Skip to content
Princess Ototachibana, a MythSource painting
Japanese

Princess Ototachibana

01Identity

Princess Ototachibana in Japanese tradition

Princess Ototachibana appears in Ozaki’s account of Yamato Take’s eastern journey as his wife and travelling companion. She endures the campaign alongside him, but the tale also shows a painful imbalance in their relationship: when the prince becomes interested in Princess Miyadzu, he leaves Ototachibana behind. Their story then reaches a crisis at the Idzu straits, where a storm puts the ship and its passengers in danger.

Ototachibana responds by choosing to give herself to the sea-god in place of Yamato Take. She steps into the waves, and the storm quiets enough for the ship to arrive safely. This retelling thus gives her a decisive act of her own, not just a place in the prince’s campaign. The account here is limited to the named wife and this sea-crossing episode in Ozaki’s English version; it does not claim that the details are universal across Japanese tellings.

SourceJapanese fairy tales: Yei Theodora Ozaki, “The Story of Prince Yamato Take,” Japanese Fairy Tales

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Princess Ototachibana

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Ototachibana Calms the Storm

On the eastern campaign, Princess Ototachibana travels with Yamato Take. The tale describes her as his faithful wife, who shares the fatigue and danger of his journeys. When Yamato Take visits Princess Miyadzu and leaves Ototachibana waiting, she sees his attention turn elsewhere and feels the hurt of being dismissed. The pair later reach Idzu, where they must cross the straits. They find too few boats for the soldiers, and Yamato Take boards a ship with Ototachibana.

A violent storm rises during the crossing, and the travellers fear the ship will be lost. Ototachibana stands and says she will enter the sea in place of her husband, asking the sea-god to accept her. She spreads mats on the water and lies down upon them. The storm subsides, allowing the ship to reach land safely. In this bounded episode from Ozaki’s telling, Ototachibana is not merely a companion to the warrior: her deliberate sacrifice is the action that saves the crossing.

Ototachibana Calms the Storm, a MythSource painting of the scene