there was a person catching fish in a weir.[1] Then the august child of the Heavenly Deity asked, saying: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I[2] am an Earthly Deity[3] and am called by the name of Nihe-motsu no Ko.”[4] (This is the ancestor of the Cormorant-Keepers of Aha).[5] On [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] making his progress thence, a person with a tail[6] came out of a well. The well shone. Then [His Augustness] asked: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Wi-hika.[7]” (This is the ancestor of the Headmen of Yeshinu).[8] On his forthwith entering the mountains,[9] His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko again met a person with a tail. This person came forth pushing the cliffs apart. Then [His Augustness Kamu-yamato-ihare-biko] asked: “Who art thou?” He replied, saying: “I am an Earthly Deity, and my name is Iha-oshi-waku no Ko. I heard [just] now that the august son of the Heavenly Deity was making his progress. So it is for that that I have come to meet thee.” (This is the ancestor of the Territorial Owners
- ↑ The character 筌, here rendered “weir” for want of a better word, is defined as signifying “a bamboo trap for catching fish.”
- ↑ The First Personal Pronoun is here represented by the humble character 僕, “servant.” The other tailed deity mentioned immediately below uses the same expression.
- ↑ See Sect. I, Note 11 and Sect. XLIV, Note 22, for the considerations that make it better to translate thus than to render by “I am a Deity of the Land.”
- ↑ I.e., “Offering-Bearing Child.” Here and elsewhere the word ko, “child,” as part of a proper name, should be understood as a kind of Honorific, employed probably in imitation of Chinese usage.
- ↑ Ada no U-kahi. This must be understood to be a “gentile name” (kabane) The etymology of Ada is uncertain. The practice of fishing with the help of cormorants, though now almost obsolete, seems to have been very common in Japan down to the Middle Ages.
- ↑ Commenting on a similar passage a little further on, Motowori naïvely remarks: “It appears that in very ancient times such persons were occasionally to be met with.” It should be added that they are also mentioned in Chinese literature.
- ↑ I.e., “Well-Shine.”
- ↑ Yeshinu no obito. For Yeshinu see Note 3.
- ↑ I.e., disappearing among the mountains.
