KojikiShintoAncient Myth / ComparativeClassical Japanese / Chinese-style proseShareKojiki 112Basil Hall Chamberlain 1919 - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableBasil Hall Chamberlain 1919LanguageEnglishEspañol‹Kojiki 1Kojiki 2Kojiki 3Kojiki 4Kojiki 5Kojiki 6Kojiki 7Kojiki 8Kojiki 9Kojiki 10Kojiki 11Kojiki 12Kojiki 13Kojiki 14Kojiki 16Kojiki 17Kojiki 19Kojiki 20Kojiki 21Kojiki 22Kojiki 23Kojiki 24Kojiki 25Kojiki 26Kojiki 28Kojiki 29Kojiki 30Kojiki 31Kojiki 32Kojiki 33Kojiki 34Kojiki 35Kojiki 36Kojiki 37Kojiki 38Kojiki 39Kojiki 40Kojiki 41Kojiki 43Kojiki 44Kojiki 45Kojiki 46Kojiki 47Kojiki 48Kojiki 49Kojiki 50Kojiki 51Kojiki 52Kojiki 53Kojiki 105Kojiki 55Kojiki 56Kojiki 57Kojiki 58Kojiki 59Kojiki 60Kojiki 62Kojiki 63Kojiki 64Kojiki 65Kojiki 66Kojiki 67Kojiki 68Kojiki 69Kojiki 134Kojiki 71Kojiki 72Kojiki 143Kojiki 74Kojiki 75Kojiki 76Kojiki 77Kojiki 78Kojiki 79Kojiki 151Kojiki 154Kojiki 82Kojiki 83Kojiki 157Kojiki 85Kojiki 86Kojiki 87Kojiki 88Kojiki 162Kojiki 90Kojiki 91Kojiki 92Kojiki 93Kojiki 94Kojiki 95Kojiki 172Kojiki 97Kojiki 98Kojiki 99Kojiki 100Kojiki 101Kojiki 102Kojiki 103Kojiki 104Kojiki 107Kojiki 108Kojiki 109Kojiki 110Kojiki 111Kojiki 112Kojiki 113Kojiki 114Kojiki 115Kojiki 116Kojiki 117Kojiki 118Kojiki 119Kojiki 121Kojiki 205Kojiki 124Kojiki 125Kojiki 126Kojiki 127Kojiki 128Kojiki 130Kojiki 131Kojiki 132Kojiki 133Kojiki 135Kojiki 137Kojiki 138Kojiki 139Kojiki 142Kojiki 144Kojiki 145Kojiki 146Kojiki 147Kojiki 148Kojiki 240Kojiki 150Kojiki 153Kojiki 155Kojiki 156Kojiki 158Kojiki 160Kojiki 161Kojiki 163Kojiki 164Kojiki 165Kojiki 166Kojiki 167Kojiki 168Kojiki 169Kojiki 170Kojiki 171Kojiki 173Kojiki 174Kojiki 175Kojiki 176Kojiki 177Kojiki 178Kojiki 179Kojiki 180›Section CXII: Emperor O-jin (part Ix.--troubles Which Followed His Decease)Kojiki 112ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1So after the decease of the Heavenly Sovereign, His Augustness Ohosazaki, in conformity with the Heavenly Sovereign's commands, ceded the Empire to Uji-no-waki-iratsuko. Thereupon His Augustness Ohoyama-mori, disobeying the Heavenly Sovereign's commands, and anxious in spite thereof to obtain the Empire, had the design to slay the Prince his younger brother, secretly raised an army, and prepared to attack him. Then His Augustness Oho-sazaki, hearing that his elder brother had prepared an army, forthwith despatched a messenger to apprise Uji-no-waki-iratsuko. So, startled at the news, [the latter] set troops in ambush by the river-bank, and likewise, after having drawn a fence of curtains and raised a tent on the top of the hill, placed there publicly on a throne one of his retainers to pretend that he was the King, the manner in which all the officials reverentially went and came being just like that [usual] in the King's presence. 2And moreover, preparing for the time when the King his elder brother should cross the river, he arranged and decorated a boat and oars, and moreover ground [in a mortar] the root of the Kadzura japonica, and having taken the slime of its juice, rubbed therewith the grating inside the boat, so as to make any who should tread on it fall down, and then himself put on a cloth coat and trowsers, and having assumed the appearance of a common fellow, stood in the boat holding the oar. Hereupon, when the King his elder brother, having hid his troops in ambush and put on armour beneath his clothes, reached the river-bank and was about to get into the boat, he gazed at the grandly decorated place [on the hill], thought the King his younger brother was sitting on the throne, being altogether ignorant [of the fact] that he was standing in the boat holding the oar, and forthwith asked the fellow who was holding the oar, saying: "It has been reported to me that on this mountain there is a large and angry boar. I wish to take that boar. Shall I peradventure get that boar? "Then the fellow holding the oar replied, saying: "Thou canst not." Again he asked, saying: "For what reason?" [The boat-man] answered, saying: "He is not to be got, however often and in however many places he be chased. Wherefore I say that thou canst not [catch him either]. 3"When they had crossed as far as the middle of the river, [Prince Uji-no-waki-iratsuko] caused the boat to be tilted over, and [his elder brother] to fall into the water. Then forthwith he rose to the surface, and floated down with the current. Forthwith, as he floated, he sang, saying: "Whoever is swiftest among the boatmen of the Uji ferry will come to me."' Thereupon the troops that had been hidden on the river-bank rose up simultaneously on this side and on that side, and fixing their arrows [in their bows], let him go floating down. So he sank on reaching Kawara Point. So on their searching with hooks the place where he had sunk, [the hooks] struck on the armour inside his clothes, and made a rattling sound. So the place was called by the name of Kawara Point. Then when they hooked up his bones, the younger King, sang saying: "Catalpa bow, Evonymus standing by the ferry-bank of Uji! My heart had thought to cut [you], my heart had thought to take [you]; but at the base methought of the lord, at the extremity methought of the younger sister; grievously methought of this, sorrowfully methought of, that; and I came [back] without cutting it,--the Catalpa bow, the Evonymus." So the bones of His Augustness Oho-yama-mori were buried on the Nara mountain. His Augustness Oho-yama-mori (was the ancestor of the Dukes of Hijikata, the Dukes of Heki, and the Dukes of Harihara. ) ‹Previous chapterKojiki 111Next chapterKojiki 113›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States