land—I have![1] So I will perform the purification of my august person." So he went out to a plain covered with ahagi,[2] at a small river-mouth near Tachibana[3] in Himuka[4] in the island of Tsukushi, and purified and cleansed himself. So the name of the deity that was born from the august staff which he threw down was the deity Thrust-Erect-Come-Not-Place. The name of the deity that was born from the august girdle which he next threw down was the deity Road-Long-Space. The name of the deity that was born from the august skirt which he next threw down was the deity Loosen-Put. The name of the deity that was born from the august upper garment which he next threw down was the deity Master-of-Trouble. The name of the deity that was born from the august trousers which he next threw down was the Road-Fork deity. The name of the deity that was born from the august hat which he next threw down was the deity Master-of-the-Open-Mouth.[5] The names of the deities that were born from the bracelet of his august left hand which he next threw down were the deity Offing-Distant,[6] next, the
- ↑ The words "I have" thus repeated are an attempt to render the concluding words ari keri of the sentence in the original, by which, though they have no particular sense, the author evidently set great store, as he writes them syllabically. They may be considered to emphasize what goes before and, says Motowori, "convey the idea of lamentation." The idiom occurs some half-dozen times in the course of the present work.
- ↑ This botanical name is identified by Arawi Hakuseki and Hirata with the modern hagi, or "bushclover" (lespedeza of various species).
- ↑ Tachibana is understood to be the general designation of trees of the orange tribe. Here it is used as a proper name.
- ↑ This name, which signifies "sun-confronting," was not unnaturally bestowed on a province in the eastern. part of the westernmost of the larger Japanese islands, as it might well be conceived as lying "opposite the sun." It has, however, been supposed to have originally denoted the whole of the island in question. In any case the name is not inappropriate, as the island has a long eastern sea-board.
- ↑ Aki-guhi-no-ushi-no-kami. The English rendering of this obscure name proceeds on the assumption that Motowori is correct when he proposes to consider kuhi as "mouth." The gaping trousers no longer filled by the deity's legs would perhaps suggest the idea of an open mouth, though it is true that this is not the deity said to have been actually born from that portion of the attire.
- ↑ The word "wash," by which for want of a better one the substantive
