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百合 「さくや姫」 |
とても暑いですね。
私はとうにエアコンを一日中運転させています。
私の住む街は今年は雨が多く、とても美しいです。
写真は鹿児島で造られた新しい百合で「さくや姫」です。
以前ご紹介したFLOWERで注文しました。
さくや姫というのは、コノハナサクヤヒメという日本に伝わる神様の名前です。
姫神様で、古事記に出てくるエピソードだったと記憶しています。
お父様が或る神様と婚姻を結ぶ際に、その神様は木花咲耶姫（コノハナサクヤヒメ）を望まれた際に、妹の姫君も一緒に婚姻させますとお二人を同時にそちらの神様に送ったのですが、器量が悪いという理由で妹の姫君だけを返されたそうです。
お父様は、サクヤヒメは花のように美しく、望まれた神様の栄華が花のように広がることを祈願して、そして妹の姫はその栄華が変わらぬ石のように永久に続くことを祈願しての今回の婚姻だったのに、サクヤヒメだけを望んだあの神様は何という愚かな神なのだろう、と大変お嘆きになったそうです。
このエピソードからサクヤヒメを望まれた神様は、ウィキペディアではけちょんけちょんに書かれています。
顔だけで女性を判断しやがってという感情が伝わってきます。
アリランの話を書いた時に婉曲表現についても書きましたが、本当にコノハナサクヤヒメは花のように美しかったのでしょうか？
はっきり言うのを好まない表現であれば、美しかったのは妹の姫神様なのでは無いでしょうか？
当時から美しさだけに囚われると禍を呼ぶ、という考えが有ったのなら、前述のエピソードでは美しくない姫を返した神様を愚かであると嘆く結末になっていますから、 コノハナサクヤヒメは美貌の姫では無かったのではないでしょうか？
美醜はさておき、コノハナサクヤヒメは意志が非常に強い姫神であり、妹の姫神は花が咲き誇るまでの事前準備を徹底する、そして境界を持つという考えこそが生存戦略である、という考えの持ち主であったのかもしれません。
当時も国々の争いが古事記に描かれていますので、たった二人となっても二人の意志（お嫁に行った先の神様の意志ですね）を貫く器量を持ったコノハナサクヤヒメをその神様は望まれたのかもしれません。
O.先生によると、このエピソードは諸説芬々の説があるんだそうです。
実はコノハナサクヤヒメは桜の花の化身とまで言われた美しさを持った姫だったそうです。
ですが、「さくや姫」は百合です。
では桜の化身とまで言われた妹の姫は、おそらく当時の国の長（おさ）である帝に望まれた方だったのでは無いでしょうか？
桜は今でも日本の国花ですので。
するとこのエピソード自身が大河を思わせる大変美しく淑やかな激流の国を生きた人々の一瞬を描いているように見えてきます。
お父様はすでにコノハナサクヤヒメを望んだ神を婿ではなく自身の息子のように思い、謙虚に謙った表現をしてコノハナサクヤヒメとの婚姻を祝福したのではないでしょうか？
そして妹の姫は永遠そのもののような婚姻を望まれていたのだ、という見解に辿りつきます。
何故でしょう。
たったこれだけの象しか語られていないのに、妹の姫神はとても幸せな婚姻を果たしたのだと実感しますね。
コノハナサクヤヒメは恐らく当時先駆的な恋愛をし、ご自身が望む相手と相愛だった。
当時の社会風俗的に眉を顰められる選択だったにも関わらず、コノハナサクヤヒメの父は二人を祝福したのではないでしょうか？
今日は素敵な名前を持つ庭は晴れています。
皐月を待つ初夏の一日をジャスミンの香りと共にお過ごしください。
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*写真は胡蝶蘭・スーパーで1本600円（20260417現在）
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Yuri: “Princess Sakuya” |
It’s really hot, isn’t it?
I’ve had the air conditioner running all day for quite some time now.
The town where I live has had a lot of rain this year, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
The photo shows a new variety of lily called “Sakuya-hime,” which was cultivated in Kagoshima.
I ordered it from FLOWER, which I introduced to you before.
“Sakuya-hime” is the name of a deity from Japanese mythology known as Konohanasakuya-hime.
She is a goddess, and I recall that there is an episode about her in the Kojiki.
When her father arranged a marriage with a certain deity, that deity requested Konohanasakuya-hime. Her father sent both her and her younger sister to the deity, intending to marry them both off together. However, it is said that the younger sister was sent back because she was deemed unattractive.
Her father was said to have grieved deeply, thinking, “How foolish is that deity who desired only Sakuya-hime! This marriage was intended to pray that Sakuya-hime, beautiful as a flower, would bring prosperity to the deity like blooming blossoms, and that her younger sister would ensure that prosperity would last forever, unchanging like a stone.”
Based on this episode, the god who desired Sakuya-hime is thoroughly disparaged in Wikipedia.
You can really sense the sentiment of, “How dare he judge a woman solely by her face?”
When I wrote about the Arirang story, I also touched on euphemistic expressions, but was Konohana-Sakuya-hime truly as beautiful as a flower?
I’ve had the air conditioner running all day for quite some time now.
The town where I live has had a lot of rain this year, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
The photo shows a new variety of lily called “Sakuya-hime,” which was cultivated in Kagoshima.
I ordered it from FLOWER, which I introduced to you before.
“Sakuya-hime” is the name of a deity from Japanese mythology known as Konohanasakuya-hime.
She is a goddess, and I recall that there is an episode about her in the Kojiki.
When her father arranged a marriage with a certain deity, that deity requested Konohanasakuya-hime. Her father sent both her and her younger sister to the deity, intending to marry them both off together. However, it is said that the younger sister was sent back because she was deemed unattractive.
Her father was said to have grieved deeply, thinking, “How foolish is that deity who desired only Sakuya-hime! This marriage was intended to pray that Sakuya-hime, beautiful as a flower, would bring prosperity to the deity like blooming blossoms, and that her younger sister would ensure that prosperity would last forever, unchanging like a stone.”
Based on this episode, the god who desired Sakuya-hime is thoroughly disparaged in Wikipedia.
You can really sense the sentiment of, “How dare he judge a woman solely by her face?”
When I wrote about the Arirang story, I also touched on euphemistic expressions, but was Konohana-Sakuya-hime truly as beautiful as a flower?
If the expression was meant to avoid saying things outright, might it not be the younger princess who was actually the beautiful one?
If there was a belief even back then that being obsessed with beauty alone invites disaster, and given that the aforementioned episode ends with lamenting the god who sent back the unattractive princess as foolish, perhaps Konohanasakuya-hime wasn’t actually a beautiful princess?
Setting beauty aside, Konohanasakuya-hime was a goddess with a very strong will, while her younger sister may have been the one who believed that thorough preparation before a flower blooms, and the idea of maintaining boundaries, was the very strategy for survival.
Since the Kojiki depicts conflicts between nations at that time, perhaps the god desired Konohanasakuya-hime, who possessed the fortitude to uphold the will of both of them—even if it meant being left with only the two of them (that is, the will of the god she married).
According to Professor O., there are various theories surrounding this episode.
In fact, Konohanasakuya-hime was said to be a princess of such beauty that she was even called the incarnation of the cherry blossom.
However, “Sakuya-hime” refers to the lily.
So, might the younger sister—who was said to be the very incarnation of the cherry blossom—have been the one desired by the Emperor, the ruler of the land at that time?
After all, the cherry blossom remains Japan’s national flower to this day.
If so, this episode itself seems to capture a fleeting moment in the lives of people who lived in a land of turbulent yet beautiful and gentle currents, reminiscent of a great river.
Didn’t her father, regarding the god who desired Konohanasakuya-hime not as a son-in-law but as his own son, humbly express his gratitude and bless her marriage to him?
And so, we arrive at the conclusion that the younger princess was destined for a marriage that seemed to embody eternity itself.
Why is that?
Even though only these few details are mentioned, we can truly feel that the younger princess achieved a very happy marriage.
Konohanasakuya-hime likely experienced a pioneering romance for her time and was deeply in love with the partner she chose.
Even though it was a choice that would have raised eyebrows given the social customs of the time, didn’t Konohanasakuya-hime’s father bless the two of them?
Today, the garden with the lovely name is bathed in sunshine.
Please spend this early summer day, as we await the month of Satsuki, accompanied by the scent of jasmine.
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*Photo shows a Super Phalaenopsis orchid, priced at 600 yen per plant (as of April 17, 2026)
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
