Koitsuno, Creator of Miyako
Koitsuno is the male creator deity of Miyako Island. According to the creation account preserved in the royal-government record Miyakojima kiji shitsugi (1748), after the island had been raised from the sea the Heavenly Emperor charged Koitsuno with bringing it to order; Koitsuno answered that all things require the pairing of yin and yang and that a male god alone could not create, so the goddess Koitama was sent down with him. Descending at the spring of Harimizu, the two cultivated the land, begot the human inhabitants of the island, and, their work complete, returned to heaven. The pair are enshrined at Harimizu utaki in Hirara, the foremost sacred grove of Miyako, worshipped since before the founding of the Ryukyu Kingdom and also famous as the seat of the island's white-serpent legends.
Domains
- island creation
- human progeniture
Powers
- to bring order and habitation to the island of Miyako
- to beget the first inhabitants of Miyako
Relations
- consort of: Koitama, Creatrix of MiyakoMale half of the creator pair of Miyako: pleading that a male god alone could not create, he obtained the goddess Koitama as his partner, and together they cultivated the island and bore its people.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
- Koitsuno is the male creator deity of Miyako Island, sent down by the Heavenly Emperor with the goddess Koitama to cultivate the island and beget its people; 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)