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Toyotamabime bears a child豊玉毗賣

Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) 古事記 · Ō no Yasumaro · 712 (Japan, 5th year of Wadō) · 5 passages · 479 Chinese characters · reading time 1.9 min

Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) Upper Book The oldest surviving book in Japan. Three volumes, beginning with the opening of heaven and earth, passing through the age of the gods, and closing with Empress Suiko. One hundred and five songs are written in man'yōgana, so a whole text survives in which the Chinese characters carry sound alone and not meaning. It sets down the same events differently from the Nihon Shoki at many points, and is well worth reading beside it.

1Her true form is seen

於是海神之女豊玉毗賣命,自參出白之:「妾已妊身,今臨産時。此念,天神之御子不可生海原,故參出到也。」尒即於其海邊波限,以鵜羽為葺草,造産殿。於是,其産殿未葺合,不忍御腹之急,故入坐産殿。尒將方産之時,白其日子言:「凡他國人者,臨産時,以本國之形産生。故妾今以本身為産,願勿見妾。」於是思奇其言,竊伺其方産者,化八尋和迩而匍匐委虵,即見驚畏而遁退。尒豊玉毗賣命知其伺見之事,以爲心恥,乃生置其御子而白:「妾恒通海道,欲往來。然,伺見吾形,是甚恠之。」即塞海坂而返入。是以名其所産之御子,謂天津日高日子波限建鵜(葺)草葺不合命。然後者,雖恨其伺情,不忍戀心,因治養其御子之緣,附其弟玉依毗賣而獻歌之。其歌曰:

Then Toyotamabime no Mikoto, the daughter of the sea god, came out herself and said, "I am already with child, and my time to give birth has come. I thought that the child of the heavenly gods must not be born on the plain of the sea, so I have come out to you."

At once a birth hall was built at the water's edge on that shore, thatched with cormorant feathers. The thatch of that birth hall was not yet finished when she could not bear the haste of her womb, and she went into the hall.

When she was about to give birth, she said to her husband, "Everyone from another land takes the form of their own land when the time comes to give birth. So I too will now give birth in my true body. I beg you, do not look at me."

He thought her words strange, and looked in secret upon her as she gave birth. She had turned into a crocodile eight fathoms long, and was crawling and writhing. He saw it, and in fear and terror he drew back and fled.

Toyotamabime no Mikoto knew that he had looked, and she felt shame in her heart. She left the child she had borne, and said, "I had meant to come and go for ever by the road of the sea. But you have looked upon my form, and this is a great shame to me."

At once she blocked the pass of the sea and went back inside.

So the child she had borne is named Amatsuhiko Hikonagisatake Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto (天津日高日子波限建鵜草葺不合命).

Afterwards she resented his prying heart, yet she could not bear her longing. Making the rearing of her child her reason, she sent her younger sister Tamayoribime (玉依毗賣) with a song, and offered it up. The song said:

Interlinear notes 1

訓波限云那藝佐。訓葺草云加夜

波限 is read nagisa. 葺草 is read kaya.

2The song of the red jewel

「阿加陀麻波,袁佐閇比迦礼杼,斯良多麻能,岐美(能)何余曾比斯,多布斗久阿理祁理。」

Akadama wa osae hikaredo Shiratama no kimi ga yosoi shi Tafutoku arikeri

— The red jewel shines, and even the cord it is strung on shines. But you, like a white jewel, in your very bearing were truly noble.

3Hikoji answers

尒其比古遲答歌曰:

Then that Hikoji answered in song:

Interlinear notes 1

三字以音

These three characters are read for their sound.

4The song of the island where the ducks gather

「意岐都登理,加毛度久斯麻迩,和賀葦泥斯,伊毛波和須礼士,余能許登碁登迩。」

Okitsutori kamodokushima ni Waga ineshi imo wa wasureji Yo no kotogoto ni

— On the island where the sea birds and the ducks gather, I shall not forget you, who slept there with me, for as long as the world lasts.

5Kamuyamato Iwarebiko is born

故日子穗穗手見命者,坐高千穗宫,伍佰捌拾嵗。御陵者。即在其高千穗山之西也。是天津日高日子波限建鹈葺草葺不合命,娶其姨,玉依毗卖命,生御子,名五濑命,次,稻冰命。次,御毛沼命。次,若御毛沼命,亦名豊御毛沼命,亦名神倭伊波礼毗古命。故御毛沼命者,跳浪穗渡坐于常世国,稻冰命者,為妣國而入坐海原也。

Hikohohodemi no Mikoto dwelt in the palace of Takachiho for five hundred and eighty years. His tomb is on the west of that mountain of Takachiho.

This Amatsuhiko Hikonagisatake Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto took his aunt Tamayoribime no Mikoto to wife, and the children born were Itsuse no Mikoto (五瀨命), next Inahi no Mikoto (稻冰命), next Mikenu no Mikoto (御毛沼命), and next Wakamikenu no Mikoto (若御毛沼命), whose other name is Toyomikenu no Mikoto (豐御毛沼命) and whose other name again is Kamuyamato Iwarebiko no Mikoto (神倭伊波禮毗古命).

So Mikenu no Mikoto trod the crests of the waves and crossed over to the land of Tokoyo, and Inahi no Mikoto went into the plain of the sea, saying that it was his mother's land.

Interlinear notes 1

四柱

Four children.