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
Kotoshironushi
Text [Kotoshironushi no kami] (Kojiki)
Other names: Kotoshironushi no mikoto(Nihongi), Yae kotoshironushi no kami (Kojiki)



Offspring of the kami Ōkuninushi. As part of the pacification of the "Central Land of Reed Plains" (Ashihara no Nakatsukuni), Takemikazuchi, envoy of the heavenly kami, confronted the earthly kami Ōkuninushi and asked him to relinquish the land (see kuniyuzuri) to the Heavenly Grandchild. Ōkuninushi entrusted his son Kotoshironushi with his response, whereupon Kotoshironushi pledged allegiance to the heavenly kami, and "hid himself away" inside an enclosure of green leaves which he had made in the ocean.

Based on this event, Kotoshironushi is viewed as an oracular deity transmitting the will of other kami. He also appears as an oracular deity in Nihongi's account of Empress Jingū and Emperor Tenmu. With the maid Mizokuhihime of Mishima (in Settsu Province), Kotoshironushi had a child named Himetataraisuzuhime, who later became the wife of Emperor Jinmu. Kotoshironushi is an object of worship (saijin) at shrines such as Miho Jinja in Shimane and Mishima Jinja in Shizuoka.

-Kadoya Atsushi

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

No movie/映像なし