The Kojiki: Volume III: Section CLI.—Emperor Yu-riyaku (Part II.—Various Deeds)

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[SECT. CLI.—EMPEROR YŪ-RIYAKU (PART II.—VARIOUS DEEDS).]

So the Shiraka Clan 1 was established as the august proxy of Prince Shiraka. Again the Hatsuse-Clan-Retainers 2 were established. At this time there came over people from Kure. Again the Kahase Retainers 3 were established. These people from Kure 4 were lodged 5 at Kure-hara. So the place was called by the name of Kure-hara. 6

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Footnotes

388:1 Shiraka-be.

388:2 Hatuse-be no tomire. This clan was called after the reigning Emperor. Remember that the word "Retainers" is here a "gentile name."

388:3 Kahase no toneri. Kaha-se signifies "river-reach," and the "Chronicles," under date of the eleventh year of this reign, tell a story of the appearance of a white cormorant, to commemorate which this family was established. Cormorants, it will be remembered, were used for catching fish in rivers; hence the appropriateness of the name bestowed on the family in question.

388:4 The name given by the early Japanese to Wu ( ), an ancient state in Eastern China to the South of the Yang-tzo River. In Japanese it however, like other names of portions of China, often denotes the whole of that country in a somewhat vague manner. The derivation the word Kura is obscure. The most acceptable proposition is that which would see in it corruption of the original Chinese term Wu, of which Go is the Sinico-Japanese pronunciation. But what of the second syllable re?

388:5 The phrase is in this place used for "lodged."

388:6 I.e., Kure Moor. It is in Yamato. According to the "Chronicles," the former name of the place had been Himokuma-nu.