Encyclopedia of Shinto

Main Menu:   
Links:   

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
Amenoiwatowake
Text [Ame no iwatowake](Kojiki)
Other names: Kushiiwamado no kami, Toyoiwamado no kami (Kojiki)

Kami of the gateway. According to Kojiki, Amenoiwatowake was, together with the deities Omoikane and Tajikarao, ordered to accompany the Heavenly Grandchild and his companions (Futodama and others composing the "chiefs of the five clans" [itsuomonoo]) on his descent (tenson kōrin). Kojiki goes on to give Kushiiwamado no kami and Toyoiwamado no kami as alternate names for Amenoiwatowake, but Kogoshūi records the latter names as two separate deities, offspring of Futodama.

According to Kogoshūi, when Futodama accepted the advice of Omoikane and arranged for the performance that successfully lured Amaterasu from her rock cave, his two children were made guardians sentinels of the gate to Amaterasu's new palace. The two were also enshrined at the Kashihara no Miya, the site of Emperor Jinmu's coronation, and became known as the kami worshiped by the priestess of the gate. Together with deities like Omoikane, these two kami were known for their service in luring Amaterasu from the rock cave, and their high status was also likely based primarily on that service.

Amenoiwatowake is enshrined at Amenoiwato Jinja, on the foothills of the mountain Amanokaguyama in Kashihara City (Nara Prefecture). Engishiki notes that shrines worshiping this deity could also be found in the provinces of Yamashiro, Tosa, Awa, Ōmi, Settsu, Mimasaka, and Iwami.

-Mori Mizue

Pronunciation in Japanese/用語音声

No movie/映像なし