I am so glad that we are here, and I can think of no better episode for our one year anniversary. This has been a journey for me, and thank you for coming along together. One of the things I really enjoy is finding little tidbits that I never realized before I started digging into the material. So thank you for giving me that opportunity.

Now, truth be told, I actually debated talking about this one during the episode on Ninigi no Mikoto, but I thought it fit better here. We are about to get into Ihare Hiko (or Ihare Biko) and his march east to take the throne in Yamato, and so before we get there, I want to introduce you to something that, admittedly, blew my mind when I first encountered it in the Kujiki. I had no idea that there was a story out there of any other legacy descending from Takami Musubi no Mikoto and Amaterasu no Ōmikami, let alone an elder brother, but that’s just what we have.

Now, there are still some things that I am wondering about, and so rather than get into every little question in the podcast—which is long enough as it is, I thought I’d lay them out here, for those who care to read.

One of them is a minor one, and that is in the list of the 10 Heavenly Symbols given to Nigi Hayahi is the jewel of the “foot”. This seems rather incongruous with some of the other things. So let’s take a look:

The Mirror of the Ocean
The Mirror of the Shore
The Sword of Great Length
The Jewel of Life
The Jewel of Resurrection
The Jewel of the Foot
The Jewel of Return
The Cloth of the Serpent
The Cloth of Various Things

2 mirrors, 1 sword, 4 jewels, and 2 cloths

The mirrors seem to have a theme—ocean and shore. Both possibly related to something like the moon, another round, mirror-like object in the sky, and of course you also find mirrors with water themes, so that could play a part. I think the sword being of “great length” hardly needs interpretation. The Cloth of the Serpent could come from a design or could possibly refer to something else—serpents are often associated with the god of Mt. Miwa, and there are connections between snakes shedding their skin and rebirth, so maybe it has something to do with that—I’m not sure. The cloth of the various things might just be a catchall, or it may have referred to a garment with various designs embroidered on it. I’m put in mind of the royal regalia used for certain ceremonies, consisting of a wide-sleeved red robe with various embroidered designs as well as a red harami, or wrapped skirt, based, one assumes, on the ancient clothing styles of China.

In the jewels we have Life and Resurrection—those seem to go together—and then we have “Foot” and “Return”. I could see “Return” similar to “Resurrection”, but what does a foot have to do with anything? It could possibly refer to travel, I guess? But I also wonder if it refers, in some way, to sufficiency. The kanji “足“ can certainly refer to both in a modern context, but I’m not quite sure how it would have been viewed at the time.

(Of course, I still want to see all of these kitted out as proper DnD magic items—it feels like they would totally fit in one way or another)

Another thing that I’m still not quite clear on is the geography. I want to get into this more next episode, when we talk about Ihare Hiko’s invasion and conquest of Yamato, but the locations are interesting. There really isn’t an “Ikaruga Mountain” that I could find as such, but the chronicle claims it was in Kawachi Province. But Kawachi is typically identified as being on the western side of the mountains between Yamato (modern Nara Prefecture) and modern Osaka. I can think of several things going on here.

First, Ikaruga may not have been anywhere near the Ikaruga we know. Heck, it may not even have been in Japan, initially. It may have been a name imported from the Korean peninsula, for all we know, imported with the story, perhaps, and then “discovered” in approximately the right area later. That still doesn’t explain why they say it is in Kawachi—it would seem that Ikaruga is in the area of Yamato no Kuni. It is possible that Kawachi province extended that far up the Yamato River, but it seems a bit of a head-scratcher.

It may be that it had to be in Kawachi for other reasons—namely the connection with the Mononobe clan, who is clearly connected to Nigi Hayahi. However, I also wonder if there isn’t a more practical explanation: They say that Nigi Hayahi and his retinue arrived at Ikaruga peak in a “Heavenly Rock Boat”. Well, during the Kofun period and into the Asuka and Nara, Ōsaka looked quite different from what it is, today. In fact, most of Ōsaka was apparently under water, part of what is known as Kawachi Bay. The water came right up to the Ikoma mountains, and it may be that Kawachi was actually made up of those mountains and a little inland—maybe it did reach to Ikaruga, or maybe that was just an indication of someone arriving by an actual physical boat.

Now this is all conjecture. I’m sure there are others who’ve looked into this, and I am only doing a fairly light overview of all of this. If you have theories or if you’ve looked into it yourself, I encourage you to share!

References

Ō, Yasumaro, & Heldt, G. (2014). The Kojiki: An account of ancient matters. ISBN978-0-231-16389-7
Bentley, John. (2006). The Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi: a New Examination of Texts, with a Translation and Commentary. ISBN-90-04-152253
Chamberlain, B. H. (1981). The Kojiki: Records of ancient matters. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle Co. ISBN4-8053-0794-3
Aston, W. G. (1972). Nihongi, chronicles of Japan from the earliest times to A.D. 697. London: Allen & Unwin. ISBN0-80480984-4
Philippi, D. L. (1968). Kojiki. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN4-13-087004-1