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of the main island, but are no longer so employed. Next were born the island of Iyo,[1] which had one body and four faces, Tsukushi[2] with one body and five faces, Iki, Tsushima, the triplets of Oki, and Sado. According to a variation of the legend Oki and Sado were twins. Awaji is added to the others to make up the number of eight, whence the name of Oho-ya-shima-kuni, the Country of Eight Islands, applied to the whole empire of Japan. No mention is made of what are now called Karafuto, or Sagalien and Yezo, which were probably discovered at a much later date than the 8th century, when the Kojiki and Nihongi were committed to writing. The legend also speaks of the birth of other islands, one of which was Kibi no Kojima, now divided into Bizen, Bingo, Bitchiu and Mimasaka, Adzuki shima in the inland sea, now called Shôdzu shima, Hime shima off Hizen, Chika shima, supposed to be the Gotô islands, and the Futago shima, which cannot be identified. The remaining small islands were formed by condensation of the foam of the sea. After the country had been thus produced, the two gods begot all the gods (yaho yorodzu no kami) and bestowed on them all things; and next, seeing that the land was covered with mist, Izanagi produced the two gods of wind, male and female, from his breath.
Hatori has a long note showing that the islands of Japan were begotten in exactly the same manner as human beings and everything else that has life, whether animal or vegetable, and being quite small at their birth, gradually increased in size by the accretion of matter. The result of the birth of Japan was that the sea and land were gradually parted, and the way thus prepared for the formation of foreign countries by the spontaneous condensation of the foam of the sea. Hirata finds this truth concealed in the statement about “the remaining
- ↑ That is Shikoku with its four provinces.
- ↑ Tsukushi is the ancient name of Kiushiu, which was originally divided into five provinces, Tsukushi, Toye, Hi, Himuka and Kumaso.
liest case of one being applied was in 758, when the posthumous title of Shômu was given to the reigning Mikado’s predecessor. See Kojiki-Den, Vol. XVIII. p. 8.
