Koitama, Creatrix of Miyako
Ryukyuan · deity · Ryukyuan traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Koitama is the female creator deity of Miyako Island. In the creation account preserved in the royal-government record Miyakojima kiji shitsugi (1748), the Heavenly Emperor first charged the god Koitsuno with bringing the newly made island to order; when Koitsuno pleaded that all creation requires the union of yin and yang, the goddess Koitama was sent down to join him. Descending together at the spring of Harimizu, the pair cultivated the land, bore the ancestors of the island's people, and, their work complete, returned to heaven. Koitama is enshrined together with Koitsuno at Harimizu utaki in Hirara, the foremost sacred grove of Miyako, whose worship predates the founding of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Domains
- island creation
- human progeniture
Powers
- to bring order and habitation to the island of Miyako
- to bear the first inhabitants of Miyako
Relations
- consort of: Koitsuno, Creator of MiyakoFemale half of the creator pair of Miyako, sent down as partner to the god Koitsuno so that creation, requiring the union of male and female, could proceed.Miyakojima kiji shitsugi [宮古島記事仕次], royal-government record of Miyako (1748) (primary)
- subordinate to: Tentei, the Heavenly EmperorSent down to Miyako at the command of the Heavenly Emperor.Miyakojima kiji shitsugi [宮古島記事仕次], royal-government record of Miyako (1748) (primary)
Sources
- Koitama is the female creator deity of Miyako Island, sent down by the Heavenly Emperor as partner to the god Koitsuno; together they cultivated the island and bore its people, and the pair are enshrined at Harimizu utaki, Miyako's foremost sacred grove.: Miyakojima kiji shitsugi [宮古島記事仕次], royal-government record of Miyako (1748) (primary); Kiyomura Kōnin, Miyako shiden [宮古史伝, Historical Traditions of Miyako] (1927) (secondary); Okinawa daihyakka jiten [沖縄大百科事典, Okinawa Encyclopedia] (Naha: Okinawa Times, 1983), s.v. '漲水御嶽' (secondary)