Then the Sun Goddess closed the door of the cave in which the weaving hall was, and the whole plain of heaven and the Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains were darkened, and night prevailed, and portents of [pg 044] woe were seen on every hand. Myriads of deities assembled in the bed of the tranquil river of heaven and besought the deity Thought-Includer, child of the High-August-Producing-Wondrous-Deity, the second of the original trio of deities, to propose a plan for inducing the Sun Goddess to reappear. They gathered the cocks of the barn-door fowl and made them crow; they wrought a metal mirror; they constructed a string of beautiful jewels; they performed divination with the shoulder-blade of a stag; they took a plant of Sakaki and hung on its branches the strings of jewels, the mirror, and offerings of peace. Then they caused the rituals to be recited, and a dance to be danced, and all the assembled deities laughed aloud. The Sun Goddess heard these sounds of merriment and was amazed. She softly opened the door and looked out, and asked the meaning of all this tumult. They told her it was because they had found another goddess more illustrious than she. At the same time they held before her luminous face the mirror which they had made. Astonished, she stepped out, and they shut and fastened the door behind her. And the plain of heaven and the Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains became light again.
Then the assembled deities took council together, and caused His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness to be punished and expelled with a divine expulsion.
His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness in Izumo.
So His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness came to the river Hi in Izumo. And he found there an old [pg 045] man and an old woman and a young girl, and they were weeping. And he asked them why they wept. And the old man answered. I once had eight daughters; but every year an eight-forked serpent comes and devours one of them; and now it is the time for it to come again. Then the deity said, Wilt thou give me thy daughter if I save her from the serpent? And he eagerly promised her. Then the deity said, Do you brew eight tubs of strong saké, and set each on a platform within an enclosure. So they brewed and set the saké according to his bidding. Then the eight-forked serpent came and putting a head in each tub drank up all the saké, and being intoxicated therewith went to sleep. The deity then with his sabre hacked the serpent in pieces, and the blood flowed out and reddened the river. But when he came to the middle tail his sabre was broken, and when he searched he found that within the tail was a great sword which he took out. And this is the herb-quelling-great-sword.
Then His-Impetuous-Male-Augustness built for himself a palace and dwelt there with his wife, and made the old man the master of his palace.
Here follows a line of legends relating to the deities of the land of Izumo, which do not concern particularly our story, except that they show that Izumo was closely connected with the early migrations from the continent. It must be remembered that Izumo lies almost directly opposite to Korea, and that this would be a natural point to which the nomadic tribes of Asia would turn in seeking for new fields in which to settle.
Plans for Pacifying the Land.
Then the heavenly deities consulted together how they might pacify the lands of Japan. They sent down one of their number to report on its condition. But he went no farther than the floating bridge of heaven, and seeing the violence which prevailed he returned. Then they sent another; but he made friends with the insurgent deities and brought back no report. Again they sent an envoy, who married the daughter of the insurgent deity, and for eight years sent back no report. After this they sent a pheasant down to inquire why a report was not sent. This bird perched on a cassia tree at the palace gate of the delinquent envoy, and he hearing its mournful croaking shot it with an arrow, which flew up through the ether and landed in the plains of heaven. The arrow was shot down again and killed the envoy. Finally two other envoys were sent down, who landed in Izumo, and after some parley with the refractory deities of the land received their adhesion and settled and pacified the land. Then they returned to the heavenly plains and reported that peace was established.
Descent of the August Grandchild.
The Central-Land-of-Reed-Plains[43] being now reported as peaceful, the heavenly deities sent His-Augustness-Heaven-Plenty-Earth-Plenty-Heaven's-Sun-Height-Prince-Rice-Ear-Ruddy-Plenty,[44] who was [pg 047] a grandson of Her-Augustness-the-Sun-Goddess, to dwell in and rule over it. There were joined to him in this mission[45] the Deity-Prince-of-Saruta as his vanguard and five chiefs of companies. They gave him also the string of jewels and the mirror with which the Sun Goddess had been allured from the cave, and also the herb-quelling-great-sword which His-Augustness-the-Impetuous-Male-Deity had taken from the tail of the serpent. And they charged him saying, Regard this mirror precisely as if it were our august spirit, and reverence it as if reverencing us.