JAPANESE MYTHOLOGY (Continued)
THE SUBJUGATION OF JAPAN
THE dividing line between mythological tradition and historical
legend is now reached. It will have been observed that, after the
descent of Susanoo, the Kami on the "plain of high heaven" took no
further part in "making" or "ruling" the "ever fruitful land of
reed-covered moors, and luxuriant rice-fields," as Japan was called.
Everything was left in the hands of Susanoo, the insubordinate Kami,
who had been expelled from heaven for his destructive violence. His
descendant in the sixth generation, the Great-Name Possessor, now
held supreme sway over the islands, in conjunction with a number of
his own relations, his seat of power being in the province of Izumo.
At this juncture the goddess of the Sun decided that a sovereign
should be sent down to govern the land of many islands, and she chose
for this purpose the son of the eldest* of the five Kami born from
her necklace during the procreation competition with Susanoo.
In the first place, however, it was considered necessary to reduce
the country to order, observation having shown it to be in a state of
tumult. For that purpose the second of the five necklace
Kami--considered "the most heroic" of all the beings on the "plain of
high heaven"--was despatched. But he "curried favour" with the
Great-Name Possessor and took up his abode in Japan. At the end of
three years,** seeing that he had not returned, it was decided by the
Kami in council to send another envoy, the Heavenly Young Prince. But
he proved even more disloyal, for he married the daughter of the
Great-Name Possessor, famous for her beauty,*** and planning to
succeed his father-in-law as sovereign of the land, remained in Izumo
for eight years. A third conclave of the Kami was now convened by the
Sun goddess and her coadjutor, the Great-Producing Kami,* and they
decided to despatch a pheasant to make observations.
*This Kami married a daughter of one of the two Great-Producing Kami
who belonged to the original trinity, and who co-operates with the
Sun goddess throughout.
**This is the first mention of a measure of time in the Records.
***She was called Princess Undershining, because her beauty shone
through her raiment.
The bird flew down and lit on a cassia tree at the gate of the
Heavenly Young Prince's dwelling, whereupon the prince, at the
instigation of a female spy, taking a bow given to him originally by
the Great-Producing Kami, shot a shaft which pierced the bird's bosom,
and, reaching the Milky Way where sat the Sun goddess and the
Great-Producing Kami, was recognized by the latter, who threw it back
to earth, decreeing that it should strike the prince were he guilty
of treason, and leave him unharmed if the blood on the arrow was that
of the earthly Kami whom he had been sent to quell. The shaft struck
the prince and killed him.
At this point the course of the history is interrupted by an
unintelligible description of the resulting obsequies--held in heaven
according to the Chronicles, on earth according to the Records. Wild
geese, herons, kingfishers, sparrows, and pheasants were the
principal officiators; the mourning rites, which included singing,
and dancing,* continued for eight days and eight nights, and the
proceedings were rudely interrupted by the prince's brother-in-law,
who, coming to condole and being mistaken for the deceased, is so
enraged by the error that he draws his sword, cuts down the mortuary
house, and kicks away the pieces.
*It has been conjectured, with much probability, that this singing
and dancing was a ceremony in imitation of the rites performed to
entice the Sun goddess from her cave. The motive was to resuscitate
the dead.
These two failures did not deter the Great-Producing Kami and the Sun
goddess. They again took counsel with the other beings on the "plain
of high heaven," and it was decided to have recourse to the Kami born
from the blood that dropped from Izanagi's sword when he slew the
Kami of fire. To one of these--the Kami of courage--the mission of
subduing the land of many islands was entrusted, and associated with
him in the work was the Kami of boats, a son of Izanagi and Izanami.
The two descended to Izumo. They carried swords ten hand-breadths
long, and having planted these upside down, they seated themselves on
the points and delivered their message to the Great-Name Possessor,
requiring him to declare whether or not he would abdicate in favour
of the newly named sovereign.
The Great-Name Possessor replied that he must consult his son, who
was absent on a hunting expedition. Accordingly, the Kami of boats
went to seek him, and, on being conducted into his father's presence,
the latter declared his willingness to surrender, sealing the
declaration by suicide.* There remained, then, only the second son of
the Great-Name Possessor to be consulted. He did not submit so
easily. Relying on his great strength, he challenged the Kami of
courage to a trial of hand grasping. But when he touched the Kami's
hand it turned first into an icicle and then into a sword-blade,
whereas his own hand, when seized by the Kami, was crushed and thrown
aside like a young reed. He fled away in terror, and was pursued by
the Kami as far as the distant province of Shinano, when he saved his
life by making formal submission and promising not to contravene the
decision of his father and elder brother.
*He stepped on the side of his boat so as to upset it, and with hands
crossed behind his back sank into the sea.
Then the Great-Name Possessor, having "lost his sons, on whom he
relied," agreed to abdicate provided that a shrine were built in
memory of him, "having its pillars made stout on the nethermost
rock-bottom, and its cross-beams raised to the 'plain of high
heaven.'"* He handed over the broad-bladed spear which had assisted
him to pacify the land, and declaring that if he offered resistance,
all the earthly Kami, too, would certainly resist, he "hid in the
eighty road-windings."
*This hyperbolical language illustrates the tone of the Records and
the Chronicles. Applied to the comparatively humble buildings that
served for residences in ancient Japan, the description in the text
is curiously exaggerated. The phrase here quoted finds frequent
reproduction in the Shinto rituals.
Thus, already in the eighth century when the Records and the
Chronicles were compiled, suicide after defeat in battle had become a
recognized practice. The submission and self-inflicted death of the
Great-Name Possessor did not, however, save his followers. All the
rebellious Kami were put to the sword by the envoys from the "plain
of high heaven." This chapter of the annals ends with an account of
the shrine erected in memory of the Great-Name Possessor. It was
placed under the care of a grandson of the Kami born to Izanagi and
Izanami, who is represented as declaring that he "would continue
drilling fire for the Kami's kitchen until the soot hung down eight
hand-breadths from the roof of the shrine of the Great-Producing Kami
and until the earth below was baked to its nethermost rocks; and that
with the fire thus drilled he would cook for him the fish brought in
by the fishermen, and present them to him in baskets woven of split
bamboos which would bend beneath their weight."
THE DESCENT UPON TSUKUSHI
It had been originally intended that the dominion of Japan should be
given to the senior of the five Kami born of the five-hundred-jewel
string of the Sun goddess. But during the interval devoted to
bringing the land to a state of submission, this Kami's spouse, the
Princess of the Myriad Looms of the Luxuriant Dragon-fly Island,* had
borne a son, Hikoho no Ninigi, (Rice-Ears of Ruddy Plenty), and this
boy having now grown to man's estate, it was decided to send him as
ruler of Japan. A number of Kami were attached to him as guards and
assistants, among them being the Kami of "thought combination," who
conceived the plan for enticing the Sun goddess from her cave and who
occupied the position of chief councillor in the conclave of high
heaven; the female Kami who danced before the cave; the female Kami
who forged the mirror, and, in short, all the Kami who assisted in
restoring light to the world. There were also entrusted to the new
sovereign the curved-jewel chaplet of the Sun goddess, the mirror
that had helped to entice her, and the sword (herb-queller) which
Susanoo had taken from the body of the eight-headed serpent.
*"Dragon-fly Island" was a name anciently given to Japan on account
of the country's shape.
These three objects thenceforth became the three sacred things of
Japan. Strict injunction was given that the mirror was to be regarded
and reverenced exactly as though it was the spirit of the Sun
goddess, and it was ordered that the Kami of "thought combination"
should administer the affairs of the new kingdom. The fact is also to
be noted that among the Kami attached to Hikoho no Ninigi's person,
five--three male and two female--are designated by the Records as
ancestors and ancestresses of as many hereditary corporations, a
distinctive feature of the early Japan's polity. As to the manner of
Hikoho no Ninigi's journey to Japan, the Chronicles say that the
Great-Producing Kami threw the coverlet of his couch over him and
caused him to cleave his way downwards through the clouds; but the
Records allege that he descended "shut up in the floating bridge of
heaven."
The point has some interest as furnishing a traditional trace of the
nature of this so-called invasion of Japan, and as helping to confirm
the theory that the "floating bridge of heaven," from which Izanagi
thrust his spear downwards into the brine of chaos, was nothing more
than a boat. It will naturally be supposed that as Hikoho no Ninigi's
migration to Japan was in the sequel of a long campaign having its
main field in the province of Izumo, his immediate destination would
have been that province, where a throne was waiting to be occupied by
him, and where he knew that a rich region existed. But the Records
and the Chronicles agree in stating that he descended on
Kirishimayama* in Tsukushi, which is the ancient name of the island
of Kyushu. This is one of the first eight islands begotten by Izanagi
and Izanami. Hence the alternative name for Japan, "Land of the Eight
Great Islands."
*Takachiho-dake is often spoken of as the mountain thus celebrated,
but Takachiho is only the eastern, and lower, of the two peaks of
Kirishima-yama.
It was, moreover, to a river of Tsukushi that Izanagi repaired to
cleanse himself from the pollution of hades. But between Kyushu
(Tsukushi) and Izumo the interval is immense, and it is accentuated
by observing that the mountain Kirishima, specially mentioned in the
story, raises its twin peaks at the head of the Bay of Kagoshima in
the extreme south of Kyushu. There is very great difficulty in
conceiving that an army whose ultimate destination was Izumo should
have deliberately embarked on the shore of Kagoshima. The landing of
Ninigi--his full name need not be repeated--was made with all
precautions, the van of his army (kume) being commanded by the
ancestor of the men who thenceforth held the highest military rank
(otomo) through many centuries, and the arms carried being bows,
arrows, and swords.*
*The swords are said to have been "mallet-headed," but the term still
awaits explanation.
All the annals agree in suggesting that the newcomers had no
knowledge of the locality, but whereas one account makes Ninigi
consult and obtain permission from an inhabitant of the place,
another represents him as expressing satisfaction that the region lay
opposite to Kara (Korea) and received the beams of the rising and the
setting sun, qualifications which it is not easy to associate with
any part of southern Kyushu.
At all events he built for himself a palace in accordance with the
orthodox formula--its pillars made stout on the nethermost
rock-bottom and its cross-beams made high to the plain of heaven--and
apparently abandoned all idea of proceeding to Izumo. Presently he
encountered a beautiful girl. She gave her name as Brilliant Blossom,
and described herself as the daughter of the Kami of mountains one of
the thirty-five beings begotten by Izanagi and Izanami who would seem
to have been then living in Tsukushi, and who gladly consented to
give Brilliant Blossom. He sent with her a plentiful dower--many
"tables"* of merchandise--but he sent also her elder sister,
Enduring-as-Rock, a maiden so ill favoured that Ninigi dismissed her
with disgust, thus provoking the curse of the Kami of mountains, who
declared that had his elder daughter been welcomed, the lives of the
heavenly sovereigns** would have been as long as her name suggested,
but that since she had been treated with contumely, their span of
existence would be comparatively short. Presently Brilliant Blossom
became enceinte. Her lord, however, thinking that sufficient time had
not elapsed for such a result, suspected her of infidelity with one
of the earthly Kami,*** whereupon she challenged the ordeal of fire,
and building a parturition hut, passed in, plastered up the entrance,
and set fire to the building. She was delivered of three children
without mishap, and their names were Hosuseri (Fire-climax), Hohodemi
(Fire-shine), and Hoori (Fire-subside).
*This expression has reference to the fact that offerings at
religious ceremonials were always heaped on low tables for laying
before the shrine.
**The expression "heavenly sovereign" is here applied for the first
time to the Emperors of Japan.
***The term "earthly" was applied to Kami born on earth, "heavenly"
Kami being those born in heaven.
THE CASTLE OF THE SEA DRAGON
At this stage the annals digress to relate an episode which has only
collateral interest Hosuseri and Hohodemi made fishing and hunting,
respectively, their avocations. But Hohodemi conceived a fancy to
exchange pursuits, and importuned Hosuseri to agree. When, however,
the former tried his luck at angling, he not only failed to catch
anything but also lost the hook which his brother had lent him. This
became the cause of a quarrel. Hosuseri taunted Hohodemi on the
foolishness of the original exchange and demanded the restoration of
his hook, nor would he be placated though Hohodemi forged his sabre
into five hundred hooks and then into a thousand. Wandering
disconsolate,* by the seashore, Hohodemi met the Kami of salt, who,
advising him to consult the daughter of the ocean Kami,** sent him to
sea in a "stout little boat."
*"Weeping and lamenting" are the words in the Records.
**One of the Kami begotten by Izanagi and Izanami.
After drifting for a time, he found himself at a palace beside which
grew a many-branched cassia tree overhanging a well. He climbed into
the tree and waited. Presently the handmaidens of Princess Rich Gem,
daughter of the ocean Kami, came to draw water, and seeing a shadow
in the well, they detected Hohodemi in the cassia tree. At his
request they gave him water in a jewelled vessel, but instead of
drinking, he dropped into the vessel a gem from his own necklace, and
the handmaidens, unable to detach the gem, carried the vessel to
their mistress. Then the princess went to look and, seeing a
beautiful youth in the cassia tree, "exchanged glances" with him. The
ocean Kami quickly recognized Hohodemi; led him in; seated him on a
pile of many layers of sealskins* overlaid by many layers of silk
rugs; made a banquet for him, and gave him for wife Princess Rich
Gem.
*Chamberlain translates this "sea-asses' skins," and conjectures that
sea-lions or seals may be meant.
Three years passed tranquilly without the bridegroom offering any
explanation of his presence. At the end of that time, thoughts of the
past visited him and he "sighed." Princess Rich Gem took note of this
despondency and reported it to her father, who now, for the first
time, inquired the cause of Hohodemi's coming. Thereafter all the
fishes of the sea, great and small, were summoned, and being
questioned about the lost hook, declared that the tai* had recently
complained of something sticking in its throat and preventing it from
eating. So the lost hook was recovered, and the ocean Kami instructed
Hohodemi, when returning it to his brother, to warn the latter that
it was a useless hook which would not serve its purpose, but would
rather lead its possessor to ruin. He further instructed him to
follow a method of rice culture the converse of that adopted by his
brother, since he, the ocean Kami, would rule the waters so as to
favour Hohodemi's labours, and he gave him two jewels having the
property of making the tide ebb and flow, respectively. These jewels
were to be used against Hosuseri, if necessary.
*Pagrus major.
Finally the Kami of the ocean instructed a crocodile to carry
Hohodemi to his home. This was accomplished, and in token of his safe
arrival, Hohodemi placed his stiletto on the crocodile's neck for
conveyance to the ocean Kami.
The programme prescribed by the latter was now faithfully pursued, so
that Hosuseri grew constantly poorer, and finally organized a fierce
attack upon his younger brother, who, using the tide-flowing jewel,
overwhelmed his assailants until they begged for mercy, whereupon the
power of the tide-ebbing jewel was invoked to save them. The result
was that Hosuseri, on behalf of himself and his descendants for all
time, promised to guard and respectfully serve his brother by day and
by night. In this episode the hayabito had their origin. They were
palace guards, who to their military functions added the duty of
occasionally performing a dance which represented the struggles of
their ancestor, Hosuseri, when he was in danger of drowning.
BIRTH OF THE EMPEROR JIMMU
After the composition of the quarrel described above, Princess Rich
Gem arrived from the castle of the ocean Kami, and built a
parturition hut on the seashore, she being about to bring forth a
child. Before the thatch of cormorants' feathers could be completed,
the pains of labour overtook her, and she entered the hut, conjuring
her husband not to spy upon her privacy, since, in order to be safely
delivered, she must assume a shape appropriate to her native land.
He, however, suffered his curiosity to overcome him, and peeping in,
saw her in the form of an eight-fathom crocodile. It resulted that
having been thus put to shame, she left her child and returned to the
ocean Kami's palace, declaring that there should be no longer any
free passage between the dominions of the ocean Kami and the world of
men. "Nevertheless afterwards, although angry at her husband's having
wished to peep, she could not restrain her loving heart," and she
sent her younger sister, Good Jewel, to nurse the baby and to be the
bearer of a farewell song to Hohodemi.
The Records state that the latter lived to the age of 580 years and
that his mausoleum was built to the west of Mount Takachiho, on which
his palace stood. Thus for the first time the duration of a life is
stated in the antique annals of Japan. His son, called Fuki-ayezu
(Unfinished Thatch), in memory of the strange incident attending his
birth, married Princess Good Jewel, his own aunt, and by her had four
sons. The first was named Itsuse (Five Reaches) and the youngest,
Iware (a village in Yamato province). This latter ultimately became
Emperor of Japan, and is known in history as Jimmu (Divine Valour), a
posthumous name given to him many centuries after his death.* From
the time of this sovereign dates and events are recorded with full
semblance of accuracy in the Chronicles, but the compilers of the
Records do not attempt to give more than a bald statement of the
number of years each sovereign lived or reigned.
*Posthumous names for the earthly Mikados were invented in the reign
of Kwammu (A.D. 782-805), i.e., after the date of the compilation of
the Records and the Chronicles. But they are in universal use by the
Japanese, though to speak of a living sovereign by his posthumous
name is a manifest anomaly.
THE EXPEDITION TO YAMATO
According to the Chronicles, the four sons of Fuki-ayezu engaged in a
celebrated expedition from Tsukushi (Kyushu) to Yamato, but one
alone, the youngest, survived. According to the Records, two only
took part in the expedition, the other two having died before it set
out. The former version seems more consistent with the facts, and
with the manner of the two princes' deaths, as described in the
Records. Looking from the east coast of the island of Kyushu, the
province of Yamato lies to the northeast, at a distance of about 350
miles, and forms the centre of the Kii promontory. From what has
preceded, a reader of Japanese history is prepared to find that the
objective of the expedition was Izumo, not Yamato, since it was to
prepare for the occupation of the former province that the Sun
goddess and her coadjutors expended so much energy. No explanation
whatever of this discrepancy is offered, but it cannot be supposed
that Yamato was regarded as a halfway house to Izumo, seeing that
they lie on opposite coasts of Japan and are two hundred miles
distant.
The Chronicles assign the genesis of the enterprise to Prince Iware,
whom they throughout call Hohodemi, and into whose mouth they put an
exhortation--obviously based on a Chinese model--speaking of a land
in the east encircled by blue mountains and well situated, as the
centre of administrative authority. To reach Yamato by sea from
Kyushu two routes offer; one, the more direct, is by the Pacific
Ocean straight to the south coast of the Kii promontory; the other is
by the Inland Sea to the northwestern coast of the same promontory.
The latter was chosen, doubtless because nautical knowledge and
seagoing vessels were alike wanting.
It is not possible, however, to speak with confidence as to the
nature of the ships possessed by the Japanese in early times. The
first mention of ships occurs in the story of Susanoo's arrival in
Japan. He is said to have carried with him quantities of tree seeds
which he planted in the Eight Island Country, the cryptomeria and the
camphor being intended to serve as "floating riches," namely ships.
This would suggest, as is indeed commonly believed, that the boats of
that era were simply hollow trunks of trees.
Five centuries later, however, without any intervening reference, we
find the Emperor Sujin urging the construction of ships as of
cardinal importance for purposes of coastwise transport--advice which
is hardly consistent with the idea of log boats. Again, in A.D. 274,
the people of Izu are recorded as having built and sent to the Court
a vessel one hundred feet long; and, twenty-six years later, this
ship having become old and unserviceable, was used as fuel for
manufacturing salt, five hundred bags of which were distributed among
the provinces with directions to construct as many ships.
There is no mention in either the Chronicles or the Records of any
marked change in the matter of marine architecture during all these
years. The nature of the Kyushu expeditionary ships must therefore
remain a matter of conjecture, but that they were propelled by oars,
not sails, seems pretty certain. Setting out from some point in
Kyushu probably the present Kagoshima Bay the expedition made its way
up the east coast of the island, and reaching the Bungo Channel,
where the tide is very rapid, obtained the services of a fisherman as
pilot. Thence the fleet pushed on to Usa in the province of Buzen, at
the north of Kyushu, when two local chieftains built for the
entertainment and residence of the princes and their followers a "one
pillared palace"--probably a tent. The next place of call was Oka (or
Okada) in Chikuzen, where they passed a year before turning eastward
into the Inland Sea, and pushing on to one of the many islands off
the coast of Aki, they spent seven years before proceeding to another
island (Takashima) in Kibi, as the present three provinces of Bingo,
Bitchu, and Bizen were then called. There they delayed for eight
years the Chronicles say three--in order to repair the oars of their
vessels and to procure provisions.
Up to this time there had been no fighting or any attempt to effect a
lodgment on the mainland. But the expedition was now approaching the
narrow westerly entrance to the present Osaka Bay, where an army
might be encountered at any moment. The boats therefore sailed in
line ahead, "the prow of each ship touching the stern of the other."
Off the mouth of the river, now known as the Yodo, they encountered
such a high sea that they called the place Nami-hana (Wave
Flowers), a name subsequently abbreviated to Naniwa. Pushing
on, the expeditionary force finally landed at a place--not now
identifiable--in the province of Kawachi, which bounds Yamato on the
west.
The whole voyage had occupied four years according to the Chronicles,
sixteen according to the Records. At Kusaka they fought their first
battle against the army of Prince Nagasune and were repulsed, Prince
Itsuse being wounded by an arrow which struck his elbow. It was
therefore decided to change the direction of advance, so that instead
of moving eastward in the face of the sun, a procedure unpleasing to
the goddess of that orb, they should move westward with the sun
behind them. This involved re-embarking and sailing southward round
the Kii promontory so as to land on its eastern coast, but the
dangerous operation of putting an army on board ship in the presence
of a victorious enemy was successfully achieved by the aid of
skilfully used shields.
On the voyage round Kii, where stormy seas are frequent, the fleet
encountered a heavy gale and the boats containing two of the princes
were lost.* Prince Itsuse had already died of his wound, so of the
four brothers there now remained only the youngest, Prince Iware. It
is recorded that, at the age of fifteen, he had been made heir to the
throne, the principle of primogeniture not being then recognized, and
thus the deaths of his brothers did not affect that question. Landing
ultimately at Kumano on the southeast of Kii, the expeditionary force
was stricken by a pestilence, the prince himself not escaping. But at
the behest of the Sun goddess, the Kami of thunder caused a sword of
special virtue to come miraculously into the possession of an
inhabitant of Kii, who carried it to the prince, and at once the
sickness was stayed. When, however, the army attempted to advance
into the interior, no roads were found and precipitous mountains
barred the progress. In this dilemma the Sun goddess sent down the
three-legged crow of the Sun** to act as guide.
*In the Chronicles the two princes are represented as having
deliberately entered the stormy sea, angered that such hardships
should overtake the descendants of the ocean Kami.
**The Yang-wu, or Sun-crow (Japanese Yata-garasu), is a creature of
purely Chinese myth. It is supposed to be red in colour, to have
three legs, and to inhabit the sun.
Thus indiscriminately are the miraculous and the commonplace
intermixed. Following this bird, the invading force pushed on into
Yamato, receiving the allegiance of a body of men who fished with
cormorants in the Yoshino River and who doubtless supplied the army
with food, and the allegiance of fabulous beings with tails, who came
out of wells or through cliffs. It is related that the invaders
forced the elder of two brothers into a gyn which he had prepared for
their destruction; and that on ascending a hill to reconnoitre,
Prince Iware observed an army of women and a force of eighty
"earth-hiders (Tsuchi-gumo) with tails," by which latter epithet is
to be understood bandits or raiders who inhabited caves.
How it fared with the amazons the annals do not say, but the eighty
bandits were invited to a banquet and slaughtered in their cups.
Still the expeditionary force encountered great opposition, the roads
and passes being occupied by numerous hostile bands. An appeal was
accordingly made for divine assistance by organizing a public
festival of worship, the vessels employed--eighty platters and as
many jars--being made by the hands of the prince himself with clay
obtained from Mount Kagu in Yamato.* Several minor arrangements
followed, and finally swords were crossed with the army of Nagasune,
who had inflicted a defeat on the invaders on the occasion of their
first landing at Kusaka, when Prince Itsuse received a mortal wound.
A fierce battle ensued. Prince Iware burned to avenge his brother's
death, but repeated attacks upon Nagasune's troops proved abortive
until suddenly a golden-plumaged kite perched on the end of Prince
Iware's bow, and its effulgence dazzled the enemy so that they could
not fight stoutly.**
*The Chronicles state that the prince made ame on the platters. Ame
is confectioned from malted millet and is virtually the same as the
malt extract of the Occident.
**This tradition of the golden kite is cherished in Japan. The "Order
of the Golden Kite" is the most coveted military distinction.
From this incident the place where the battle occurred was called
Tabi-no-mura, a name now corrupted into Tomi-no-mura. It does not
appear, however, that anything like a decisive victory was gained by
the aid of this miraculous intervention. Nagasune sought a conference
with Prince Iware, and declared that the ruler of Yamato, whom he
served, was a Kami who had formerly descended from heaven. He offered
in proof of this statement an arrow and a quiver belonging to the
Kami. But Prince Iware demonstrated their correspondence with those
he himself carried. Nagasune, however, declining to abstain from
resistance, was put to death by the Kami he served, who then made act
of submission to Prince Iware.
The interest of this last incident lies in the indication it seems to
afford that a race identical with the invaders had already settled in
Yamato. Prince Iware now caused a palace to be built on the plain of
Kashiwa-bara (called Kashihara by some historians), to the southwest
of Mount Unebi, and in it assumed the imperial dignity, on the first
day of the first month of the year 660 B.C. It is scarcely necessary
to say that this date must be received with all reserve, and that the
epithet "palace" is not to be interpreted in the European sense of
the term. The Chronicles, which alone attempt to fix the early dates
with accuracy, indicate 667 B.C. as the year of the expedition's
departure from Kyushu, and assign to Prince Iware an age of
forty-five at the time. He was therefore fifty-two when crowned at
Kashiwa-bara, and as the same authority makes him live to an age of
127, it might be supposed that much would be told of the last
seventy-five years of his life.
But whereas many pages are devoted to the story of his adventures
before ascending the throne, a few paragraphs suffice for all that is
subsequently related of him. While residing in Kyushu he married and
had two sons, the elder of whom, Tagishi-mimi, accompanied him on his
eastward expedition. In Yamato he married again and had three sons,
the youngest of whom succeeded to the throne. The bestowing of titles
and rewards naturally occupied much attention, and to religious
observances scarcely less importance seems to have been attached. All
references to these latter show that the offices of priest and king
were united in the sovereign of these days. Thus it was by the
Emperor that formulae of incantation to dissipate evil influences
were dictated; that sacrifices were performed to the heavenly Kami so
as to develop filial piety; and that shrines were consecrated for
worshiping the Imperial ancestors. Jimmu was buried in a tumulus
(misasagi) on the northeast of Mount Unebi. The site is officially
recognized to this day, and on the 3rd of April every year it is
visited by an Imperial envoy, who offers products of mountain, river,
and sea.
TRACES OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE
What traces of Chinese or foreign influence are to be found in the
legends and myths set down above? It is tolerably certain that
communication existed between China and Japan from a date shortly
prior to the Christian era, and we naturally expect to find that
since China was at that time the author of Asiatic civilization, she
contributed materially to the intellectual development of her island
neighbour. Examining the cosmogonies of the two countries, we find at
the outset a striking difference. The Chinese did not conceive any
creator, ineffable, formless, living in space; whereas the Japanese
imagined a great central Kami and two producing powers, invisible and
working by occult processes.
On the other hand, there is a marked similarity of thought. For, as
on the death of Panku, the giant toiler of Chinese myth on whom
devolved the task of chiselling out the universe, his left eye was
transmitted into the orb of day and his right into the moon, so when
the Japanese Kami returned from his visit to the underworld, the sun
emerged from the washing of his left eye and the moon from the
washing of his right. Japanese writers have sought to differentiate
the two myths by pointing out that the sun is masculine in China and
feminine in Japan, but such an objection is inadequate to impair the
close resemblance.
In truth "creation from fragments of a fabulous anthropomorphic being
is common to Chaldeans, Iroquois, Egyptians, Greeks, Tinnehs,
Mangaians, and Aryan Indians," and from that fact a connexion between
ancient Japan and West Asia might be deduced by reference to the
beings formed out of the parts: of the fire Kami's body when Izanagi
put him to the sword. On the other hand, the tale of which the birth
of the sun and the moon forms a part, namely, the visit of Izanagi to
hades in search of Izanami, is an obvious reproduction of the
Babylonian myth of Ishtar's journey to the underworld in search of
Du'uzu, which formed the basis of the Grecian legend of Orpheus and
Eurydice. Moreover, Izanami's objection to return, on the ground of
having already eaten of the food of the underworld, is a feature of
many ancient myths, among which may be mentioned the Indian story of
Nachiketas, where the name Yama, the Indian god of the lower world,
bears an obvious resemblance to the Japanese yomi (hades), as does,
indeed, the whole Indian myth of Yami and Yama to that of Izanagi and
Izanami.
Is it not also more than a mere coincidence that as all the Semitic
tribes worshipped the goddess Isis, so--the Japanese worshipped, for
supreme being, the goddess of the Sun? Thus, here again there would
seem to have been some path of communication other than that via
China between Japan and the west of Asia. Further, the "river of
heaven"--the Milky Way--which so often figures in Japanese mythology,
is prominent in Chinese also, and is there associated with the
Spinning Damsel, just as in the Japanese legend it serves the Kami
for council-place after the injury done by Susanoo's violence to the
Sun goddess and her spinning maidens. It has been remarked
[Chamberlain] that the chop-stick which Susanoo found floating down
a river in Izumo, and the sake (rice-wine) which he caused to be made
for the purpose of intoxicating the eight-headed serpent, are
obviously products of Chinese civilization, but as for the rescue of
the maiden from the serpent, it is a plain replica of the legend of
Perseus and Andromeda, which, if it came through China, left no mark
in transit.
Less palpable, but still sufficiently striking, is the resemblance
between the story of Atalanta's golden apples and the casting down of
Izanagi's head-dress and comb as grapes and bamboo sprouts to arrest
the pursuit of the "hag of hades." But indeed this throwing of his
comb behind him by Izanagi and its conversion into a thicket are
common incidents of ancient folk-lore, while in the context of this
Kami's ablutions on his return from hades, it may be noted that Ovid
makes Juno undergo lustration after a visit to the lower regions and
that Dante is washed in Lethe when he passes out of purgatory. Nor is
there any great stretch of imagination needed to detect a likeness
between the feathered messenger sent from the Ark and the three
envoys--the last a bird--despatched from the "plain of high heaven"
to report upon the condition of disturbed Japan. This comparison is
partially vitiated, however, by the fact that there is no tradition
of a deluge in Japanese annals, though such phenomena are like ly to
occur occasionally in all lands and to produce a great impression on
the national imagination. "Moreover, what is specially known to us as
the deluge has been claimed as an ancient Altaic myth. Yet here we
have the oldest of the undoubtedly Altaic nations without any legend
of the kind." [Chamberlain.]
It appears, further, from the account of the Great-Name Possessor's
visit to the underworld, that one Japanese conception of hades
corresponded exactly with that of the Chinese, namely, a place where
people live and act just as they do on earth. But the religion out of
which this belief grew in China had its origin at a date long
subsequent to the supposed age of the Gods in Japan. The peaches with
which Izanagi pelted and drove back the thunder Kami sent by Izanami
to pursue him on his return from the underworld were evidently
suggested by the fabulous female, Si Wang-mu, of Chinese legend, who
possessed a peach tree, the fruit of which conferred immortality and
repelled the demons of disease. So, too, the tale of the palace of
the ocean Kami at the bottom of the sea, with its castle gate and
cassia tree overhanging a well which serves as a mirror, forms a page
of Chinese legendary lore, and, in a slightly altered form, is found
in many ancient annals.
The sea monster mentioned in this myth is written with a Chinese
ideograph signifying "crocodile," but since the Japanese cannot have
had any knowledge of crocodiles, and since the monster is usually
represented pictorially as a dragon, there can be little doubt that
we are here confronted by the Dragon King of Chinese and Korean
folk-lore which had its palace in the depths of the ocean. In fact,
the Japanese, in all ages, have spoken of this legendary edifice as
Ryu no jo (the Dragon's castle).
The eminent sinologue, Aston, has shrewdly pointed out that the term
wani (crocodile) may be a corruption of the Korean word, wang-in
(king), which the Japanese pronounced "wani." As for the "curved
jewels," which appear on so many occasions, the mineral jade, or
jadelike stone, of which many of them were made, has never been met
with in Japan and must therefore have come from the continent of
Asia. The reed boat in which the leech, first offspring of Izanagi
and Izanami, was sent adrift, "recalls the Accadian legend of Sargon
and his ark of rushes, the biblical story of Moses as an infant and
many more," though it has no known counterpart in Chinese mythology.
It is noticeable that in spite of the honour paid to the stars in the
Chinese cosmogony, the only star specially alluded to in Japanese
myth is Kagase, who is represented as the last of the rebellious Kami
on the occasion of the subjugation of Izumo by order of the Sun
goddess and the Great-Producing Kami. So far as the Records and the
Chronicles are concerned, "the only stars mentioned are Venus, the
Pleiades, and the Weaver," the last being connected with a Chinese
legend, as shown above.
Two other points remain to be noticed. One is that divination by
cracks in a deer's roasted shoulder blade, a process referred to more
than once in the Records and the Chronicles, was a practice of the
Chinese, who seem to have borrowed it from the Mongolians; the other,
that the sounding arrow (nari-kabura) was an invention of the Huns,
and came to Japan through China. It had holes in the head, and the
air passing through these produced a humming sound. As for the
Chronicles, they are permeated by Chinese influence throughout. The
adoption of the Chinese sexagenary cycle is not unnatural, but again
and again speeches made by Chinese sovereigns and sages are put into
the mouths of Japanese monarchs as original utterances, so that
without the Records for purposes of reference and comparison, even
the small measure of solid ground that can be constructed would be
cut from under the student's feet.
ENGRAVING: BUNDAI SUZURI BAKO (A WRITING SET)
ENGRAVING: 'NO' MASKS