Kagutsuchi

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Kagutsuchi ( Japanese カ グ ツ チ ; Kojiki : Kagu-tsuchi-no-kami ( 迦 具 土 神 ), Kagutsuchi-no-mikoto, Hinoyagihayao-no-kami ; Nihonshoki : Kagu-tsuchi-no-mikoto ( 軻 (命 突) ), Ho-musuhi ; other names see below ) is the Kami of Fire in Shinto mythology .

Birth and death

According to the Kojiki and an alternative version of the Nihonshoki, he was born of Izanami , which burned her genitals ( hoto ) and she died (or "divinely abdicated" ( kamu-saru )) from these fatal injuries , after which she became the goddess of the underworld ( yomi ) became). Her husband and brother, Izanagi , is said to have been so angry after mourning his mistress that he saw his son Kagutsuchi with his sword (a tsurugi with the name Ame-no-wo-ha-bari or Itsu-no-wo- ha-bari ) beheaded.

His blood in turn became kami, according to the Kojiki (some versions of Nihonshoki give different names and numbers):

  1. Three from the blood that dripped from the tip of the blade onto the rocks: Iha-saku-no-kami ("rock-splitter-kami"), Ne-saku-no-kami ("root-splitter-kami") and Iha-tsutsu -wo-no-kami ("rock-owner-Kami", or "rock-venerable man" in the case of Karl Florenz ).
  2. Three from the blood that dripped from the upper part of the blade onto the rocks: Mika-haya-hi-no-kami ("Kami of the terribly nimble sun" or, in Florence, "The 'powerful-fast-wonderful'"), Hi-haya-hi-no-kami. ("Feuerflink-Kami", or in Florence "The 'fire-fast-wonderful'") and Take-mika-dzuchi-no-wo-kami ("Brave, terribly possessing Kami" or in Florence "Brave and powerful - Venerable man ") alias Take-futsu-no-kami or Toyo-futsu (" Brave snapper (Kami) ", or in Florence" Brave-hissing "and" Abundant-hissing ").
  3. Two from the blood that had collected on the hilt of the sword and dripped between Izanagi's fingers on the floor: Kura-okami (Florence suspects "dark great god" or "great god of the valley gorges") and Kura-mizu-ha (near Florence "Dark Water Dragon" or "Valley Gorge Water Dragon").

According to the Kojiki, eight mountain kami (with the elementary term yamatsumi in the name) were born from the corpse of the Kagutsuchi :

  1. His head ( kashira ) became Ma-saka-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami ("mountain lord of the steep slopes" near Florence).
  2. His chest ( mune ) became Odo-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami (near Florence "Lord of the sloping (?) Mountains").
  3. His belly ( hara ) became Oku-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami ("Lord of the remote mountains" near Florence).
  4. His genitals ( hoto ) became Kura-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami (in Florence, "Lord of the dark mountains" or "the Lord of the mountains [living] in the valley gorges").
  5. From his left arm arm (or his left hand, te ) became Shigi-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami (in Florence "Lord of the densely forested mountains" or "the densely lined mountains (mountain ranges)").
  6. His right arm arm (or his right hand, te ) became Hayama-tsu-mi-no-kami ("Lord of the Mountain Edge" near Florence).
  7. His left leg (or his left foot, ashi ) became Hara-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami ("Lord of the Mountain Heath" in Florence).
  8. His right leg (or his right foot, ashi ) became To-yama-tsu-mi-no-kami ("Lord of the outer mountains" near Florence).

Later chapters of two Nihonshoki variants report Kagatsuchi's death differently. According to this, he is said to have been hewn into three or five pieces by Izanagi, all of which in turn became Kami. One (I, 16) gives no names for these (three), another (I, 23) names Ikazuchi-no-kami, Ō-yama-tsumi and Taka-okami . A third version, which is not understood as canonical (I, 24), names Ō-yama-tsumi (from the head), Naka-yama-tsu-mi (from the trunk, mukuro ), Hayama-tsu-mi (from the hands, te ), Masa-katsu-yama-tsu-mi (from the loins, koshi ) and Shiki-yama-tsu-mi (from the feet, ashi ).

Several dozen kami also emerged from Izanami's dying body.

The death of Izanami and her child, the fire kami, is the first place in the Japanese creation myth in which the event of the death of one being also means the birth of another. The Buddhist religious scholar Masaharu Anesaki (1873–1949) noted that with this event the antithesis of life and death and at the same time other cycles (such as light and darkness, order and destruction) were introduced into Japanese mythology.

Shrines

The fire kami is venerated in a large number of shrines (which increase again if, as in some theologies, it is understood as an elementary part of Inari ), including:

  • together with Ishi-kori-dome-no-kami (Kami of the stonemasons) and Ama-tsu-mara-no-kami (Kami of the smith) in Fuigo-jinja (a massha of the Osaka Ikutama shrine ).
  • in a shrine on Mount Akiba ( Shizuoka Prefecture ).
  • together with the iron ore Kami Kana-yama-hime in Haruna Shrine in Haruna Municipality ( Gunma Prefecture ).
  • together with various other kami in the Kumano Hongū-Taisha .
  • along with nine other kami in the West Shrine of Suhara Shrine ( Gifu Prefecture ).
  • in the Ho-musubi-jinja ( massha ), Ōura-jinja and in the Kagu-tsuchi-jinja, side shrines on the Dewa-sanzan .
  • in the Fudō-son-sha, a side shrine of the Miyachitake Shrine ( Fukutsu , Fukuoka Prefecture).
  • at Akiba-yama-hongū-akiba Shrine ( Hamamatsu , Shizuoka Prefecture).
  • in Akiba-jinja, in Atago-jinja (together with Izanami) and in Kama-do-no-kami-no-jinja, side shrines of Taga-Taisha (Hikone, Shiga Prefecture ).
  • in the two Atago shrines in Tōkyō and Yuzawa ( Akita Prefecture ).
  • together with his parents in the Izusan Shrine ( Atami , Shizuoka Prefecture).
  • in Akiba-jinja, a side shrine ( massha ) of the Shirahata Shrine ( Fujisawa , Kanagawa Prefecture).
  • in the Ho-musubi-jinja, a side shrine ( massha ) in Udo-jingū (Nichinan, Miyazaki Prefecture ).
  • in the Atago-jinja and in the Ishiko-jinja, side shrines in the Kasuga-Taisha .
  • in Gōshō-jinja, a side shrine ( massha ) of Miyazaki-jingū ( Miyazaki ).
  • together with eleven other kami in the Jyūni-sha, a side shrine ( massha ) of the Osaka Tenman-gū .
  • as two different Kami (Kagu-tsuchi-no-mikoto and Ho-musubi-no-kami) in Atago Shrine ( Toyama Prefecture ).
  • in Shimo-tsu-sha, a side shrine ( sessha ) of the Ō-yama-tsumi shrine ( Imabari , Ehima prefecture).
  • as two different kami (Ho-no-wo-no-kami (male) and Ho-no-me-no-kami (female)) in the Ho-no-wo-ho-no-me shrine ( Beppu , Ōita prefecture ).
  • together with the clay Kami Hani-yasu-hime in the Kaeri-to-jinja, a side shrine ( massha ) of the Katori-jingū (Sawara, Chiba Prefecture ).
  • together with the household Kami Oki-tsu-hiko-no-kami and Oki-tsu-hime-no-kami in the Kamado-mikashira-no-jinja, a side shrine of the Mitsumine Shrine ( Saitama Prefecture ).
  • in the Atago shrine on Mount Atago (Ukyō-ku, Kyōto ).

Names

In the various varieties of Nihonshoki, the traditions of individual shrines, and some significant Norito , a variety of different names appear for the fire-kami born by Izanami. Among the most frequently used are (besides those already mentioned above) u. a .:

  • Atago-san
  • Hi-no-kaga-biko (-no-kami); Karl Florenz translates as "Fire's shining prince"
  • Hi-no-kagu-tsuchi (-no-kami); Karl Florenz translates as "fire shining (glowing) venerable"
  • Hi-no-kami
  • Hi-no-yagi-haya-o; Karl Florenz translates as "fire burning impetuous man"
  • Ho-musubi-kagu-tsuchi (-no-kami)
  • Ho-musubi (-no-kami); Karl Florenz translates as "fire producer"
  • Ho-no-kagu-tsuchi-no-kumi
  • Ho-no-musubi (-no-kami)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article "Japanese Mythology", in: The Mythology of all religions, vol. VIII . Marshall Johns, Boston, 1938. Pages 196ff.

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