simo;[1] and on the august side of the Heir Apparent His Augustness Naniha-ne-ko-take-furu-kuma,[2] ancestor of the Grandees of Wani,[3] was made generalissimo. So when [the Empress’s troops] had driven [King Oshikuma’s troops] as far as Yamashiro, [the latter] turned and made a stand, and both [sides] fought together without retreating. Then His Augustness Take-furu-kuma planned, and caused it to be said that, as Her Augustness Princess Okinaga-tarashi was already dead, there was no need for further fighting,—forthwith snapping his bowstrings and feigning submission. Therefore King Oshikuma’s generalissimo, believing the falsehood, unbent his bows and put away his arms. Then [the Empress’s troops] picked out of their topknots some prepared bowstrings (one name [of the bowstrings] was usa-yu-dzuru,[4]) stretched [their bows] again, and pursued and smote [the enemy]. So [these] fled away to Afusaka,[5] rallied, and fought again. Then [the Empress’s troops] pursued pressed, on, and defeated them, and cut to pieces that army at Sasanami.[6] Thereupon King Oshikuma, together with the Noble Isahi, being pursued and pressed, got on board a vessel and floated on the sea, and sang, saying:
- ↑ 將軍, Shōgun. This is the earliest mention of this office, which, passing from the military to the political sphere, played such a great part in the mediæval and modern history of Japan.
- ↑ The signification of all the elements of this compound name is not clear, but it is partly Honorific and descriptive of the bravery of its bearer.
- ↑ Wani no omi (see Sect. LXII, Note 11).
- ↑ The text is here somewhat obscure, and the note in small print is of doubtful authenticity. If we retain it, we must understand it to mean that usa-yu-dzuru, a term whose derivation is by no means clear, was an alternative name of the make-dzuru, i.e., “prepared bowstrings,” such as they had brought with them concealed in their top-knots.
- ↑ I.e., “the pass [or hill] of meeting.” It was on the boundaries of the provinces of Yamashiro and Afuni. The modern pronunciation is Ōsaka (not to be confounded with the like-sounding name of a well-known town in Central Japan).
- ↑ I.e., in Afumi. Mabuchi, in his “Dictionary of Pillow-Words,” explains this name to mean “bamboo-grass bending.” Motowori, following the Shim-puku-ji MS., alters the character 於 before the word Sasanami to 出, but without sufficient warrant.
which now stands the town of Ohosaka. The name Kishi is said by Motowori to be properly a Korean official designation (吉士), but it is one whose origin is to be sought in China.
