ABSTRACT
When Prince Ninigi-no-Mikoto, popularly known as the Celestial Grandson because he was the grandson of the Goddess Amaterasu, ancestress of the Imperial family, was sent down to govern the earth, he alighted on Mt. Takachiho, at the foot of which the prince met a charming princess walking on the beach. “Who might you be?” the prince asked. The maid replied, “I am daughter of Oyamatsumi. My name is Kono-hana-no-Sakuya-Hime, and I have an elder sister, who is called Princess Iwanaga.” When the prince asked her to marry him, she directed him to see her father, Prince Oyamatsumi, to ask for his permission. Oyamatsumi was so pleased to learn the wish of Prince Ninigi-no-Mikoto to marry one of his daughters that, by both daughters, he sent the prince a present of a hundred stands of food, so that by accepting them the prince might live as long as a rock, since the elder sister’s name of Iwanaga suggested longevity (iwa=rock; naga=long-life). The younger sister’s name stood for as great prosperity as that of flowers, her name meaning “Tree-flowers-blooming-princess.” Prince Ninigi-no-Mikoto, however, accepted the younger sister, sending the elder sister back to her father. But when it was seen that Konohana-no-Sakuya-Hime was soon with child, the prince became suspicious and disowned the child. “I will go through fire,” the suspected princess said to him, “and if I come out unhurt, the child is yours.” The princess built an Uzumuro or doorless room, to which she set fire after secluding herself in it. But she was unhurt and the prince’s doubts were dispelled. She is mother of Princes Ho-no-Teru-no-Mikoto, Ho-no-Suseri-no-Mikoto and Ho-no-Ori-no-Mikoto, the last-named being the grandfather of the Emperor Jimmu, the first of the Imperial line in Japan.
