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
Nanashionokigishi, Nanashimenokigishi
Text [Nanashio no kigishi.Nanashime no kigishi] (Nihongi)
Other names: Nakime (Kojiki)



A divine pheasant (kishi) appearing in an "alternate writing" recorded in Nihongi's divine age chapters. According to this record, Amewakahiko was sent to the "Central Land of Reed Plains" (Ashihara no Nakatsukuni) but failed to return, so the pheasant Nanashionokigishi was ordered by Takamimusuhi and Amaterasu to search for him. Another "alternate writing," however, states that the "cock pheasant" (o no kigishi) Nanashi was sent first, and when it did not return, the "hen pheasant" (me no kigishi) Nanashi was sent to look for him, and she was killed by an arrow shot by Amewakahiko. Nihongi relates that this incident was the source for a proverb called "the pheasant messenger," meaning a messenger who fails to return from a mission.

According to Kojiki, the name of the pheasant messenger sent to search for Amewakahiko was Nakime (the hen Nakime). The arrow which Amewakahiko used to shoot Nakime passed through her breast and continued upward, reaching the banks of the Tranquil River of Heaven (Amenoyasukawa). There, Takagi no kami (another name for Takamimusuhi no kami) found the arrow and cast it downwards again, where it struck Amewakahiko in the chest, killing him.

-Nakayama Kaoru

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

No movie/映像なし