Hoori married the dragon princess Toyotama-hime at the sea palace. She gave birth to Ugayafukiaezu but fled back to the sea after Hoori broke his promise not to watch the birth.
Ryujin, the dragon king of the sea, is the father of Toyotama-hime and her younger sister Tamayori-hime, the two sea princesses who bridged the ocean realm to the imperial lineage.
Though Toyotama-hime could not return from the sea, she sent her younger sister Tamayori-hime to the shore to nurse and raise the infant Ugayafukiaezu, ensuring the dragon bloodline would flow into the imperial dynasty.
Hoori swore never to watch Toyotama-hime give birth, but peered through a gap in the cormorant-feather birth hut and saw her true form — a great wani thrashing on the floor. Shamed and furious, she abandoned her newborn son and fled back beneath the waves, sealing the sea-path behind her forever.
When Toyotama-hime gave birth to Ugayafukiaezu, she forbade Hoori from watching. He looked anyway and saw her thrashing in her true form — a great wani — on the floor of the birth hut. Shamed by his gaze, she fled back to the sea and sealed the boundary between the worlds.
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