Ame no Hohi and Amewakahiko天菩比·天若日子

By the command of Amaterasu Ohomikami it was said, "The land of Mizuho in Toyoashihara, of the thousand autumns and the long five hundred autumns (豐葦原之千秋長五百秋之水穗國), is the land that my child Masakatsuakatsukachihayahiame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto shall rule." She entrusted it to him with these words and sent him down from heaven.

Then Ame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto stood on the floating bridge of heaven and said, "The land of Mizuho in Toyoashihara, of the thousand autumns and the long five hundred autumns, is 'itakusayagite' — it is loud and in great disorder." He said this and went back up, and asked Amaterasu Ohokami about it.

Then, by the command of Takamimusuhi no Kami and Amaterasu Ohomikami, the eight hundred myriad gods were gathered on the riverbank of Ame no Yasugawa, and Omohikane no Kami was set to think out a plan, and it was said, "This Ashihara no Nakatsukuni is the land that my child shall rule, the land that was entrusted to him. Yet it is said that there are many fierce and unruly gods in this land. What god should be sent to bring them round?"

Omohikane no Kami and the eight hundred myriad gods took counsel and said, "It would be good to send Ame no Hohi no Kami."

So Ame no Hohi no Kami was sent, and he at once fawned upon Ohokuninushi no Kami and clung to him, and for three years he did not come back and report.

So Takamimusuhi no Kami and Amaterasu Ohomikami asked the gods again, "Ame no Hohi no Kami, who was sent to Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, has long failed to come back and report. What god would it be good to send now?"

Omohikane no Kami answered and said, "It would be good to send Amewakahiko (天若日子), the son of Amatsukunitama no Kami (天津國玉神)."

So they gave the heavenly Makago bow (天之麻迦古弓) and the heavenly Haha arrows (天之波波矢) to Amewakahiko and sent him.

When Amewakahiko came down to that land, he at once took Shitateruhime, the daughter of Ohokuninushi no Kami, to wife. He also set his heart on winning that land, and for eight years he did not come back and report.

So Amaterasu Ohomikami and Takamimusuhi no Kami asked the gods again, "Amewakahiko has long failed to come back and report. What god should be sent now to ask why Amewakahiko is staying there?"

The gods and Omohikane no Kami answered and said, "It would be good to send the pheasant. Her name is Nakime (鳴女)."

Then it was said, "Go and ask Amewakahiko this. 'You were sent to Ashihara no Nakatsukuni to bring round and calm the unruly gods of that land. Why then have you not come back and reported for eight years?'"

So Nakime came down from heaven, sat on the sacred katsura tree before the gate of Amewakahiko, and told him point by point what the heavenly gods had commanded.

Then Ame no Sagume (天佐具賣) heard the words of this bird and said to Amewakahiko, "The cry of this bird is very ill. It would be good to shoot her dead." So she urged him on.

At once Amewakahiko took up the heavenly Makago bow and the heavenly Haha arrows that the heavenly gods had given him, and shot the pheasant dead.

That arrow passed through the breast of the pheasant, flew back upward, and reached the place where Amaterasu Ohomikami and Takagi no Kami were, on the riverbank of Ame no Yasugawa. This Takagi no Kami is another name for Takamimusuhi no Kami.

Takagi no Kami took up the arrow and looked at it, and there was blood on its feathers. Then Takagi no Kami said, "This arrow is the arrow that was given to Amewakahiko."

At once he showed it to the gods and said, "If Amewakahiko has not broken his command, and this is the arrow he shot at an evil god, let it not strike Amewakahiko. If he has a crooked heart, let Amewakahiko be 'magare' by this arrow — let ruin come upon him!"

Then he took the arrow and thrust it back down through the hole it had come through, and it struck the high breast of Amewakahiko as he lay on his morning bed, and he died.

The pheasant, too, did not come back. This is where the saying we have today, "the pheasant's one-way errand (雉之頓使)," comes from.

The sound of the weeping of Shitateruhime, the wife of Amewakahiko, rode on the wind and rang up to heaven.

Amatsukunitama no Kami, the father of Amewakahiko, who was in heaven, heard it with his wife and children, and they came down and wept and mourned. There they built a mourning house, and they made the wild duck the 'kisarimochi' — the one who carries the offerings, and the heron the one who carries the broom, and the kingfisher the one in charge of the food, and the sparrow the woman who pounds the rice, and the pheasant the woman who wails. Having appointed them so, they played and mourned for eight days and eight nights.

At this time Ajishikitakahikone no Kami (阿遲志貴高日子根神) came to mourn at the funeral of Amewakahiko. The father of Amewakahiko, who had come down from heaven, and his wife both wept and said, "My son is not dead after all! My lord is not dead, he is here!" They caught at his hands and feet and wept and mourned.

The reason they took him for another was that these two gods were very like each other in form.

Then Ajishikitakahikone no Kami grew very angry and said, "I came to mourn only because he was a friend I loved. Why do you liken me to a foul corpse!"

He drew the ten-hand sword (十拳劍) that he wore, cut the mourning house down, and kicked it away with his foot. This is Moyama (喪山) at the head of the Aimigawa (藍見河) in the land of Mino (美濃國).

The great sword he cut it with is called Ohohakari (大量), and its other name is Kamudo no Tsurugi (神度釼).

When Ajishikitakahikone no Kami flew away in his anger, his sister Takahime no Mikoto wished to make his name known, and so she sang.

Amenaruya ototanabatano Unagaseru tamanomisumaru Misumaruni anadamawaya Mitani futawatarasu Ajishikitakahikonenokamizoya

— The young weaving maiden in heaven wears a string of jewels at her neck, and O the jewel strung upon that string. He who shines across two valleys is the god Ajishikitakahikone.

This song is a hinaburi (夷振).