left and her right august arm,[1] she twisted an augustly complete [string] of curved jewels eight feet [long],—of five hundred jewels,[2] and, slinging on her back a quiver holding a thousand [arrows], and adding [thereto][3] a quiver holding five hundred [arrows], she likewise took and slung at her side a mighty and high [-sounding] elbow-pad,[4] and brandished and stuck her bow upright so that the top[5] shook, and she stamped her feet into the hard ground up to her opposing thighs,[6] kicking away [the earth] like rotten snow,[7] and stood valiantly like unto a mighty man, and waiting, asked: “Wherefore ascendest thou hither?” Then His-Swift-Impetuous-Male-Augustness replied, saying: “I have no evil intent. It is only that when the Great-August-Deity
- ↑ Or “hand.”
- ↑ The original is here obscure, but the translator has, as usual, followed the Chinese characters as far as possible, and has been chiefly guided by Moiibe’s interpretation. According to this, the “eight feet” (which Moribe takes to mean simply “several feet”) must be supposed to refer to the length of the necklace which, he says, probably resembled a Buddhist rosary, only that the beads were somewhat larger. For a discussion of the various interpretations to which this phrase descriptive of the Sun-Goddess’s ornaments may be subjected, see Note 4 to Mr. Satow’s third paper on the “Rituals” in Vol. IX, Pt. II, p. 198 of these “Transactions,” and Moribe’s “Examination of Difficult Words,” Vol. II. pp. 4–5, s.v. Ya-saka-ni no iho-tsu no mi sumaru no tama. Mr. Satow, adopting some of the bolder etymologies of the Japanese commentators, translates thus: “the ever-bright curved (or glittering) jewels, the many assembled jewels,” and concludes that “a long string of, perhaps, claw-shaped stone beads” was what the author meant to describe.
- ↑ Hirata supposes this additional quiver to have been slung in front.
- ↑ Motowori’s long note on the expression taka-tomo, to be found in Vol. VII, pp. 39–40 of his “Commentary” seems to prove that “high-sounding elbow-pad” (竹 being written phonetically for 高) is the most likely meaning,—these pads, of which one was worn on the left elbow, having been made of skin. Arawi Hukuseki however takes 竹 in its literal sense of “bamboo,” and Moribe suggests the take (健) which occurs so often in proper names with the signification of “bold,” “brave,” or “stout.”
- ↑ The reading yu-hara, here rendered “top [of the bow]” is doubtful, and yu-hadzu, “bow-notch,” has been proposed as an emendation.
- ↑ I.e., “both legs penetrated into the ground up to the thigh,” a proof of the vigour with which she used her limbs in stamping.
- ↑ Lit. “bubble-snow.”
