Section XCIV.—Emperor Sei-mu
Section XCIV.—Emperor Sei-mu
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Section XCIV.—Emperor Sei-mu

[SECT. XCIV.—EMPEROR SEI-MU.]

The Heavenly Sovereign Wata-tarashi-hiko dwelt at the palace of Taka-anaho at Shiga 1b in Chika-tsu-Afumi and ruled the empire. This Heavenly Sovereign wedded [227] the Lady Oho-takara, 2 daughter of Take-oshiyama-tari-ne, 3 ancestor of the Grandees of Hodzumi, 4 and begot an august child: King Wata-nuke 5 (one Deity). So [the

p. 282

[paragraph continues] Heavenly Sovereign] raised the Noble Take-uchi 6 [to the office of] Prince Minister, 7 deigned to settle the Rulers of the Great Countries and Small Countries, 8 and likewise deigned to settle the boundaries of the various countries, as also the Department Lords of the Great Departments and Small Departments. 9 The Heavenly Sovereign's august years were ninety-five, and his august mausoleum is at Tatanami near Saki. 10

Footnotes
  1. 281

    281:1b Shiga no Taka-anaho. Shiga is the name of a well known district, and is of uncertain, signification, as is also Taka-anaho. For Chika-tsu-Afumi see Sect. XXIX, Note 20.

  2. 281:2

    Oto-takara no iratsume. Oto signifies "younger [sister]," and takara is "treasure."

  3. 281:3

    Oshiyama is the name of a place in Ise, take signifies "brave" and tari and ne are Honorifics of frequent occurrence.

  4. 281:4

    Hodzumi no omi. See Sect. LXI, Note 4.

  5. 281:5

    Waka-nuke no miko. This name is of doubtful signification, and Motowori suspects that it is corrupt, and that the true reading would be Waka-take, "young-brave."

  6. 282:6

    See Sect. LXI, Note 25.

  7. 282:7

    . Motowori tries to prove that in the earliest times this official title was simply an Honorific surname formed by prefixing the Adjective "great" to , a surname read "Omi" (the character signifies properly "attendant," "subject.") Probably like other "gentile names" it combined both characters, and had a tendency to become hereditary.

  8. 282:8

    Oho-kuni wo-kuni no kuni no miyatsuko.

  9. 282:9

    Oho-agata wo-agata no agata nushi ( ). Their duties are supposed to have consisted in supervising the government farms.

  10. 282:10

    For Saki see Sect. LXXV, Note 5. Tatanami may perhaps signify "putting shields in a row."

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