Yakusanoikazuchi or ikazuchi is a collective name for the eight

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 ...

of thunder in

Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto and Buddhist traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of year ...

. Each one represents a different type of storm. Ikazuchi (雷) literally means thunder in Japanese.

Mythology

Some tellings say that the eight deities were from the maggots of Izanami's rotting corpse. Many versions of the Nihon Shoki and 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 ...

state that Izanami send the

Yomotsu-shikome , in Japanese mythology, was a hag sent by the dead Izanami to pursue her husband Izanagi, for shaming her by breaking promise not to see her in her decayed form in the Underworld ( Yomi-no-kuni). Also recorded by the name , the name may have be ...

, 150 warriors, and the eight thunder kami after him.

List

* Ō-ikazuchi: (Great thunder) both the Kojiki states and the Nihon Shoki state that Ō-ikazuchi came from Izanami's head. * Hono-ikazuchi: (Fire thunder) Both the Kojiki says that this kami came from Izanami's breasts. * Kuro-ikazuchi: (Black thunder) The Kojiki says that this deity came from Izanami's belly however, the Nikon Shoki says that Kuro-ikazuchi was in Izanami's

rectum The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals, and the Gastrointestinal tract, gut in others. The adult human rectum is about long, and begins at the rectosigmoid junction (the end of the s ...

. * Saku-ikazuchi: (Cleaving thunder) * Waka-ikazuchi: (Young thunder) * Tsuchi-ikazuchi: (Earth thunder) * Naru-ikazuchi: (Rumbling thunder) * Fuchi-ikazuchi: (Couchant thunder)

References

Japanese mythology Thunder gods Japanese deities {{Japan-myth-stub