Princess Iwanaga

Japanese: 磐長姫 - いわながひめ

Said to be the daughter of Oyamatsumi-no-Kami, she appears in the Hyuga myths of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in a pair with her younger sister Konohana-no-Sakuya-Hime, but her elder sister Iwanaga-Hime is given an unfortunate role. Ninigi-no-Mikoto, the grandson of the Emperor who descended from Takamagahara, met the beautiful Konohana-no-Sakuya-Hime in the land of Agata (near the Noma Peninsula in Kagoshima Prefecture) and proposed to her. Ninigi, her father, presented her with Iwanaga-Hime, hoping that human lives would be as solid as rocks, but Ninigi disliked her ugliness and sent her back. As a result, Iwanaga-Hime cursed people's life spans to be as fleeting as the flowers of a tree. This story uses the lustful tendencies of men, which have remained the same throughout history and around the world, to teach that human life is limited, but it also describes the ferocious obsession of women.

(Tsutomu Saijo)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

大山祇神(オオヤマツミノカミ)の娘とされ,『古事記』『日本書紀』の日向神話で,妹の木花開耶姫(コノハナノサクヤヒメ)とコンビを組んで登場するが,姉イワナガヒメには不幸な役割が与えられている。高天原から天降った皇孫瓊瓊杵尊(ニニギノミコト)は,吾田の地(鹿児島県野間半島付近)で美しいコノハナノサクヤヒメに出会い求婚した。父の大山祇神は,人間の命が岩のように盤石であるようにと願ってイワナガヒメも添えて進呈したが,ニニギはその醜さを嫌って送り返した。これによりイワナガヒメは,人々の寿命が木の花のようにはかなく散るように呪った。この話は,古今東西変わらぬ男の好色癖を梃にして人間の命に限りがあることを説いたものだが,女の執念のすさまじさも語られている。

(西條勉)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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