to one another and exchanged leave-takings;[1] and Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites said: “My lovely elder brother, thine Augustness! If thou do like this, I will in one day strangle to death a thousand of the folks of thy land.” Then His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites replied: “My lovely younger sister, Thine Augustness! If thou do this, I will in one day set up a thousand and five hundred parturition-houses.[2] In this manner each day a thousand people would surely die, and each day a thousand and five hundred people would surely be born.” So Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites is called the Great-Deity-of-Hades.[3] Again it is said that, owing her to having pursued and reached [her elder brother], she is called the Road-Reaching-Great-Deity.[4] Again the rock with which he blocked up the Pass of Hades is called the Great-Deity-of-the-Road-Turning-back,[5] and again it is called
- ↑ That some kind of leave-taking and separation is intended seems certain; but the precise import of the characters 度事戸 in the text is not to be ascertained. Motowori’s “Commentary, Vol. VI, pp. 29–30 and Vol. X, pp. 52–55, should be consulted for an elaborate discussion of the various interpretations which they may be made to bear. Moribe, in his Critique on this Commentary, argues that “divorced each other” is the proper signification of the words, and supports his opinion by the parallel passage of the “Chronicles.”
- ↑ I.e., “I will cause fifteen hundred women to bear children.” For the custom of erecting a separate hut for a woman about to be delivered see Introduction, p. xxviii.)
- ↑ Yomo-tsu-oho-kami. On this rather embarrassing statement Motowori is silent, and Hirata simply says: “It must be suppossed that the ‘Deities of Hades’ previously mentioned had been its ‘Great Deities’ up to this time, a position which was henceforward assumed by Her Augustness Izana-mi (the Female-Who-Invites.”) Conf. Note 7 to this Section.
- ↑ Chi-shiki-no-oho-kami. [This is Motowori’s reading. We might also read Michi-shiki-no-oho-kami.] Motowori conclusively proves that “reaching” is the signification of the word shiki which is here so translated. That it was already obscure at the time of the compilation of these “Records” is however shown by the fact that it is written syllabically in the first instance, and with a “borrowed character” (i.e., a homonymous word) in the second.
- ↑ Because the goddess was turned back by it on the road where she was pursuing her brother-husband. The original is Chi-gaheshi [or Michi-gaheshi]-no-oho-kami.
