29. His Death and That of the Empress Hibasu

1This Heavenly Sovereign’s august years were one hundred and fifty-three. His august mausoleum is in the middle of the moor of Mitachi at Sugahara. Again in the time of the Great Empress Her Augustness Princess Hibasu, the Stone-Coffin-Makers’ were established, and also the Earthenware-Masters’ Clan was established. This Empress was buried in the mausoleum of Terama near Saki.

2word Saki, which is homonymous with the Verb “to blossom.” But whether that be its real derivation, it were hard to say. Terama appears to signify “Buddhist temple-space,” an etymology which is embarrassing to the Shintō commentators who, accepting every word of our text as authentic history, are hard-driven to explain how Buddhist temples could have existed in Japan before the date assigned for the introduction of Buddhism.