Susano-o asked further, “Why are you crying?”
Rubbing Feet replied, “We originally had eight daughters, but the eight-tailed serpent of Koshi has come every year and eaten them. We are crying because it is now time for him to come again.” Susano-o asked, “What is his appearance?” Rubbing Feet replied, “His eyes are like red ground cherries, and his body has eight heads and eight tails. On his body grow moss and cypress and cryptomeria trees. His length is such that he spans eight valleys and eight mountain peaks. If you look at his belly, you see that blood is oozing out all over it.”
Then Susano-o said to the old man, “Will you give me your daughter?” Rubbing Feet answered, “Awed as I am, I do not know your name.” Susano-o replied, “I am the brother of the great deity Amaterasu and have just descended from heaven.” Then Rubbing Feet and Rubbing Hand said, “If that is so, we reverently present her to you.”
Then Susano-o transformed the maiden into a hair comb, which he put in his hair. He said to Rubbing Feet and Rubbing Hand, “Distill thick wine of eightfold brewings, build a fence, and make eight doors in the fence. At each door, set up eight woven platforms, and on each of these platforms place a wine barrel. Fill each barrel with the thick wine of eightfold brewings, and wait.”
They made the preparations as he had instructed, and as they waited, the eight-tailed serpent came indeed, as the old man had said. Putting one head into each of the barrels, the serpent drank the wine, then becoming drunk, he lay down and slept. Then Susano-o unsheathed the ten-hands-long sword that he was wearing at his side and hacked the serpent to pieces. The Hi River ran with blood. When he cut the serpent’s middle tail, the blade of his sword chipped. Thinking this strange, he thrust deeper with the stump of his sword, until a great sharp sword appeared. He took out this sword and, thinking it an extraordinary thing, presented it to the great deity Amaterasu. This is the sword Kusanagi, Grass Feller.
Thereupon Susano-o sought a place in the land of Izumo to build his palace. Arriving at Suga he said, “Coming here, my heart is refreshed [sugashi],” and in that place he built his palace and dwelled. Therefore that place is still called Suga. When this great deity first built the palace of Suga, clouds rose from that place. He composed a song, which said:
yakumo tatsu
In eight- cloud- rising
Izumo yaegaki
Izumo an eightfold fence
tsumagomi ni
to enclose my wife
yaegaki tsukuru
an eightfold fence I build,
sono yaegaki o
and, oh, that eightfold fence!
Then he summoned Rubbing Feet and said, “Be the headman of my palace.” He also bestowed upon him the name Palace-Master of Inada, Deity of Suga with Manifold Spiritual Powers. Then he commenced procreation with Hair Comb Fields….
LUCK OF THE SEA AND LUCK OF THE MOUNTAIN
Thereupon Fire-Shine Lord, as Luck of the Sea, hunted the wide-finned and the narrow-finned fish, and Fire-Fade Lord, as Luck of the Mountain, hunted the coarse-furred and the soft-furred game. Then Luck of the Mountain said to his elder brother Luck of the Sea, “Let us exchange our luck.” Although he repeated this request three times, his elder brother refused. Finally, however, he was able to get his brother to consent to the exchange. Then, when Luck of the Mountain was fishing with the luck of the sea, he was unable to catch even a single fish, and he lost his fishhook in the sea.
Then his elder brother Luck of the Sea asked to have the fishhook back, saying, “The luck of the mountain is your own luck-luck, the luck of the sea is my own luck-luck, let us now give each back his own luck.” Then the younger brother Luck of the Mountain replied, “When I fished with your fishhook, I caught not a single fish, and I finally lost it in the sea.” However, his elder brother stubbornly insisted. Even when the younger brother broke up a ten-hands-long sword and made it into five hundred hooks as compensation, he would not accept them. Again, he made a thousand hooks as compensation, but he still would not accept them, saying, “I still want my original hook.”
Then when the younger brother was weeping and lamenting by the seashore, the Tide Path God came and asked, “Why are you weeping and lamenting, He Who Is High as the Sun in the Sky?” Luck of the Mountain replied, “I borrowed my elder brother’s fishhook, and I lost it. Since he asked for his hook, I repaid him with many hooks, but he will not receive them, saying, ‘I still want my original hook.’ That is why I am weeping and lamenting.”
Then the Tide Path God said, “I will give you good counsel.” He then made a small boat of closely woven bamboo, put Luck of the Mountain into this boat, and instructed, “When I push this boat free, continue to sail for a little while. Then there will be a very good path of tide in the sea. Continue going on this path, and you will come to a palace made as if with the scales of fish, the palace of Watatsumi, the sea god. When you reach the gate of this deity, there will be a luxuriant katsura tree next to a well at its side. If you climb to the top of this tree, the daughter of the sea deity will see you and will give you counsel.”
Thereupon Luck of the Mountain went as he was instructed, and everything was exactly as he had been told. He climbed up the katsura tree and waited. Then the serving maid of Toyotama, Lady Precious Soul, daughter of the sea god, brought out a fine jar to draw water, at which time she noticed a light in the well. Looking up, she saw a lovely young man. She thought this exceedingly strange. At this point Luck of the Mountain, seeing the serving maid, asked her to give him some water. The maid drew water, put it into the fine jar, and offered it to him. Then, instead of drinking the water, he unfastened a jewel from his neck, put it into his mouth, and spat it into the fine jar. Thereupon the jewel stuck fast to the jar, and the maid could not remove it. Therefore she presented it to Lady Toyotama with the jewel attached inside.
Seeing this jewel, she asked the maid, “Is there perhaps someone outside the gate?” The maid replied, “There is a person in the katsura tree next to the well. He is an exceedingly lovely young man, much nobler than our master. He asked for water, and when I offered water to him, he did not drink but spat this jewel into the jar. Since I was unable to remove it, I brought it with the jewel attached inside to present to you.” Then Lady Toyotama, thinking this strange, went outside to take a look. Quite taken at the sight, they gazed at each other.
To her father she said, “There is a noble person at our gate.” Then the sea god went out himself to take a look and said, “This is He Who Is High as the Sun in the Sky, son of He Who Is High as the Sun in Heaven.” Then he brought him inside, spread out eightfold layers of sealskin carpets, then spread out eightfold layers of silk carpets above them, seated Luck of the Mountain on top of these, set out a hundred tables laden with gifts, prepared a banquet, and gave him his daughter Toyotama in marriage. Therefore he lived in this land for three years.
At this time, Luck of the Mountain remembered the things of the past and sighed deeply. Toyotama heard this sigh and said to her father, “In the three years he has lived here, he has never sighed, yet last night he sighed deeply. What could be the reason?” Then her father, the great god, asked his son-in-law, “According to what my daughter said this morning, in the three years that you have lived here, you have never sighed, yet last night you sighed deeply. What is the reason? Also, what is the reason for your coming here?” Then Luck of the Mountain told the great god in detail about how his elder brother demanded the fishhook that had been lost.
Thereupon, the sea deity summoned together all the large and small fish of the sea and asked them whether any fish had taken the fishhook. Then the myriad fish said, “Recently the sea bream has complained that a bone is caught in its throat and it cannot eat anything. Certainly this fish has taken it.” At this time they looked in the sea bream’s throat and found the fishhook. Therefore they took it out, washed it, and presented it to Luck of the Mountain. At this time the great sea god Watatsumi instructed, “When you give this hook to your elder brother, you sho
uld say, ‘This hook is a gloomy hook, an uneasy hook, a poor hook, a dull hook.’ So saying, hand it to him behind your back. Then if your elder brother makes rice paddies on high ground, make yours on low ground. If your elder brother makes rice paddies on low ground, make yours on high ground. If you do this, since I control the water, within three years your brother will be poverty stricken. If he becomes bitter and angry and attacks you, take the tide-raising pearl and cause him to drown. If he pleads for mercy, take the tide-ebbing pearl and cause him to live. So cause him anguish and suffering.” Saying so, the sea god gave Luck of the Mountain the tide-raising pearl and the tide-ebbing pearl.
Then he summoned together all the crocodiles and asked, “Now, He Who Is High as the Sun in the Sky, son of He Who Is High as the Sun in Heaven, is about to journey to the upper land. Which one of you will escort him and return to report, in how many days?” Then each of them answered, numbering the days in accordance with their length. Among them, the one-length crocodile said, “I will escort him and return in one day.” Then the sea god said to the one-length crocodile, “In that case, escort him. Do not give him cause for fright while crossing the sea.” Thus, the sea god put Luck of the Mountain on the crocodile’s neck and sent him off. As had been promised, the crocodile escorted him home in a day. When the crocodile was about to start back, Luck of the Mountain removed the dagger he had been wearing and fastened it around the crocodile’s neck before sending it off. Therefore this one-length crocodile is now called the God Who Holds a Dagger.
Then Luck of the Mountain returned the hook to his brother exactly as he had been instructed by the sea deity. From that time onward, his elder brother became poorer and poorer. His disposition became more violent, and he came to attack Luck of the Mountain. Whenever he was attacked, Luck of the Mountain took out the tide-raising pearl and caused his elder brother to drown. Then when the elder brother pleaded for mercy, he took out the tide-ebbing pearl and saved him. So he caused his elder brother anguish and suffering. At the time the elder brother prostrated himself and said, “From now on, I shall serve you day and night as your guard.” Thus, to this day the elder brother’s descendants (the Hayato) still serve the emperor by performing these drowning motions.
At this time, the daughter of the sea god, Toyotama, came forth and said: “I have been with child for some time, and now the time of my delivery is near. I thought that it would not be fitting for the child of the heavenly deities to be born in the ocean. Therefore I have come forth.” Then, by the edge of the beach, a parturition hut was built, thatched with cormorant feathers. But before the parturition hut had been completely thatched, the urgency of her womb became unendurable, and she entered into the parturition hut. As she was about to be delivered of her child, she said to her husband: “All persons of other lands, when they bear their young, revert to the form of their original land and give birth. Therefore, I too am going to revert to my original form and give birth. Pray do not look at me!”
Then thinking her words strange, he watched in secret as she was about to give birth; she turned into a giant crocodile and went crawling and slithering around. Seeing this, he was astonished and ran away. Then Toyotama, learning that he had been watching, felt extremely shamed and, leaving behind the child she had borne, said: “I had always intended to go back and forth across the pathways of the sea; however, now that my form has been seen, I am exceedingly ashamed.” Then, closing the sea border, she went back into the sea. For this reason, the child whom she bore is called Heavenly Male Brave of the Shore.
Nevertheless, although she was angry with him for having looked at her, she was still unable to subdue her yearning and sent her younger sister Lady Tamayori to nurse the child, entrusting her with a song, which said:
akadama wa
Beautiful are red jewels;
o sae hikaredo
even their cord seems to sparkle.
shiratama no
But I prefer pearls
kimi ga yosoishi
for the awesome beauty
toutoku arikeri
of your pearl-like form.
Then her husband replied with the song:
oki tsu tori
As long as I have life,
kamo doku shima ni
I shall never forget
waga ineshi
my beloved, with whom I slept
imo wa wasureji
on an island where wild ducks,
yo no kotogoto ni
birds of the offing, came to land.
Luck of the Mountain dwelled in the palace of Takachi-ho for 580 years. His tomb is west of Mount Takachi-ho.
After this, Heavenly Male Brave of the Shore takes his aunt Lady Tamayori as his wife, and she gives birth to three children: the eldest crosses over to the Eternal Land (Tokoyo); the second enters the ocean to follow his mother; and the third (Kamu Yamato Iware Hiko no Mikoto, Divine Yamato Iware Male Lord) becomes the first emperor of Yamato, Jinmu. From here on, the Kojiki is divided into chapters of the succeeding imperial reigns.
YAMATO THE BRAVE
Emperor Keikō (traditional dates 71–130 C.E.) ruled from the Hishiro Palace at Makimuku (today Nara Prefecture). By his various consorts and concubines, he had eighty children; second and third among them were Prince Ō-usu (Big Mortar) and his younger brother Prince O-usu (Little Mortar). Prince O-usu became Yamato Takeru no Mikoto, or Prince Yamato the Brave. His story is unique in the Kojiki because even though he is only a prince (the emperor’s son), the text treats him as if he were an emperor (his wife is styled as “empress”). His exploits against the “braves” of other lands (Kumaso, Izumo) appear to be an allegory for the Yamato clan’s military expansion. Although Prince Yamato’s almost supernatural might leads him to conquer and kill the gods of various lands, he meets a tragic end when he misspeaks a charm against a wild boar, who turns out to be the god of Mount Ibuki, and loses his power.
The emperor said to Prince Little Mortar: “Why does your elder brother not come to the morning and evening meals? Take it upon yourself to teach and admonish him.” After this had been said, five days passed, but he still did not come. The emperor then asked Prince Little Mortar: “Why has your elder brother not come for such a long time? Is it perhaps that you have not yet admonished him?” He replied: “I have already entreated him.” “In what manner did you entreat him?” He replied: “Early in the morning when he went into the privy, I waited and captured him, grasped him and crushed him, then pulled off his limbs and, wrapping them in a straw mat, threw them away.”
At this, the emperor was terrified at the fearless, wild disposition of this prince and said: “Toward the west, there are two mighty men called the Kumaso Braves. They are unsubmissive, disrespectful people. Therefore go and kill them.” Thus saying, he dispatched him. At this time, he was still a youth wearing his hair up on his forehead. Then Prince Little Mortar received from his aunt Princess Yamato an upper garment and a skirt and, with a small sword in his bosom, set out.
When he arrived at the house of the Kumaso Braves, he found that the home was surrounded by three rows of warriors and that they were building a pit dwelling and were inside it. At the time there was a great deal of noise about the coming feast to celebrate the new pit dwelling, and food was being prepared. Walking around the vicinity, he waited for the day of the feast. When that day arrived, he combed his hair down in the manner of a young girl’s and put on the upper garment and the skirt of his aunt. Completely taking on a young girl’s appearance, he mingled with the women and went into the dwelling.
Then the two Kumaso Braves, the elder and the younger, looked with admiration at this maiden and had her sit between them as the festivities continued. Then, when the feast was at its height, Prince Little Mortar took his sword from his bosom and, seizing the older Kumaso’s collar, stabbed him clear through the chest. Then the younger Kumaso, seeing this, was afraid and ran out. Pursuing him to the foot of the stairs leading out of the pit dwelling, he seized him by the back,
took the sword, and stabbed him clear through from the rear.
Then, the Kumaso Brave said: “Do not move the sword. I have something to say.” The prince gave him a respite while holding him down. When asked, “Who are you, my lord?” the prince replied “I am the son of Emperor Ohotarashi-hiko-oshiro-wake, who dwells in the palace of Hishiro and rules the Land of the Eight Islands; and my name is Prince Yamato-oguna. Hearing that you Kumaso Braves were unsubmissive and disrespectful, he dispatched me to kill you.”
Then the Kumaso Brave said: “Indeed this must be true. For in the west there are no brave, mighty men besides us. But in the great land of Yamato there is a man exceeding the two of us in bravery! Because of this I will present you with a name. May you be known from now on as Prince Yamato the Brave.” After he had finished saying this, the prince killed him, slicing him up like a ripe melon.
From that time, he was called Yamato Takeru, Yamato the Brave, to praise his name. Then as he returned, he subdued and pacified all the mountain deities, river deities, and deities of the sea straits.
At that time Yamato Takeru entered the land of Izumo. Intending to kill the Izumo Brave, he pledged friendship with him on his arrival. Then he secretly made an imitation sword of ichii wood, which he wore at his side. They bathed together in the Hi River. At this time, Yamato Takeru came out of the river first and put on the sword that the Izumo Brave had worn, saying: “Let us exchange swords!” Then the Izumo Brave came out of the river and put on the imitation sword that Yamato Takeru had worn. Whereupon Yamato Takeru invited him, saying: “Come, let us cross swords!” As they were unsheathing their swords, the Izumo Brave was unable to unsheathe the imitation sword. Then Yamato Takeru, unsheathing his sword, struck and killed the Izumo Brave. Then he made a song, saying:
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