Page:Kojiki by Chamberlain.djvu/79

Rh Moon-God from Izanagi’s eyes is a scarcely altered fragment of the Chinese myth of P‘an Ku; the superstition that peaches had assisted Izanagi to repel the hosts of Hades can almost certainly be traced to a Chinese source, and the hand-maidens of the Japanese Sun-Goddess are mentioned under the exact title of the Spinning Damsel of Chinese myth, while the River of Heaven , which figures in the same legend, is equally Chinese,—for surely both names cannot be mere coincidences. A like remark applies to the name of the Deity of the Kitchen, and to the way in which that deity is mentioned. The art of making an intoxicating liquor is referred to in the very earliest Japanese legends. Are we to believe that its invention here was independent of its invention on the continent? In this instance moreover the old histories bear witness against themselves; for they mention this same liquor in terms showing that it was a curious rarity in what, according to the accepted chronology, corresponds to the century immediately preceding the Christian era, and again in the third century of that era. The whole story of the Sea-God’s palace has a Chinese ring about it, and the “cassia-tree” mentioned in it is certainly Chinese, as are the crocodiles. That the so-called maga-tama, or “curved jewels,” which figure so largely in the Japanese mythology, and with which the Early Japanese adorned themselves, were derived from China was already suspected by Mr. Henry von Siebold; and quite latterly Mr. Milne has thrown light on this subject from an altogether unexpected quarter. He has remarked, namely, that jade or the jade-like stone of which many of the maga-tama are made, is a mineral which has never yet been met with in Japan. We therefore know that some at least of the “curved jewels” or of the material for them came from the mainland, and the probability that the idea of carving these very oddly shaped ornaments was likewise imported thence gains in probability. The peculiar kind of arrow called nari-kabura is another trace of Chinese influence in the material order, and a thorough search by a competent Chinese scholar would perhaps reveal others. But enough at least has been said to show the indisputable existence of that influence. From other sources we know