In the reign of the eleventh emperor, Suinin, Amaterasu had been worshipped within the palace, but her divine power was so great that dwelling alongside her was felt to be an awe-filled burden.
So the princess Yamatohime set out to find a place worthy to enshrine the goddess. Passing through Ōmi and Mino, she came at last to Ise, where the goddess made her will known: “This land of Ise, where the waves of the eternal realm come rolling in, is a beautiful land. Here I wish to dwell.”
A shrine was built on the banks of the Isuzu River — the origin of the Ise Grand Shrine. Yamatohime would later play another crucial role, granting the sword Kusanagi to Yamato Takeru before his eastern campaign.
In the same reign the emperor commanded Tajimamori: “Go to the eternal land and bring back the fragrant fruit that ripens out of season.” It was a legendary fruit said to grant eternal youth.
Tajimamori crossed the sea and returned at last after ten years — but the emperor had already died. He offered half the fruit to the empress, laid the rest before the tomb, and there, crying aloud, breathed his last. The fruit is said to have been the tachibana, an ancestor of the mandarin orange.