Vol. XXIII.]
Vol. II. Sect. LXVI.
179
[Sect. LXVI.—Emperor Sū-jin (Part IV.—War with King Take-hani-yasu).]
Again in this august reign His Augustness Oho-biko[1] was sent to the circuit of Koshi,[2] and his son, His Augustness Take-nuna-kaha-wake,[3] was sent to the twelve circuits to the eastward to quiet the unsubmissive people. Again Hiko-imasu was sent to the land of Taniha[4] to slay Kugamimi-no-mikasa[5] (this is the name of a person). So when His Augustness Oho-biko was going away to the land of Koshi, a young girl wearing a loin-skirt[6] stood on the Pass of Hera[7] in Yamashiro, and sang, saying:
- ↑ See Sect. LXI, Note 5.
- ↑ Literally, “to the road of Koshi,” i.e., “to the land of Koshi.” Which provinces are intended by the “twelve circuits to the eastward” mentioned immediately below is uncertain; but Motowori hazards the guess that we should understand Ise (including Iga and Shima), Wohari, Mikaha, Tohotafumi (pron. Tōtōmi), Suruga, Kahi, Idzu, Sagami, Musashi, Fusa (the modem Kadzusa, Shimofusa, and Aha), Hitachi, and Miohinoku (a vague name for the northeastern portions of the Main Island of Japan). This would include the whole east and north-east of the country. He likewise supposes the use of the word “road” for circuit or province to have had its origin in the “road” along which the Imperial officers despatched to the outlying provinces had to travel to reach their post, and remarks very pertinently in another passage of his Commentary that the term “road” denotes a province more especially from the point of view of its subjugation or government. His explanation is, however, rendered untenable by the fact that the division of the country into such “roads” or “circuits” was an idea evidently borrowed from the neighbouring peninsula of Korea. At first, as in this passage, somewhat vaguely used in the sense of “province,” it settled down into the designation of “a set of adjacent provinces.” Thus the Tō-kai-dō, or “Eastern Maritime Circuit,” includes fifteen provinces, the Hoku-roku-dō or “Northern Land Circuit,” includes seven provinces, and so on. Conf. Sect. LX, Note 20.
- ↑ I.e., “brave-lagoon-river-youth.”
- ↑ See Sect. LXII, Note 4.
- ↑ Motowori is unable to help us to any understanding of this name,—or names,—for he sugests that the character 之, no, may be an error for 夊, mata (“also”), and that two individuals may be intended. The note in the original telling us that “this is the name of a person” might equally well be translated in the Plural,—“these are the names of persons.”
- ↑ The nature of this garment is not known. One would suppose, from the way it is mentioned in the text, that there was perhaps something contrary to custom in its use by a young girl. The parallel passage in the “Chronicles” does not mention it.
- ↑
