Hoori’s lost fishhook in two Japanese chronicles

Traditions: Japanese Kojiki; Japanese Nihon Shoki Motif: A lost fishing tool leads to a sea-world encounter Connection verdict: Related named myth with variant telling Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-10-25

Summary

Both chronicles tell of brothers associated with sea and mountain pursuits, a lost fishhook, and Hoori’s journey toward a sea deity’s realm.

Read the two scenes

At first the quarrel seems ordinary: one brother loses another’s valued tool. Yet recovery draws Hoori into an underwater or sea-associated world, creates a new kinship relation, and changes the balance between the brothers. The fishhook is therefore not a trivial prop. In the Kojiki the exchange and return are integrated into a particular ancestry sequence, while the Nihon Shoki records related material with variants. English historical translations also render personal names differently. A responsible comparison tracks the specific sequence rather than combining every detail into one supposedly original folktale.

What connects—and what does not

The routes, names, marriage details, and eventual confrontation differ across the chronicle witnesses.

The unusual combination of brothers, fishhook, and sea-world visit supports a common traditional cycle rather than coincidence.

Why read them side by side?

This story turns a small breach of trust into questions about kinship, power, and repair, with versions that deserve separate reading.

Sources and reading notes

• Kojiki, historical English translation — Early Japanese chronicle; consult named episode
• Nihongi, historical English translation — Alternative early Japanese chronicle versions

Research limit

A named parallel can establish literary reuse or related tradition; a general resemblance alone cannot prove borrowing. Linked editions and translations vary. Where a source is identified as secondary orientation, the comparison does not claim direct close reading of that tradition’s primary text.