Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/155

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124

Nihongi.

same time their mallet-headed swords, and simultanously slew the enemy, so that there were no eaters left.^[1] The Imperial army were greatly delighted; they looked up to Heaven and laughed. Therefore he made a song, saying:—

Though folk say
That one Yemishi
Is a match for one hundred men,
They do not so much as resist.^[2]

The practice according to which at the present time the Kume sing this and then laugh loud, had this origin.

Again he sang, saying:—

Ho! now is the time;
Ho! now is the time;
Ha! Ha! Psha!
Even now
My boys!
Even now
My boys!^[3]

All these songs were sung in accordance with the secret behest of the Emperor. He had not presumed to compose (III. 22.) them of his own motion.

Then the Emperor said:—"It is the part of a good general when victorious to avoid arrogance. The chief brigands have now been destroyed, but there are ten bands of villains of a similar stamp, who are disputatious. Their disposition cannot

↑ That is, none were left alive.
↑ The Yemishi are the Ainos, or more correctly Ainus, of whom a remnant of some ten thousand souls now inhabit the island of Yezo. When the "Nihongi" was written they still occupied a large part of the main island of Japan, and in earlier times, as we gather from the evidence of place-names (See Chamberlain's Essay published by the Imperial University), they extended west even of Yamato. But it would not be safe to draw any conclusion from their mention in this poem. The writer of the "Nihongi" is in the habit of fitting ancient poetry into his narrative in a very arbitrary manner. The "Kojiki" omits it. Yemishi or Yebisu is also applied to barbarous tribes generally, and this is probably its primary meaning. It ought, perhaps, to be added to the group of onomatopoetic words ending in su or shi, mentioned at p. 65, the b or m having the same function as these letters in the words barbarian, babble, murmur, etc. See Index—Yemishi.
↑ Nothing could well be more primitive than this. The metre is irregular, and, like all Japanese poetry, there is no rhyme, quantity or regular recurrence of accent to distinguish it from prose.

[1] That is, none were left alive.

[2] The Yemishi are the Ainos, or more correctly Ainus, of whom a remnant of some ten thousand souls now inhabit the island of Yezo. When the "Nihongi" was written they still occupied a large part of the main island of Japan, and in earlier times, as we gather from the evidence of place-names (See Chamberlain's Essay published by the Imperial University), they extended west even of Yamato. But it would not be safe to draw any conclusion from their mention in this poem. The writer of the "Nihongi" is in the habit of fitting ancient poetry into his narrative in a very arbitrary manner. The "Kojiki" omits it. Yemishi or Yebisu is also applied to barbarous tribes generally, and this is probably its primary meaning. It ought, perhaps, to be added to the group of onomatopoetic words ending in su or shi, mentioned at p. 65, the b or m having the same function as these letters in the words barbarian, babble, murmur, etc. See Index—Yemishi.

[3] Nothing could well be more primitive than this. The metre is irregular, and, like all Japanese poetry, there is no rhyme, quantity or regular recurrence of accent to distinguish it from prose.

[1]

[2]

[3]