19. Story of Oho-taka-ne-ko’s Birth

1The reason why this person called Oho-tata-ne-ko was known to be a Deity’s child, was that the above-mentioned Iku-tama-yori-bime was regularly beautiful, whereupon a [divine] youth [who thought] the majesty of her appearance without comparison in the world, came suddenly to her in the middle of the night. So, as they loved each other and lived in matrimony together, the maiden ere long was pregnant. Then the father and mother, astonished at their daughter being pregnant, asked her, saying: “Thou art pregnant by thyself. How art thou with child without [having known] a man?” She replied, saying: “I have naturally conceived through a beautiful young man, whose name I know not, coming here every evening and staying with me.” Therefore the father and mother, wishing to know the man, instructed their daughter, saying: “Sprinkle red earth in front of the couch, and pass a skein of hemp through a needle, and pierce [therewith] the skirt of his garment.” So she did as they had instructed, and, on looking in the morning, the hemp that had been put in the needle went out through the hole of the door-hook, and all the hemp that remained was three twists only. Then forthwith, knowing how he had gone out by the hook-hole, they went on their quest following the thread, which, reaching Mount Miwa, stopped at the shrine of the Deity. So they knew [that Oho-tata-ne-ko was] the child of the Deity [residing] there. So the place was called by the name of Miwa on account of the three twists of hemp that had remained. (His Augustness Oho-tata-ne-ko, here referred to, was the ancestor of the Dukes of Miwa and of the Dukes of Kamo.)