Toyotama-hime- Japanese GodDeity"Luminous Jewel Princess"
Also known as: Toyotama-bime, Toyotama-bime-no-Mikoto, and 豊玉毘売命
Description
A dragon princess in human form, she made her husband swear never to watch her give birth. He looked. Through a gap in the cormorant-feather hut he saw not his wife but a great wani thrashing in the birth chamber. Seen, she fled back to the sea forever.
Mythology & Lore
Marriage to Hoori
When Hoori descended to the sea realm in search of his brother Hoderi's lost fishhook, he found the palace of the dragon god Watatsumi. Toyotama-hime, Watatsumi's daughter, saw the young god at the well outside her father's gate. They fell in love at once. Watatsumi welcomed the visitor, recognized him as a grandson of Amaterasu, and consented to the marriage. Hoori lived in the palace for three years before his thoughts turned to the unresolved quarrel with his brother.
Watatsumi found the lost fishhook and gave Hoori the Tide Jewels to subdue Hoderi. The couple returned to the surface. Toyotama-hime was pregnant.
The Broken Taboo
When labor drew near, Toyotama-hime asked Hoori to build a hut thatched with cormorant feathers and made him promise not to look inside during the birth. She would need to resume her true form to deliver the child. Hoori agreed but could not contain his curiosity. He peered through a gap in the hut and saw not his wife but a great wani thrashing in the birth chamber.
Toyotama-hime, realizing she had been seen, was overcome with shame. She delivered her son Ugayafukiaezu, whose name means "Prince of the Unfinished Cormorant-Feather Thatching," and returned to the sea. The Kojiki records that she sent a poem to Hoori through a messenger, and he composed one in reply.
Imperial Lineage
Toyotama-hime sent her younger sister Tamayori-hime to nurse and raise the child. Tamayori-hime eventually married Ugayafukiaezu, and their youngest son became Emperor Jimmu, the first emperor of Japan.