Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/339

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Vol. XXXIII.]
Vol. II. Sect. CXI.
253

ancestor of the Fumi Grandees.[1]) Again he sent as tribute two artisans,—a smith from Kara named Taku-so[2] and a weaver from Go[3] named Sai-so.[4]

[Sect. CXI.—Emperor Ō-jin (Part VIII.—The Emperor Intoxicated).]

Again there came over [to Japan] the ancestor of the Hada Rulers,[5] the ancestor of the Aya Suzerains,[6] and likewise a man who knew how to distill liquor, and whose name was Nim-pan,[7] while another name for him was Susukori.[8] So this [man] Susukori distilled some great august liquor, and presented it to the Heavenly Sovereign, who, excited with the great august liquor that had been presented to him, augustly sang, saying:

“I have become intoxicated with the august liquor distilled by Susukori. I have become intoxicated with the soothing liquor, with the smiling liquor.”[9]


  1. Fumi no obito. Fumi signifies “any written document,” so that this “gentile name” is equivalent to our word “scribe.”
  2. 卓素. The transliteration of this, as of all other such names here occurring, is the Sinico-Japanese transliteration. Kara (Korea) is written .
  3. (Wu, Jap. Go), one of the states into which China was divided during the third century of our era. A draper’s shop is still called go-fuku-ya, i.e., “Wu-garments-house” in memory of the introduction of wearing apparel from that country.
  4. 西素.
  5. Hada no miyatsuko, 秦造, a “gentile name.” Hada is the native Japanese word used as the equivalent of the Chinese name , Ch‘in. Its origin is uncertain.
  6. Aya no atahe 漢直, a “gentile name.” The use of Aya to represent the Chinese name , Han, is as difficult to account for as is that of Hada mentioned in the preceding Note.
  7. 仁番. Another and more Japanese-like reading, Niho, is invented by Motowori; but the older editors read Nim-pan according to the usual Sinico-Japanese sound of the characters. The modern Korean reading would be In-pōn.
  8. Written phonetically 須須許理.
  9. Thus translated, this Song is too clear to need any explanation. The lines, however, which are rendered by “with the soothing liquor, with the smiling