Read, reflect, pray
Nihon Shoki: The life of blossom and the life of rock
Nihon Shoki · Story 14 of 17
花の命と、岩の命
Konohanasakuyahime and Iwanagahime.
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.
A variant account (issho, introduced as “one writing says”) is a different tradition preserved beside the main narrative. It is labeled separately below.
Main narrative
Book 2, section 9
Ninigi meets and joins with Konohanasakuyahime at Cape Kasasa. When her conception in one night is doubted, she enters a chamber without an opening and vows that fire will not harm children of the heavenly grandchild. She gives birth to three children amid the flames.
Variant account (issho)
Book 2, section 9 variant 2
Here her father Ōyamatsumi also offers the elder sister Iwanagahime, but Ninigi sends her back and joins only with the younger. Iwanagahime says that if she had been welcomed, their children’s lives would endure like rock; now they will change and fall like flowers.
Within the same variant, another formulation connects the story with people’s short lives. Rock and flower express traditions of long and brief life.
Compare with the Kojiki
In the Kojiki, the father Ōyamatsumi, after Iwanagahime’s return, explains long and brief life through rock and flower. In this variant the words are Iwanagahime’s own.
Blossom and rock: two sisters →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.