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Region: Japan
Time Period:
References in Literature: None
Sources: Giants, Monsters, and Dragons, pg 364, Circle of the Dragon, Japanese Gods of Myth

Yamasachi (some versions have it as Hoori) dove into the sea in search of his brother's (Hoderi) favourite fishing hook, which he had lost. In the 3 years it took to find the hook, he'd fallen in love and married Owatatsumi's (the sea god) daughter. Once they found the hook, she agreed to join him on land - with the condition that he not be present when their child was born. As will most of the curious, Yamasachi gave into the temptation and saw his wife in dragon form. But she saw him, too, and once the birth was over, she disappeared back into the sea.

The child was eventually married to his mother's sister, Tamayori, and it was their child, Jimmu, that was said to be an ancestor of Japan's royal family.

Cross-Reference: Melusine

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