Ohotataneko

• • Period: Legendary Period
  • Occupation: Shinto Priest
  • Family: Ōkuninushi (ancestor) See ancestry below
  • Birth: –
  • Death: –

Ohotataneko

Ohotataneko (大田田根子) was a man who later became a prominent Shinto Priest in his lifetime do to the intervention of the kami Ōkuninushi.

Ancestry

The nihongi states that he is the son of Ōkuninushi and Ikutamayoribime.¹

However the kojiki says he is instead a descendant of Ōkuninushi. It states he was the child of Takemikadzuchi, who was a child of Ihigatasumi, who in turn was the child of Kushimigata. And it was this person who was a child of Ōkuninushi and Ikutamayoribime.²³

Ohotataneko is listed as the ancestor of the Miwa no kimi¹²³ and Kamo no kimi.²³

Reign of Emperor Sujin

During the reign of Emperor Sujin a plague ravaged the country. After communing with Ōkuninushi he was told if he located Ohotataneko and had him made chief of his shrine the plague would dissapate. He was found in Minu of Kahuchi and was then placed as chief of his shrine of Mount Mimoro. This is how the tale goes in the kojiki.²³

In the nihongi the Emperor is told to find this man, with
Yamatototokamiasachihara maguhashihime and Ohominakuchino Sukune also having a dream saying he had be made head of the kami’s shrine. He also then found in Siyu, Idzumi.¹

Footnotes

1. Aston. W.G. (1896) “Nihongi Volume 1: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to AD697”. Tuttle Publishing.
2. Yasumaro. O, translated by Gustav Heldt. (2014) “Kojiki. An Account of Ancient Matters”. New York: Columbia University Press.
3. Chamberlain, B. H. (1932) “Translation of the Kojiki.” Kobe: J.L. Thompson & Co.

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