Tamatebako

[wombat1138]

Dammit, I thought I collected all this info in one place before, but it was probably in an old eBay listing which has now vanished into the aether. But at least I've finally found a kanji version of Tamayori's name, though not nec'ly a definitive one (q.v.).

The main purpose of this entry is to roughly collate information about Japan's (three?) legendary sea-dragon princesses and their jewels. Of the daughters of the Dragon King(s), the names of the two sisters Toyotama (豊玉) and Tamayori (玉依?) directly contain the word "tama" (jewel).

Some sources claim that "Otohime" is merely an alias for Toyotama, but that name occurs in a completely different mythic context, the tale of Urashima-Taro, and besides whereas Toyotama is generally identified as the older sister to Tamayori, the kanji I'm finding for "Otohime" (乙姫 or 弟姫) mean "youngest princess".

(WRT the header, the tamatebako was a jewel-casket which Otohime gave to Urashima when he left the sea; I complained recently about the origami reconstruction.)

Both Toyotama and Tamayori were ancestresses of Jimmu, the first emperor. In one version, their father is identified as the kami Watatsumi. (In other versions, he's the Sea-Dragon Ryujin.) Toyotama's introduction to her mortal husband nearly corresponds to the Biblical story of Isaac and Rebekah-- instead of Isaac sending Eliezar to reward Rebekah's kindness with betrothal jewels, Hoori declines the water offered by Toyotama's maid and drops a piece of his jade necklace into the cup, attracting the princess' attention.

Eventually, Watatsumi presented his son-in-law with two tide-jewels: "Shiomitsu-Tama which can invoke floods, and Shiohuru-Tama which can revoke floods." But after a Melusine-like incident, Toyotama became estranged from her human husband although she still loved him, sending a poem via her younger sister (also her daughter-in-law):

As for red jewels, though even
The string they are strung on shines,
The aspect of my lord, who is like
Unto white jewels is more illustrious.

The meaning of Toyo-tama-hime's song was that although red jewels were very beautiful, so much so that the string they hung on would shine itself, yet her husband, who resembled white jewels (pearls), was still more lovely.

Toyotama's name means "abundant jewels"; Tamayori's is less clear:

"One of the meanings Tama-yori can have is Jewel Purity. [....] A female deity by the name of Tama-yori-hime is found in Shintō myth recorded in both the Records of Ancient Matters and the Chronicle of Japan. In addition, the name Tama-yori-hime may be given to any woman who is god-possessed. [46] Tama-yori-hime expresses the notion that a spirit (tama, 霊) has dropped into (yori, 寄り) a woman (hime, 媛: beautiful woman; or hime, 姫: princess)."

Or:

The TAMA also meant usually the bracelet in ancient Japan, so that the name of the first daughter TOYO-TAMA-HIME would mean literally "the rich bracelet princess" and the second TAMA-YORI-HIME, "the princess standing on bracelet".

Etc. The "standing on bracelet" (or perhaps, Cinderella-like, "jewel-shod"?) is probably closest to the first kanji version I found for Tamayori's name, up top; that particular "yori" seems to mean "rely/depend on"

The tide-jewels reappear in legends of a war with Korea:

[The Empress Jingo] also obtained from the submarine palace of the dragon-king the ebb-jewel (kan-ja) and the flood-jewel (man-ja), by which she was able, on at least one important occasion, to control the tides; they are described in the Nihongi as about five sun long, the former white and the latter blue--the colour of the east, whence rain comes; and the moon is controller of the oceanic tides!

though I'm not certain where that source got its alternative names from; sadly, that uncertainty may also compromise the tempting detail of the jewels' colors. Wikipedia gives the empress' name as "Jingu".

Another source calls the tide-jewels "the Shiomitsu-Ni and Shiohiru-Ni, i.e., the Tide-flowing and Tide-ebbing Jewels", which is only a slight variant of the first pair of names a few paragraphs ago.

...oog, running out of steam now. However, at least now I've found a romaji version of Toyotama's poem, in an interesting paper that discusses Empress Jingu as another avatar of the sea-princesses:

Akadama wa
O sae hikare do
Shiratama no
Kimi go yosoi shi
Toutoku arikeri

and also glosses "Tamayori-bime" as "spirit-inviting maiden", reinforcing 寄 as the second half of her name, as in the above interpretation as "god-possessed woman" (a sibyl or oracle like the Greek Pythia? who has her own serpentine connections, come to think of it).

Oh, and it gives yet another name for the tide-jewels: "nyoi-shu"?

Later addenda: wrt the tide-jewels, "shio" is probably 潮, which fills in the other two kanji via the phrase 潮の干満: shio no kanman, "ebb and flood"-- reconciling two sets of names, the pronunciations of 満 apparently include both "mitsu" and "man", just as the pronunciations of 干 include both "hiru" and "kan". Still don't know where "nyoi-shu" comes from, though.

Comments

[qadgop.livejournal.com]

Strangely, the explanations above raise (for me) the image of Tamayori-hime as something like a voodoo or obeah follower, temporarily possessed by the deity. (Or alternately, something like Captain Universe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Universe).) I assume there's no basis for that in any actual Japanese myths, but it suggests possibilities for, say, a Japanse historical fantasy where Tamayori shows up wherever she needs to in the mortal realm via possessing whatever spiritually pure maiden happens to be where she wants to make a divine intervention.

Now that I think of it, the "bracelet" interpretation would work with this: the person who gets to channel Tamayori becomes her "bracelet", "worn" by the goddess.

I'm sure that's got nothing to do with the actual subject.

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

Strangely, the explanations above raise (for me) the image of Tamayori-hime as something like a voodoo or obeah follower, temporarily possessed by the deity.

Not that far off the mark, if Carmen Blacker's The Catalpa Bow is to be trusted. Whereas these days, miko are largely relegated to temporary, ancillary roles in Shinto shrines-- young girls serve for a few years, assisting the priests or selling good-luck charms or sometimes engaging in formalized ritual dances-- Blacker sez that in the hinterlands and in the distant past they were lifelong mediums and shamanesses, channelling the spirits of the dead or other dissatisfied kami so others could speak to and figure out how to propitiate them.

However, you seem to've flipped Tamayori from the passive to the active role within your post. It could work either way, I suppose-- also, vague memories of Yuushiro's probably-pertinent "invitating" (? I think that was the word used in the subtitles) ritual in Gasaraki.

[qadgop.livejournal.com]

Er? Is Tamayori traditionally passive, or am I misunderstanding? But wrt Gasaraki, I suppose the idea of invoking the deity is a pretty common, worldwide thing, no?

(Hey, wait a minute. "Amaterasu, I choose you!" Ack...)

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

I'm probably just being muddled, but "Tamayori-hime as something like a voodoo or obeah follower, temporarily possessed by the deity" sounds like Tamayori is the passive possessee, whereas "the person who gets to channel Tamayori becomes her 'bracelet', 'worn' by the goddess" frames Tamayori as the actively possessing goddess?

Just flipped through Blacker again; she cites another scholar's hypothesis that "Tamayori" was simply an ancient synonym for "miko". I'm still kinda fuzzy about the legendarium, but as a mythical figure, she doesn't seem terribly active, no-- when her sister returns to the sea, Tamayori remains behind to nurse and eventually marry her nephew; in that context, it does seem suggestive that she "channels" the love poem to Toyotama's husband.

...so if Leia had learned to use the Force by ROTJ and was the one to supernaturally impress the Ewoks, would that make her the Witch of Endor? (Guess it depends on the witch membership policy on Dathomir, not that I actually read that one.)

[qadgop.livejournal.com]

Ah, sorry, my bad syntax: Tamayori should have been the active participant (in the post) throughout. Though I can see the lucky chanelee of the hour being referred to, during that time, as Tamayori--which would also dovetail nicely with Tamayori=miko, wouldn't it?

...so if Leia had learned to use the Force by ROTJ and was the one to supernaturally impress the Ewoks, would that make her the Witch of Endor?

Sure. She'd have been able to call up shades of the dead & everything, just like Luke. (The Dathomir witches? Eh. I barely remember the book anyway, but I think they were just descendants of stranded Jedi or something.)