The are snake
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 ...
in Japanese folklore appearing in the ''
Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki''. They lived in
Namegata
is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 32,144 in 11,412 households and a population density of 144.5 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 35.9%. The total area of ...
county, in fields near the government office. As a snake, it was an which are a malignant
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 ...
who bring affliction to human beings. Yato no kami were rumored to bring familial extermination on anyone who saw them.
It's told that Yato no kami were killed and enshrined by a man named Yahazu no uji no Matachi during the time when
Emperor Keitai
(died 10 March 531) was the 26th legendary emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 継体天皇 (26)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.
No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but h ...
was in reign. The Yato no kami vanished later when a man named Mibunomuroji Maro drove them away from disturbing him and his workers who were building a moat there.
In popular culture
*Yato-no-kami appeared as a major villain in
GeGeGe no Kitarō
, originally known as , is a Japanese manga series created in 1960 by Shigeru Mizuki. It is best known for its popularization of the folklore creatures known as ''yōkai'', a class of spirit-monster which all of the main characters ...
: Nippon Bakuretsu!! in 2008.
*In the 2020 action role-playing game
Nioh 2
is an action role-playing video game developed by Team Ninja for the PlayStation 4. It was published by Koei Tecmo in Japan and Sony Interactive Entertainment worldwide on March 13, 2020. It is both a prequel and sequel to ''Nioh'' (2017). Versio ...
, Yato-no-Kami (named Yatsu-no-Kami in-game) makes an appearance as a
boss
Boss may refer to:
Occupations
* Supervisor, often referred to as boss
* Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier
* Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization
* Fire boss, a ...
enemy that protagonist has to fight in order to progress. In the game, it takes the form of a giant snake, with 2 smaller snakes protruding from its body.
*In June 2015's
Fire Emblem Fates
''Fire Emblem Fates'' is a tactical role-playing video game for the Nintendo 3DS handheld video game console, developed by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo. It was released in June 2015 in Japan, then released inter ...
, the protagonist wields the sword Yato, named after Yato-no-kami. It is their main weapon after Chapter 5 of the story.
*In
Noragami
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Adachitoka. It began serialization in Kodansha's ''Monthly Shōnen Magazine'' in December 2010. The series has been collected into twenty-five ''tankōbon'' volumes as of June 2022.
A 12- ...
, Yato is the titular stray god of the series (Noragami) who wants to build his own shrine.
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Emblem_Fates
External links
Evolution of the Concept of Kami
Japanese legendary creatures
Legendary serpents
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