Ukemochi

This is the Japanese instance of the dema myth — the deity killed so that food may grow out of the body — which turns up from Indonesia to Mesoamerica, and it is the origin of rice, millet, beans and silkworms in the two chronicles. The disagreement over the killer matters: if it is Tsukuyomi, as the Nihon Shoki says, then Amaterasu's refusal ever to see her brother again is why the sun and moon are never in the sky together, and the moon's estrangement is a consequence of a murder over dinner. The registry held Susanoo, Tsukuyomi and Inari and not the goddess whose death produced the food all three are concerned with.

Domains

• food
• agriculture

Relations

• killed by: Susanoo

Sources

• Reference treatments of Ukemochi and Ōgetsu-hime.