Who Is Iwanagahime?
The princess who offered life as lasting as rock
Iwanaga-hime
Iwanagahime (Iwanaga-hime) is a goddess in the Kojiki, the daughter of the mountain god Ōyamatsumi and the older sister of Konohana-no-Sakuyabime. As her name ("rock-long princess") suggests, she is a symbol of life that lasts as long as rock.
When Ninigi proposed to her younger sister, their father gladly sent Iwanagahime to marry him as well. But Ninigi found her very ugly and sent only her back to her father. Her father then sent word: "If you had taken the elder sister as your wife, the lives of your descendants would have lasted like rock. If you took the younger, they would have flourished like flowers. Because you sent the elder back, their lives will be as fleeting as blossoms." The Kojiki says this is why the lives of the emperors are not long, even now.
The Kojiki records no words spoken by Iwanagahime herself, but some shrines worship her as a goddess of long life.
