till it went curdle-curdle,[1] and drew the spear up, the brine that dripped down from the end of the spear was piled up and became an island. This is the Island of Onogoro.[2]
COURTSHIP OF THE DEITIES THE MALE-WHO-INVITES AND THE FEMALE-WHO-INVITES
Having descended from Heaven on to this island, they saw to the erection of a heavenly august pillar, they saw to the erection of a hall of eight fathoms. Then Izanagi, the Male-Who-Invites, said to Izanami, the Female-Who-Invites, "We should create children" [3]; and he said, "Let us go around the heavenly august pillar, and when we meet on the other side let us be united. Do you go around from the left, and I will go from the right." When they met, Her Augustness, the Female-Who-Invites, spake first, exclaiming, "Ah, what a fair and lovable youth!" Then His Augustness said, "Ah, what a fair and lovable maiden!" But afterward he said, "It was not well that the woman should speak first!" The child which was born to them was Hiruko (the leech-child), which when three years old was still unable to stand upright. So they placed the leech-child in a boat of reeds and let it float away. Next they gave birth to the island of Aha.[4] This likewise is not reckoned among their children.
Hereupon the two deities took counsel, saying: "The children to whom we have now given birth are not good. It will be best to announce this in the august place of the Heavenly deities." They ascended forthwith to Heaven and inquired of Their Augustnesses the Heavenly deities. Then the Heavenly deities commanded and found out by grand
- ↑ I.e., "till it became thick and glutinous." It is not easy to find in English a word which will aptly render the original Japanese onomatopœia koworokoworo. The meaning may also be "till it made a curdling sound."
- ↑ I.e., "Self-Curdling," "Self-Condensed." It is supposed to have been one of the islets off the coast of the larger island of Ahaji.
- ↑ This passage has been abbreviated in translation. Its sexual description is full and flatly physical.
- ↑ Literally, "Foam," perhaps the island of Ahaji.
several points of the coast, forming a kind of natural breakwater just above water-level.
