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Vol. XV.]

Vol. I. Sect. XXXIV.

111

[Sect. XXXIV.—The August Reign in Himuka of His Augustness Prince Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty.]

^[1]So then [the Heaven-Shining-Great-August-Deity and the High-Integrating-Deity] commanded^[2] His Augustness Heaven’s-Prince-Rice-ear-Ruddy-Plenty; and he, leaving the Heavenly Rock-Seat,^[3] pushing asunder the eight-fold heavenly spreading clouds, and dividing a road with a mighty road-dividing, set off floating shut up in the Floating Bridge of Heaven,^[4] and descended from Heaven onto the peak of Kuzhifuru which is Takachiho in Tsukushi.^[5] So His Heavenly Great Won-

which is found in the later literature. Perhaps, however, we should understand both this name and the previous one to be simple inventions by means of which divine ancestry was claimed for the hereditary guilds of jewellers and mirror-makers.

↑ Motowori makes Sect. XXXIV commence here, and it seems on the whole best to follow him in so doing, as the entire period of the reign on earth of the first of the heaven-descended gods is thus included in one Section. On the other hand, the “Descent from Heaven,” which gives its name to the preceding Sect., cannot properly be said to be accomplished until the end of this first sentence of Sect. XXXIV. It will be remembered that the Japanese name of this first deity-king is (in its abbreviated and most commonly used form) Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi.
↑ Motowori proposes to suppress the character 詔, “commanded,” in this clause, and the character 而, “and,” at the beginning of the next, and to take the Prince as the subject of the whole sentence. This would be convenient; but the characters 詔 and 而 are in all the texts.
↑ I.e. his place in Heaven. The original Japanese of the term is ama-no-iha-kura.
↑ The translator has adopted the interpretation proposed by Hirata, the only commentator who gives an acceptable view of this extremely difficult clause, which Motowori admitted that he did not understand. It must be remembered that Hirata identifies the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” with the “Heavenly Rock-Boat.” (For details see his “Exposition of the Ancient Histories,” Vol. XXVII, pp. 31–32).
↑ Tsukushi, anciently the name of the whole of the large island forming the South-Western corner of Japan, and Himuka (in modern pronunciation Hiūga), one of the provinces into which that island is divided, have already been mentioned in Sect. V. Note 14 and Sect. X Note 4 respectively. It is uncertain whether the mountain here named is the modern Takachiho-yama or Kirishima-yama, but the latter view is generally preferred. Kuzhifuru is explained (perhaps somewhat hazardously) as meaning “wondrous,” while Taha-chi-ho signifies “high-thousand-rice-ears.”

[2] Motowori makes Sect. XXXIV commence here, and it seems on the whole best to follow him in so doing, as the entire period of the reign on earth of the first of the heaven-descended gods is thus included in one Section. On the other hand, the “Descent from Heaven,” which gives its name to the preceding Sect., cannot properly be said to be accomplished until the end of this first sentence of Sect. XXXIV. It will be remembered that the Japanese name of this first deity-king is (in its abbreviated and most commonly used form) Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi.

[3] Motowori proposes to suppress the character 詔, “commanded,” in this clause, and the character 而, “and,” at the beginning of the next, and to take the Prince as the subject of the whole sentence. This would be convenient; but the characters 詔 and 而 are in all the texts.

[4] I.e. his place in Heaven. The original Japanese of the term is ama-no-iha-kura.

[5] The translator has adopted the interpretation proposed by Hirata, the only commentator who gives an acceptable view of this extremely difficult clause, which Motowori admitted that he did not understand. It must be remembered that Hirata identifies the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” with the “Heavenly Rock-Boat.” (For details see his “Exposition of the Ancient Histories,” Vol. XXVII, pp. 31–32).

[6] Tsukushi, anciently the name of the whole of the large island forming the South-Western corner of Japan, and Himuka (in modern pronunciation Hiūga), one of the provinces into which that island is divided, have already been mentioned in Sect. V. Note 14 and Sect. X Note 4 respectively. It is uncertain whether the mountain here named is the modern Takachiho-yama or Kirishima-yama, but the latter view is generally preferred. Kuzhifuru is explained (perhaps somewhat hazardously) as meaning “wondrous,” while Taha-chi-ho signifies “high-thousand-rice-ears.”

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