Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/305

274 Mikoto spake to Oü, saying:—"Do thou go thyself to the Han country and summon Akoko. Go quickly, travelling day and night." So he assigned to him eighty fishermen of Ahaji as sailors. Hereupon Oü proceeded to the Han country, and straightway came accompanied by Akoko. Accordingly he was asked about the Yamato official rice-lands. He replied, saying:—"I have heard by tradition that, in the time of the Emperor who reigned in the palace of Tamaki at Makimuku, the official rice-fields of Yamato were settled in the charge of Oho-tarashi-hiko no Mikoto, the Prince Imperial. At that time there was an Imperial Decree to the effect that the official rice-lands of Yamato were always to be the official rice-lands of the reigning Sovereign, and could not be held by anyone who was not the reigning Sovereign, even an Emperor's child. It is therefore wrong to say that this is Mountain-warden-land."

Then Oho-sazaki no Mikoto sent Akoko to the Imperial Prince Nukada no Oho-naka-tsu-hiko, and made him acquaint him with these circumstances. The Imperial Prince Oho-naka-tsu-hiko knew not at all what to do, and Oho-sazaki no Mikoto, recognizing that he was in the wrong, forgave him and did not punish him.

Thereafter Prince Oho-yama-mori was full of resentment that he was passed over by the late Emperor and not established as Prince Imperial. In addition he had this cause of hatred. So he plotted, saying:—"I will kill the Prince Imperial and will ultimately ascend to the Imperial Dignity." Hereupon Oho-sazaki no Mikoto, having heard beforehand of his plot, secretly advised the Prince Imperial to prepare soldiers for his protection. Then the Prince Imperial got ready troops and awaited him. The Imperial Prince Oho-yama-mori, not knowing that soldiers had been prepared, took with him only a few hundred fighting men, and starting in the middle of the night, proceeded thither. At dawn he arrived at Uji, and was about to cross the river when the Prince Imperial, having put on