132
“Ko-ji-ki,” or Records of Ancient Matters.
[Vol. XVIII.
Sawo-ne-tsu-hiko.[1] (This is the ancestor of the Rulers of the land of Yamato).[2] So when they went up from that land they passed the Namihaya[3] Crossing, and brought up at the haven of Shirakata.[4] At this time Nagasune-biko[5] of Tomi[6] raised an army, and waited to go out to fight [against them]. Then they took the shields that had been put in the august vessel, and disembarked. So they called that place by the name of Tate-dzu.[7] It is what is now called the Tadetsu of Kusaka.[8] There-
- ↑ I.e., if we suppress the syllable ne, which seems to be either Expletive or Honorific, the “prince of the pole.”
- ↑ Yamato no kuni no Miyatsuko.
- ↑ This is the reading of the name preferred by Mabuchi and Motowori; but the usual form Naniha seems to be at least as well supported by early documentary evidence. The “Chronicles” tell us that the place was called Nami-haya 浪速 “wave-swift,” in allusion to the strong current which the Emperor Jim-mu here encountered; and at the present day it is still a dangerous place for navigation. The name properly denotes the water at the month of the River Yodo, on which stands the modern town of Ohosaka (Ōzaka), for whose name Naniha is still often used as a poetical synonym. 浪華, “wave-flowers,” and 難浪, “dangerous waves,” are alternative ways of writing it.
- ↑ Motowori says that he cannot explain the etymology of this word; but “white sandbank” would seem a simple and obvious derivation. The Shirakata here mentioued is, according to Motowori, that situated in the province of Idzumo.
- ↑ I.e., the Prince of Nagasune. A plausible interpretation of naga-sune would be “long-shank,” which would give us Prince Long-Shank as the name of the worthy here mentioned; but the “Chronicles” state that Nagasune was properly the name of a place. The characters with which it is written, moreover, signify not exactly “long shank,” but “long marrow,” a designation which would have no evident personal applicability.
- ↑ A legend in the “Chronicles” connects the name of this place with the word tobi, “a kite,” it being there related that a miraculous gold-coloured kite came and perched on the Emperor Jim-mu’s bow, and helped him to the victory. Probably the legend grew out of the name of Tobi, which is obscure and may have had nothing to do with a “kite” originally.
- ↑ I.e., “shield-haven.” But conf. next Note.
- ↑ The real etymology of Tade-tsu seems to be “knot-grass-haven,” and probably Taka-tsu (for Taketsu), which is mentioned in Sect. LXIX, Note 29, is but another form of the same name. Kusaka is a well-known name in the annals of early Japan. Its signification is obscure, and the characters (日下), with which it is written, are particularly curious. There were two Kusakas, one in the province of Kahachi and the other in Idzumi.
