Raijin

God of thunder and lightning, drumming storms from the sky.

Domains

• thunder
• lightning

Powers

• Produce thunder by beating drums

Epithets

• 雷神 japanese · Raijin · cultGod of thunder and lightningJapanese folk-Shintō tradition; the Fūjin-Raijin iconographic pair (secondary)
• 鳴神 japanese · Narukami · epithetThe Resounding/Roaring God; the thunder kamiClassical Japanese tradition; the Narukami kabuki/nō repertoire (secondary)

Relations

• companion: FūjinReciprocal of japanese_fujin.companion — Wind god paired as the eternal counterpart of the thunder god Raijin; conventionally a flanking guardian dyad. No parentage attested for either.Standard iconographic pairing of Fūjin and Raijin (wind/thunder guardians); Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Fūjin Raijin-zu byōbu; Sanjūsangen-dō guardian statuary (secondary)

Sources

• existence: Nihon Shoki, vol. 1, 720 CE (primary); Japanese folk-religion tradition (secondary)