Himetataraisuzu-hime


Hime-tatara-isuzu hime 2=媛蹈鞴五十鈴媛 is a Japanese mythological figure, a female deity, appeared in the Nihon Shoki, the empress of Japan of the Emperor Jinmu who is the legendary first Emperor of Japan. She corresponds to Hime-tatara-isuke-yori hime 2=比売多多良伊須気余理比売 in the Kojiki.
Although details change in various records, her parents are described as a deity, and a daughter of an influential person in the Yamato Province. She is said to have married Emperor Jimmu and given birth to the second Emperor, Suizei.

Depiction by ''Kojiki'' and ''Nihon Shoki''

Birth

According to the Kojiki, when Kamu-yamato-Iwarebiko was searching for a wife, he was told about a woman named Tamayori-hime who bore a daughter after she was impregnated by Ōmono-nushi. Ōmono-nushi had taken the form of a red arrow and struck Seya-datara-hime's genitals while she was defecating in a ditch.
The future emperor wooed this daughter, named Hoto-tatara-Isusuki-hime, and took her as his wife.
Like the Kojiki, the main narrative of the first volume of the Nihon Shoki first describes Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime as the offspring of the god of Ōmono-nushi. However, the Nihon Shoki also contains an alternative story which portrays her as the child of the god Kotoshironushi and the goddess Mizokuhihime - also known as Tamakushi-hime - conceived after Kotoshiro-nushi transformed himself into a gigantic wani and had sex with her. Likewise, the main narrative in the third and fourth volumes of Nihon Shoki refers to her as the daughter of Kotoshiro-nushi rather than Ōmono-nushi.
Her house was located on the Sai River and near Sai-jinja Shrine, near Mount Miwa.

Marriage with Emperor Jimmu

According to the Nihon Shoki and other sources, Iwarehiko left the Land of Himuka and made an expedition to the east, and after many battles, established his government in the Yamato region. Iwarehiko built the Palace of Kashiwara in modern-day Kashihara at the foot of Mount Unebi and ascended to the throne as the first Emperor.
Prior to his accession to the throne, Iwarehiko needed to have a consort worthy of being the first Empress. Ōume-no-mikoto, a vassal of Iwarehiko, suggested Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime as a candidate for his wife. According to the Kojiki, Ōkume-no-mikoto explains the story of Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime's birth to Iwarehiko and tells him that she deserved to be his rightful wife. In the Kojiki, there is another story in which Iwarehiko and Ōkume-no-mikoto witnessed seven women on the shore of the Sai River and selected a wife from among them.
Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime had a notable poetic exchange with them, and then Jimmu stayed the night at her house.
According to the Nihon Shoki, their marriage took place on September 24 of the year before his accession. Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime became Empress when Emperor Jimmu ascended the throne in the following year, 660 BC.

After the death of Emperor Jimmu

According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Jimmu died at the age of 127. Although there are differences in details, the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki describe a succession struggle that occurred among his children after his death.
Before he left for the eastern expedition from the "Land of Himuka", Iwarehiko had married Airatsu-hime and they had child. However, these children were reduced to the status of bastards when Iwarehiko made Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime the rightful Empress. When Emperor Jimmu died, his bastard son, Tagishi-mimi, wanted to succeed to the throne himself.
In the Kojiki, Tagishi-mimi took the widowed Empress Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime as his wife and tried to assassinate the legitimate children of Emperor Jimmu and Empress Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime. Aware of his plans, Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime wrote two poems to her children to warn them of the danger.
Learning of the plot from their mother's poems, the legitimate sons attacked Tagishi-mimi first and defeated him. Kan-nunakawa-mimi no mikoto, who played the most active role in the attack, succeeded his father and ascended to the throne as the second emperor, Emperor Suizei. According to the Nihon Shoki, Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime took the title of "Empress Dowager".
Emperor Suizei took Princess Isuzuyori-hime as his consort. Isuzu-yori-hime was Hime-tatara-isuzu hime's younger sister and Emperor Suizei's aunt. Other versions of this story claim that Kawamata-hime or Ito-ori-hime became Emperor Suizei's consort.

Children

Based on the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki, Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime and Emperor Jimmu had three children: Hiko-yai, Kan-yai-mimi, and Emperor Suizei. Hiko-yai is only mentioned in the Kojiki, whereas the other two children are mentioned in both texts. Kan-yai-mimi became the founder of the Ō clan.

Siblings

Himetataraisuzu-hime's mother gave birth to two other children:

Various theories about her lineage

In the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki, although the details of the stories differ, Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime's mother is depicted as the daughter of the influential person of the local region and her father is the deity. There is a theory which interprets that by marrying "the child of god" as his principal wife, Jimmu, the first Emperor, made use of her in order to legitimize his regime.
The Shoki and Kojiki also depict her maternal family as being people of Mishima in Settsu, and her paternal family being people of Miwa in the Yamato region. These stories suggest the cooperation of several powerful clans in Kinki region. There is also a theory which interprets this marriage as showing that the influential persons of Kawachi province might support a foreigner, Iwarehiko, who came from the Himuka who marries locally. In addition, another theory interprets that this gain of support through marriage shows the political methods used by Jimmu, with him not only suppressing local powers through military power, but also through conciliatory measures towards those with local influence, as he tried to consolidate his base of control. Finally, there is also an interpretation that this story works to explain how Emperor Jimmu's forces had acquired iron-manufacturing technology.

Grandfather: Mizokuhi of Mishima

In the Nihon Shoki, her mother is said to be the daughter of Mishima no Mizokuhi, although there are some differences in wording. Since there are some historical records in which "-耳神" is added to his name, there is a theory that this suggests Mizukuhi is an object of worship as a divine being. This god also has the names such as Suetsu-mimi-no-mikoto, Kamo-taketsunumi-no-mikoto and Yatagarasu, and is considered as the ancestor god of the Kamo clan and Katsuragi-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko in the genealogy of the Kamo clan.
The place name "Mishima" is thought to be Mishima county in Settsu Province. The Engishiki lists Mishima Kamo-jinja and Mizokui-jinja, suggesting that "Mizokuhi of Mishima" was worshipped in this area.
In the Edo period, Motoori Norinaga, a scholar of Kokugaku, interpreted this "mizo " to refer to a toilet built over a stream of water, and this has become a prevailing view. Eiichi Mitani and others have adopted this theory. There is also a theory that the toilet is strongly related to birth rituals. Kazuo Higo insists a different theory, saying that "mizo" means a ditch in a paddy field. Masayuki Tsugita develops this theory, claiming that Mishima-gun was an ideal place for rice cultivation and that "Mishima no Mizukuhi" was a farming god.

Mothers: Tamakushi-hime and Seya-datara-hime

Her mother's name is Tamakushi-hime in the Nihon Shoki and Seya-datara-hime in the Kojiki. Both are said to have been known as beautiful women.
Motoori Norinaga identifies Seya as Seno village of Heguri-gun in Yamato Province.

Anecdotes of her birth in ''Kojiki''

In the Kojiki, she is said to be the daughter of Ōmono-nushi. His birthplace is Mount Miwa in the Yamato region.
She is said to have originally been named Hoto-tatara-isusuki-hime. It is also said that she was a beautiful woman like her mother.
However, she disliked the word "hoto" and changed her name to Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime. The dropping of the "hoto" may be related to the word being linked to genitals.

Relation to ''tatara'' iron manufacturing

There is a theory that the "tatara" part of the name Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime is interpreted in connection with tatara iron manufacturing, indicating iron manufacturing in ancient Japan.
According to, tatara refers to a "tatara furnace", and hoto refers to "fireplace" as well as "female genitalia". In other words, the fact that Emperor Jimmu took Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime as his wife is interpreted as an indication that the royal family controlled the iron and steel industry. Yutaka Yoshino states that the name "Hoto-tatara-isuzu-hime" refers to a priestess who served the god of molten ore and the blast furnace.
Motoori Norinaga and other early modern Kokugaku scholars did not interpret the word "tatara" in Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime to mean a bellows. In their view, the word tatara is a slang term used by blacksmiths and is dismissed from its ties to steelmaking as it is unsuitable for the name of a noble empress. "Some interpret "tatara" as a derivative of "stand", meaning "stood up " or "had an arrow put up.

Objects of faith

Emperor Meiji founded the Kashihara Jingu in 1890, where Emperor Jimmu and Hime-tathara-isuzu-hime are enshrined as the main deities.。
Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime also came to be revered as a "2=子守明神" because she saved children, and is enshrined as the main deity at . In June of every year, the Nitsukawa Shrine holds the "Saegusa Festival", where Hime-tatara-isuzu-hime is worshipped by offering lilies grown at Mount Miwa.
At the upper reaches of the Sakai River, where Himetataraisuzu-hime's parents lived, there is the Sakai Shrine. Here, the main deity is Himetataraisuzu-hime, but also Omononushi, Seyadatara-hime, Kotoshirohime Tamayori-hime, Kotoshironushi are enshrined here.
She is also worshipped at Tsumori Jingu Shrine and .