Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/173

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Vol. XII.]

Vol. I. Sect. .

87

fork of my hand.^[1] So do he and thou become brethren, and make and consolidate this land.”^[2] So from that time forward the two Deities the Great-Name-Possessor and the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity made and consolidated this land conjointly. But afterwards the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity crossed over to the Eternal Land.^[3] So [the Deity here] called the Crumbling Prince, who revealed the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity, is what is now [called] the scarecrow in the mountain fields. This Deity, though his legs do not walk, is a Deity who knows everything in the Empire.^[4]

↑ I.e., “slipped away between my fingers.” In the legend as given in the “Chronicles,” the father explains more particularly that the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity had been a bad boy who ran away.
↑ For an explanation of this expression see Sect. XXIII, Note 26.
↑ Toko-yo-no-kuni (常世國). Some kind of Paradise or Hades is meant, as is proved by innumerable references in the early literature of Japan: and we may suppose the idea to have been borrowed from the Chinese or through them from Buddhism, and to have been afterwards vaguely located in some distant country. In Sect. LXXIV we are told of the orange having been brought from the “Eternal Land” by Tajima-mori, who is said to have been of Korean extraction. Korea, which is to the west of Japan, and the Buddhist paradise in the west might well be confounded by tradition, though it is equally open to discussion whether Southern China or even the Loochoo Islands might not have been thus vaguely designated. In any case it was a distant place, imperfectly known, though specifically named. In the “Chronicles,” Tajima-mori is made to say that it is “the retreat of Gods and Fairies, and not to be reached by common men.”—Motowori’s immense note on this word (see Vol. XII, pp. 10–13 of his Commentary) is a specimen of the specious arguments by which he endeavours to ward off from the Early Japanese the imputation of ever having borrowed any ideas from their neighbours. He would have us believe that Toko-yo is derived from soko yori, “thence” (!) and that the name simply denotes foreign countries in general. This is on a par with the opinion emitted by Arawi Hakuseki in his “Ko-shi Tsū,” to the effect that the “Eternal Land” was simply a place in the province of Hitachi. The latter good old commentator apparently founded himself on no better reasons than his general rejection of supernatural or otherwise perplexing details, and the fact that one of the characters with which the name of the province in question is written is 常, which also forms part of the name of Toko-yo-no-kuni.
↑ Literally “everything beneath Heaven.” “Beneath Heaven” (天下), i.e. “all that is beneath the Heavens,” is a common Chinese phrase for the Chinese Empire, which was in ancient days not unnaturally supposed by its inhabitants

[1] I.e., “slipped away between my fingers.” In the legend as given in the “Chronicles,” the father explains more particularly that the Little-Prince-the-Renowned-Deity had been a bad boy who ran away.

[2] For an explanation of this expression see Sect. XXIII, Note 26.

[3] Toko-yo-no-kuni (常世國). Some kind of Paradise or Hades is meant, as is proved by innumerable references in the early literature of Japan: and we may suppose the idea to have been borrowed from the Chinese or through them from Buddhism, and to have been afterwards vaguely located in some distant country. In Sect. LXXIV we are told of the orange having been brought from the “Eternal Land” by Tajima-mori, who is said to have been of Korean extraction. Korea, which is to the west of Japan, and the Buddhist paradise in the west might well be confounded by tradition, though it is equally open to discussion whether Southern China or even the Loochoo Islands might not have been thus vaguely designated. In any case it was a distant place, imperfectly known, though specifically named. In the “Chronicles,” Tajima-mori is made to say that it is “the retreat of Gods and Fairies, and not to be reached by common men.”—Motowori’s immense note on this word (see Vol. XII, pp. 10–13 of his Commentary) is a specimen of the specious arguments by which he endeavours to ward off from the Early Japanese the imputation of ever having borrowed any ideas from their neighbours. He would have us believe that Toko-yo is derived from soko yori, “thence” (!) and that the name simply denotes foreign countries in general. This is on a par with the opinion emitted by Arawi Hakuseki in his “Ko-shi Tsū,” to the effect that the “Eternal Land” was simply a place in the province of Hitachi. The latter good old commentator apparently founded himself on no better reasons than his general rejection of supernatural or otherwise perplexing details, and the fact that one of the characters with which the name of the province in question is written is 常, which also forms part of the name of Toko-yo-no-kuni.

[p87-4] Literally “everything beneath Heaven.” “Beneath Heaven” (天下), i.e. “all that is beneath the Heavens,” is a common Chinese phrase for the Chinese Empire, which was in ancient days not unnaturally supposed by its inhabitants

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