Who Is Homuchiwake (Homutsuwake)?
The silent prince born in the flames
Homuchiwake-no-Miko
Homuchiwake is the son of Emperor Suinin and Sahobime. Because he was born inside the burning rice-bale fortress, his mother gave him this name.
Even when he was old enough to have a beard reaching his chest, he did not speak — until he heard the cry of a swan crossing the sky and moved his lips for the first time. The emperor had Yamanobe no Otaka chase the bird and capture it in the distant land of Koshi, but still the prince did not speak. Divination revealed this was a curse from the Great God of Izumo, so the prince went to Izumo with Akatatsu and Unakami. On the way back, on the banks of the Hi River, he finally spoke. In one strange scene, he spends a night with Hinagahime, discovers that she is really a snake, and flees.
The Kojiki says the emperor, overjoyed that his son could speak, had a new shrine built for the Great God of Izumo.
Episodes featuring this character2
NEWEpisode 6
She Raised a Blade Over Her Sleeping KingSahobiko and Sahobime
"Who do you love more, your husband or your brother?" Sahobime's brother asks her this, and she is the Emperor's wife. Three times she raises a blade over her sleeping husband, and three times she can't strike. Inside a burning fortress of rice she gives birth to a son. She sends the child to her husband and stays at her brother's side, choosing an answer that abandons neither of them.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 7
Chase the Swan Until the Prince SpeaksPrince Homuchiwake
Born inside a burning fortress, Prince Homuchiwake still has not spoken a word, even with a beard down to his chest. His father, Emperor Suinin, sends a hunter to chase a white swan to the ends of the land. But what finally wakes the prince's voice is the wish of a forgotten god in Izumo. This episode follows his first words, a night with a serpent princess, the death of a loyal servant who brought back fruit from the Everlasting Land, and the prince's vow to speak the words his father never heard.
19 pages