Encyclopedia of Shinto

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カテゴリー1： 2. Kami (Deities)
カテゴリー2： Kami in Classic Texts
Title
Kukurihime
Text [Kukurihime no kami] (Nihongi)
A kami of mediation and negotiation. According to an account transmitted by Nihongi, following the death of his wife Izanami, Izanagi went to the underworld (Yomi) to retrieve her; breaking the taboo (kinki) against viewing his dead wife, Izanagi was chased back to the visible world, and at the "Even Pass of the Underworld" (Yomotsuhirasaka), engaged in a debate with the dead woman. At that time, the kami Kukurihime is said to have mediated on behalf of Izanami, although the specific contents of her speech are not recorded. While this account can be found in an "alternate writing" of Nihongi and also in Sendai kuji hongi, it is omitted in Kojiki. From the medieval period on, the kami came to be the central object of worship (saijin) of the Shirayama Myōri Gongen shrine in Kaga Province, and was generally identified with the deity of that shrine, Shirayamahime no kami.

-Kadoya Atsushi

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

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