Tajimamori (タヂマモリ)
Tajimamori is a person appearing in Japanese mythology, and is the god (Shinto) of confection. It is written 多遅麻毛理 in Kojiki (The Records of Ancient Matters), and 田道間守 in Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan).
He is the great-grandchild of Amenohiboko, who came from Silla. He traveled to Tokoyo no kuni (some say this was Silla, the land of his ancestors) under the order of the 11th Emperor Suinin, to search for tokijikuno kagunokonomi (crackerberry). After ten years, he returned to Japan with a branch with leaves and a branch with fruit, but Emperor Suinin had already passed away. Tajimamori presented half of them to the empress of Emperor Suinin, and the remaining to the Misasagi (Imperial mausoleum) of Emperor Suinin, and died, crying in sorrow.
The 'tokijikuno kagunokonomi' brought back by Tajimamori is described as today's tachibana (wild orange) in kiki (the Kojiki and Nihonshoki). Some say the name 'tachibana' itself derived from Tajimabana. At that time, 'ka' referred to fruit, but based on this setsuwa (anecdotes), Tajimamori is worshipped as 'kaso,' the god of confection.
Stories about traveling to alien worlds in search of fruits and medicinal plants exist in various parts of the world, and this setsuwa is believed to be influenced by Shinsenden (Lives of Spirit Immortals) of China. For example, there is a story about Jofuku of Qin traveling to Horai in search of an elixir of life.
Tajimamori is enshrined in Nakashima-jinja Shrine (Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture) as the god of confection. The branch deities of Nakashima-jinja Shrine are enshrined nationwide in Dazaifu Tenman-gu Shrine (Dazaifu City, Fukuoka Prefecture), Yoshida-jinja Shrine (Kyoto City), etc., and is worshipped by confectioners.
Imari City, Saga Prefecture, is believed to be the land where Tajimamori landed when returning from Tokoyo no kuni, and at Imari-jinja Shrine, there is the Nakashima-jinja Shrine enshrining Tajimamori. The previous enshrined place of Kitsumoto-jinja Shrine in Kainan City, Wakayama Prefecture, called 'Roppongi no oka,' is told to be the location where the tachibana tree brought back by Tajimamori was first transplanted.
Konan NAITO advocates in "Himiko-ko" that the Yamatai-Koku kingdom described in Gishi wajin den (the first written record of Japan's commerce) is the Yamato sovereignty (the ancient Japan sovereignty) described in kiki, and that the taifu (master), Nashime, sent to Wei dynasty (Three States Period) by Himiko (first known ruler of Japan) was Tajimamori.
The shape of the 'setsu' (a pattern which was presented by Chinese emperors or kings to emissaries) drawn on the observer's right of the picture of the person buried in the tomb in the Mural Painting of Koguryo Tomb (such as in the Angaku No.3 Tomb believed to be from around the middle of the fourth century) looks like the Kasamatsu Pattern drawn on the Sankakubuchi Shinjukyo (Triangular-rimmed mirrors) (the one on the mirror is slightly more flat than the one on the mural painting), and assuming that the Kodo (Yellow Flag) tentatively given to Nashime by the Wei dynasty has the same shape as this setsu, it is possible that the shape looks like a yellow tachibana. However, in that case, Himiko, who actually received the Kodo was a woman, unlike Emperor Suinin who was male, so either kiki is wrong, Himiko is unrelated to kiki or does not appear in it, or at least does not appear as king of Wa.