The Kojiki: Volume I: Section VI.—Birth of the Various Deities
[SECT. VI.—BIRTH OF THE VARIOUS DEITIES.]
When they had finished giving birth to countries, they began afresh giving birth to Deities. So the name of the Deity they gave birth to was the Deity Great-Male-of-the-Great-Thing; 1 next they gave birth to the Deity Rock-Earth-Prince; 2 next they gave birth to the Deity Rock-Nest-Princess; 3 [26] next they gave birth to the Deity Great-Door-Sun-Youth; 4 next they gave birth to the Deity Heavenly-Blowing-Male; 5 next they gave birth to the Deity Great-House-Prince; 6 next they gave birth to the Deity Youth-of-the-Wind-Breath-the-Great-Male; 7 next they gave birth to the Sea-Deity, whose name is the Deity Great-Ocean-Possessor; 8 next they gave birth to the Deity of the Water-Gates, 9 whose name is the Deity Prince-of-Swift-Autumn; 10 next they gave birth to his younger sister the Deity Princess-of-Swift-Autumn. (Ten Deities in all from the Deity-Great-Male-of-the-Great-Thing to the Deity Princess-of-Autumn.) 11 The names of the Deities given birth to by these two Deities Prince-of-Swift-Autumn and [27] Princess-of-Swift-Autumn from their separate dominions of river and sea were: the Deity Foam-Calm; 12 next the Deity Foam-Waves; next the Deity Bubble-Calm; next the Deity Bubble-Waves; next the Deity Heavenly-Water-Divider; 13 next the Deity Earthly-Water-Divider; next the Deity Heavenly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-Possessor; 14 next the Deity Earthly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-Possessor. (Eight Deities in all from the Deity Foam-Prince to the Deity Earthly-Water-Drawing-Gourd-Possessor.) Next they gave birth to the Deity of Wind, whose name is the Deity Prince-of-Long-Wind. 15 Next they gave birth to the Deity of Trees, whose name is Deity Stem-Elder, 16 next
they gave birth to the Deity of Mountains, whose name is the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor. 17 Next they gave birth to the Deity of Moors, whose name is the Deity Thatch-Moor-Princess, 18 another name for whom is the Deity Moor-Elder. (Four Deities in all from the Deity Prince-of Long-Wind to Moor-Elder.) The names of the Deities given [28] birth to by these two Deities, the Deity Great-Mountain-Possessor and the Deity Moor-Elder from their separate dominions of mountain and moor were: the Deity Heavenly-Elder-of-the-Passes; next the Deity Earthly-Elder-of-the-Passes; 19 next the Deity Heavenly-Pass-Boundary, next the Deity Earthly-Pass-Boundary; 20 next the Deity Heavenly-Dark-Door; next the Deity Earthly Dark-Door; 21 next the Deity Great-Vale-Prince; next the Deity Great-Vale-Princess. 22 (Eight Deities in all from the Deity Heavenly-Elder-of-the-Passes to the Deity Great-Vale-Princess.) The name of the Deity they 23 next gave birth to was the Deity Bird's-Rock-Camphor-tree-Boat, 24 another name for whom is the Heavenly-Bird-Boat. Next they gave birth to the Deity Princess-of-Great-Food. 25 Next they gave [29] birth to the Fire-Burning-Swift-Male-Deity, 26 another name for whom is the Deity Fire-Shining-Prince, and another name is the Deity Fire-Shining-Elder.
Footnotes
28:1 Oho-koto-oshi-wo-no-kami. "The Male-Enduring-Great-Things" would be a possible, but less good rendering. This god is identified by Motowori with Koto-toke-no-wo mentioned in "One account" of the "Chronicles of Japan."
28:2 The original Ika-tsuchi-biko-no-kami (
) is identified by Motowori with Uha-zutsu-no-wo, (
) mentioned in Sect. X (Note 18). He would interpret the first tsu (dzu) as the Genitive particle and the second as identical with the "Honorific appellation ji of males," such as Hikoji, Oho-to-no-ji, etc. If this surmise were correct, the entire name would signify Upper-Lord-Prince; but it is safer to be guided by the characters in the text.
28:3 Iha-zu-bime-no-kami. Here too Motowori takes the syllable zu- to be "connected with" the syllables tsu-tsu interpreted as above, forgetting apparently that the second tsu (ji) is said to occur only in the names of males.
28:4 Oho-to-bi-wake-na-kami, a name which Motowori, by supposing corruptions of the text and by making a plentiful use of the pliant and powerful system of derivation with which the Japanese etymologists lay siege to the difficulties of their language, identifies with Oho-naho-bi-no-kami, "the Great-Rectifying-Wondrous-Deity," mentioned in Sect. X (Note 16).
28:5 Ame-no-fuki-wo-no-kami, identified by Motowori with I-buki-do-nushi mentioned in the "Ritual of the General Purification." (See his Commentary on this Ritual, Vol. II, pp. 29-32.)
28:6 Ohoyabikonokami, identified by Motowori with Oho-aya-tsui-bi mentioned in "One account" of the "Chronicles."
28:7 Kaza-ge-tsu-wake-no-oshi-wo-no-kami. Motowori's conjectural interpretation has been followed; but both the reading and the meaning of the original are encompassed with difficulties. Motowori identifies this deity with Soko-sasura-hime mentioned in the "Ritual of the General Purification."
28:8 Oho-wata-tsu-mi-no-kami. The interpretation of mochi, "possessor," though not absolutely sure, has for it the weight both of authority and of likelihood.
28:9 I.e., river-mouths, estuaries, or ports. In the original Minato-no-kami.
28:10 Haya-aki-dzu-hiko. Aki, whose proper signification is "autumn," might also by metonymy be interpreted to mean "dragon-fly" or "Japan." Motowori, àpropos of this name, launches forth on very bold derivations and identifications with the names of other gods. The original of the sister-deity is Haya-aki-dzu-hime-no-kami.
28:11 The text here omits the word "Swift" from this name.
28:12 The original names of this deity and the three that follow are Awa-nagi-no-kami, Awa-nami-no-kami, Tsura-nagi-no-kami, and Tsura-nami, no-kami. The interpretation of the component parts is open to doubt but that here adopted has the authority of Motowori and Hirata.
28:13 Ame-no-mi-kumari-no-kami. The following deity is Kuni-nomi-kumari-no-kami.
28:14 This Deity and the next are in the original Ame-no-ku-hiza-mochi-no-kami and Kuni-ito-ku-hiza-mochi-no-kami. The etymology is obtained by comparison with a passage in the "Ritual for Averting Fire" (
).
28:15 Shina-tsu-hiko-no-kami. The original of this name is explained by Motowori, who founds his view on two passages in the "Collection of a Myriad Leaves," to signify Prince-of-Long-Breath. But the translator feels confident that shi-na by him interpreted in the sense of "long breath" (or rather "long of breath") should he connected with shi, an old word for wind which we see in ara-shi ("storm-wind"), ni-shi ("west-wind"), hi-gashi ("east wind"), and perhaps under a slightly altered form in kaze, "wind," whereas shi nowhere occurs in the sense of "breath." Hirata notices approvingly this etymology of shi ("Exposition of the Ancient Histories," Vol. III. p. 63), though without venturing flatly to contradict his predecessor's decision as to the import of the name in question. The difference in the meaning is after all slight. Na is to be taken as an apocopated form of nagaki, "long." In later times Shinato has been used as a name for the north-west wind.
28:16 Such seems to be the meaning of the original Kuku-no-chi-no-kami.
29:17 Oho-yama-tsuna-ka-mi.
29:18 Kaya-nu-kimi-no-kami. The etymology of the alternative personal name (in the original Nu-dzu-chi-no-kami is not quite certain.
29:19 The original of these two names is Ame-no-sa-dzu-chi-no-kami and Kuni-no-sa-dzu-chi-no-kami. Their signification is obscure, but the translator has, after some hesitation, followed Motowori's interpretation. The words "heavenly" and "earthly" should probably be considered as qualifying "passes." This word "pass," used here and elsewhere to render the Japanese term saka (sa), must be understood to include lesser ascents than those very arduous ones which are alone denoted by the word "pass" in ordinary English parlance. In the later language of Japan the word tauge (tōge) generally denotes "passes" properly so called, while saka is restricted to the meaning of small ascents or hills. But this distinction is by no means strictly observed.
29:20 Ame-no-sa-giri-no-kami and Kuni-no-sagiri-no-kami. Sa seems to be rightly considered, as in the two preceding names, to be an archaic form of saka (properly sa-ka, "hill-place"), and giri as an apocopated form of kagiri, (properly ka-giri, "place-cutting") "limit" or "boundary". Hirata however, following the Chinese character with which kiri is written, interprets it in the sense of "mist."
29:21 Ame-no-kura-do-no-kami and Kuni-no-kura-do-no-kami. Motowori explains kura (
, "dark") by tani (
, "valley"), and to "door" by tokoro (
, "place").
29:22 Such appears to be the proper interpretation of the original of these two names, Oko-tomato-hiko-no-kami and Oho-tomato-hime-no-kami, tomato being plausibly referred to towomaru and tawamu. It is difficult to find an English word to represent exactly the idea, which is rather that of a gentle fold in the mountains than of the narrower and steeper hollow which we call a "valley."
29:23 I.e., the Prince-Who-Invites and the Princess-Who-Invites (Izanagi and Iza-nami).
29:24 Tori-no-iha-kusa-bune-no-kami. The alternative name is Ame-no-tori-bune, from which the title of Deity is omitted. Motowori's Commentary, Vol. V, pp. 52-53 should be consulted on the subject of this deity.
29:25 Homonymous with the alternative personal name of the Island of Aha. (See Sect. V, Note 8).
29:26 Hi-no-haya-yagi-wo-no-kami. If, as seems likely, yagi, is an incorrect reading for kagi, we should have to translate by "shining" the word here rendered "burning." The alternative names are Hino-kaga-biko-no-kami and Hino-kaga-tsuchi-no-kami. In "One account" of the "Chronicles" and elsewhere in the "Rituals" this fire-god is called Ho-musubi i.e. the Fire-Producer."