the Tsukushi cycle are brought into apparent unity. The “Chronicles of Japan” have even improved upon this by making Jin-gō’s husband dwell in Yamato at the commencement of his reign and only remove to Tsukushi later, so that if the less elaborated “Records” had not been preserved, the two threads of the tradition would have been still more difficult to unravel. The Empress’s army defeats the troops raised by the native kings or princes, who are represented as her step-sons; and from that time forward the story runs on in a single channel and always centres in Yamato. China likewise is now first mentioned, books are said to have been brought over from the mainland, and we hear of the gradual introduction of various useful arts. Even the annals of the reign of Ō-jin however, during which this civilizing impulse from abroad is said to have commenced, are not free from details as miraculous as any in the earlier portions of the book. Indeed Sects. CXIV–CXVI of the following translation, which form part of the narrative of his reign, are occupied with the recital of one of the most fanciful tales of the whole mythology. The monarch himself is said to have lived a hundred and thirty years, while his successor lived eighty-three (according to the “Chronicles” Ō-jin lived a hundred and ten and his successor Nin-toku reigned eighty-seven years). It is not till the next reign that the miraculous ceases, a fact which significantly coincides with the reign in which, according to a statement in the “Chronicles,” “historiographers were first appointed to all the provinces to record words and events, and forward archives from all directions.” This brings us to the commencement of the fifth century of our era, just three centuries before the compilation of our histories, but only two centuries before the compilation of the first history of which mention has been preserved. From that time the story in the “Records,” though not well told, gives us some very curious pictures, and reads as if it were reliable. It is tolerably full for a few reigns, after which it again dwindles into mere genealogies, carrying us down to the commencement of the seventh century. The “Chronicles,” on the contrary, give us full details down to A.D. 701, that is to within nineteen years of the date of their compilation.
The reader who has followed this summary, or who will take the trouble to read through the whole text for himself, will perceive that there is no break in the story,—at least no chronological break,—and
