Emperor Kenzō顯宗天皇
1Old Okime finds the bones
袁祁之石巣別命。坐近飛鳥宮。治天下捌歲也。天皇。娶石木王之女。難波王。无子也。此天皇。求其父王。市邊王之御骨時。在淡海國。賤老媼。參出白。王子御骨所埋者。專吾能知。亦以其御齒可知。爾起民。掘土。求其御骨。即獲其御骨而。於其蚊屋野之東山。作御陵葬。以韓帒之子等。令守其陵。（然後持上其御骨也）故還上坐而。召其老媼。譽其不失見置知其地以。賜名號置目老媼。仍召入宮内。敦廣慈賜。故其老媼所住屋者。近作宮邊。毎日必召。故鐸懸大殿戶。欲召其老媼之時。必引鳴其鐸。爾作御歌。其歌曰。
Oke no Iwasuwake no Mikoto (袁祁之石巣別命) dwelt in the palace of Chikatsuasuka (近飛鳥宮) and ruled all under heaven for eight years.
The Emperor took to wife Naniwa no Miko (難波王), the daughter of Iwaki no Miko (石木王). There were no children.
When this Emperor was searching for the bones of his father Ichinobe no Miko, a poor old woman of the land of Afumi came forward and said, "Where the prince's bones are buried, I alone know well. And they may be known by his teeth."
So he raised the people, dug the earth, and searched for those bones, and the bones were found. He built a tomb on the eastern hill of that field of Kaya and buried them there, and had the sons of Karafukuro guard that tomb. Afterwards the bones were carried up.
After he had returned up, he called that old woman, praised her for not losing sight of the place and knowing it, and gave her the name of Okime, the old dame (置目老媼). And he called her into the palace and cared for her generously.
And so the house where that old woman lived was built near the palace, and every day he would call for her without fail. A bell was hung at the door of the great hall, and whenever he wished to call that old woman he would pull the bell and ring it. At this he made a song. The song said:
Interlinear notes 1
御齒者。如三技押齒坐也。
His teeth were oshiha (押齒), set askew like three prongs.
2By the bell, it must be Okime coming
阿佐遲波良。袁陀爾袁須疑弖。毛毛豆多布。奴弖由良久母。於岐米久良斯母。
Asajihara odaniosugite Momozutafu nuteyurakumo Okimekurashimo
— Across the plain of thatch grass, past the little valley, the bell comes shaking out its sound — it must be Okime coming.
3Okime of Afumi
於是置目老媼。白僕甚耆老。欲退本國。故隨白退時。天皇見送。歌曰。 意岐米母夜。阿布美能於岐米。阿須用理波。美夜麻賀久理弖。美延受加母阿良牟。
Then old Okime said, "I am very old, and I wish to withdraw to my own land." When she withdrew as she had asked, the Emperor saw her off and sang.
Okimemoya afuminookime Asuyoriwa miyamagakurite Miezukamoaramu
— Okime, ah, Okime of Afumi. From tomorrow, hidden in the deep mountains, will you be seen no more?
4Digging only a little at the tomb's side
初天皇。逢難逃時。求奪其御粮猪甘老人。是得求。喚上而。斬於飛鳥河之河原。皆斷其族之膝筋。是以至今。其子孫上於倭之日。必自跛也。故能見志米岐。其老所在。故其地謂志米須也。天皇。深怨殺其父王之大長谷天皇。欲報其靈。故欲毀其大長谷天皇之御陵而。遣人之時。其伊呂兄。意意祁命奏言。破壞是御陵。不可遣他人。專僕自行。如天皇之御心。破壞以參出。爾天皇詔。然隨命宜幸行。是以意祁命。自下幸而。少掘其御陵之傍。還上。復奏言。既掘壞也。爾天皇。異其早還上而。詔。如何破壞。答白。少掘其陵之傍土。天皇詔之。欲報父王之仇。必悉破壞其陵。何少掘乎。答曰。所以爲然者。父王之怨。欲報其靈。是誠理也。然其大長谷天皇者。雖爲父之怨。還爲我之從父。亦治天下之天皇。是今單取父仇之志。悉破治天下之天皇陵者。後人必誹謗。唯父王之仇。不可非報。故少掘其陵邊。既以是恥。足示後世。如此奏者。天皇答詔之。是亦大理。如命可也。故天皇崩。即意祁命。知天津日繼。天皇。御年。參拾捌歲。治天下八歲。御陵在片岡之石坏岡上也。
At first, when the Emperor met with the trouble and fled, an old swineherd had taken his dried rice from him, and now he searched for that man. At last he found him, summoned him up, cut him down on the bank of the Asuka river, and cut the knee sinews of all his kindred. For this reason, to this day, on the days when their descendants come up to Yamato they always limp. And because he had the place where that old man had been marked well and kept in sight — shimeki — that land is called Shimesu (志米須).
The Emperor deeply resented the Emperor Ohohatsuse, who had killed his father the prince, and wished to repay his spirit. So, when he was about to send men to break down the tomb of the Emperor Ohohatsuse, his full elder brother Ohoke no Mikoto said, "No other man should be sent to break down this tomb. I alone shall go myself, break it down as the Emperor's heart wishes, and come back."
The Emperor said, "Then go as you say." So Ohoke no Mikoto went down himself, dug a little at the side of that tomb, came back up, and reported, "I have dug it and broken it down."
The Emperor thought it strange that he had returned so quickly and asked, "How did you break it down?" He answered, "I dug a little of the earth at the side of that tomb." The Emperor said, "To repay the enemy of our father the prince you must break that tomb down entirely. Why did you dig only a little?"
He answered, "The reason is this. That we should repay our father the prince's grievance upon his spirit is indeed right. Yet that Emperor Ohohatsuse, enemy of our father though he was, was also our father’s cousin, and an Emperor who ruled all under heaven. If now, with nothing in our hearts but that he was our father's enemy, we break down entirely the tomb of an Emperor who ruled all under heaven, men of later days will surely revile us. Still, the enemy of our father the prince cannot go unrepaid. So I dug a little at the side of that tomb. This shaming alone is enough to show to later ages."
When he had said this, the Emperor answered, "That too is a great principle. Let it be as you say."
When the Emperor died, Ohoke no Mikoto took up the heavenly sun-line.
The Emperor was thirty-eight years old, and he ruled all under heaven for eight years. His tomb is on the hill of Iwatsuki at Kataoka (片岡之石坏岡上).
Interlinear notes 2
志米岐三字以音。
The three graphs 志米岐 are read for their sound.
從父
從父 — by this book’s genealogy the Emperor Ohohatsuse was the cousin of the speaker’s father. Reading 從父 as “uncle” moves the kinship one step nearer. ― translator