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 its composition, which was probably a mixture of the natures of the sun, earth and noon.

In diagram 3 the Thing is presented in the form of a dumb-bell, with the smaller end upper-moat. In Hatori’s diagram there is a small projection depending from the bottom of the Thing, probably intended to indicate the budding-out of the moon. The ancient books quoted here say that ‘from the thing which floated in space something sprouted up like the shoot of a rush, in which there originated two gods named Umashi-ashi-kabi-hiko-ji no kami and Ame-no-toko-tachi no kami, both of whom, like the previous three, were single gods, and hid their Bodies.’

From the name of the second god who is here mentioned it is inferred that thing which sprouted up afterwards became Ame, or the sun, according to Hatori and Hirata, and according to Motoöri, heaven. This is nowhere explicitly stated, either in the Kojiki or in the Nihongi, but is inferred from the name of the second god, toko being the same as soko, bottom, and tachi, to stand. Hatori supposes the nature of ame to have been of the essence of fire, but Hirata repudiates this as a Chinese notion, and conjectures that it was clear and bright, like crystal. The name of the first god is derived from umashi, pleasant, ashi-kabi, rush-sprout, hiko, an honorific term applied to males and ji another honorific, seen in the word woji, old man. He is identified by Hirata with Sukunabikona, a diminutive god who afterwards sided Oho-kuni-nushi to civilize the country. The five deities who have now been named are entitled the Amatsu-kami, or ‘Celestial gods.’

Diagram 4 in the Tama no Mi-hashira, represents three globes of gradually diminishing sizes, connected by short necks, the largest being uppermost, and labelled Ame. The five celestial gods are represented therein by the same number of black spots. How the three earliest of them found their way into this particular portion of space is not explained, and their being here somewhat favours the original explanation that Ame is heaven. It was