THE KOJIKI
Part I.—The Birth of the Deities
THE BEGINNING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
The names of the deities that were born[1] in the Plain of High Heaven when the Heaven and Earth began were the deity Master-of-the-August-Center-of-Heaven; next, the High-August-Producing-Wondrous deity; next, the Divine-Producing-Wondrous deity. These three deities were all deities born alone, and hid their persons.[2] The names of the deities that were born next from a thing that sprouted up like unto a reed-shoot when the earth, young and like unto floating oil, drifted about medusa-like, were the Pleasant-Reed-Shoot-Prince-Elder deity, next the Heavenly-Eternally-Standing deity. These two deities were likewise born alone, and hid their persons.
The five deities in the above list are separate Heavenly deities.[3]
THE SEVEN DIVINE GENERATIONS
The names of the deities that were born next were the Earthly-Eternally-Standing deity; next, the Luxuriant-In-
- ↑ Literally, "that became." Such "becoming" is concisely defined by Motowori as "the birth of that which did not exist before."
- ↑ I.e., they all came into existence without being procreated in the manner usual with both gods and men, and afterward disappeared, i.e., died.
- ↑ This is a note in the original, where such notes are indented, as has also been done in the translation. The author's obscure phrase is explained by Motowori to mean that these Heavenly deities were separate from those who came into existence afterward, and especially from the Earthly-Eternally-Standing deity who, in the "Chronicles," is the first divine being of whom mention is made. These five were, he says, "separate" and had nothing to do with the creation of the world. It should be stated that the sentence will also bear the interpretation "The five deities in the above list are deities who divided Heaven" (i.e., presumably from Earth); but this rendering has against it the authority of
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