23. Prince Karu Loves His Sister Princess So-tohoshi

1After the decease of the Heavenly Sovereign, it was settled that King Karu of Ki-nashi should rule the Sun’s succession. But in the interval before his accession, he debauched his younger sister the Great Lady of Karu, and sang, saying:

2“Making rice-fields on the mountain, making hidden conduits run on account of the mountain’s height:—to-day indeed [my] body easily touches the younger sister whom I wooed with a hidden wooing, the spouse for whom I wept with a hidden weeping.”

3This is a Hind-Lifting Song. Again he sang, saying: