Kushi-mikata-no-Mikoto

First-generation demigod by strict criterion in the Kojiki tradition: divine father (Ōmononushi, the kami of Mt. Miwa, identified in the Kojiki as an aspect of Ōkuninushi) and mortal mother (Ikutamayoribime, "Generative-Soul-Receiving Princess"). The conception narrative is one of the most distinctive paternal-recognition tableaux in the Kojiki: a divinely-handsome man visited Ikutamayoribime nightly. Each visit she conceived. Her parents, suspicious, instructed her to scatter red clay around the bedroom and to fasten a hempen thread to the hem of the visiting man's robe. In the morning, the thread led through the keyhole and across the country to the Ōmononushi shrine at Mt. Miwa — the bobbin had only three loops left, providing the canonical Kojiki etymology of "Mi-wa" ("three loops"). The recognition revealed the father as Ōmononushi the kami of Mt. Miwa. Born as the first-generation demigod descendant. The Kojiki traces the line: Ōmononushi (deity) → Kushimikata (demigod, by Ikutamayoribime) → Iikatasumi → Takemikazuchi → Ohotataneko (the priest installed at the Ōmiwa shrine to placate the plague during the reign of Emperor Sūjin). Founded the Miwa-no-kimi clan, hereditary priests of the Ōmiwa Shrine on Mt. Miwa (Ōmiwa-san) — one of the oldest Shinto shrines, considered to predate the imperial Yamato dynasty in some traditions. The mountain itself is the shintai (object of worship); there is no honden (main hall) — the worshipper faces the mountain directly. The clan continued through the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods as a recognized priestly lineage; the Ōmiwa-Asomi were granted Asomi rank by Emperor Tenmu in 684 CE. Kushimikata's genealogical position as the first-generation demigod son of Ōmononushi makes him one of the structurally-foundational figures of the Kojiki Book 2 mytho-historical genealogy, alongside the imperial Ninigi-Yamato lineage and the Izumo Ōkuninushi-cycle.

Parentage

• paternal: Ōmononushi-no-Kami
• maternal: Iku-tama-yori-bime

Children

• Iikatasumi

Domains

• foundation of Miwa no kimi priestly clan
• Mt Miwa Omiwa shrine priestly prerogative

Powers

• paternal Omononushi divine inheritance
• priestly mediation Omiwa shrine

Relations

• parent of: Iikatasumi (second-generation Miwa-line descendant of Ōmononushi via Kushimikatamatsumi) · JapaneseIikatasumi — the second generation of the Miwa-no-kimi line. Entry pending.Kojiki Book 2 — the Ōmononushi-to-Ohotataneko genealogy (primary)
• ancestor of: Ohotataneko (last-generation Miwa-line descendant; installed by Emperor Sujin as the Ōmiwa shrine high priest to placate the plague) · JapaneseOhotataneko, descendant through several generations; installed by Emperor Sūjin as the high priest of the Ōmiwa shrine to placate the plague that ravaged the country. Entry pending.Kojiki Book 2 — Ohotataneko was found by Emperor Sūjin's search and installed as the high priest of the Ōmiwa shrine to placate the plague (primary)

Sources

• existence: Kojiki (古事記, 712 CE) Book 2, the Sūjin-tennō chapter — the canonical narrative of the thread-on-the-hem paternal recognition and the Ōmiwa shrine genealogy (primary); Nihon Shoki (日本書紀, 720 CE) Book 5 — parallel narrative with variant details on the Ōmononushi paternity (primary); Donald L. Philippi, Kojiki (translation, 1968) section 65 — the standard scholarly English translation of the recognition-narrative (primary); Basil Hall Chamberlain, A Translation of the "Ko-Ji-Ki" or Records of Ancient Matters (1882) — the foundational Western scholarly translation (primary); continuing Ōmiwa Shrine institutional tradition; the Miwa-no-kimi clan hereditary genealogical record (primary)