[Sect. LXXII.—Emperor Sui-nin (Part IV.—The Dumb Prince Homu-chi-wake).]
So the way they led about and amused the august child was by making a two-forked boat[1] out of a two-forked cryptomeria from Ahidzu in Wohari,[2] bringing it up and floating it on the Pool of Ichishi and on the Pool of Karu[3] in Yamato, [thus] leading about and amusing the august child. Nevertheless the august child spoke never a word, though his eight-grasp beard reached to the pit of his stomach.[4] So[5] it was on hearing the cry of a high-flying swan[6] that he made his first utterance.[7] Then [the Heavenly Sovereign] sent Yamanobe-no-Ohotaka[8] (this is the name of a person) to catch the bird. So this person, pursuing the swan, arrived in the Land of Harima from the Land of Ki, and again in his pursuit crossed over to the Land of Inaba, then reaching the Land of
- ↑ From a comparison with a passage in the “Chronicles,” where the same expression occurs, one is led to suppose that the craft here mentioned was a sort of double boat, in each half of which passengers could sit.
- ↑ Nothing is known of any place called Ahidzu in the province of Wohari.
- ↑ Karu has been mentioned in Sect. LVII, Note 1. The Pool of Ichishi (Ichishi-no ike) is supposed by Motowori to be identical with the better known Pool of Ihare.
- ↑ Lit., “in front of his heart.” This phrase descriptive of a long beard has already occurred at the commencement of Sect. XII.
- ↑ Motowori reasonably supposes the character 今 in this sentence to be a copyist’s error for the emphatic 爾, and the translation has been made accordingly.
- ↑ The original has the character 鵠, which is now applied to a small species of swan (Cygnus minor, Pallas; Cygnus Bewickii, Yarrell). But it is uncertain what bird is intended by the author.
- ↑ A more or less inarticulate utterance is probably meant; but the expression in the original is obscure.
- ↑ Motowori supposes the Note in the original to refer only to the word Oho-taka, while he takes Yamanobe to be the name of a place (already mentioned in Sect. LXVIII, Note 1). The surname of Ohotaka, signifying “great hawk,” was, according to the same commentator, given to the worthy here mentioned in consequence of the incident related in the text. As the bird was not a hawk, this does not seem very convincing, and Motowori’s apparent idea that the man was likened to a hawk because he pursued the other bird as a hawk would do, is extremely far-fetched. It is moreover doubtful whether the name should not be read Oho-washi (this is Mabuchi’s reading), “great eagle.” The “Chronicles” give an altogether different name, viz., Ame-no-yukaha-tana.
