Konohanasakuya-hime

Konohanasakuya-hime (木花之佐久夜毘売 / 木花開耶姫, whose full archaic title in the Kojiki is Kamu-atatsu-hime) is the Shinto kami personifying the ephemeral beauty of cherry blossoms, vernal fertility, and volcanoes in Japan, revered as the supreme tutelary divinity of Mount Fuji under the sacred name Asama no Okami (浅間大神). Daughter of the primordial mountain god Oyamatsumi and consort of the heavenly grandson Ninigi-no-Mikoto, her mythic narrative forms a cornerstone of classical Japanese lore preserved in the 'Kojiki' (712 CE) and 'Nihon Shoki' (720 CE). When Ninigi rejected her elder sister Iwanaga-hime—the goddess of eternal rock—due to her coarse appearance, the celestial sovereigns were cursed with mortal, fleeting lives as fragile as blooming blossoms. When Ninigi questioned her chastity after she conceived on their wedding night, Konohanasakuya retreated into a sealed, doorless parturition hut and set it ablaze, vowing that her offspring would perish if born of terrestrial deceit but emerge unharmed if sired by the heavenly descendant; amidst roaring flames, she delivered the three divine princes Hoderi, Hosuseri, and Hoori unscathed. Dynastic court records such as the 'Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku' document that the imperial court promoted her veneration at Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha in the ninth century to pacify catastrophic volcanic eruptions, cementing her role as the sovereign spirit capable of soothing subterranean fire and protecting childbirth.

9 min read · Reviewed on September 30, 2026 · How we research

The cherry blossom, Mount Fuji, the fire of childbirth and the brief life

Primary sources

• O no Yasumaro (太安万侶), Kojiki (古事記 / Records of Ancient Matters), Book 1 (sections 37 to 39). translation: Donald L. Philippi, Kojiki: Translated with an Introduction and Notes, Princeton University Press / University of Tokyo Press, 1968. read
• Prince Toneri (舎人親王) et al., Nihon Shoki (日本書紀 / Chronicles of Japan), Book 2 (Jindai Ge, sections 20 to 22). translation: W. G. Aston, Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, Tuttle Publishing, 1972 (orig. 1896). read
• Fujiwara no Tokihira (藤原時平) et al., Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku (日本三代実録), Scroll 9 (Jogan eruption, 864–865 CE). translation: Kokushi Taikei edition, Yoshikawa Kobunkan, Tokyo (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism records). read
• Fujiwara no Tadahira (藤原忠平) et al., Engishiki (延喜式), Scrolls 9 and 10 (Jinmyōchō / Register of Deities and Shrines). translation: Felicia G. Bock, Engi-shiki: Procedures of the Engi Era (Books VI-X), Sophia University, Tokyo, 1972. read

Studies

• H. Byron Earhart, . University of South Carolina Press, 2015. open
• Carmen Blacker, . George Allen & Unwin / Routledge, 1975. open
• Allan G. Grapard, . History of Religions, University of Chicago Press, 1982. open
• Delmer M. Brown, . Cambridge University Press, 1993. open
• Nelly Naumann, . Asiatische Studien / Harrassowitz Verlag, 2000. open