should have exchanged thee for this single child!" And as he crept round her august pillow, and as he crept round her august feet and wept, there was born from his august tears the deity that dwells at Konomoto, near Unewo on Mount Kagu, and whose name is the Crying-Weeping-Female deity. So he buried the divinely retired deity the Female-Who-Invites on Mount Hiba, at the boundary of the Land of Idzumo and the Land of Hahaki.
THE SLAYING OF THE FIRE-DEITY
Then His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites, drawing the ten-grasp saber[1] that was augustly girded on him, cut off the head of his child the deity Shining-Elder. Hereupon the names of the deities that were born from the blood that stuck to the point of the august sword and bespattered the multitudinous rock-masses were: the deity Rock-Splitter; next, the deity Root-Splitter; next, the Rock-Possessing-Male deity. The names of the deities that were next born from the blood that stuck to the upper part of the august sword and again bespattered the multitudinous rock-masses were: the Awfully-Swift deity; next, the Fire-Swift deity; next, the Brave-Awful-Possessing-Male deity, another name for whom is the Brave-Snapping deity, and another name is the Luxuriant-Snapping deity. The names of the deities that were next born from the blood that collected on the hilt of the august sword and leaked out between his fingers were: the deity Kura-okami and, next, the deity Kura-mitsuha.
All the eight deities in the above list, from the deity Rock-Splitter to the deity Kura-mitsuha, are deities that were born from the august sword.
The name of the deity that was born from the head of the deity Shining-Elder, who had been slain, was the deity Possessor-of-the-True-Pass-Mountains. The name of the deity that was next born from his chest was the deity Possessor-of-De-
- ↑ One "grasp" is defined as "the breadth of four fingers when the hand is clenched," so that the meaning intended to be conveyed is of a big saber ten handbreadths long. The length of the sabers and of beards was measured by such "grasps" or "handbreadths."
