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252
Nihongi.

A.D. 202. 62nd year. Silla did not attend the Court. The same year Sotsuhiko was sent to chastise Silla.

The Pèkché record says:—"The year Midzunoye Mŭma.[1] Silla did not wait upon the honourable country. The honourable country sent Sachihiko to attack it. The men of Silla dressed up two beautiful women whom they sent to meet Sachihiko at the port and inveigle him. Sachihiko accepted them, and turning aside, attacked the land of Kara. Kwi-pon[2] Kanki, King of Kara, and his sons, Pèk-ku-chi, A-syu-chi, Ik-sya-ri, I-ra-ma-chyu, and I-mun-chi, fled to Pèkché, taking with them their subjects. Pèkché received them cordially, and Kwi-chön-chi, younger sister of the King of Kara, went to Great Wa and addressed the Empress, saying:—'Your majesty sent Sachihiko to attack Silla. But he has accepted beautiful women of Silla, and abandoned the invasion. On the contrary he has destroyed our country. My brothers and our people have all been driven into exile. Unable to bear my grief, I have come hither to make this representation.' The Empress was greatly enraged, and forthwith sent Mongna Keunchă in command of an army to bring them together in Kara and to restore the temples of the Earth and of Grain."

One account says:—"Sachihiko, when he learnt that the Empress was wroth with him, did not dare to return openly, but hid himself. He had a younger sister who was in the service of the Imperial Palace. Hiko secretly sent a messenger to inquire of her whether or no the Empress's wrath had abated. She, pretending a dream, said to the Empress:—'To-night, in a dream, I saw Sachihiko.' The Empress was greatly enraged, and (IX. 33.) said:—'How should Hiko dare to come?' The Empress's[3] words were reported to Sachihiko, who seeing that he would not be pardoned, went into a cave of a rock and died."

  1. 19th year of the Cycle, corresponding to A.D. 382.
  2. I Si-Pheum was the name of the King of Kara at this time, according to the "Tongkam."
  3. The word for Empress is Tennō, which may also mean Emperor, and indeed this suits the narrative better.