Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/336

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“Ko-ji-ki,” or Records of Ancient Matters.

[Vol. XXXIII.

Again he sang, saying:

“I think lovingly ah! of how the maiden of Kohada in the back of the road sleeps [with me] without disputing.”^[1]

[Sect. CVIII.—Emperor Ō-jin (Part V.—Songs of the Territorial Owners of Yeshinu).]

Again, the Territorial Owners of Yeshinu,^[2] seeing the august sword which was girded on His Augustness Oho-sazaki, sang, saying:

“Sharp is the beginning, freezing is the end of the sword girded on Oho-sazaki, Oho-sazaki, the solar august child of Homuda,—[it is] chilly, chilly like the trees beneath the trunks of the winter trees.”^[3]

Section. The “back of the road” means the remotest portion (conf. Sect. LX, Note 20). The thunder must be understood to refer to a very faint and distant sound: the Prince had first heard of the maiden vaguely, but now she is his and has been his for some time; for this Song must be supposed to have been composed after the occasion of the feast with the story of which it is here connected.

↑ The meaning of this Song is: “I love this maiden of Kohada in Himuka, who disputed not my desire and my father’s grant, but willingly became my wife.”—It is hard to render in English the force of the string of Particles wo shi zo mo in the penultimate line.
↑ Yeshinu is the modern Yoshino, in the province of Yamato (see Sect. XLVI, Note 3). For the title of kudzu see Sect. XLVI, Note 13, where it also occurs in connection with Yeshinu.
↑ According to Moribe, whose interpretation seems best to the translator, the signification of this difficult poem is: “The sword worn by Prince Oho-sazaki, son of the Emperor Homuda (Ō-jin) is double-edged at its upper part, and like glistening ice towards its point;—oh! ’tis like the icicles on the plants that cluster about the trunks of the dead trees in winter!” Almost every line, however (excepting those giving the name and title of the Prince), is a subject of controversy, and the “Kō-Gan Shō” in loco and Motowori’s Commentary, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 2–5, should be consulted for Keichiū’s, Mabuchi’s and Motowori’s views on the disputed point.—The expression “solar august child” signifies “sun-descended prince,” in allusion to the supposed descent of the Japanese monarchs from the Sun-Goddess.

[2] The meaning of this Song is: “I love this maiden of Kohada in Himuka, who disputed not my desire and my father’s grant, but willingly became my wife.”—It is hard to render in English the force of the string of Particles wo shi zo mo in the penultimate line.

[3] Yeshinu is the modern Yoshino, in the province of Yamato (see Sect. XLVI, Note 3). For the title of kudzu see Sect. XLVI, Note 13, where it also occurs in connection with Yeshinu.

[4] According to Moribe, whose interpretation seems best to the translator, the signification of this difficult poem is: “The sword worn by Prince Oho-sazaki, son of the Emperor Homuda (Ō-jin) is double-edged at its upper part, and like glistening ice towards its point;—oh! ’tis like the icicles on the plants that cluster about the trunks of the dead trees in winter!” Almost every line, however (excepting those giving the name and title of the Prince), is a subject of controversy, and the “Kō-Gan Shō” in loco and Motowori’s Commentary, Vol. XXXIII, pp. 2–5, should be consulted for Keichiū’s, Mabuchi’s and Motowori’s views on the disputed point.—The expression “solar august child” signifies “sun-descended prince,” in allusion to the supposed descent of the Japanese monarchs from the Sun-Goddess.

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