Who is the father of Emperor Jimmu in Japanese mythology?
Answer
Ugayafukiaezu
Who is the father of Emperor Jimmu in Japanese mythology? Ugayafukiaezu is Emperor Jimmu’s father.
Ugayafukiaezu is a Shinto kami described in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. His father was Hoori, also called Hikohohodemi, and his mother was Toyotama-hime, a daughter of Ryūjin, the dragon kami of the sea. This places him within the mythic genealogy connecting Japan’s imperial line to heavenly and oceanic deities.
His birth story explains his unusual name. Toyotama-hime began labor while a seaside birthing hut was still being roofed with cormorant feathers. Because the roof was unfinished when he was born, he was named Ugayafukiaezu, meaning roughly “the cormorant-feather roof unfinished.”
As an adult, Ugayafukiaezu married his maternal aunt, Tamayori-hime. They had four sons, including Hikohohodemi, the future Emperor Jimmu. Hoori is therefore Ugayafukiaezu’s father, while Ninigi is his grandfather; neither is the correct answer to this question.