Hohodemi’s troubles with his elder brother were renewed on his arrival home. He was obliged to use against him two talismans given him by his father-in-law. One of these had the virtue of making the tide flow and submerge Ho no Susori and thus compel him to sue for mercy (another account says that Hohodemi whistled and thereby raised the wind and the sea). Then by a second talisman the tide was made to recede and Ho no Susori’s life was spared. He yielded complete submission to his younger brother and promised that he and his descendants to all generations would serve Hohodemi and his successors as mimes and bondservants. The _Nihongi_ adds that in that day it was still customary for the Hayato (or Imperial guards), who were descended from Ho no Susori, to perform a mimic dance before the Mikados, the descendants and successors of Hohodemi, in which the drowning struggles of their ancestor were represented. There are several features in this story which betray a recent origin and foreign influences. A comparatively advanced civilisation is indicated by the sword and fish-hook forged of iron. The institution of the Hayato as Imperial Guards belongs to a period not very long antecedent to the date of the _Nihongi_ and _Kojiki_. The palace of the sea-depths and its Dragon-king are of Chinese, and therefore of recent origin. One of Hohodemi’s grandchildren was Jimmu Tennō, who is usually reckoned the first human sovereign of Japan. He was the youngest of four brothers and his selection as heir shows that primogeniture, though to some extent acknowledged in Ancient Japan, was by no means the universal rule. At the age of forty-five he started from Kiushiu, which had been the home of the Imperial family since Ninigi descended there, on an expedition for the conquest of the central part of Japan, known as Yamato. This event is dated in B.C. 667, 1,792, 470 years after the descent of Ninigi from heaven. He finally succeeded in establishing his capital there in B.C. 660. From this date Japanese history is usually said to begin. In reality there is no genuine history of Japan for one thousand years more. The chronology for all this period is a colossal fraud and there is abundant intrinsic evidence that the narrative itself is no better than legend when it is not absolute fiction. There is, however, much to be learned from it of the beliefs and customs of the ancient Japanese. The descent of the Imperial dynasty from a Sea-god has been noted as an auspicious omen for the development of Japan as a great naval power. CHAPTER IV THE GODS NATURE-GODS OF INDIVIDUALS AND OF CLASSES