Awashima Legend

The Awashima Legend concerns Awashima Myojin, a female guardian deity whose cult developed from the medieval period at Awashima Shrine in Kada, Wakayama Prefecture. The deity is variously identified with Sukunabiko-no-Mikoto of the *Kojiki* and *Nihon Shoki*, said to be the consort of Sumiyoshi-no-Okami, or understood as an imperial princess cast away to the island who vowed to alleviate women's suffering. Multiple origin narratives are preserved in layered tradition.

The narrative unfolds in three movements: the arrival of either an imperial princess or Sukunabiko-no-Mikoto through casting or drift; a vow to save women and the establishment of rites on the island; and the formation of nationwide worship networks through itinerant mendicants carrying dolls. The legend synthesises the *Kojiki*–*Nihon Shoki* mythology of Sukunabiko-no-Mikoto's departure to the eternal land with narratives of a goddess descending from the realm beyond the sea, emerging as a distinctive deity protecting the female body. The legend also connects to folk rites of doll-setting adrift.

Awashima Shrine, sited on the Kitan Strait facing the offshore realm, houses vast numbers of dolls donated from across Japan and is known for its doll-setting ceremony on the third day of the third month. The shrine forms a worship network with Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine in Osaka and Ōmiwa Shrine on Mount Miwa in Nara, linking to broader cults of Sukunabiko as an ancestor deity of medicine and sake brewing.

The *Kojiki* and *Nihon Shoki* passages on Sukunabiko-no-Mikoto provide the textual foundation for this syncretism. The *Awashima Daijin Engi* (founding history), held by Awashima Shrine, and the early modern gazetteer *Kii Zoku Fudoki* (*Continued Fudoki of Kii*, completed 1839) preserve independent tradition accounts. References to Awashima worship appear in early modern belles-lettres, including Ihara Saikaku's *A Woman Who Loved Love*.