Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/395

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
364
Nihongi.

couch, answered him, saying:—"This jewel head-dress was presented on behalf of thy handmaiden by her elder brother, Prince Oho-kusaka, when, in obedience to the orders of the Emperor Anaho, he offered her to Your Majesty.[1] Therefore I conceived suspicion of Ne no Omi, and unawares shed tears and wept for grief." When the Emperor heard this he was astonished, and was very wroth. He pressed it sharply home to Ne no Omi, who replied, saying:—"I have deserved to die! I have deserved to die! Truly it is thy servant's fault." The Emperor commanded, saying:—"From this time forward let Ne no Omi, his children, his descendants, and his eighty connections have no concern with the order of Ministers of State." He was about to put Ne no Omi to death, but he ran away and hid himself. Arriving at Hine, he made a rice-castle, in which he stood on the defensive, but was ultimately slain by the Government forces. The Emperor ordered the officials to divide his descendants into two parts, one of which was constituted common people of the Oho-kusaka Be, and (XIV. 40.) was allotted in fief to the Empress; the other part was given to the Chinu no Agata-nushi, and made sack-bearers. So having sought out a descendant of Hikaka, Naniha no Kishi,[2] a title was granted to him, and he was made Oho-kusaka Be no Kishi.

After matters had become quiet, Wone[3] no Omi [Wone no Omi was the son of Ne no Omi], when lying down at night, said to some one:—"The Emperor's castle is not strong; my father's castle is strong." These words came to the Emperor's ears. He sent a man to see Ne no Omi's house. It was really as had been said. Therefore he seized him and put him to death. Ne no Omi's descendants were made Sakamoto no Omi. From this they had their beginning.

A.D. 471. 15th year. The Hada House[4] was dispersed. The Omi and Muraji each enforced their services at pleasure, and would not allow the Hada no Miyakko to control them. Consequently Sake, Hada no Miyakko, made a great grievance of

  1. See above, p. 330.
  2. See above, p. 331.
  3. Wo means little.
  4. Hada. Several families of this name are mentioned in the "Seishiroku." They were believed to be descended from She Hwang-Ti, the celebrated Chinese Emperor of the T‘sin dynasty, who reigned B.C. 221 to 209.