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詳細表示 (Complete Article)

カテゴリー1： 2. Kami (Deities)
カテゴリー2： Kami in Classic Texts
Title
Konohanasakuyahime
Text (Kojiki)(Nihongi)
Other names: Konohana no sakuya hime (Kojiki), Konohana sakuya hime no mikoto(Nihongi), Kamuatatsu hime, Kamu toyoatatsu hime, Kamu atakaashitsu hime (Nihongi)



The daughter of Ōyamatsumi (according to the main text of Nihongi, the offspring of Ōyamatsumi and a heavenly kami). Married to Ninigi, Konohana Sakuyahime became pregnant in a single night, and gave birth to three children in the midst of fire. The name Konohana ("tree-flower") refers to the short-lived beauty of the cherry blossom, and was given in contrast to Konohana's older sister Iwanagahime, who was ugly but long-lived. Konohana's other names are all associated with the names of the place where she met Ninigi.

According to both Kojiki and Nihongi, Ninigi met the beautiful maiden Sakuyahime at Cape Kasasa and immediately asked for her hand in marriage, and the woman's father Ōyamatsumi happily agreed to the match. Following the marriage, Sakuyahime became pregnant in a single night, and asked Ninigi to make special preparations, since she would be giving birth not to an ordinary individual, but to a child of the heavenly kami (amatsukami). Ninigi, however, was surprised at her claim to have become pregnant in a single night, and suspected that the child was actually the offspring of an earthly kami (kunitsukami).

Shamed and enraged at Ninigi's accusation, Sakuyahime entered a doorless parturition hut, setting fire to it with the vow that the child should not be injured if it were truly the offspring of the heavenly kami Ninigi. Inside the hut, Sakuyahime gave birth to three kami, including Hoderi, Hosuseri, and Hoori (according to Kojiki; the names differ somewhat in the various other accounts).

Also, an "alternate writing" recorded in Nihongi adds that Sakuyahime was not injured in the fire, that the bamboo knife she used to cut the umbilicals of her babies later grew into a bamboo grove, and that rice from a paddy selected by divination was used to prepare firstfruit offerings at harvest. Another account claims that after Sakuyahime safely gave birth, Ninigi admitted that he had believed her from the beginning, but deliberately angered her in order to demonstrate to the people that the children were indeed offspring of a heavenly kami.

Konohana Sakuyahime is one of the enshrined deities (saijin) at Fuji's Asama Jinja.
 
-Mori Mizue

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

No movie/映像なし

An image of Konohanasakuyahime in front of Mt. Fuji_Shinto Museum of Kokugakuin University____