Shinerikyo

Shinerikyo (also Shinerikyu, Shineriku) is the male creator deity of Ryukyuan religion, named in the Omoro Sōshi and the chronicle Chūzan Seikan as the partner of the goddess Amamikyu. In the chronicle account the Heavenly Emperor dispatches him from the sky bearing grasses, trees and stones so that Amamikyu can fashion the islands; he then joins her as consort, and the two together bring forth the first three children of Ryukyu, ancestors of the royal line, the priestesses, and the commoners. The pair are almost always invoked together as a formulaic male-female couple in the ritual chants, and some recensions present them as primordial siblings rather than spouses.

Domains

• creation of the world

Powers

• to furnish the grasses, trees, and stones from which the islands are built

Epithets

• シネリキヨWilliam P. Lebra, Okinawan Religion: Belief, Ritual, and Social Structure (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1966). (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: AmamikyuShinerikyo is the male counterpart of the creator goddess Amamikyu, paired with her in the creation chants; together they make the islands and conceive the first people.Mitsugu Sakihara, A Brief History of Early Okinawa Based on the Omoro Sōshi (Tokyo: Honpo Shoseki Press, 1987). (secondary)
• subordinate to: Tedako, the Child of the SunIn the Omoro Sōshi the sun-lord Tedako commands Shinerikyo, together with Amamikyu, to create the islands and humankind.Mitsugu Sakihara, A Brief History of Early Okinawa Based on the Omoro Sōshi (Tokyo: Honpo Shoseki Press, 1987). (secondary)

Sources

• Shinerikyo is the male counterpart of Amamikyu, the co-creator deity who supplies the materials for making the Ryukyu Islands and fathers the first people.: George H. Kerr, Okinawa: The History of an Island People, rev. ed. (Tokyo: Tuttle, 2000), ch. 1. (secondary); Mitsugu Sakihara, A Brief History of Early Okinawa Based on the Omoro Sōshi (Tokyo: Honpo Shoseki Press, 1987). (secondary)