Here we meet with another Creation myth.
Two children were born to Ohonamochi and Princess Forward; these were Ki-no-mata-no-kami (Tree-fork-deity) and Mi-wi-no-kami (Deity of August Wells).
Like Odin, Ohonamochi woos in the course of his career more than one goddess. One of these, the Princess of Nuna-kaha (Lagoon-river), sings to him:
“Being a man probably (thou) hast on the various island headlands that thou seest, and on every beach headland that thou lookest [[377]]on, a wife like the young herbs. But as for me, alas! being a woman, I have no man except thee.”[16]
An elfin deity comes across the ocean to assist Ohonamochi to “make and consolidate the land”. He is named Sukuna-bikona (the Little Prince god). Attired in bird[17] skins, the little god sailed in a boat of the heavenly Kagami.[18]
After Little Prince had for a time assisted to consolidate the land, he crossed over to Toko-yo-no-kuni (the Eternal Land).
Then came a deity illuminating the sea to assist in consolidating the land. He asked for a temple on Mount Mimoro and was afterwards worshipped there. He himself passed to the Eternal Land (Toko-yo-no-kuni), where grows the orange tree of life.[19] The deity there who revealed Little Prince is called Crumbling Prince; his legs do not walk, but he knows everything beneath the Heavens.[20] [[378]]
[1] The modern hohodzuki (Physalis Alkekengi). [↑]
[2] De Groot refers to a “venerable” Chinese dragon living in a pond; it had nine heads and eighteen tails, and “ate nothing but fever demons”. The Religious System of China, Vol. VI, p. 1053. Another dragon is 1000 miles long; his breath causes wind; when he opens his eyes it is day, and when he closes them it is night. De Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan, p. 62. [↑]