pursued and scattered the eighty deities, he did pursue them till they crouched on the august slope of every pass, he did pursue them till they were swept into every river, and then he began to make the land.[1]
THE WOOING OF THE DEITY-OF-EIGHT-THOUSAND-SPEARS
This Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears,[2] when he went forth to woo the Princess of Nuna-kaha,[3] in the land of Koshi, on arriving at the house of the Princess of Nunakaha sang, saying:
"I, His Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears, having been unable to find a spouse in the Land of the Eight Islands, and having heard that in the far-off Land of Koshi there is a wise maiden, having heard that there is a beauteous maiden, I am standing here to truly woo her, I am going backward and forward to woo her. Without having yet untied even the cord of my sword, without having yet untied even my veil, I push back the plank-door shut by the maiden; while I am standing here, I pull it forward. While I am standing here, the nuye sings upon the green mountain, and the voice of the true bird of the moor, the pheasant, resounds; the bird of the yard, the cock, crows. Oh! the pity that the birds should sing! Oh! these birds! Would that I could beat them till they were sick! Oh! swiftly flying heaven-racing messenger, the tradition of the thing, too, this!"[4]
- ↑ This is taken to mean that he continued the act of creation which had been interrupted by the death of Izanami (the "Female-Who-Invites"). See where her husband Izanagi says to her: "The lands that I and thou made are not yet finished making." The words Kuni tsukuri, here used for "making the land," became a title for "Ruler-of-the-Land" and finally a "gentile name."
- ↑ In this section, the deity Master-of-the-Great-Land is spoken of under this alias.
- ↑ Nuna-kaha or Nu-na-kaha ("lagoon-river") is supposed to be the name of a place in the province of Echigo.
- ↑ The drift of this poem needs but little elucidation. After giving his reasons for coming to woo the Princess of Nuna-kaha, the god declares that he is in such haste to penetrate to her chamber, that he does not even stay to ungird his sword or take off his veil, but tries to push or pull open the door at once. During these vain endeavors, the mountainside begins to re-echo with the cries of the birds announcing the dawn, when lovers must slink away. Would that he could kill these unwelcome harbingers of day, and bring back the darkness! The Land of the Eight Islands (i.e., Japan proper, beyond whose boundaries lay the barbarous northern country of Koshi) is in the original Ya-shima-
tion of thy palace, and rearing its fabric to the skies, do thou rule therefrom the Land of the Living, thou powerful wretch, who hast so successfully braved me!"
