Toyouke-Ōmikami 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 and industry 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 (418 - 8 September 479) was the 21st legendary Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 雄略天皇 (21) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order of succession. He is remembered as a patron of sericulture.Nippon ...

to offer sacred food to

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

, the Sun Goddess. Creation myths of Japan 4-eng

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

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 " Nihon Shoki". Literally, her name means kami of "Luxuriant-food Princess". Several alternative transcription and names are attributed to this goddess including , , , , 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.

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 came down to the earth. In her name Toyouke, "uke" means food, or being the goddess of food and grain, which is said to be the basis that 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 and merged into Toyouke as the deity of foodstuff:

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

Faith and rituals

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, 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: 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, Kyoto, 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.

Amaterasu and Toyouke

Emperor Sujin appointed imperial daughter as a Saiō to serve "as a cane for Amaterasu" to find a new location to reside, and dispatched Toyosuki-iri to travel from present day Nara Prefecture, Nara 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 sites. Those shrines honor Amaterasu as their main kami are: *Geku, Ise Jingu (Ise, Mie, Ise, Mie Prefecture), *Nagusha (Kyōtango, Kyoto prefecture), *Okumiya Ama no manai Shrine, Kono jinja (Miyazu, Kyoto prefecture), and * (Kyōtango). In addition, Toyouke-Ōmikami is worshiped at many branches of Ise shrines called Shimmei shrines, along with Amaterasu, and separate shrines are often built on the property of regular shrines for Toyouke-Ōmikami. There are also Inari Ōkami, Inari shrines where they build alters 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 Amenominakanushi, Ame no minakanushi and Kuninotokotachi, 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.

Mythology

Faith and rituals

The original location

Amaterasu and Toyouke

See also

Sources

Footnotes

Notes

References

Further reading