Mamatekona - Mamanotekona

Japanese: 真間手児名 - ままのてこな

A beautiful girl who lived in Mama, Katsushika County, Shimousa Province (present-day Mama Town, Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture). In Volumes 3 and 9 of the Manyoshu, there are poems by Yamabe no Akahito and Takahashi no Musimaro, and two poems in Volume 14, Azuma Uta. She was a poor girl who wore a simple hemp robe with a blue collar, her hair unshaven, and no shoes, but she was proposed to by many men, and she was so sensible that she drowned herself in a cove at the height of her beauty. She has four points in common with the legend of Unai Otome: a beautiful girl, proposals from men, suicide, and a grave for a young girl.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

下総国葛飾郡真間(現，千葉県市川市真間町)に住んでいたという美少女。《万葉集》巻三，九に山部赤人，高橋虫麻呂作歌，巻十四東歌（あずまうた）に2首がある。粗末な麻衣に青い襟（えり）をつけ，髪もけずらず沓（くつ）も履かずという貧しい少女だったらしいが，多くの男たちに求婚され，なんとわが身を分別したものか，花の盛りを入江に入水して果てたという。美少女･男たちの求婚･投身･娘子墓という4点で菟原処女（うないおとめ）伝説と共通点がある。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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