incessantly. Hiuga no Omi was accordingly appointed Viceroy of Tsukushi. The people of the time said to one another, "Is (XXV. 45.) not this a disguised banishment?"
When Soga no Miyakko hime, consort of the Prince Imperial, heard that her father the Oho-omi had been decapitated by Shiho, she took it deeply to heart, and grieved bitterly. She detested hearing Shiho's name mentioned, and so her personal attendants, whenever they had occasion to speak of salt (shiho), altered the word and called it Kitashi.[1] At last Miyakko hime died of a broken heart. When the Prince Imperial heard that she had passed away, he was grieved and deeply shocked, and bewailed her loss exceedingly. Upon this Mitsu, Nunaka Kahara no Fubito, came forward and presented verses of poetry as follows:—
On a mountain-stream
Two mandarin-ducks[2] there be,
Well matched together:—
But the wife who was a like mate for me
Who is it that has taken away?
This was the first verse.
Though on every tree
The flowers are blooming,
How can it be that
My darling wife
Does not blossom again?
This was the second verse.
The Prince Imperial, with a sigh of deep despair, praised the verses, saying:—"How beautiful! how pathetic!" So he gave him his lute[3] and made him sing them. He also presented him with four hiki of silk, twenty tan of cloth, and two bags of floss silk.
Summer, 4th month, 20th day. Kose no Tokodako no Omi, of Shōshi rank, was granted the rank of Daishi, and was made Oho-omi of the Left.[4]
Ohotomo no Nagatoko no Muraji [styled Mŭmakahi] of
