Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso

Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso (倭迹迹日百襲姫命) is a Japanese princess buried in Hashihaka Kofun. She was the daughter of Emperor Kōrei. She was the shaman aunt of Emperor Sujin, and is said to have taken her own life after discovering her husband was a snake god.

The Hashihaka kofun is considered to be the first large keyhole-shaped kofun constructed in Japan and is associated with the emergence of the Yamato Kingship.

The Imperial Household Agency designates the Hashihaka kofun as the tomb of Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso, the daughter of the legendary Emperor Kōrei. There is also a scholarly theory that the Hashihaka kofun is the tomb of Himiko, the queen of Yamatai.

The name Hashihaka translates as "chopstick grave" and refers to a mythical love affair between Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso and the kami of sacred Mount Miwa, which ended with the princess stabbing herself to death with a chopstick.

Early life
The Kiki, the collective name for the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, records that pestilence struck during the 5th year of Sujin's rule, killing half the Japanese population. The following year peasants abandoned their fields and rebellion became rampant. To help relieve the suffering of his people, the Emperor turned his attention towards the gods. At the time, both the sun goddess, Amaterasu and the god Yamato Okunitama (Yamato-no-Okunitama) (倭大国魂神) were enshrined at the Imperial Residence. Sujin became overwhelmed with having to cohabit with these two powerful deities and set up separate enshrinements to house them. Amaterasu was moved to Kasanui village (笠縫邑) in Yamato Province (Nara), where a Himorogi altar was built out of solid stone. Sujin placed his daughter Toyosukiiri-hime (豊鍬入姫命) in charge of the new shrine. Yamato Okunitama (the other god) was entrusted to another daughter named Nunakiiri-hime (渟名城入媛命), but her health began to fail shortly afterward. It is recorded that Nunakiiri-hime became emaciated after losing all of her hair, which rendered her unable to perform her duties. These events still did not alleviate the ongoing plague sweeping the empire, so Sujin decreed a divination to be performed sometime during the 7th year of his reign. The divination involved him making a trip to the plain of Kami-asaji or Kamu-asaji-ga-hara (神浅茅原), and invoking the Yaoyorozu no Kami (八百万の神).

Sujin's aunt, Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso, daughter of the 7th Emperor, Kōrei, acted as a miko, and was possessed by a god who identified himself as Ōmononushi. This god claimed responsibility for the plague, announcing that it would not stop until he was venerated. Although the Emperor propitiated to the god, the effects were not immediate. Sujin was later given guidance in the form of a dream to seek out a man named Ōtataneko (太田田根子) and appoint him as head priest. When he was found and installed, the pestilence eventually subsided, allowing five cereal crops to ripen. Out of an abundance of caution, the Emperor also appointed Ikagashikoo (伊香色雄) as kami-no-mono-akatsu-hito (神班物者), or one who sorts the offerings to the gods. To this day the Miwa sept of the Kamo clan claim to be descended from Ōtataneko, while Ikagashikoo was a claimed ancestor of the now extinct Mononobe clan.

The Nihon Shoki, Book V, (Chronicle of Emperor Sujin, 10th emperor) records that when the country was crippled by pestilence and subsequent mayhem, the emperor consulted the gods. The god Ōmononushi (whom some sources to the chronicle identify with the Mount Miwa deity) spoke through the mouth of an elder princess of the imperial house named Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso (daughter of 7th emperor Emperor Kōrei and Sujin's aunt) and revealed himself to be the deity residing in the borders of Yamato on Mount Miwa, and promised to bring end to chaos if he were properly worshipped. The emperor propitiated to the god but the effects were not immediate. Later, the same god appeared in a dream to and instructed him to seek out a man named Ōtataneko, said to be the child of the god, and to install him as head priest of his cult. Subsequently, normal order was restored and crops no longer failed.

Saving Sujin from murder
In his 10th year of rule, Sujin instituted four of his generals to the Four Cardinal Quarters in what would be known as the Shidō shogun. These areas (west, north/northwest, northeast, and east) were all centered around the capital in Yamato Province. Sujin instructed his generals (shogun) to quell those who would not submit to their rule. One of the four shoguns who had been sent to the northern region was named Ōhiko (大彦), who was also Emperor Kōgen's first son. One day a certain maiden approached Ōhiko and sang him a cryptic song, only to disappear afterwards. Sujin's aunt Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso, who was skilled at clairvoyance, interpreted this to mean that Take-hani-yasu-hiko (Ōhiko's half brother) was plotting an insurrection. Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso pieced it together from overhearing news that Take-hani-yasu-hiko's wife (Ata-bime) came to Mount Amanokaguya (天香久山), and took a clump of earth in the corner of her neckerchief.

Emperor Sujin gathered his generals in a meeting upon hearing the news, but the couple had already mustered troops to the west who were ready to attack the capital. The Emperor responded by sending an army under the command of general Isaseri-hiko no Mikoto to fight a battle that ended with a decisive Imperial victory. Ata-bime was killed in combat, and her husband fled back north. Sujin then sent general Hiko-kuni-fuku (彦国葺命) north to Yamashiro Province to punish the rebel prince. There was ultimately an exchange of bowshots that resulted in Take-hani-yasu-hiko's death by an arrow through the chest. Eventually the Emperor would appoint 137 governors for the provinces under his Imperial rule as the empire expanded. In his 12th year of rule, the Emperor decreed that a census be taken of the populace "with grades of seniority, and the order of forced labour". The tax system meanwhile was set up so taxes imposed were in the form of mandatory labor. These taxes were known as yuhazu no mitsugi (弭調) for men and tanasue no mitsugi (手末調) for women. During this period peace and prosperity ensued, and the Emperor received the title Hatsu kuni shirasu sumeramikoto (御肇国天皇).

Death and burial
Book V in the Nihon Shoki adds the following episode. Suijin's aunt, the aforementioned Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso, was later appointed the consort or wife of Ōmononushi (Mount Miwa). The kami however, would only appear to her at night, and the princess pleaded to reveal his true form. The kami warned her not to be shocked, and agreed to show himself inside her comb box (kushi-bako (櫛箱)) or toiletry case. The next day she opened the box and discovered a magnificent snake inside. She shrieked out in surprise, whereby the deity transformed into human form, promised her payback for shaming him so, and took off to Mount Mimoro (Mount Miwa). The princess was so distraught at this, that she flopped herself on the seat stabbed herself in the pudenda with chopsticks, which ensued in her death. She is supposedly buried at one of the six mounds near Mount Miwa, the "chopstick-grave" mound. The Kojiki version of this myth describes a union between a woman from the Miwa clan and Ōmononushi, resulting in the birth of an early Yamato king. Scholars note that this is a clear effort to strengthen Yamato authority by identifying and linking their lineage to the established worship surrounding Mount Miwa.