38. See also for the translation of a parallel passage Sect XVI, Note 23.
- ↑ Better known by the classical and modern form of the name, Yoshino. It seems to signify “good moor.” Yoshino, which is in the province of Yamato, has from the earliest times been renowned for the beauty of its cherry-blossoms, and also figures largely in the early and mediæval history. Motowori points out geographical difficulties in the Imperial progress as here detailed. In the “Chronicles,” the verisimilitudes of the journey are better observed.
