Imperial Princess Oho-iratsume, but he dreaded the guilt,[1] and was silent. But his passion had become so violent that he was well-nigh on the point of death. Hereupon he thought to himself, "I will not die for nothing. It may be a crime, but how can I endure?" At last he became secretly united to her, and so his desperate passion became somewhat abated. Accordingly he made a song, saying:—
On the foot-dragging mountain,
Rice-fields are made;
So high is the mountain,
The water pipes are run beneath—
Like them the hidden tears
That I wept for my spouse,
The unshared tears
(XIII. 15.) That I wept for my spouse,
But to-day, this very day,
Freely our bodies touch.[2]
A.D. 435. 24th year, Summer, 6th month. The soup for the Emperor's meal froze, and became ice. The Emperor wondered, and had divination made in order to learn the meaning of it. The diviner said:—"There is domestic disorder,[3] perhaps the illicit intercourse of near relations with one another." Then some one said:—"The Heir Apparent, Kinashi Karu, has seduced his younger sister by the same mother, the Imperial Princess Karu no Iratsume." So examination was made, and it was found that these words were true. The Heir Apparent being the successor to the Throne, it was impossible to punish him,
- ↑ See Ch. K., Introd., p. xxxviii. I do not feel sure that Chamberlain is right in attributing to Chinese influence the stigma attached to unions of brothers and sisters of the full blood. See a paper on "The Family and Relationships in Ancient Japan," in the "Transactions of the Japan Society," 1892–93.
- ↑ A somewhat different version of this poem is given in the "Kojiki." See Ch. K., p. 296. I have adopted one or two of Motowori's emendations. See "Kojikiden," xxxix. 23. "Foot-dragging" is a makura-kotoba or conventional epithet of mountain, used because in ascending a mountain we drag one foot painfully after the other. At least, that is the common interpretation. The metre is somewhat irregular naga-uta.
- ↑ i.e. incest.
