12.9.12

Tajimamori (God of Japanese sweets)

The Kojiki reports that during the reign of the 11th emperor Suinin, a man named Tajimamori(ja) was sent to Tokoyo-no-kuni (常世の国 "Eternal Land "?) in a quest for the tokijiku-no-kaku-no-konomi (時じくの香の木の実, 登岐士玖能迦玖能木実 "fruit of the everlasting fragrant tree"?)[34].

He was able to gather eight vine-like trees and eight spear-like trees. But by the time he returned, the Emperor was dead. The Kojiki identifies the fruit as the tachibana, a type of small, sour citrus.

Tajimamori has later been hailed as the god of wagashi (Japanese confection and sweets), revered at Nakashima Shrine(ja) in Toyooka, Hyōgo[35], though this is little known trivia to the average Japanese.

The Nihon shoki dates Tajimamori's travel to Suinin 90 (purportedly 61 A.D.), and makes him out to be the great-grandson of Amenohiboko, a Korean prince who came to Japan just two years earlier[36][37]. However this is anachronistic according to Kojiki, which places Amenohiboko in a much later era.

The term Tachibana (橘, Citrus tachibana) refers to a species of wild green inedible citrus fruits native to Japan

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