the succession in the direct line would be interrupted. For this lack
of heirs the responsibility ultimately rested with Yuryaku. In his
fierce ambition to sweep away every obstacle, actual or potential,
that barred his ascent to the throne, he inveigled Prince Oshiwa,
eldest son of the Emperor Richu, to accompany him on a hunting
expedition, and slew him mercilessly on the moor of Kaya. Oshiwa had
two sons, Oke and Woke, mere children at the time of their father's
murder. They fled, under the care of Omi, a muraji, who, with his
son, Adahiko, secreted them in the remote province of Inaba. Omi
ultimately committed suicide in order to avoid the risk of capture
and interrogation under torture, and the two little princes, still
accompanied by Adahiko, calling themselves "the urchins of Tamba,"
became menials in the service of the obito of the Shijimi granaries
in the province of Harima.

Twenty-four years had been passed in that seclusion when it chanced
that Odate, governor of the province, visited the obito on an
occasion when the latter was holding a revel to celebrate the
building of a new house, it fell to the lot of the two princes to act
as torch-bearers, the lowest role that could be assigned to them, and
the younger counselled his brother that the time had come to declare
themselves, for death was preferable to such a life. Tradition says
that, being invited to dance "when the night had become profound,
when the revel was at its height and when every one else had danced
in turn," the Prince Woke, accompanying his movements with verses
extemporized for the occasion, danced so gracefully that the governor
twice asked him to continue, and at length he announced the rank and
lineage of his brother and himself. The governor, astonished, "made
repeated obeisance to the youths, built a palace for their temporary
accommodation, and going up to the capital, disclosed the whole
affair to the Emperor, who expressed profound satisfaction."

Oke, the elder of the two, was made Prince Imperial, and should have
ascended the throne on the death of Seinei, a few months later.
Arguing, however, that to his younger brother, Woke it was entirely
due that they had emerged from a state of abject misery, Oke
announced his determination to cede the honour to Woke, who, in turn,
declined to take precedence of his elder brother. This dispute of
mutual deference continued for a whole year, during a part of which
time the administration w