Read, reflect, pray
Nihon Shoki: Yamatohime beside the Isuzu River
Nihon Shoki · Story 17 of 17
倭姫命、五十鈴川のほとりへ
A journey seeking a place to worship Amaterasu.
English translation of this site’s published story summary and reading notes. This is a selected reading guide, not a complete translation of the ancient chronicle.
Imperial annals
Book 6, Suinin, year 25, third-month entry
The story begins with Amaterasu’s worship entrusted to Yamatohime. Seeking a place to enshrine the deity, she travels from Uda through Ōmi and Mino to Ise, the text records.
Amaterasu describes Ise as a beautiful country washed by Tokoyo’s waves and says she wishes to dwell there. Following the instruction, Yamatohime erects a shrine in Ise and establishes a sacred palace beside the Isuzu River. The record calls it Isonomiya.
This passage relates Amaterasu’s connection with Ise. The detailed itinerary described in later works such as Yamatohime no Mikoto Seiki is not treated as if entirely present in this brief record.
Compare with the Kojiki
The Kojiki’s Yamatohime also appears at Ise’s great shrine, giving Yamato Takeru a sword and pouch. That can be compared as a separate episode from the journey to establish worship in Ise described here.
Yamatotakeru’s journey and song of home →Connected figures
Names and relationships in a chronicle may differ from later traditions. Each figure’s introduction identifies its sources.
Sources and edition (2)
English explanations on this page were prepared by Inori no Mori from the cited text and its Japanese explanations. They are not an official translation or a prescribed liturgy.