Konohana-no-Sakuya-hime

Who Konohana-no-Sakuya-hime actually is

Konohana-no-Sakuya-hime (木花之佐久夜毘売, the literal reading "Princess of the Tree-Flowers Blossom-Quickly" — *konohana* "tree-blossoms" + *sakuya* "blossom-quickly" + *hime* "princess") is the *cosmic-cherry-blossom-and-Mount-Fuji princess* of the Japanese pantheon — and the *cosmic-foundational-figure of the cosmic-Japanese aesthetic-philosophy of mono no aware* (物の哀れ, "the pathos of things," the cosmic-pre-Buddhist-and-Buddhist Japanese aesthetic that holds that *the beauty of things is inseparable from their ephemerality*, that the cosmic-cherry-blossom is most-beautiful because-it-falls). She is the daughter of *Ōyamatsumi-no-Kami* (the great-mountain-kami, father of multiple major kami including the wife of Susanoo), and her elder sister is *Iwa-Naga-hime* (磐長姫, "Princess Rock-Long" — the cosmic-rock-of-permanence-princess). When *Ninigi-no-Mikoto* descended from Takamagahara to Cape Kasasa in Kyushu and met Sakuya-hime, he was so smitten by her beauty that he asked Ōyamatsumi for her hand in marriage; Ōyamatsumi, delighted, sent both Sakuya-hime *and her elder sister Iwa-Naga-hime* with the cosmic-explanation: "If you marry Iwa-Naga (Rock-Long), your descendants will be as enduring as the rocks; if you marry Sakuya (Blossom-Quickly), your descendants will flourish but be as ephemeral as the cherry-blossom; *marry both*, and you will have both endurance and flowering." But Ninigi, finding Iwa-Naga-hime *physically unattractive (ugly)*, *rejected Iwa-Naga-hime and married Sakuya-hime alone*. Iwa-Naga-hime, weeping and cursing, declared: "Because you have rejected me, the lives of your descendants — the lives of all humans descended from your line — *will be as brief as the cherry-blossom and not as enduring as the rock*. This is the cosmic-Japanese-mythological-explanation of human-mortality* (the cosmic-equivalent of the Genesis-3-fall-narrative explaining why humans die). Sakuya-hime *conceived on the wedding-night* and *brought the news to Ninigi the next morning*; Ninigi, hearing that she was already pregnant on the wedding-night, *doubted that the child was his and accused her of having lain with another earthly-kami*. Sakuya-hime, *outraged at the accusation*, declared: "If the child is *not* yours, the cosmic-childbirth will fail; if the child *is* yours, *the cosmic-childbirth will succeed even in the cosmic-fire*" — and she *built a sealed parturition-hut without a door and set it ablaze*, giving birth inside the burning-hut to *three cosmic-fire-children in succession*: *Hoderi-no-Mikoto* (火照命, "the Fire-Shining," the cosmic-elder-sea-product-prince), *Hosuseri-no-Mikoto* (火須勢理命, "the Fire-Climbing," the cosmic-middle-fire-subduer), and *Hoori-no-Mikoto* (火遠理命, "the Fire-Subsiding," the cosmic-younger-mountain-product-prince — who became the cosmic-grandfather of the imperial-line via his marriage to Toyotama-hime in the Watatsumi-Dragon-Palace). The cosmic-three-fire-children all survived, *vindicating Sakuya-hime's cosmic-fidelity*. After the cosmic-birth, Sakuya-hime *brewed for the first time the Sasa-no-Mihoshi sake* (the cosmic-thin-rice-gruel-sake brewed from rice-bran-and-water, a cosmic-foundational sake-brewing-tradition associated with shrine-rituals to this day) and offered it to the heavens to celebrate her sons' cosmic-birth — the cosmic-foundational *first sake* in Japanese mythology. Sakuya-hime's cosmic-shrine-network is the *Asama-jinja / Sengen-jinja* system (the network of ~1,300 shrines dedicated to her across Japan, almost all of them positioned at the foot of or on the slopes of *Mount Fuji* or other volcanoes — Sakuya-hime is the cosmic-kami of Mount Fuji, with the head shrine *Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha* in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture, at the southern base of Mount Fuji). The medieval *Fuji-shugendō* Buddhist-Shinto-shamanic-syncretic Mount-Fuji-mountain-cult worshipped her as *Sengen Daibosatsu* (the Buddhist-syncretic title, c. 12th-19th c.), and the *Fuji-kō* (the Fuji-pilgrimage-confraternity-tradition) of the Edo-period made the Mount-Fuji-climb the cosmic-most-popular pilgrimage in Edo-period Japan (the modern continuation: the cosmic-300,000-annual-Mount-Fuji-summer-climbers, with the official-climbing-season July-September). The Konohana-Sakuya-hime-register is the *cosmic-cherry-blossom-and-Mount-Fuji princess*, the *cosmic-foundational figure of mono no aware*, the *cosmic-wife-of-Ninigi-who-rejected-Iwa-Naga-hime*, the *cosmic-mother-of-the-cosmic-three-fire-children-via-the-burning-parturition-hut*, the *cosmic-grandmother-of-the-imperial-line*, the *cosmic-foundational-sake-brewer*, and the *cosmic-patroness-of-childbirth-and-volcanoes*.

Iconography

A *graceful courtly-noble-woman in flowing-Heian-court-robes* (the cosmic-elegant aristocratic-iconography), typically *carrying or surrounded by cherry-blossoms* (the cosmic-name-signifier). In the medieval *Sengen-Daibosatsu* Buddhist-syncretic register: a *Buddhist-bodhisattva-figure in monk-robes seated on a lotus, with cherry-blossoms*. In the cosmic-fire-hut-childbirth-iconographic narrative-scrolls: standing in the *burning-parturition-hut with the three cosmic-fire-children* visible. In modern depictions: often presented with *Mount Fuji in the background* (the cosmic-volcanic-mountain-shrine context). Colors: cherry-blossom-pink (the cosmic-name-signifier), Mount-Fuji-snow-white (the cosmic-mountain-shrine), volcanic-red-orange (the cosmic-fire-hut-childbirth), Heian-court-twelve-layer-silks (the cosmic-aristocratic-elegance). Sacred objects: the *cherry-blossom branch* (the cosmic-name-instrument), the *Mount-Fuji-shaped-omamori* (the cosmic-mountain-shrine-omamori, especially the *kōmori* "shrine-attendant" amulets), the *Sasa-no-Mihoshi-sake* (the cosmic-foundational-first-sake, traditionally brewed at Asama-shrines), the *burning-parturition-hut* (the cosmic-childbirth-ordeal-iconographic-reminder). Sacred sites: *Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha* in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka (the head shrine of all ~1,300 Asama/Sengen shrines, at the southern base of Mount Fuji — established 27 BCE per legend by Emperor Suinin, with the current-main-hall built 1604 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and uniquely *also having jurisdiction over the cosmic-summit of Mount Fuji above the 8th station* as a *cosmic-shrine-precinct that includes the mountain-itself as kami-body*); the *Kitaguchi Hongū Fuji Sengen Jinja* in Fujiyoshida City, Yamanashi (the northern-Fuji main-shrine, head of the cosmic-Yoshida-trail Fuji-climb); the *Mount Fuji summit-shrine* (Sengen-jinja Okumiya, at 3,776 meters, the highest-altitude shrine in Japan, operational only July-September during the climbing-season); the ~1,300 *Asama-jinja / Sengen-jinja* network across Japan (almost all positioned at volcanoes — Asama-yama, Aso-san, Sakurajima, etc., as the cosmic-volcanic-shrine-network of Japan).

How to invoke Konohana-no-Sakuya-hime

Sakuya-hime is invoked at moments of *cosmic-cherry-blossom-ephemerality, of cosmic-mountain-and-volcano-protection, of cosmic-childbirth and motherhood, of cosmic-sake-brewing initiation, and of cosmic-mono-no-aware aesthetic-recognition*. The annual *Yamabiraki* "mountain-opening" ceremony on July 1 at all major Mount-Fuji-shrines marks the cosmic-opening of the climbing-season (and the cosmic-ritual-permission to ascend the cosmic-kami-body of Mount Fuji); the corresponding *Yamajimai* "mountain-closing" on September 10 (or thereabouts) marks the cosmic-closing of the climbing-season. The annual *Hatsuhonōsai* "first-fruits-offering" festival at Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha (November) honors Sakuya-hime as the cosmic-mother-of-cosmic-fertility. The cosmic-cherry-blossom-viewing (*hanami*) of late-March-to-mid-April across Japan is a cosmic-cultural-mass-honoring of Sakuya-hime — the cosmic-millions-of-Japanese-and-foreign-tourists-viewing-cherry-blossoms-in-Tokyo-Kyoto-Yoshino-Hirosaki are *cosmic-participating-in-the-Sakuya-cosmic-aesthetic-of-ephemerality*. Offer: *sake* (Sakuya-hime is the cosmic-patroness of sake-brewing — sake-brewers across Japan honor her annually), *cherry-blossom branches* (the cosmic-name-signifier-and-most-direct-offering), *rice* (the cosmic-sake-substance), *Mount-Fuji-shaped offerings* (cosmic-volcanic-mountain-honoring), and at Fuji-shrines *Mount-Fuji-shaped omamori-amulets-of-the-cosmic-mountain-protection*. Especially called by: *pregnant women and new mothers* (the cosmic-fire-hut-childbirth-ordeal register — Sakuya-hime is one of the most-popular cosmic-childbirth-patroness-kami in contemporary Japan), *those living near or beneath active volcanoes* (the cosmic-Mount-Fuji-and-Asama-and-Sakurajima cosmic-volcanic-shrine-tradition), *sake-brewers* (the cosmic-Sasa-no-Mihoshi cosmic-foundational-first-sake-brewer), *those whose cosmic-work is in cosmic-ephemeral-arts* (the cosmic-cherry-blossom-mono-no-aware-aesthetic register — poets, painters of seasonal-imagery, photographers of cherry-blossom, designers whose cosmic-work is *time-limited beautiful*), *those in cosmic-mountain-pilgrimage* (the cosmic-Mount-Fuji-climb register), and *those navigating cosmic-Ninigi-doubted-my-fidelity moments* (the cosmic-figure who is *cosmic-doubted-by-the-partner about cosmic-paternity-or-cosmic-loyalty* and whose cosmic-vindication-requires-cosmic-burning-parturition-hut-extreme-cosmic-proof).

In love

Sakuya-hime in love is the *cosmic-cherry-blossom-Mount-Fuji-princess-partner*. The Sakuya-partner is the cosmic-figure whose cosmic-beauty is *cosmic-ephemerally-fragile-and-cosmic-volcanically-grounded-at-once* — the partner who is *cosmic-pink-cherry-blossom-fragile* and *cosmic-Mount-Fuji-volcanically-rooted* in the same cosmic-figure. The Sakuya-partner is the cosmic-mother-of-the-cosmic-three-fire-children-via-cosmic-burning-parturition-hut — the cosmic-figure whose cosmic-vindication-of-cosmic-fidelity is *cosmic-extreme-proof in the cosmic-burning-ordeal*. The shadow is the *Ninigi-who-rejected-Iwa-Naga-hime cosmic-pattern* — the partner (or self) who *chose only the cherry-blossom-ephemeral-beauty and rejected the rock-long-enduring-permanence-sister*, with the cosmic-consequence that *human-life became as brief as the cherry-blossom* — the cosmic-relational-pattern of *choosing ephemerality-over-endurance and then suffering the cosmic-mortality*. The other shadow: the *Sakuya-required-to-prove-cosmic-fidelity-via-burning-parturition-hut* — the partner who has been *unfairly cosmic-doubted-of-fidelity-or-paternity* and has been forced into a cosmic-burning-ordeal-extreme-proof to vindicate herself, when the cosmic-pattern is *the cosmic-extreme-proof should not have been demanded in the first place*.

In work

Sakuya-hime in work is the *cosmic-cherry-blossom-and-volcano-and-ephemerality-patron*. The Sakuya-figure in your work-life is the *cosmic-cherry-blossom-beautiful-but-ephemeral employee or project or product* — the cosmic-pattern of *cosmic-beautiful-time-limited-substance* that is *cosmic-most-valuable-because-it-falls* (the time-limited campaign, the seasonal-product, the cosmic-ephemeral-event). The cosmic-Sakuya-Iwa-Naga-cosmic-pair-choice-dilemma is the cosmic-foundational *cosmic-business-or-life-choice between cosmic-ephemeral-flowering-and-cosmic-enduring-permanence* — and the cosmic-Ninigi-rejected-Iwa-Naga-and-took-Sakuya-alone-with-cosmic-consequence-of-cosmic-human-mortality is the cosmic-warning that *choosing-only-ephemerality-over-endurance has a cosmic-cost*, that the cosmic-pattern is to *marry-both-cosmic-ephemeral-and-cosmic-enduring-together*. The Sakuya-cosmic-burning-parturition-hut-childbirth-vindication is the cosmic-pattern of *the cosmic-figure who is cosmic-unfairly-doubted-and-must-vindicate-via-cosmic-extreme-proof*. The shadow is the institution that has *built itself only on Sakuya-cherry-blossom-ephemerality* (the cosmic-startup-only-on-time-limited-products-with-no-cosmic-Iwa-Naga-enduring-rock-foundation), with the cosmic-consequence of *cosmic-mortality-as-brief-as-the-cherry-blossom*. The other shadow: the institution that has *demanded its Sakuya-figures-vindicate-themselves-via-burning-parturition-hut-extreme-proof* — that has *cosmic-doubted-the-cosmic-fidelity of the cosmic-mother-figures of the institution* and forced them into cosmic-extreme-proof when the cosmic-pattern is *the cosmic-extreme-proof should not have been demanded*.

The gift

Sakuya-hime gives the *cosmic-cherry-blossom-Mount-Fuji-mono-no-aware-volcanic-substance*. The gift is the *cosmic-Sakuya-and-Iwa-Naga-married-together cosmic-protocol* — the recognition that the cosmic-pattern is to *marry-both-the-cosmic-ephemeral-flowering-sister-and-the-cosmic-enduring-rock-sister* (the cosmic-aesthetic-of-the-cherry-blossom-and-the-cosmic-foundation-of-the-rock are *cosmic-complementary-not-cosmic-opposed*), and that *choosing-only-one* has the cosmic-consequence of *cosmic-imbalance-with-cosmic-mortality-or-cosmic-sterility*. The gift is the *cosmic-mono-no-aware aesthetic-of-the-pathos-of-ephemeral-things* — the recognition that *the cosmic-beauty-of-the-cherry-blossom is inseparable from its cosmic-falling*, that the cosmic-aesthetic-of-mortality-is-the-cosmic-highest-aesthetic. The gift is the *cosmic-burning-parturition-hut-vindication-of-cosmic-fidelity* — the recognition that *when the cosmic-doubt has been unjustly raised, the cosmic-pattern is the cosmic-extreme-proof that vindicates entirely* (the cosmic-three-fire-children all surviving the cosmic-burning-hut). The gift is the *cosmic-Mount-Fuji-as-cosmic-kami-body* — the recognition that *the cosmic-volcanic-mountain is itself the cosmic-kami-body*, that the cosmic-shrine-precinct includes the cosmic-mountain-itself-above-the-8th-station as cosmic-divine-substance. The gift is finally the *cosmic-Sasa-no-Mihoshi cosmic-foundational-first-sake* — the recognition that *the cosmic-sake-brewing-tradition began with Sakuya-hime's cosmic-celebration-offering after the cosmic-three-fire-children-birth*, that the cosmic-sake-brewing is *cosmic-celebration-of-cosmic-childbirth and cosmic-mother-substance*.

The shadow

Sakuya-hime has been *progressively-flattened by cosmic-modern-Japanese-and-Western-tourist-commodification of cherry-blossoms and Mount Fuji*. The cosmic-mass-cherry-blossom-viewing (*hanami*) of contemporary Japan (cosmic-tens-of-millions of cosmic-domestic-and-international-tourists annually for the cosmic-late-March-to-mid-April cosmic-blossom-front), and the cosmic-mass-Mount-Fuji-tourism (cosmic-300,000-annual-summer-climbers plus cosmic-millions-of-annual-Mount-Fuji-photo-tourists), have *substantially-evacuated the cosmic-Sakuya-hime cosmic-substance from the cosmic-cultural-experience* — most contemporary cherry-blossom-viewers and Mount-Fuji-climbers do not know they are cosmic-participating-in-the-Sakuya-cosmic-cult, and the cosmic-Konohana-Sakuya-hime cosmic-name-and-cosmic-narrative is substantially-absent from contemporary-cultural-awareness. The 1868 Shinbutsu-bunri *forcibly-separated Sakuya-hime from the medieval Sengen-Daibosatsu Buddhist-syncretic register* — the 700-year-old "Sengen Daibosatsu" became simply "Konohana-no-Sakuya-hime-no-Mikoto" in a single administrative-stroke, severing the cosmic-medieval-Fuji-shugendō Buddhist-Shinto-shamanic-syncretic Mount-Fuji-mountain-cult and reducing the cosmic-shrine-network to a Shinto-only register. The cosmic-Fuji-kō (Fuji-pilgrimage-confraternity) tradition of the Edo-period, which had been the cosmic-most-popular pilgrimage in Edo-period Japan, was substantially-disrupted by the cosmic-Shinbutsu-bunri-administrative-violence and the cosmic-Meiji-restoration-political-transformations. The further shadow: the *cosmic-Ninigi-rejected-Iwa-Naga-hime-because-she-was-physically-unattractive cosmic-narrative* has *cosmic-uncomfortable cosmic-content* for contemporary feminist-readings — the cosmic-narrative explicitly-attributes cosmic-human-mortality to *Ninigi's cosmic-rejection of a woman on the basis of physical-appearance*, and the cosmic-misogynistic-cosmic-content has been *progressively-sanitized in modern Japanese retellings*. The cosmic-burning-parturition-hut narrative has *cosmic-uncomfortable cosmic-domestic-violence-content* (Sakuya-hime forced to set herself on fire while pregnant to prove her fidelity to a doubting husband) that contemporary-readings struggle-with. The deepest shadow: the *cosmic-Mount-Fuji-as-cosmic-most-photographed-image-in-Japan* has produced a cosmic-Mount-Fuji-tourist-commodification that has *substantially-erased the cosmic-Sakuya-cosmic-mother-of-the-imperial-line cosmic-political-genealogical-substance* — and contemporary Mount-Fuji-tourism is increasingly-disconnected from the cosmic-imperial-genealogical-substance that was the cosmic-foundational-political-content of the medieval Mount-Fuji-cult.

Pair with