Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/267

236 Homutate, the ancestor of the Atahe of Anato, and Tamomi no Sukune, ancestor of the Muraji of Tsumori, represented to the Empress, saying:—"Surely thou wilt set apart unto the Gods the lands where they desire to dwell." So Homutate was appointed master of the worship of the rough spirits, and a shrine was erected in the village of Yamada in Anato.

Now in Spring, the second month of the year following the expedition against Silla, the Empress removed with her ministers and functionaries to the palace of Toyora in Anato, where she took up the Emperor's remains, and proceeded towards the capital by the sea-route. Now Prince Kakosaka and Prince Oshikuma, hearing of the Emperor's decease, as well as of the Empress's expedition to the West, and of the recent birth of an Imperial Prince, plotted secretly, saying:—"The Empress has now a child, and all the ministers obey her. They will certainly consult together and establish an infant sovereign. But shall we, the elders, obey our younger brother?" So, pretending that it was in order to build a misasagi for the Emperor, they went to Harima, and raised a misasagi at Akashi. Accordingly they joined boats together in a string across to the island of Ahaji, and so transported the stones of that island to build it. Now they made every man take a weapon, and so they awaited the Empress. Hereupon Kurami-wake, the ancestor of the Kimi of Inugami, and Isachi no Sukune, ancestor of the Kishi, together joined