Toyouke-hime is the

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...

of agriculture, industry, food, clothing, and houses in the

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

religion. Originally enshrined in the Tanba region of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, she was called to reside at Gekū, Ise Shrine, about 1,500 years ago at the age of Emperor Yūryaku to offer sacred food to Amaterasu Ōmikami, the Sun Goddess. Descendants of Izanami alone-en

While popular as Toyouke-Ōhmikami presently, her name has been transcribed using Chinese characters in several manners including in the "

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

", while there is no entry about her in the " Nihon Shoki". Literally, her name means "Luxuriant-food Princess" kami. Several alternative transcription and names are attributed to this goddess including Toyouke-Okami, Toyouke-Ōmikami, , , , , and . God and goddess thought to be identical to Toyouke-Ōhmikami are a god and a goddess . There is a separate shrine dedicated to Toyouke's Ara-mitama, or called (Takamiya) inside Gekū. She is worshipped at

Chōkaisan Ōmonoimi Shrine Chōkaisan Ōmonoimi Shrine ( ja, 鳥海山大物忌神社), also known as Chokaisan Ōmonoimi-jinja, is a Shinto shrine on Mount Chokai in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. The shrine has three parts on different parts of the mountain: Fukura-kuchino ...

Mythology

, Toyouke-Ōmikami is described as the granddaughter to

Izanami , formally known as , is the creator deity of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial deities that manifest ...

via her father

Wakumusubi Wakumusubi (和久産巣日神) is a kami of agriculture. In many versions, he was born from the urine of Izanami when she died. Another version of the Nihon Shoki states he was a child of Kagutsuchi and Haniyasu-hime. He is enshrined at Aiki ...

, and Toyouke was said to settle to Gekū, Ise Shrine at after

Tenson kōrin In Japanese mythology, the is the descent of Amaterasu's grandson Ninigi-no-Mikoto from Heaven (Takamagahara) to Ashihara no Nakatsukuni; according to legend, the direct place of descent is at Takachiho-gawara in Japan. Following the ''tenson k� ...

when the heavenly

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

came down to the earth. In her name Toyouke, "uke" means food, making her the goddess of food and grain, which is said to be the basis on which other

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

were equated with and merged into Toyouke as the deity of foodstuffs:

Uke Mochi , commonly known as , the daughter of the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami, is a goddess of food in the Shinto religion of Japan. In some differing interpretations, Ukemochi is referred to as both male and female. When shown in other forms, U ...

(Ōgetsu-hime),

Inari Ōkami , also called , is the Japanese ''kami'' of foxes, fertility, rice, tea and sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto. In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swor ...

, and Ukanomitama. The head priest of Toyouke Daijingu submitted "", or the record of the Ise Grand Shrine to the government in 804, in which it is told that goddess Toyouke originally had come from Tamba. It records that Emperor Yūryaku was told by

Amaterasu Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the ''Kojik ...

in his dream that she alone was not able to supply enough food, so that Yūryaku needed to bring , or the goddess of divine meals, from Hijino Manai in ancient Tanba Province. Stories among various

Fudoki are ancient reports on provincial culture, geography, and oral tradition presented to the reigning monarchs of Japan, also known as local gazetteers. They contain agricultural, geographical, and historical records as well as mythology and ...

indicate the origin of Toyouke: In that of Tango, or "", had been bathing with other seven deities at Manai spring on the hilltop of Hiji in Tamba province, when an old couple hid Toyouke's heavenly robe so that she was not able to return to the heavenly world. Toyouke tended over ten years to that old couple and brew sake which cured any ailment, but was expelled from the household and wandered to reach and settle at Nagu village as a local deity. The anecdote in the Fudoki of

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...

"Settsu-no-kuni fudoki" mentions that had lived in Tango.

Faith and rituals

She is also thought to be identical to or to have "associated with"

Ukemochi , commonly known as , the daughter of the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami, is a goddess of food in the Shinto religion of Japan. In some differing interpretations, Ukemochi is referred to as both male and female. When shown in other forms, Ukemo ...

The original location

In Mineyama Town, Kyōtango, Kyoto prefecture, there is a well and a story of the now lost half-moon-shaped rice paddy . They are believed to be the site where Toyouke had soaked rice seeds to encourage germination and planted the first rice. The is mentioned in Engishiki dating back to

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

, as literally meaning ''the Garden of Rice Paddies''. That ancient place name is thought to have changed over time to Taba (location of rice paddies), then to . On the slope of the Kuji Pass, there is a shrine dedicated to Ōkami, as well as ''Hoi no dan'', the ruin of a sacred well ''Ame no manai'' of

Takamagahara In Japanese mythology, Takamagahara (高天原, "Plain of High Heaven" or "High Plain of Heaven", also read as Takaamanohara, Takamanohara, Takaamagahara, or Takaamahara), is the abode of the heavenly gods (''amatsukami''). Often depicted as locate ...

: That well was entered both in ''Kojiki'' and '' Nihonshoki'', and was also the highest title given to water bodies. The shrine's auspicious spirit is said to be in the , which has been worshiped as . There is a shrine named Moto-Ise in Ōemachi, Fukuchiyama City to the south of Naiku of Moto-Ise uphill the Funaokayama. Its name literally means ''former Ise'', where the priesthood has been inherited by Kawada clan, the further relative of the

Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

Amaterasu and Toyouke

Emperor Sujin appointed imperial daughter as a

Saiō A , was an unmarried female member of the Imperial House of Japan, Japanese Imperial Family, sent to Ise, Mie, Ise to serve at Ise Grand Shrine from the late 7th century until the 14th century. The Saiō's residence, , was about 10 km north ...

to serve "as a cane for Amaterasu" to find a new location to reside, and dispatched Toyosuki-iri to travel from present day

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

to neighboring areas. It is said that on the route, several locations hosted the spirit of Amaterasu by building her shrines, while Tango had the first of such shrines among the list of relocation sites. Those shrines honor Amaterasu as their main kami are: *Geku, Ise Jingu (

Ise Ise may refer to: Places *Ise, Mie, a city in Japan **Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie *Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria *Ise, Norway, a village in Norway *Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan *River Ise, a tributary of the R ...

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

), *Nagusha (Kyōtango, Kyoto prefecture), *Okumiya Ama no manai Shrine, Kono jinja (

Miyazu, Kyoto 270px, Miyazu City Hall is a city located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 16,988 in 8348 households and a population density of 98 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Miyazu is loca ...

prefecture), and * (Kyōtango). In addition, Toyouke-Ōmikami is worshiped at many branches of Ise shrines called Shinmei shrines, along with Amaterasu, and separate shrines are often built on the property of regular shrines for Toyouke-Ōmikami. There are also

Inari Inari may refer to: Shinto * Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit ** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari ** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari * Inari-zushi, a type of sushi Places * Inari, ...

shrines where they build altars for Toyouke as well. According to the discipline of Ise Shintō (Watarai Shintō) originated by a priest at Geku named , Toyouke-Ōmikami is recognized as the first divine being which appeared in this world. In their idea, Toyouke is also identical to Ame no minakanushi and Kuni no tokotachi. In this sect of Shinto, Geku, or the shrine of Toyouke-Ōmikami, is treated as ranked higher than Naiku, or the shrine of Amaterasu.

Omonoimi

is the God of

and

Mount Chokai Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

. There are

shrines A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

that enshrine Omonoiminokami in various other places in the Tohoku region, including . is considered possibly identical to He is associated with industrial growth. Every time

Mount Chōkai is an active volcano located on the southern border of Akita and Yamagata in the Tōhoku region of Japan, and is tall. Because of its (roughly) symmetrical shape and massive size, it is also variously known as , or depending on the location ...

Mythology

Faith and rituals

The original location

Amaterasu and Toyouke

Omonoimi

See also

Sources

Footnotes

Notes

References

Further reading