that jewels were spat out, and that then an Hundred Kings succeeded each other; that a blade was bitten, and a serpent cut in pieces, so that a Myriad Deities did flourish.[1] By deliberations in the Tranquil River the Empire was pacified; by discussions on the Little Shore the land was purified.[2] Wherefore His Augustness Ho-no-ni-ni-gi[3] first descended to the Peak of Takachi,[4] and the Heavenly Sovereign Kamu-Yamato[5] did traverse the Island of the Dragon-Fly.[6] A weird bear put
- ↑ The mirror here mentioned is that by means of which the Sun-Goddess was allured out of the cave (see Sect. XVI); the jewels are those which Susa-no-Wo (the “Impetuous Male Deity”) begged of his sister the Sun-Goddess, and crunched into fragments (see Sect. XIII); the blade that was bitten to pieces by the Sun-Goddess figures in the same legend; the serpent is that slain by Susa-no-Wo after his banishment from Heaven (see Sect. XVIII); the “Myriad Deities” are supposed by Motowori to be this same god’s numerous descendants (see Sect. XX), who ruled in Idzumo. There remains the phrase “an Hundred Kings,” which is lacking in clearness. The only rational interpretation of it is as designating the Japanese imperial line, and yet the reference seems to have no special appropriateness in this context.
- ↑ For the Tranquil River of Heaven, in whose stony bed the gods were wont to meet in council, see Sect. XIII, Note 12. The divine deliberations here referred to are those which resulted in the investiture of the sovereignty of Japan in the grandson of the Sun-Goddess (see Sects. XXX–XXXIII). The “discussions on the Little Shore” allude to the parleys on the beach of Inasa in Idzumo which preceded the abdication of the Deity who had held sway over that part of the country prior to the descent of the Sun-Goddess’s grandson (see Sect. XXXII).
- ↑ The abbreviated form of the name of the Sun-Goddess’s grandson (see Sect. XXXIII, Notes 5 and 10).
- ↑ I.e., Mount Takachiho (see Sect. XXXIV, Note 5). The final syllable is here apocopated, in order to preserve the rhythmical balance of the sentence by using only three Chinese characters to write this name, the “Island of the Dragon-Fly” being likewise written with three characters.
- ↑ I.e., the first “human emperor” Jim-mu, whose full native Japanese name is Kamu-Yamato-Ihare-Biko. For the account of his reign see Sects. XLIV–LII.
- ↑ I.e., Japan. For the traditional origin of this poetical synonym of Japan see Sect. V, Note 26 and also the legend in Sect. CLVI. The word “traverse” in
best taken to mean those unknown persons who transmitted the legends of the gods and early emperors. The “establishment of men” probably alludes to the investiture of the sovereignty of Japan in the human descendants of the Sun-Goddess. The expression is however obscure, and Motowori himself has nothing satisfactory to tell us about it.
