Emperor Chuai仲哀天皇

Emperor Tarashinakatsuhiko (足仲彦天皇) was the second son of Yamato Takeru no Mikoto. His mother the empress was called Futajinoiribime no Mikoto. She was the daughter of Emperor Ikumeiribikoisachi.

The emperor was upright in face and body, and he was ten feet tall. In the forty-eighth year of Emperor Wakatarashihiko he was set up as crown prince. Emperor Wakatarashihiko had no son, and so he was set up to be the heir.

In the sixtieth year the emperor died. In autumn of the next year, in the ninth month, the first day being an imjin day, on the jeongyu day, he was buried in the tomb of Tatanami at Saki in the land of Yamato.

In the first year, in spring, the first month, the first day being a gyeongin day, on the gyeongja day, the crown prince ascended the throne as emperor.

In autumn, the ninth month, the first day being a byeongsul day, he honored his mother the empress and called her the empress dowager.

In winter, the eleventh month, the first day being an eulyu day, he gave this command to his ministers. "When I had not yet come to twenty years, my father the king had already died. Then his divine spirit turned into a white bird and rose to heaven. My heart looks up to him and does not rest for a single day. For this reason I wish to get white birds and rear them in the pond within the tomb grounds, and by looking at those birds comfort my longing." Then he gave orders to the lands to present white birds.

In the intercalary eleventh month, the first day being an eulmyo day, on the muo day, the land of Koshi presented four white birds. The men sent with the birds stayed the night on the bank of the Uji River.

At that time Ashikami no Kamamiwake no Miko saw those white birds and asked, "Where are you taking the white birds?"

The man of Koshi answered, "The emperor longs for his father the king, and he wishes to rear them and tame them. Therefore we present them."

Then Kamamiwake no Miko said to the man of Koshi, "They are white birds, but if you burn them they become black birds." Then he took the white birds by force and carried them away.

At this the man of Koshi went and reported it. The emperor then hated Kamamiwake no Miko for his rudeness toward the former sovereign, and he sent soldiers and had him put to death. Kamamiwake no Miko was the emperor's half brother.

The men of that time said, "A father is heaven, and an elder brother is also a lord. He made light of heaven and went against his lord. How could he escape being put to death?"

In this year the year sign was imsin.

In the second year, in spring, the first month, the first day being a gabin day, on the gapja day, Okinagatarashihime no Mikoto was set up as empress.

Before this he had married Onakatsuhime, the daughter of his uncle Hikohito no Oe, and made her his consort, and she bore Prince □saka and Prince Oshikuma. Next he married Otohime, the daughter of Osakanushi, the ancestor of the Kurukumata no Miyatsuko, and she bore him a son, Prince Homuyawake.

In the second month, the first day being a gyemi day, on the muja day, he went to Tsunuga, and he raised a temporary palace there and stayed in it. This is called Kehinomiya (笥飯宮).

In that month the miyake of Awaji was fixed.

In the third month, the first day being a gyechuk day, on the jeongmyo day, the emperor went about the southern lands. He left the empress and all the officials behind, and two or three ministers and great officers and some hundreds of officers followed his carriage, and he went lightly. He came to the land of Kii and stayed at Tokorotsunomiya.

At this time the Kumaso rebelled and sent no tribute. The emperor then meant to strike the land of the Kumaso, and so he set out from Tokorotsu and put to sea and went to Anato.

On that same day he sent a messenger to Tsunuga and gave this command to the empress. "Set out from that harbor at once and meet me at Anato."

In summer, the sixth month, the first day being a sinsa day, on the gyeongin day, the emperor put in at the harbor of Toyura.

The empress also set out from Tsunuga and came to Nutanominato, and she ate on board her ship. At that time many yellowtail of the sea gathered beside the ship. The empress sprinkled wine on the yellowtail, and the yellowtail at once grew drunk and floated up. Then the fishermen caught many of those fish and rejoiced, and they said, "These are fish given us by a holy sovereign."

So it is that the fish of that place, when the sixth month comes, always float aslant as though they were drunk. This is the reason for it.

In autumn, the seventh month, the first day being a sinhae day, on the eulmyo day, the empress put in at the harbor of Toyura. On this day the empress found a wish-granting jewel (如意珠) in the sea.

In the ninth month he raised a palace at Anato and stayed in it. This is called Toyuranomiya of Anato.

In the eighth year, in spring, the first month, the first day being a gimyo day, on the imo day, he went to Tsukushi.

At that time Kumawani, the ancestor of the Oka no Agatanushi, heard that the emperor's carriage was coming. Beforehand he pulled up a sacred tree of five hundred branches and set it on the bow of a ship nine fathoms long. On the upper branches he hung a white bronze mirror, on the middle branches a ten-span sword, and on the lower branches an eight-foot jewel. He came out to the shore of Saba in Suo to meet him, and he offered him the grounds for fishing and for boiling salt.

Then he said, "Let all from Anato to the great ferry of Mukatsuno be your eastern gate, and let the great ferry of Nagoya be your western gate. Let the island of Motori and the island of Ahe be your box, and let the island of Shiba be your □. Let the sea of Sakami be your salt-boiling ground."

Then he led the way by sea. He went round from the cape of Yamaga and entered the shore of Oka. When they came to Minato the sovereign's ship could go no farther. So he asked Kumawani, "I have heard that you, Kumawani, came out to me with a clear heart. Why does the ship not go forward?"

Kumawani said, "That the sovereign's ship cannot go forward is no fault of mine. At the mouth of this shore there are two gods, a male and a female. The male god is called Okuranushi and the female god is called Tsuburahime. Surely it is the mind of these gods."

The emperor then prayed to them, and he made the boatman Igahiko, a man of Uda in the land of Yamato, the one to say the prayers, and had him make the offering. Then the ship could go forward.

The empress came in by another ship from the sea of Kuki. The water had run out and she could not go forward. Then Kumawani went back again and came from Kuki to meet the empress. When he saw that the sovereign's ship could not go forward he was afraid, and all at once he made a fish marsh and a bird pond and gathered fish and birds into them. The empress looked at the play of these fish and birds, and her anger slowly went away.

When the water filled he put in at the harbor of Oka.

Itote also, the ancestor of the Ito Agatanushi of Tsukushi, heard of the emperor's coming. He pulled up a sacred tree of five hundred branches and set it at the bow and the stern of his ship. On the upper branches he hung an eight-foot jewel, on the middle branches a white bronze mirror, and on the lower branches a ten-span sword. He came out to Hikishima at Anato to meet him, and he offered them.

Then he said, "Your servant dares to offer these things for this reason. I wish that the emperor may rule the realm with turns as fine as the curve of the eight-foot jewel, and that he may go about and look on the mountains and rivers and the plain of the sea as clearly as the white bronze mirror, and that he may take up this ten-span sword and make the realm quiet."

The emperor then praised Itote and called him Isoshi (伊蘇志). Therefore the men of that time named the home land of Itote the land of Iso. That it is now called Ito is a corruption.

On the gihae day he came to the district of Na. Because of this he stayed at Kashihinomiya.

In autumn, the ninth month, the first day being an eulhae day, on the gimyo day, he gave a command to his ministers and they talked over the striking of the Kumaso.

At that time a god came upon the empress and taught him. "Why does the emperor grieve that the Kumaso do not submit? That is a hollow land with no flesh on it. Is it worth raising an army to strike? There is a land of treasure better than this land. It is like the eyebrows of a maiden, a land that faces you across the ferry, and gold and silver and bright colors that dazzle the eye are there in plenty. It is called the land of Takubusuma Silla (栲衾新羅國).

If you can worship me, then without once staining a blade with blood that land will surely submit of itself. And the Kumaso too will submit. For that worship, take the emperor's own ship and the paddy field that Anato no Atai Fumitachi offered, the field named Ota. Let such things be the offering."

The emperor heard the words of the god and his heart doubted. He climbed a high hill and looked far off, and the great sea was wide and distant and no land was to be seen.

Then the emperor answered the god. "I have looked all about. There is sea but no land. How should there be a land in the great void? What god is it that leads me on for nothing? And the many emperors of my imperial line worshipped all the gods of heaven and earth. How should there be a god left out?"

Then the god came upon the empress again and said, "Why do you say there is no land and speak ill of my words, when the land shows itself to me, pressed down flat like a shadow on the water of heaven? But you are the king. If you speak so and in the end do not believe, you will not get that land. Only, the empress has now first conceived, and her child will have the getting of it."

Yet the emperor still did not believe. He forced the attack on the Kumaso, and he did not win, and he came back.

In the ninth year, in spring, the second month, the first day being a gyemyo day, on the jeongmi day, the emperor all at once had a pain in his body, and the next day he died. He was then fifty-two years old. It was known then that he had died early because he did not use the words of the god.

At this the empress and the great minister Takeuchi no Sukune hid the emperor's death and did not let the realm know of it.

Then the empress gave this command to the great minister and to Nakatomi no Ikatsu no Muraji and Omiwa no Otomonushi no Kimi and Mononobe no Ikui no Muraji and Otomo no Takemotsu no Muraji. "The realm does not yet know that the emperor has died. If the people come to know it, will there not be some who grow slack?"

Then she ordered the four great ministers to lead all the officials and guard the palace. The emperor's body was taken up in secret and given to Takeuchi no Sukune, and it was moved by sea to Anato, and he was laid out at Toyuranomiya. It was a laying out without fire (无火殯斂).

On the gapja day the great minister Takeuchi no Sukune came back from Anato and reported again to the empress.

In this year, because of the campaign against Silla, the emperor could not be buried.