Page:Nihongi by Aston.djvu/372

Rh were Awo Musa no Suguri of the Scribes' Be and Hakatoko, Hinokuma no Tami-tsukahi.

3rd year, Summer, 4th month. Kunimi, Abe no Omi [His other name was Shikotohi], uttered a slander respecting the Imperial Princess Taku-hata and Takehiko, Ihoki Be no Muraji, the bath-official, saying:—"Takehiko has had illicit intercourse with the Imperial Princess." Takehiko's father, Kikoyu, hearing this rumour, was afraid lest calamity might overtake himself, and persuaded Takehiko to come with him to the River Ihoki. There, pretending to make cormorants dive into the water to catch fish, he took him unawares and slew him. When the Emperor heard this, he sent messengers to question the Imperial Princess. The Imperial Princess answered and said:—"Thy handmaiden knows nothing." Suddenly the Imperial Princess took a divine mirror and went to Isuzu no Kahakami, and watching for a time when no one was passing, buried the mirror, and hanged herself. The Emperor became suspicious on account of the Imperial Princess's absence, and constantly sent persons in the dead of night to search in all directions. When they came to Kahakami, a rainbow appeared, like unto a serpent, four or five rods in length. When they dug the place from which the rainbow sprang they found the divine mirror, and no great distance off, they discovered the Imperial Princess's body. On ripping her open and making examination, there was in her belly something like water, and in the water there was a stone. Kikoyu was thus enabled to establish his son's innocence, but on the other hand he had remorse for having slain him. He revenged him by killing Kunimi, and then fled and hid in the Shrine of Isonokami.

4th year, Spring, 2nd month. The Emperor went a-hunting with bow and arrows on Mount Katsuraki. Of a sudden a tall man appeared, who came and stood over the vermilion valley.