Yamato Totobi Momoso-hime

A shaman‑princess of early Yamato, she is revered in Japanese folk religion and court myth as the daughter of Emperor Kōrei and the enigmatic bride of Ōmono‑nushi, the kami of sacred Mount Miwa. Her story anchors the sacred landscape of the Nara plain.

Called Yamato‑totohi‑momoso‑hime (倭迹迹日百襲姫), she is central to the Miwa tradition. In legend, her divine husband visited by night; when she sought his true form, tragedy followed, and she was buried at Hashihaka—“the chopstick grave.” The Hashihaka kofun in Sakurai, Nara, widely regarded as Japan’s first large keyhole‑shaped mound, is designated by the Imperial Household Agency as her tomb. Some scholars instead link the mound to Himiko of Yamatai, underscoring how her tale sits at the crossroads of religion and early Yamato kingship. While not a Buddhist figure, she is remembered as a miko‑like medium who bound court and deity.

Today her memory endures around Mount Miwa and the environs of Ōmiwa Shrine, though Hashihaka itself has no UNESCO status or formal pilgrimage. She remains notable as a liminal figure—princess, shaman, and folk deity—embodying the Miwa faith’s intimacy between rulers, land, and kami.