fins, I say that these, too, are not good, and cast them off on the waves on the beach. When I take and attire myself so carefully in my raiment dyed in the sap of the dye-tree, the pounded madder sought in the mountain fields, and, like the birds of the offing, look at my breast though I raise my fins, I say that they are good. My dear young sister, Thine Augustness! Though thou say that thou wilt not weep if like the flocking birds, I flock and depart, if, like the led birds, I am led away and depart, thou wilt hang down thy head like a single eulalia upon the mountain and thy weeping shall indeed rise as the mist of the morning shower. Thine Augustness my spouse like the young herbs! The tradition of the thing, too, this!"[1]
Then his Empress, taking a great august liquor-cup, and drawing near and offering it to him, sang, saying:
"Oh! Thine Augustness the Deity-of-Eight-Thousand-Spears! Thou, my dear Master-of-the-Great-Land indeed, being a man, probably hast on the various island-headlands that thou seest, and on every beach-headland that thou lookest on, a wife like the young herbs. But as for me alas! being a woman, I have no man except thee; I have no spouse except thee. Beneath the fluttering of the ornamented fence, beneath the softness of the warm coverlet, beneath the rustling of the cloth coverlet, thine arms white as rope of paper-mulberry bark softly patting my breast soft as the melting snow, and patting each other interlaced, stretching out and pillowing ourselves on each other's arms true jewel-arms, and with outstretched legs, will we sleep. Lift up the luxuriant august liquor!"[2]
She having thus sung, they at once pledged each other by the cup with their hands on each other's necks, and are at rest till the present time. These are called divine words.
[After this the "Kojiki" soon reaches to the legend of the birth of Jimmu Tenno, the god-conqueror of Japan. His story is told more at length in the "Nihongi," where the reader will find it.]
- ↑ The meaning of this poem is: "I start for Yamato, there to search for a better wife, and I carefully array myself for the journey. Black—the color of mourning—is not fair enough, and red is more beautiful than green; so it is on my red garments that my choice rests. And thou, jealous and imperious woman! for all that thou sayest that thou wilt not heed my going, thou wilt weep when I depart with my retainers as departs a flock of birds, and thou wilt bury thy head in thy hands, and thy tears shall be as the misty drops of the morning shower."
- ↑ The import of this poem needs little explanation. The goddess says to her husband, "Come back and live with me, and quaff this goblet as a sign of reconciliation; for though thou, as a man, mayest have a wife on every shore, I shall be left solitary if thou depart."
