139 



of them plunged into the water and died, whereupon one of the 

 parts of the embankment could be completed. The other man, 

 however, showed the god's powerlessness by means of the cala- 

 bashes which he (the god) could not submerge; and the remaining 

 part of the embankment was made without the loss of, this 

 man's life. From this passage we learn that in ancient times 

 human sacrifices were made to the dragon-shaped river-gods. 



§ 5. Oho-watatsumi, the sea-god. 



Finally we must mention the sea-god Oho-ioata-tsu-mi no Mikoto, 

 in whose name we again find the term "Sea-lord" or "Sea-snake", 

 spoken of in the preceding text. He is also called Toyo-tama 

 hiko no Mikoto ("Abundant-Pearl-Prince"), and his daughter's 

 name is " Toyo-tama-bime" ("Abundant-Pearl-Princess, ^3£^)- 

 This god had his magnificent palace at the bottom of the sea, 

 and when his daughter announced him that she had seen reflected 

 in the well before the gate the face of a beautiful youth who was 

 sitting in the cassia tree close by, he received Hiko-hohodemi — 

 for this was the youth — in a hospitable way. Afterwards the 

 guest married the princess and lived in the palace for three 

 years. Then, however, he returned to the earth (according to the 

 Kojiki on the back of a wani, 5^ >^-, one fathom long) and was 

 followed by his consort, for whom he had built a "parturition- 

 house" on the seashore. She begged him not to look at her 

 while she was giving birth, but he was too curious and peeped 

 in, whereupon he saw that his wife had become a wani (Kojiki), 

 or dragon (Nihongi). Angry and ashamed she abandoned her 

 child, Jimmu Tenno's father, and returned to the Sea-god's 

 palace '. 



§ 6. Wani. 



The word wani, which is written either phonetically ( 5(Hl i® ) 

 or with the character |^, indicating a crocodile, is found once 

 more in Chapter I of the Nihongi (p. 40). We read there: 

 "Further it is said that Koto- shir o-nushi no kami changed him- 

 self into a bear-wam, eight fathoms long {ya-hiro no kuma-wani, 



1 Nihongi, Cb. II, pp. 62 seqq.; Kojiki, J^ , ^ -f- ^ , f ^ |^ "fC , K. T. K. 

 Vol. VII, p. 59: ^ /\ ^ ^'^\^ ^ ^ ^tt o ^'■'""'S'^' P- 63: >ft 

 ^ fl ; p. 66 (a variant): >(t 1^ A ^ )^ W. P (^^"•) tl ^ ^1 ifii o 



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