The Oho-omi, wishing to put to death Sakahibe no Omi, raised troops which he sent against him. Sakahibe no Omi hearing that an armed force was coming, took with him his second son, Aya, and going outside the gate, sat down on a chair and waited. Then the troops arrived, and Ikuhi, Kume no Mononobe, was made to strangle him. Father and son died together and were buried in the same place. But the eldest son, Ketsu, fled and concealed himself in the tiled house[1] of a nunnery, where he had intrigues with one or two of the nuns. Now one of the nuns was jealous and informed on him. The temple was surrounded and he was on the point of being caught, when he got away and went to Mount Unebi. Therefore they searched the mountain. Ketsu had no place to escape to, and committed suicide on the mountain by stabbing himself in the throat. The people of that day made a song, saying:—
On Mount Unebi
Though thin are the trees,
May there not be trust in them?
The youth Ketsu
Seems to have hidden there.[2]
A.D. 629. 1st year, Spring, 1st month, 4th day. The Oho-omi together with the Ministers took the Imperial Seal and offered it to the Imperial Prince Tamura. He declined it, saying:—"The ancestral shrines are a weighty matter. I, the inept one, am wanting in wisdom; how can I presume to undertake their charge?" The Ministers humbly persisted in their request, saying:—"Thou, great Prince, wert the favourite of the late sovereign. Both the spirit realm and this visible world incline their hearts to thee. It is right that thou shouldst continue the Imperial line, and dispense thy radiance down on the people."
On the same day, he assumed the Imperial Dignity.
(XXIII. 9.) Summer, 4th month, 1st day. Tanabe no Muraji was sent to Yaku.[3]
This year was the year Tsuchinoto Ushi (26th) of the Cycle.
A.D. 630. 2nd year, Spring, 1st month, 12th day. The Imperial
