The lady who blooms like a blossom木花之佐久夜毗賣

Amatsuhiko Hikoho no Ninigi no Mikoto met a lovely woman at the cape of Kasasa.

He asked, "Whose daughter are you?" She answered, "I am the daughter of Ohoyamatsumi no Kami. My name is Kamuatatsuhime (神阿多都比賣), and my other name is Konohana no Sakuyabime (木花之佐久夜毗賣)."

He asked again, "Have you any brothers or sisters?" She answered, "I have my elder sister Iwanagahime (石長比賣)."

He said, "I wish to marry you. How would that be?" She answered, "I cannot answer that. My father Ohoyamatsumi no Kami will answer."

So he sent to ask her father Ohoyamatsumi no Kami, and the god rejoiced greatly. He sent the elder sister Iwanagahime along with her, and had a hundred tables laden with gifts carried out and offered up.

But the elder sister was very ugly, so he was afraid at the sight of her and sent her back. He kept only the younger sister Konohana no Sakuyabime, and married her for one night.

Then Ohoyamatsumi no Kami was greatly ashamed that Iwanagahime had been sent back, and he sent word, saying:

"I offered up my two daughters side by side for this reason. If you took Iwanagahime, the life of the child of the heavenly gods would stand firm as rock for ever and would not be shaken, though the snow fell and the wind blew. If you took Konohana no Sakuyabime, he would flourish as the flowers of a tree flourish. So I made this vow — 'ukehite' — and offered them up. But you have sent Iwanagahime back and kept only Konohana no Sakuyabime. So the life of the child of the heavenly gods will be 'amahi no mi' — as brief as the flowers of a tree."

Therefore, to this day, the lives of the emperors are not long.

Afterwards Konohana no Sakuyabime came out and said, "I am with child, and my time to give birth has come. This is a child of the heavenly gods, and I must not bear it in secret. So I report it."

He said, "Sakuyabime, do you say that you conceived in one night? This is not my child. It must be the child of a god of this land."

She answered, "If the child I carry is the child of a god of this land, I shall not come through the birth safely. If it is the child of the heavenly gods, I shall come through safely."

At once she built a hall of eight fathoms with no door, went inside, sealed it up with clay, and when her time came she set fire to the hall and gave birth.

The son born while the fire burned at its height is named Hoderi no Mikoto (火照命). The son born next is named Hosuseri no Mikoto (火須勢理命). The son born next is named Hoori no Mikoto (火遠理命), whose other name is Amatsuhiko Hikohohodemi no Mikoto (天津日高日子穗穗手見命).