Then the Heavenly Sovereign deigned to ask: “Whose child art thou?” He replied, saying: “I[1] am Oho-tata-ne-ko, child of His Augustness Take-mika-dzu-chi[2] [who was] child of His Augustness Ihi-gata-sumi,[3] [who was] child of His Augustness Kushi-mi-gata,[4] [who was] child of the Great Deity the Great-Master-of-Things by his wife Iku-tama-yori-bime,[5] daughter of His Augustness Suwe-tsu-mimi.”[6] Hereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, being greatly rejoiced, commanded that the Empire should be tranquil, and the people flourish, and forthwith made His Augustness Oho-tata-ne-ko high-priest[7] to worship[8] the Great Deity of Great Miwa[9] on Mount Mimoro.[10] Again he ordered His Augustness Igaka-shiko-wo[11] to make eighty heavenly platters, and reverently to establish the shrines of the Heavenly Deities and the Earthly Deities;[12] likewise to worship with a red-coloured shield and
- ↑ Here and below the First Personal Pronoun is represented by the respectful character 僕, “servant.”
- ↑ See Sect. VIII, Note 7, for the explanation of this name. But probably the deity here intended is another.
- ↑ The etymology and signification of this name are alike obscure.
- ↑ Motowori interprets kushi in the sense of “wondrous,” and Migata as the name of a place, which also occurs under the form of Higata.
- ↑ I.e., “life-jewel-good-princess.”
- ↑ The precise signification of this name is obscure. Motowori supposes Suwe to be the name of a place; tsu is the Genitive Particle, and mimi the Honorific of doubtful import, whose meaning has been discussed in Note 18 to Sect. XIII.
- ↑ The exact meaning of the characters used to write the word kamu-nushi (modern kannushi), here rendered “high-priest,” is “owner of the Deity.” Though commonly used in modern parlance to denote any Shintō priest, it properly signifies only the chief priest in charge of a temple, whence the odd-sounding name.
- ↑ Or, “conduct the worship at the shrine of.”
- ↑ Viz., the Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land. For the traditional etymology of Miwa see the legend in Sect. LXV.
- ↑ See Sect. XXVIII, Notes 4 and 5.
- ↑ Or Ikaga-shiko-wo. The probable meaning of this name, proposed by Motowori, is (neglecting the initial letter i as expletive) “the refulgent ugly male.”
- ↑ See Sect. I, Note 11.
