Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/47

Rh nephew, stepfather, stepson, father-in-law, son-in-law, and the corresponding terms for females,—mother, grandmother etc.,—as well as such vaguer designations as parents, ancestors, cousins, and kinsmen. The only striking difference is that brothers and sisters, instead of being considered as all mutually related in the same manner, are divided into two categories, viz.: in exact accordance with Chinese usage.

Now in Archaic times there seems to have been a different and more complicated system, somewhat resembling that which still obtains among the natives of Korea, and which the introduction of Chinese ideas and especially the use of the Chinese written characters must have caused to be afterwards abandoned. There are indications of it in some of the phonetically written fragments of the “Records.” But they are not of themselves sufficient to furnish a satisfactory explanation, and the subject has puzzled the native literati themselves. Moreover the English language fails us at this point, and elder and younger brother, elder and younger sister are the only terms at the translator's command. It may therefore be as well to quote in extenso Motowori's elucidation of the Archaic usage to be found in Vol. XIII, pp. 63-4 of his “Exposition of the Records of Ancient Matters.” He says : “Anciently, when brothers and sisters were spoken of, the elder brother was called se or ani in contradistinction to the younger brothers and younger sisters, and the younger brother also was called se in contradistinction to the elder sister. The elder sister was called ane in contradistinction to the younger sister, and the younger brother also would use the word ane in speaking of his elder sister himself. The younger brother was called oto in contradistinction to the elder brother, and the younger sister also was called oto in contradistinction to the elder sister. The younger sister was called imo in contradistinction to the elder brother, and the elder sister also was called imo in contradistinction to the