Princess Toyotama

In the Kojiki and Nihon shoki myths, Toyotamahime is the daughter of the sea god Watatsumi. After marrying Yamasachihiko (Hoori no Mikoto) who went to the land of the sea god, Toyotamahime followed Yamasachihiko to the seashore to give birth to her child. She built a birthing hut with cormorant feathers. However, as her due date approached, she entered the birthing hut before finishing the roofing and asked Yamasachihiko not to look, as those in the other world give birth in the form of the world they were born in. However, Yamasachihiko was puzzled by this prohibition and looked inside, where he saw the princess writhing around as a giant crocodile. Humiliated, the princess left her child (Ugayafukiaezu no Mikoto) on the seashore, closed the passage to the sea, and left. This myth is a tale of a strange wife, including the birth of an ancestor, that is widely distributed around the world. After this, the princess sent her younger sister, Tamayorihime, to raise the child, and Tamayorihime married the child and became the mother of Emperor Jimmu and his descendants.

[Yoshii Iwao]

"The Maiden of the Sea God" by Keigo Seki (included in "The History of Folktales"; 1966, Shibundo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

記紀神話における海神(わたつみ)の娘。海神国に赴いた山幸彦（火遠理命(ほおりのみこと)）と結婚し、御子(みこ)を生むために山幸彦を追って海辺に至った豊玉姫は、鵜(う)の羽を葺(ふ)いて産屋(うぶや)をつくる。しかし出産が迫って葺き終えぬままに産屋に入り、山幸彦に、他界の者は出産のおり生まれた世界の姿で子を生むので見てはいけないと頼む。ところがこの禁を不思議に思って山幸彦がのぞくと、姫は大鰐(おおわに)となってはいくねっていた。辱めを受けた姫は、生んだ御子（鵜葺草葺不合尊(うがやふきあえずのみこと)）を海辺に置き、海への通路を閉じて去る。この神話は世界に広く分布する、始祖誕生を含む異類女房譚であろう。なお、こののち姫は妹の玉依姫(たまよりひめ)を御子の養育のために遣わし、玉依姫はこの御子と結婚して神武(じんむ)天皇以下の母となる。

［吉井　巖］

『関敬吾著『海神の乙女』（『昔話の歴史』所収・1966・至文堂）』

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