Wakka-us Kamuy

Wakka-us Kamuy ('the deity possessed of water'), also called Pet-ru-ush-mat 'watering-place woman', is the Ainu goddess of fresh water — of the springs, streams and river-valleys on which the kotan depended. Ashkenazi (Handbook of Japanese Mythology, p. 283) describes her as a long-haired woman, a skilled dancer and singer, sympathetic to humankind and petitioned to intercede with other kamuy. The famine-feast kamuy-yukar is her signature myth: summoned by Okikurmi, she convenes the kamuy of the rapids, fish and game, the hunt-goddess Hasinaw-uk and the land-overseer Kotan-kar-kamuy, and by her dancing, singing and pleading wins back the salmon and deer that the offended kamuy had withheld because the humans had not observed the proper killing-rites. Authored as a deity with no attested divine parent.

Domains

• fresh water
• rivers
• springs

Powers

• Govern and keep pure the springs, streams and river-valleys
• Intercede with other kamuy on behalf of humans
• End famine by hosting a feast of the kamuy to release withheld game and fish
• Dance and sing as a skilled long-haired entertainer of the gods

Relations

• ally: OkikurmiAinu kamuy-yukar of the famine-feast (Philippi, Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans, 1979) (primary)
• ally: Kotan-kar-kamuyAinu kamuy-yukar of the famine-feast (Philippi, Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans, 1979) (primary)
• ally: Hash-inau-uk KamuyReciprocal of ainu_hash_inau_uk_kamuy.ally — the hunt-goddess Hasinaw-uk joins Wakka-us Kamuy's feast of the kamuy to secure the release of the game.Ainu kamuy-yukar of the famine-feast (Philippi, Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans, 1979) (primary)

Sources

• existence: Michael Ashkenazi, Handbook of Japanese Mythology (Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 283 (Waka-ush-kamui) (secondary); John Batchelor, The Ainu and Their Folk-Lore (1901) (secondary); Ainu kamuy-yukar of the famine-feast, in Donald Philippi, Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans (1979) (primary)