Tamamo no Mae

Encyclopedia : T : TA : TAM : Tamamo no Mae

---

Part of the series on Japanese Mythology
Religions  · Divinities
Creatures & Spirits
Kojiki  ·
Nihon Shoki  · Otogizoshi
Yotsuya Kaidan
Legendary Figures
Abe no Seimei  · Hidari Jingoro
Kintarō  · Momotarō
Nezumi Kozo  · Tamamo no Mae
Tomoe Gozen  · Urashima Tarō
Amenonuhoko  · Kusanagi
Sessho-seki  · Tonbogiri
Three Sacred Treasures
Mythical & Sacred Locations
Horai  · Mt. Hiei
Mt. Fuji  · Rashomon Gate>Rashōmon
Ryugu-jo  · Suzakumon Gate>Suzakumon
Takamagahara  · Yomi
Japanese Mythology

Tamamo-no-Mae (玉藻前) is a legendary figure in Japanese mythology. In the Otogizoshi, a collection of Japanese prose written in the Muromachi period, Tamamo-no-Mae was a courtesan under the Japanese Emperor Konoe. She was said to be the most beautiful and intelligent woman in Japan. Tamamo-no-Mae's body mysteriously always smelled wonderful, and her clothes never became wrinkled or dirty. Tamamo-no-Mae was not only beautiful, but she was infinitely knowledgable in all subjects. Although she appeared to be only twenty years old, there was no question that she could not answer. She answered every question posed to her, whether about music, religion, or astronomy. Because of her beauty and intelligence, everyone in the Imperial Court adored her, and Emperor Konoe fell deeply in love with her.

After some time had passed, with Konoe all the while lavishing all his affection on the beautiful Tamamo-no-mae, the Emperor suddenly and mysteriously fell ill. He went to many priests and fortune-tellers for answers, but they had none to offer. Finally, a priest told the Emperor that Tamamo-no-Mae was the cause of his illness. The priest explained that the beautiful young woman was in fact an evil two-tailed fox (kitsune), who was making the Emperor ill in a devious plot to take the throne. Following this, Tamamo-no-Mae disappeared from the court.

The Emperor ordered Kazusa-nosuke and Miura-nosuke, the most powerful warriors of the day, to hunt and kill the fox. After eluding the hunters for some time, the fox appeared to Miura-nosuke in a dream. Once again in the form of the beautiful Tamamo-no-Mae, the fox prophecied that Miura-nosuke would kill it the next day, and begged for its life. Miura-nosuke refused.

Early the next day, the hunters found the fox on the Nasuno Plain, and Miura-nosuke shot and killed the magical creature with an arrow. The body of the fox became the Death Stone, or Sessho-seki, which kills anyone that comes in contact with it.

References

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?