Princess Konohanasakuya

Japanese: 木花開耶姫 - このはなのさくやひめ

Daughter of Oyamatsumi-no-Kami who appears in Japanese mythology. In the Kojiki, she is recorded as Konohana no Sakuya Hime. She married Ninigi-no-Mikoto. Another name for Kamiawatakaashitsuhime (Kojiki refers to her as Kamiatattsuhime). Her real name, Ata, is named after Ata District, Satsuma Province (western Kagoshima Prefecture), and Kashi is also said to be a place name in Satsuma. According to the Nihon Shoki, Konohana no Sakuya-hime was proposed to by Ninigi, who had descended from Takamagahara, and when she told her father, his father offered her older sister Iwanaga-hime along with Sakuya-hime. However, Ninigi sent Iwanaga-hime back as she was ugly, and married the beautiful younger sister instead. The elder sister resented this and cursed him, saying, "If you had chosen me, our child would have lived as long as a rock. But since you have chosen only my sister, the child you give birth to will fade away as fleetingly as a flower on a tree." Sakuya-hime became pregnant after spending a night with Ninigi, but she doubted whether the child was hers, so she set fire to the delivery house and gave birth, proving that the child was the child of the heavenly god. The curse on the elder sister is said to be the origin of the short life of humans, but the story of these sisters is very similar to a myth widely distributed in Indonesia and New Guinea. It is a myth that says that humans were given stones and bananas by a god, and because they only accepted bananas, human life did not last as long as a stone, but became as fleeting as a banana, and is called the banana-type myth. The reason why bananas are replaced by women in Japanese mythology is because the banana-type element was incorporated into the myth that was originally formed as the marriage story of Ninigi and Kashitsu-hime, in order to talk about the short life of the child that would be born. In the Kojiki, it is said to be the origin of the transience of the Emperor's life, and this is due to the events in which Sakuyahime gave birth to Hikohohodemi-no-Mikoto, and Emperor Jimmu appeared as his grandson. Konohana is said to be a cherry blossom flower, but compared to bananas, it is a much more fitting symbol of the transience of life to Japanese sensibilities. Sakuyahime is the daughter of the mountain god, and is worshiped at places such as Asama Shrine at the foot of Mount Fuji, and this banana-type myth, which originated far to the south, blends beautifully into the nature and climate of Japan. <References> Yoshii Iwao, "The Myths and Genealogies of the Emperor"

(Tsutomu Saijo)

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

Japanese:

日本神話にみえる大山祇神の娘。『古事記』には,木花之佐久夜毘売と記される。瓊瓊杵尊(ニニギノミコト)と結婚する。神吾田鹿葦津姫(『古事記』は神阿多都比売)の別名。本名のアタは薩摩国阿多郡(鹿児島県西部)にちなむ名で,カシも薩摩の地名という。『日本書紀』によれば,コノハナノサクヤヒメは,高天原から天降ったニニギに求婚され父に告げたところ,父はサクヤヒメに添えて姉の磐長姫(イワナガヒメ)も差し出した。しかしニニギはイワナガヒメが醜かったので送り返し,美人の妹と結婚した。姉はそれを恨み,「わたしをお召しになれば,子供は岩のように長生きしたでしょうに。妹だけをお選びしたからには,生まれる子供は木の花のようにはかなく散ってしまうでしょう」と呪った。サクヤヒメは,ニニギと一夜を共にして妊娠するが,ニニギが自分の子供かどうか疑ったので,産屋に火を放って出産し,天つ神の子であることを証明したという。姉の呪いは,人間の命が短いことの由来とされているが,この姉妹の話は,インドネシアやニューギニア方面に広く分布する神話とよく似ている。それは,人間が神から石とバナナを贈られ,バナナだけを受け取ったので,人間の命は石のように長くは続かず,バナナのようにはかないものになったという神話で,バナナ型と呼ばれている。日本の神話でバナナが女性に変わっているのは,もともと,ニニギとカシツヒメの結婚話として形成されていた神話にバナナ型の要素を組み込ませ,生まれる子供の命の短さを語ろうとしたから。『古事記』では天皇の命のはかなさの起源とされているが,これはサクヤヒメが彦火火出見尊を生み,その孫に神武天皇が現れるという展開による。コノハナは桜の花といわれるが命のはかなさを象徴するには,バナナとくらべていかにも日本人の感性に合っている。サクヤヒメは,山の神の娘であることから富士山麓の浅間神社などに祭られ,はるか南方起源のこのバナナ型神話は,日本の自然と風土にみごとに溶け込んでいる。<参考文献>吉井巌『天皇の神話と系譜』

(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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