Ame-no-Minakanushi
Japanese · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
The first sentence of Japanese literature names him and the registry did not have him. He is also the clearest case in this tradition of a deity who does almost nothing: he appears, he is named, he hides himself, and the narrative moves on — an abstraction placed at the head of a genealogy rather than an actor in it. That is precisely why the Nihon Shoki could replace him with a different abstraction without disturbing anything downstream, and the record carries both openings rather than choosing.
Domains
- creation
- supreme deity
Relations
- companion: TakamimusubiThe second of the three; the Kojiki names them in one breath and they act as a set thereafter.Kojiki: the three creating deities of the Kotoamatsukami appear in sequence. (primary)
Sources
- Ame-no-Minakanushi is the first being named in the Kojiki and the first of the five Kotoamatsukami, born alone in Takamagahara without procreation; the Nihon Shoki's main narrative gives Kuninotokotachi first instead.: Kojiki, the opening sequence of kami. (primary); Reference treatments of the Kotoamatsukami and of the Nihon Shoki variants. (secondary)