Encyclopedia of Shinto

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詳細表示 (Complete Article)

カテゴリー1： 2. Kami (Deities)
カテゴリー2： Kami in Classic Texts
Title
Sukunahikona
Text [Sukunahikona no kami] (Kojiki)
A kami who assisted Ōnamuchi in the "forming of the land." According to Kojiki, Sukunahikona was a tiny kami who fell from between the fingers of its parent (oyakami) Kamimusuhi (according to Nihongi, Takamimusuhi). In Kojiki, Sukunahikona first appears riding on the waves in a boat made from the pod of the flowering vine called kagami (frequently identified as the gagaimo plant or Metaplexis japonica), and wearing the skin of a small bird. In almost all versions of the story, the kami appears as one half of a pair with Ōnamuchi, and the two kami cooperate toward the development of the land and the invention of medicines.

Later, Sukunahikona is described as climbing up a millet stalk and springing off in Misaki of Kumano (alternately, on the island of Awajima), thus passing to the "eternal land" (Tokoyo no kuni). Because of these attributes, Sukunahikona is viewed as possessing the characteristics of a tutelary both of grains, and of the "other world." See also Ōnamuchi.

-Kadoya Atsushi

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

No movie/映像なし