that this was a sign of changes. At this time three popular songs were made. The first was:—
From afar off
Something is heard—
The jungle-plain of Shima.[1]
The second was:—
Though I have slept,
Not allowing a noise to be made
By the pheasants of the Ahanu plain,
On yonder side,
Others allow them to make a noise.
The third was:—
I know not the face,
Nor do I even know the house
Of him who did it,
Having led me
(XXIV. 20.) Into the Little Wood.[2]
Autumn, 7th month. A man of the neighbourhood of the River Fuji in the East Country named Ohofu Be no Oho urged his fellow-villagers to worship an insect, saying:—"This is the God of the Everlasting World. Those who worship this God will have long life and riches." At length the wizards and witches, pretending an inspiration of the Gods, said:—"Those who worship the God of the Everlasting World will, if poor, become rich, and, if old, will become young again." So they more and more persuaded the people to cast out the valuables of their houses, and to set out by the roadside sake, vegetables, and the six domestic animals.[3] They also made them cry out:—"The new riches have come!" Both in the country and in the metropolis people took the insect of the Everlasting World
- ↑ Shima is the Oho-omi's place of abode. The "something heard" is said to mean the explanations of the wizards above referred to.
- ↑ Wood (Hayashi) is an allusion to Hayashi no Omi. The commentators have done their best to explain the political allusions in the above verses, but they do not at all agree among themselves, and are none of them very satisfactory. See below, XXIV. 26.
- ↑ i.e. the flesh of these animals, viz., of the horse, ox, sheep, pig, dog, fowl. But this is merely a Chinese phrase for domestic animals generally. There is no reason to suppose that the Japanese had sheep at this time.
