Tatsuta-hime (竜田姫)

Tatsuta-hime (竜田姫) is the god of autumn in Japan. It is some time written 立田姫.

Since west represented autumn in gogyo-setsu (the theory of five elements) and Mt. Tatsuta to the west of Heijo-kyo (the ancient capital of Japan in current Nara) was famous for beautiful colored autumnal leaves, the beauty of the mountain led people to believe that a goddess of autumn lived there.

She is also worshipped as the god of sewing, since tatsu (竜) sounds similar to tatsu (裁つ (cut)). Additionally, due to the beauty of the colored autumnal leaves on Mt. Tatsuta, it was believed that this goddess who colored the autumnal leaves red was skilled in dyeing.

[Original Japanese]