In the Kojiki and related creation genealogies (Kamiumi), Ōyamatsumi is presented among the elder generation of kami born in the primordial age associated with Izanagi and Izanami; he functions as an ancestral node whose offspring populate later mythic narratives. Variant textual traditions in the Nihon Shoki and later medieval scholastic charts present alternate filiations for certain figures (for example, some later charts list Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi as his children). In the Tenson Kōrin account he interacts with Ninigi-no-Mikoto by offering his daughters Konohanasakuya-hime and Iwanaga-hime; when Ninigi sends Iwanaga-hime back, Ōyamatsumi remarks that the rejection shortens the heavenly grandson's intended longevity, an etiological element linking divine marriage choices to human / imperial fortunes.
Classical narrative sources supplied do not provide a detailed physical description of Ōyamatsumi. Rather than a fixed anthropomorphic portrait, his presence in the tradition is attested through genealogy and place: he is enshrined and venerated at Ōyamazumi Shrine on Ōmishima, and cultic representation is therefore principally mediated by shrine practice and local sacred objects rather than by standardized textual iconography in the cited sources. The textual corpus emphasizes his status as an elder mountain/island/sea kami and progenitor rather than describing a consistent physical form.
The primary functions attributed to Ōyamatsumi in the cited sources are genealogical and territorial: he fathers numerous kami (with Kaya-no-hime in Kojiki producing eight named offspring and additional offspring named without a mother in the lists), acts as a regional and landscape ancestor linked to mountains, islands, and the sea, and plays a role in sanctioning marriage alliances of the heavenly line (offering daughters to Ninigi). Secondary summaries associate him with war in modern descriptions, but the core texts emphasize lineage, place-guardianship, and the offering of daughters (Konohanasakuya-hime and Iwanaga-hime) that bear on imperial legitimacy and human mortality rather than enumerating overt combative feats.
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.
Amatsuhikone
Amatsuhikone (天津日子根命 / 天津彥根命) is a kami in Japanese mythology described as a son of the sun goddess Amaterasu. He functions primarily as a member of the heavenly genealogy used to legitimize clan lineages and is later identified as the shintai (sacred body) of Mount Mikami, where Mikami Shrine stands to venerate him.
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-Minakanushi
Ame-no-Minakanushi (天之御中主) is a primordial kami named in Japan's classical creation texts as one of the very first deities to come into being in Takamanohara (High Heaven). Presented in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki as a solitary, hidden first god, he functions primarily as a mythic point of cosmic origin rather than an actively intervening deity in surviving narratives.
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.
Community Record
- [1]Ōyamatsumi - Wikipedia. Wikipedia: Ōyamatsumi (summary of Kojiki/Nihon Shoki material and shrine information)wiki
- [2]Ōyamatsumi - Wikidata. Wikidata entry for Ōyamatsumiwiki
- [3]Iwanaga-hime - Wikipedia. Wikipedia: Iwanaga-hime (context for Tenson Kōrin episode and daughter-offering motif)wiki