37. Yamato-take Slays the Rulers of Sagamu

1So reaching the Land of Wohari, he went into the house of Princess Miyadzu, ancestress of the Rulers of Wohari, and forthwith thought to wed her; but thinking again that he would wed her when he should return up [toward the capital], and having plighted his troth, he went [on] into the Eastern Lands, and subdued and pacified all the savage Deities and unsubmissive people of the mountains and rivers. So then, when he reached the Land of Sagamu, the Ruler of the land lied, saying: “In the middle of this moor is a great lagoon, and the Deity that dwells in the middle of the lagoon is a very violent Deity.” Hereupon [Yamato-take] entered the moor to see the Deity. Then the Ruler of the land set fire to the moor. So, knowing that he had been deceived, he opened the mouth of the bag which his aunt, Her Augustness Yamato-hime had bestowed on him, and saw that inside of it there was a fire-striker. Hereupon he first mowed away the herbage with his august sword, took the fire-striker and struck out fire, and, kindling a counter-fire, burnt [the herbage] and drove back [the other fire], and returned forth, and killed and destroyed all the Rulers of that Land, and forthwith set fire to and burnt them. So [that place] is now called Yakidzu.