Japan Part 5

So when the Emperor Ojin died A.D. 310, the younger son urged his brother to accept the imperial power; but he declined, saying: "How can I disobey the commands of my father?" The oldest of the three brothers, learning of the controversy, undertook to secure the authority for himself by a plot.

The conspiracy was, however, soon put down and the elder brother slain.

The friendly dispute between the two other brothers lasted three years and was finally ended by the younger committing suicide, and thus devolving the imperial office on his remaining brother. This brother was the noted Emperor Nintoku. He began his reign in the year A.D. 313, and died A.D.

399 in the one hundred and tenth year of his age. He was a most careful and considerate ruler. By observing his subjects he was convinced that they were overburdened and impoverished with the taxes which the government collected from them. So he announced by an imperial decree that for three years all taxes should be remitted. Even the sums which were necessary to keep the palace in repair and to provide his court with suitable clothing were not collected. And the palace grew shabby, and its roof leaked, and he himself went about in coa.r.s.e and cheap garments. And the farmers came to him and begged that they might contribute to his wants. But he refused, and suffered three years to pa.s.s. In the meantime the country revived, and the farmers being relieved from the burdens which they had so long borne entered on a long period of encouraging prosperity.

He surveyed the land from a high outlook, and saw the curling smoke and the fertile fields and rejoiced. Then he gave commands, and the taxes were renewed, and the people paid them willingly, and they in their grat.i.tude called Nintoku the Sage Emperor.

It was in the reign of the Emperor Nintoku that the noted prime-minister Prince Take-no-uchi is said to have died. He had served six emperors, viz.: Keiko, Seimu, Chuai, Jingo-Kogo, Ojin, and Nintoku. His age(66) is given variously from two hundred and eighty-two to three hundred and eighty, in different books, one of which is a Chinese work and one a Korean. It will be remembered that he was the chief adviser of the warlike Empress Jingo in her invasion of Korea, and took an active part in the events which followed that expedition. That there was such a figure in j.a.panese history there can be little doubt, but that much of his life and the great age to which he lived are like many of the stories of the characters in the midst of which he lived, legendary and mythical, no one can question.

It was in this reign also that we have it stated that historiographers were sent out to the provinces and directed to make record of all important events and forward them to the court.

We have now reached a point in j.a.panese history where the accounts compiled by the historians of the times have written records on which to rely. The legendary and marvellous stories which have been the bulk of the preceding history may now be replaced by the soberer narrations which writing has preserved for us. It will be seen that the lives(67) of the emperors now drop from the astonis.h.i.+ng age which in previous years they attained to a very moderate and reasonable length. In the subsequent chapters will be found the sober and chastened story to which j.a.panese history is henceforth reduced.

CHAPTER V. NATIVE CULTURE AND CONTINENTAL INFLUENCES.

Before going on to the meagre story which is supplied to us by the early years of j.a.panese history, it will be well to glean from the myths and legends which tradition has preserved the lessons which they contain.

Although we may be unable to concede the truth of these traditions in their entirety, and believe in the celestial origin of the race and the wonders of the divine age, we may be able to obtain from them many important facts regarding the habits and manner of life of the early j.a.panese.

We have often referred to the admirable work Mr. Chamberlain has done in his translation of the _Kojiki_, and in the scholarly notes he has added.

But in our present enquiries we must give him still greater credit for the important lessons which he has drawn from the myths and legends of the _Kojiki_ in his learned introduction. No writer at the present day can afford to dispense with the deductions which he has been able to draw from the oldest writings of the j.a.panese, and from the traditions of an older date which these writings have preserved. Relying therefore chiefly on this learned introduction,(68) we propose to enumerate in a summary manner the particulars concerning the early j.a.panese life.

In the first place the government of the early j.a.panese was of the tribal order. The emperor was the chieftain of an expedition which came from the island of Kyushu and established a government by conquest. The chiefs of the various localities were reduced to subjection and became tributary to the emperor, or were replaced by new chiefs appointed by the emperor. The government was therefore essentially feudal in its characteristics. The emperor depended for the consideration of his plans and for their execution upon officers who were attached to his court. There were guilds composed of those who manufactured various articles, or who were employed to execute special plans. Thus we have guilds of clay image makers, guilds of ladies attendant on the emperor, guilds of butlers, guilds of cooks, guilds of guards, etc. To each of these there was a captain who became by appointment hereditary chief. We have no mention of money for the payment of services rendered. The taxes were probably paid in kind. And all transactions as far as they are mentioned at all seem to have been of the nature of barter.

The religious notions of the prehistoric j.a.panese were founded on the myths relating to their ancestor. Notwithstanding the vast number of deities who came into existence according to tradition, most of them vanish as soon as they are named and are no more heard of. Even deities like Izanagi and Izanami, who are represented as taking so important a part in events, are not perpetuated as objects of wors.h.i.+p in j.a.panese history, and have no temples erected to their memory and no service prescribed or maintained in their honor. The most important deity in the Pantheon of the j.a.panese was Amaterasu-o-mi-kami, who is also called in Chinese characters Tensho Daijin or the Sun G.o.ddess. She appears not only in the myths concerning the origin of the j.a.panese race, but as the grandmother of the divine prince Hiko-ho-no-ni-nigi, who first came down to rule the j.a.panese empire. In the s.h.i.+nto temples at Ise the princ.i.p.al deity wors.h.i.+pped at Geku is Uke-moche-no-Kami, and the secondary deities Ninigi-no-Mikoto, who came down to found the j.a.panese empire and was the grandmother of the Emperor Jimmu, and two others. At the Naiku the princ.i.p.al deity is Amaterasu-o-mi-kami (from heaven s.h.i.+ning great deity), also called the Sun G.o.ddess, and two secondary deities. The temples at Ise, especially those that are dedicated to the Sun G.o.ddess, are the most highly regarded of any in j.a.pan. Other temples of considerable popularity are situated in other parts of the empire. Thus there are s.h.i.+nto temples in Kyushu and in Izumo, which are old parts of j.a.pan settled long before Buddhism was introduced.

The s.h.i.+nto religion must be regarded as the primitive religion of the j.a.panese people. It prevailed among them long before Buddhism was propagated by priests from Korea. It differs from all known systems of religion, in having no body of dogma by which its adherents are held together. The greatest advocate of s.h.i.+ntoism, Moto-ori, a writer of the 18th century, admits that it has no moral code. He a.s.serts that "morals(69) were invented by the Chinese because they were an immoral people, but in j.a.pan there was no necessity for any system of morals, as every j.a.panese acted rightly if he only consulted his own heart."

Reference is frequently made in the early stories to divination, or the process of obtaining the will of the G.o.ds by indirection. The oldest method of divination was by using the shoulder-blade of a deer. It was sc.r.a.ped entirely free from flesh, and then placed over a fire made from cherry wood. The divine will was determined by the cracks caused by the fire in the bone. A later method of divination was by using the sh.e.l.l of a tortoise in the same way as the shoulder-blade of the deer was used. They had superst.i.tions about fighting with the back to the sun; about using only one light in the house at once; about breaking off the teeth of a comb in the night-time; about the destination of the first arrow shot in battle, etc.

The superst.i.tion of impurity being attached to the mother at the birth of a child, and to the house and those a.s.sociated with it in which a death occurred, is often mentioned. A mother, when about to be delivered, was required to retire alone into a separate dwelling or hut without windows.

This cruel custom has prevailed in the island of Hachijo(70) down almost to the present time. A custom prevailed, also, of abandoning the dwelling in which a death had occurred. The dead body was removed to a mourning hut, where amid sobs and weeping the mourners continued to hold a carousal, feasting upon the food provided for the dead. This abandonment of the house occupied by the living may explain the custom, so often referred to, of each new emperor occupying a different palace from that of his predecessor. We have already referred to the dreadful custom which prevailed until the reign of the Emperor Suinin, of burying living retainers around the sepulchre of their dead master. The custom was replaced by burying clay images of servants and animals around the tomb, and this continued till about A.D. 700.

There is no evidence that children received any kind of education other than a training in the use of arms and implements. The art of writing was brought over from Korea in A.D. 284. Up to this time there is nothing to show that the j.a.panese possessed any means of recording the events which occurred. No books existed, and reading and writing were unknown. The language spoken by the people was an ancient form of that which now prevails. The earliest examples of this language are found in the songs preserved in the _Kojiki_ and _Nihongi_. As in every language, the earliest preserved specimens are poetry, so in j.a.panese the fragments which have been remembered and brought down to us, are sc.r.a.ps of songs.

The origin of this language is, like the origin of the race, impossible at present to verify. It seems plain that the race came from the continent by way of Korea. If this is to be taken as the origin of the race, then the language which developed into the j.a.panese came from the northern tribes of China and of Siberia.

There is no indication of the method by which the early j.a.panese reckoned time. The sun in the daytime and the c.o.c.ks by night, must have given them their division of hours. The year made itself apparent by the changes of temperature. It was not, however, till the introduction of calendars from China that anything like an accurate system of estimating and recording time was introduced.

The food of the primitive j.a.panese was much more largely animal than it became in later times. To the early j.a.panese there was no restriction in the use of animal food, such as the Buddhists introduced. Fish and sh.e.l.l-fish have always been, and doubtless from the first were, princ.i.p.al articles of food. The five grains, so called, are often referred to, and are specially mentioned in the s.h.i.+nto rituals, whose origin goes back to prehistoric times. These grains(71) are rice, millet, barley, and two kinds of beans. Silkworms and their food plant, the mulberry, are likewise spoken of. The only kind of drink referred to is _sake_. It will be remembered that in the myth concerning the Impetuous Male Deity in Izumo, the old man and old woman were directed to prepare eight tubs of _sake_, by drinking which the eight-headed serpent was intoxicated. In the traditional history of the emperors, they are represented as drinking _sake_, sometimes even to intoxication. And in the rituals recited when offerings are made to their deities, the jars of _sake_ are enumerated among the things offered. The j.a.panese writers claim that _sake_ was a native discovery, but there is a well supported belief that in very early times they borrowed the art of manufacturing it from the Chinese. There is at least a difficulty in believing that this liquor should have been invented independently in the two countries. Chopsticks are mentioned in early j.a.panese times, and clay vessels for food, and cups for drinking made of oak leaves. On the whole, the conclusions to be drawn from the earliest traditions concerning the j.a.panese lead us to regard them as having attained a material degree of civilization in all matters pertaining to food and drink. Yet it cannot be regarded as other than strange that milk, cheese and b.u.t.ter are nowhere mentioned, and had never been used.

In the matter of clothing we have little except hints to guide us in forming inferences. The rituals enumerate(72) "bright cloth, soft cloth, and coa.r.s.e cloth." Mr. Satow remarks(73) on this enumeration that "in the earliest ages the materials used were the bark of the paper-mulberry (_broussonetia papyrifera_), wistaria tendrils and hemp, but when the silkworm was introduced the finer fabric naturally took the place of the humbler in the offerings to the G.o.ds." The paper-mulberry which is now used for making paper, was in early times twisted into a thread and woven into a very serviceable cloth. Cotton(74) which now furnishes so large a part of the clothing of the people is nowhere mentioned. The skins of animals were doubtless used as clothing before the introduction of Buddhism made the killing of animals uncommon. In the legend of the purification of Izanagi(75) we read of a girdle, of a skirt, of an upper garment, of trousers, and of a hat. What the shapes of these garments were we cannot tell, but the number of different garments indicates a considerable development in the ideas of clothing. In the same myth, and in many other places, mention is made of the bracelets which Izanagi wore on the left and right arm. And when he wished to show his pleasure in the daughter who had been produced in was.h.i.+ng his left eye, he invested her with his necklace taken from his own neck. Jewelry seems in these prehistoric times to have been more commonly worn than in modern historical times. The jewels(76) used were the _magatama_ and _kudatama_ which have been found in the ancient burial places.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Magatama and Kudatama.

Rings have also been found which are believed to date back to prehistoric times. From the clay images which have come down to us it is now ascertained that the rings were worn as ornaments to the ears and never as rings to the fingers. These rings are of copper or bronze, plated with gold or silver. Combs and mirrors are spoken of, but how the metal mirrors are made we do not know.

The only indications of the character of the houses(77) used by the early j.a.panese are found in the traditions respecting the primitive s.h.i.+nto temples. The early methods of building were perpetuated in these temples, and in the eighteenth century a very persistent effort was made for the revival of pure s.h.i.+nto. Under the influence of this movement the temples at Ise and elsewhere were purified from the contaminations which had been introduced by Buddhism. After the close of the war which resulted in the restoration of the emperor to his proper authority in 1868 a small temple in the most severe s.h.i.+nto style was built at Kudan, one of the picturesque heights of Yedo, in memory of the soldiers who perished in the conflict.

From a careful examination of all that can ill.u.s.trate the houses of the early j.a.panese, we infer that they were of extreme simplicity. Stone was never used. The structures were entirely of wood. Even the palaces of the emperors were what we would call merely huts. Four upright posts sunk in the ground formed the corners. At the half-way intervals between these posts, were planted four other posts; those at the gable ends were high enough to sustain the ridge pole. On the other sides on the top of the posts were laid two plates. Ab.u.t.ting on these plates and crossing each other at the ridge pole stood the rafters, which sustained the thatched roof. In the absence of nails and pins, the timbers were fastened together by the tough tendrils of climbing plants. A hole in the gable end permitted the escape of the smoke from the fire built on the ground floor.

Around the sides of the interior stood a raised couch on which the occupants sat by day and slept at night. The other parts of the floor were uncovered and consisted only of earth. They used mats made from the skins of animals or from rushes, on which they sat and slept. The doors of their dwellings were fastened by means of iron hooks, and swung on hinges unlike the modern j.a.panese door which always is made to slide.

The agricultural plants spoken of are numerous but leave unmentioned many of the plants of first importance. Tea, now so extensively cultivated, is nowhere spoken of. Tobacco was a late importation and came in with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Cotton was not introduced, as we have already said, until the beginning of the ninth century. Potatoes, including both the sweet potato and the white potato, are unmentioned. The orange came to j.a.pan according to the received tradition at the close of the reign of the Emperor Suinin (A.D. 29-70).

Very little is said of the implements used by the primitive j.a.panese.

Metal of any kind was almost unknown. We read of swords and fish-hooks, but these are the only implements referred to which seem to have been made of metal. Pots and cups of earthenware were used. The axes which they must have used to cut down the trees for building and for fuel must have been of stone, or sometimes of deer's horn. Archaeologists both native and foreign have brought to light many ancient implements of the Stone age. An interesting and detailed account of these discoveries will be found in the work on _j.a.panese Archaeology_ by Henry Von Siebold, Yokohoma, 1879.

The arms used by the warriors were spears, bows and arrows, and swords.

Numerous arrow heads have been found which bear a striking likeness to those found in Europe and America. Spear heads of flint have also been found. That the people were emerging from the Stone age is shown by the swords made of metal which they are represented as habitually using. They also seem to have had a small sword or dagger, as in the myth of the traitorous plot entered into by the empress and her brother against the Emperor Suinin. Castles in the modern sense are not referred to, although the same word _s.h.i.+ro_ is used to represent the stockades with which they protected themselves. The castles of modern times, such as those at k.u.mamoto, Owari, and Yedo, are without doubt the outgrowth of the primitive stockade, and the same name has continued to be applied in all the successive changes.

Few domestic animals are mentioned. The horse is spoken of as an animal for riding, but not for driving. The same thing may be said of the use of horses in j.a.pan even until modern times. The domestic fowl is referred to in the myth of the disappearance of the Sun G.o.ddess. Dogs are mentioned in the later parts of the traditional period, but not cats. The cow and the products of the cow are not referred to. To these domestic animals may be added the cormorant,(78) which was used for fis.h.i.+ng, in the same way that it is used in the eastern parts of China and to a small extent in the waters of Owari and Mino at the present time. The wild animals of that day were the deer, the bear, the boar, the hare, etc. These animals were hunted for their flesh and for their skins.

The islands of j.a.pan being largely interspersed with water much of the travel even from the earliest time was performed in boats. The expedition of Jimmu from the island of Kyushu was in part conducted in the boats which the colony had constructed for the purpose. Whether these boats were of the form now used in j.a.pan it is impossible to determine. It is probable however that the present form of boat is an evolution of the primitive boat, which was used by the prehistoric j.a.panese and which was a part of the equipment with which their ancestors came over from Korea to the islands of j.a.pan. Travel on land was princ.i.p.ally on foot, although as we have said the horse was used at this early day for riding. No wheeled vehicle is mentioned. The bullock cart used in later times was restricted to the use of the imperial household, and probably was introduced by the Buddhists. There were government roads constructed from the home provinces in different directions to those more distant. It is said that this scheme was more fully carried out after the return of the Empress Jingo from her conquest of Korea.

Let us now turn from these evidences of native culture to the events of j.a.panese history which have to do with the introduction of the civilization from the continent. For three thousand years before the Christian era China has been looked upon as one of the cultured nations of the earth. No written language has ever been or is now understood by so many people as the Chinese. The Chinese were a civilized people centuries before the j.a.panese had, even according to their own uncertain legends, emerged into the light as an empire. If we accept the opinion which seems most reasonable, that the j.a.panese came over to the j.a.panese islands from the continent by way of Korea, and belong to the Mongol tribes of central Asia, then we must a.s.sume that the j.a.panese were closely related to a large section of the Chinese. They have been from the beginning of their history a receptive people. They have stood ready to welcome the good things which were offered to them, coming from whatever direction. They accepted eagerly the Chinese written language and the philosophy with which it came charged. They accepted Buddhism with its priesthood and dogma and ritual, and permitted it to crowd their native religion until it became a pitiful minority. They have in recent times accepted with a hearty impetuosity the civilization of western nations, and are absorbing it as rapidly as the habits and thoughts of a people can take in so important a change.

We have already referred to the first introduction(79) of Chinese literature into j.a.pan. It took place in the reign of the Emperor Ojin A.D.

284. The amba.s.sador who brought the tribute from Korea that year was Ajiki who was familiar with the Chinese literature. He gave lessons in Chinese to the crown prince. The next year the king of Korea sent out an eminent scholar named Wani,(80) who continued to give instruction to the crown prince. From this time a knowledge of Chinese gradually spread and scholars were attached to the government to make a written record of the events which took place. Historiographers were sent out during the reign of the Emperor Hanzei, A.D. 404, who were directed to make a record of all important events and forward them to the court. These steps soon began to show themselves in the absence of the wonderful and legendary from the narrative of events. Beginning with the reign of the Emperor Richu the ages of the emperors which before his time had been of such a marvellous length now drop to a reasonable and moderate period.

The nineteenth emperor was Inkyo, the fourth son of the Emperor Nintoku.

He was of an amiable and philanthropic temperament, and accepted the position of emperor with great reluctance. His health was delicate, and he feared to take upon himself such a responsibility. In the meantime there was an interregnum, and the court officials were anxious to have him enter upon the duties of emperor. At last he consented and became emperor A.D.

412. It was during his reign that confusion arose concerning the family names, or rather, that the confusion which had been long growing now had its settlement. Family names had been a matter of growth, and many persons claimed the right to use a certain name who were in no wise ent.i.tled to it. The emperor took a singular and effectual method to settle the troublesome and personal questions that arose. He summoned all those who claimed to belong to any family whose claim was disputed to appear at Amakas.h.i.+ and show that they were ent.i.tled to the names they claimed. He placed jars of boiling water and required each one to plunge his hand in the water. He who was injured by the hot water was p.r.o.nounced a deceiver, and he who came off unhurt was p.r.o.nounced as ent.i.tled to the name. The emperor took occasion to settle the questions concerning names, and put the matter on a more stable basis. And as the art of writing now began to be more common among the people mistakes in regard to names did not again seriously recur.

The emperor's ill-health was the occasion for the introduction of another of the civilizing arts of the continent. When the annual tribute from Korea was sent it so chanced that the amba.s.sador who came with it was a person versed in the medical art. If we estimate this man's science or skill by that of the Chinese pract.i.tioner of a later day, we should certainly not place a very high value on it. It is narrated, however, that he cured the imperial invalid, and by this means gained great credit for his profession, and added another to the obligations which j.a.pan owed to the continent.

After the death of the Emperor Inkyo there was a quarrel about the succession between his two sons, Prince Kinas.h.i.+-no-Karu and Prince Anaho-no-Oji. The courtiers all favored the latter, who was the younger brother, and he surrounded his elder brother in the house of Mon.o.be-no-Omai. Seeing no way of escape he committed suicide.(81) The younger brother then became the twentieth emperor, who is known under the canonical name of Anko. He had another difficulty growing out of social complications. He wanted to make the younger sister of Okusaka-no-Oji, who was the brother of the preceding Emperor Inkyo, the wife of Ohatsuse-no-Oji, his own younger brother, who afterwards became the Emperor Yuriyaku. He sent as a messenger the court official, Ne-no-Omi, to ask the consent of her elder brother, who gladly gave it, and as a token of his grat.i.tude for this high honor he sent a rich necklace. Ne-no-Omi, overcome with covetousness, kept the necklace for himself, and reported to the emperor that Okusaka-no-Oji refused his consent. The emperor was very angry, and sent a detachment of troops against the supposed offender. They surrounded the house and put him to death. His chief attendants, knowing his innocence, committed suicide by the side of their dead master. The emperor then completed his design of taking the sister of Okusaka-no-Oji as the wife of the Prince Ohatsuse-no-Oji, and he also took his widow and promoted her to be his empress.

Out of these circ.u.mstances arose serious troubles. His new empress had a young son by her first husband named Mayuwa-no-O, said to have been only seven years old. With his mother he was an inmate of the palace, and was probably a spoiled and wayward boy. The emperor was afraid lest this boy, when he came to understand who had been the cause of the death of his father, would undertake to revenge himself. He talked with the empress about his fears and explained his apprehensions. The boy accidentally heard the conversation, and was probably stimulated thereby to do the very thing which the emperor feared. Creeping stealthily into the room where the emperor lay asleep he stabbed him and then fled, taking refuge in the house of the Grandee Tsubura. The emperor was fifty-six years of age at the time of his death. This tragical event produced a great excitement.

The younger brother of the emperor, Ohatsuse, amazed and angry because his two older brothers were not, as he thought, sufficiently enraged by the murder of the emperor, killed them both. Then he attacked the Grandee Tsubura and the boy Mayuwa in their refuge. Seeing no way of escape Tsubura, at the request of the boy, first slew him and then killed himself.

Subsequently Ohatsuse, who seemed to have been of a violent disposition, murdered Ichin.o.be-no-Os.h.i.+ha, son of the seventeenth emperor, Richu. His two sons, then merely boys, Oke and Woke (literally big basket and little basket), hearing of this catastrophe escaped into the province of Harima where they worked as cow-herds. Ohatsuse was crowned as the twenty-first emperor and is known by the canonical name of Yuriyaku Tenno.

In the year A.D. 470 an amba.s.sador came from Go in China and by order of the emperor was entertained by the Grandee Ne-no-Omi. A court official, Toneri, was directed to see that this duty was suitably performed. Now Ne-no-Omi, it will be remembered, was the grandee who, on a former occasion, was sent by the Emperor Anko to solicit the hand of the Princess Hatahi-no-Oji for the present emperor, who was then the crown prince. In order to entertain the Chinese amba.s.sador with becoming magnificence, Ne-no-Omi robed himself in a gorgeous manner and among other things put on the rich necklace which he had stolen. Toneri reported to the emperor the superb entertainment which Ne-no-Omi had accorded to the Chinese amba.s.sador, and especially the necklace which he wore. The emperor innocently asked that Ne-no-Omi should appear before him in order that he might see his superb dress. The empress, who was with her husband when Ne-no-Omi came in, recognized the necklace which had been sent by her brother to the late emperor. The theft was charged and Ne-no-Omi compelled to confess. The emperor proclaimed the innocence of Okusaka-no-Oji and his great regret at the mistaken punishments.

There are many traditions current in j.a.panese early history concerning this emperor. In one he is represented in his imperial journeys to have seen a house belonging to Lord s.h.i.+ki built with a raised roof like that of the imperial palace. He was greatly enraged that any subject should dare to take such a liberty, and sent his attendants to burn the house down.

The poor frightened lord hastened to the emperor and humbly apologized for his stupidity. And he presented to the emperor in token of his humble submission a white dog clothed with cloth and led by a string. So he was forgiven and his house was spared.

In another legend he is said to have come upon a beautiful girl by the river side was.h.i.+ng clothes. He stopped and conferred with her, and said to her, "Do not thou marry a husband, I will send for thee." With this he returned to the palace and forgot about his promise. But the poor girl did not forget. Year after year pa.s.sed, till at last after eighty years of waiting she was a very old woman. Then she thought, "My face and form are lean and withered, there is no longer any hope. Nevertheless, if I do not show the Heavenly Sovereign how truly I have waited, my disappointment will be unbearable." And so with such gifts as she could afford she presented herself before the emperor. He wondering at her and her gifts asked her, "What old woman art thou, and why art thou come hither?" She replied, "Having in such and such a month and such and such a year received the Heavenly Sovereign's commands, I have been reverently awaiting the great command until this day, and eighty years have pa.s.sed by. Now, my appearance is decrepit and there is no longer any hope.

Nevertheless, I have come forth in order to show and declare my faithfulness." Thereupon the Heavenly Sovereign, greatly agitated, exclaimed, "I had quite forgotten my command; and thou meanwhile, ever faithfully awaiting my commands, hast vainly let pa.s.s by the years of thy prime. It is too pitiful." He sent her back to her home with such consolation as rich gifts could impart.

We give one more of the legends which cling to the name of this emperor.

He was making an imperial progress to the moor of Akizu for the purpose of hunting. And as he sat down to rest a horse-fly bit his august arm. But immediately a dragon-fly came and seized the horse-fly and flew away.

Thereupon he composed an august song as follows: