According to the Kojiki and noted variants in the Nihon Shoki and other classical compilations, at the beginning of heaven and earth a deity named Ame-no-Minakanushi came into existence in Takamanohara (High Heaven). He is listed among the earliest solitary deities (hitorigami) and in some textual traditions is reckoned the first of the 'three deities of creation' (zōka sanshin). Textual traditions vary (for example some Nihon Shoki lists foreground Kuni-no-Tokotachi), and later commentators and sectarian movements reinterpreted or identified him with other primordial gods, but the core canonical role in the sources is as a named cosmic originating center.
Classical texts describe Ame-no-Minakanushi as one of the first deities who 'came into existence' and note that the first solitary deities 'hid their bodies' or were not visibly formed. The sources provide no concrete anthropomorphic description, iconography, or shrine-based imagery; he is presented as an imperceptible or hidden primordial presence rather than a visually depicted figure. The Engishiki and related early shrine records do not list extant ancient shrines to him.
In the primary sources Ame-no-Minakanushi's role is ontological: he is named as originating at the cosmic beginning. The texts record no narratives of deeds, interventions, or active mythic episodes attributed to him. Later scholarship interprets his function variously as an abstract central principle, a stabilizing 'hollow center' in triadic schemes, or a conceptual sky-center parallel to other high-god figures; these are interpretive readings rather than evidences of narrated powers in the classical texts.
Ajisukitakahikone
Ajisukitakahikone is a kami in Japanese mythic literature (Kojiki/Nihon Shoki). He appears in the transfer-of-rule cycle between heaven and earth, is described as a son of Ōkuninushi, associated with the Kamo cult (called Kamo no ōmikami in some modern museum/catalog entries), and features in narratives that explain landscape formation and meteorological genealogy.
Amaterasu Ōmikami
Amaterasu Ōmikami is the sun deity and a principal kami in Shinto tradition, presented in classical Japanese sources as ruler of Takamagahara (the High Celestial Plain) and the mythic ancestress of the Imperial House through her grandson Ninigi. She is central to shrine cult at Ise and to ritual nomenclature and practice within institutional Shinto.
Amatsumara
Amatsumara (天津麻羅), also called Amenomahitotsu, is a Shinto kami presented in sources as the divine smith of Takamagahara who is said to have aided in making the mirror used in the Amaterasu cave episode and who serves as a patron of earthly blacksmiths.
Ame-no-Koyane-no-mikoto
Ame-no-Koyane-no-mikoto is a male Amatsukami (heavenly kami) in classical Shinto myth, presented as the ritual-official ancestor of the Nakatomi clan and linked genealogically to the Fujiwara. He functions as a divine ritual specialist—performing divination and liturgical speech in foundational myths (notably the Ama-no-Iwato episode) and as guardian of the sacred mirror—and is venerated at major shrines such as Kasuga Taisha and Hiraoka Shrine.
Ame-no-Tajikarao
Ame-no-Tajikarao is a kami in Japanese Shinto myth notable for exceptional physical strength. He appears in the Ama-no-Iwato narrative as the deity who pulls Amaterasu from the heavenly rock cave, and he is venerated at numerous shrines across Japan with associations to physical power and local lineage claims.
Ame-no-Tokotachi
Ame-no-Tokotachi is a primordial kami in classical Shinto cosmology attested in summaries of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki tradition. Sources identify a very early solitary or among-the-first deity who manifests at the creation of heaven and earth; supplied materials also reference a closely related name, Ame-no-Minakanushi, in English summaries of those chronicles.
Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto
Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is a Shinto kami of dawn, mirth, revelry and the performing arts whose comic and erotic dance at the entrance of Amano‑Iwato lures the sun goddess Amaterasu from hiding, restoring light; her action is cited as the mythic origin of kagura and of certain ritual/performance lineages.
Ame-no-hohi
Ame-no-hohi (also rendered Ame no Fuhi) is a male kami in Japanese mythology identified in sources as the second son of the sun goddess Amaterasu. He is principally attested as an ancestral figure: historical rulers of Izumo and the modern heads of Izumo Taisha and Izumo-taishakyo claim descent from him.
Ame-no-wakahiko
Ame-no-wakahiko is presented in the provided sources as a kami in Japanese mythology, described specifically as a god of grains and counted among the Amatsukami (heavenly deities). The sources identify him as a son of Amatsukunitama and note a medieval prose narrative, the Ame no Wakahiko Monogatari, exists about him.
Amenohoakari
Amenohoakari (天火明) is a Japanese kami associated with sunlight, heat, and the ripening of grain; he functions as an agricultural deity and a divine ancestor claimed by multiple clans and hereditary priestly lineages. Textual sources place him within heavenly genealogy (tensonzoku) while other records give alternate parentage, producing divergent traditions about his origins and relationships to other kami.
An (案)
An (案) is a small table, desk, or platform used in Shinto ceremonies to bear offerings. It is a liturgical furnishing and material mediator in shrine rites rather than a sentient supernatural being.
Atago Gongen
Atago Gongen (愛宕権現) is a syncretic mountain guardian venerated around Mount Atago as a local gongen (manifestation) of the bodhisattva Jizō and as a protective kami. Traditionally worshipped by Shugendō practitioners, townspeople, and samurai, the cult emphasizes protection from fire, theft, and disaster and developed through honji-suijaku fusion of Buddhist and Shinto ideas.
Community Record
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- [2]Ame-no-Minakanushi (Wikidata). Wikidata entry Q2842779other
- [3]國學院大學デジタルミュージアム — Amenominakanushi. Kokugakuin University Digital Museum entry for Amenominakanushiacademic
- [4]Amenominakanushi no Kami in Late Tokugawa Period Kokugaku. Article on Amenominakanushi in Late Tokugawa period kokugaku (Kokugakuin materials)academic
- [5]AMENOMINAKANUSHI - the Japanese God of Creation. Godchecker summary entryother