Shinto

The Kunari no kami, or Kunari-hime, were also apparently local earth-deities. Kunari is for kuni-nari (earth-become).

Ohonamochi. – In the case of the great Earth-God of Japan, namely, Ohonamochi, the direct worship and personification of the country have already retired into the background. The myths speak of him not as the land itself, but as the maker of the land. His functions are variously described as constructing, measuring out, consolidating, subduing, and ordering or governing. The Idzumo Fudoki frequently calls him the ame no shita tsukurashishi Oho-kami, that is to say, "the great God who made the Under-Heaven." The spear which he carries is indicative of warlike prowess and political sway, while the mattock given to him by one myth points rather to agricultural development. He is also, along with Sukuna-bikona, the instructor of mankind in the arts of medicine and magic. The usual tendency to enlarge the sphere of nature deities by attributing to them providential powers is illustrated by a poem in the Manyōshiu in which he is appealed to for the protection of the ship of an envoy who was about to proceed to China.

He could assume the form of a snake or of a human being.

The name Ohonamochi tells us nothing. It means great-name-possessor, and is simply honorific. An alternative title is Oho-kuni-nushi, or great land-master, Kuni-nushi being perhaps an honorary epithet equivalent to "king." Another name of this deity, Oho-kuni-dama (great land spirit), is more significant. It shows that he was regarded as one of the Kuni-dama or earth-deities mentioned above. His Earth-God quality is also implied by the alias Oho-toko-nushi, or great-place-master.

This God belongs mainly to the Idzumo group of myths. He is the son of Susa no wo, also an Idzumo God. The great centre of his worship to this day, and the holiest spot in Japan, next after Ise, is Kidzuki, a town in that province. His shrine here[113 - Graphically described in Lafcadio Hearn's 'Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.'] is known all over Japan as the Taisha, or Great Shrine, and was formerly of exceptional magnificence. There is a widespread belief that all the Gods of Japan resort hither in the tenth month, which is therefore called Kami-na-dzuki, or the godless month. But Hirata's suggestion that Kami-na-dzuki is really for Kami-name-dzuki, the divine tasting-month, that is, the month of the harvest festival, is very plausible. Kaempfer transfers this annual visit of the Gods from Idzumo to the Mikado's palace, a blundering account of a myth which itself rests on a blunder.

The story of his deposition[114 - See above, p. 108. (#Page_108)] by Take-mika-dzuchi and Futsunushi is probably an echo of a real historical event, when the rulers of Idzumo were compelled to yield up their temporal power to the conquerors of Yamato, retaining however, their control of spiritual matters.

Miwa, in Yamato, was another seat of this deity's worship. To be more exact, it was his nigi-tama, or gentle spirit, which was worshipped here. He is also associated with the numerous shrines called Sannō or Hiye. The Sono no kami (garden deity), to whom there was a shrine in the Palace, is also believed to be Ohomononushi, the nigi-tama of Ohonamochi. Along with Sukuna-bikona he is worshipped at Kanda, Tokio, as showing special favour to the inhabitants of that city (Yedokko no mitama no kami). These two deities are supposed to grant protection against small-pox.

The Kojiki story of Ohonamochi's adventures in Yomi[115 - See above, p. 106. (#Page_106)] has no apparent connexion with his status as an Earth-God. Dr. Buckley argues that the Ohonamochi of this narrative is a Moon-God, and that his eighty brothers are the stars. I think it will be found to contain foreign and later elements, and that the introduction of Ohonamochi's name is merely accidental. The Nihongi passes it over in silence. The shintai of Ohonamochi is a necklace of jewels. His nigi-tama, or gentle spirit, is represented by a mirror, the shintai of the ara-tama, or rough spirit, being a spear.

Asuha. – An obscure deity, called Asuha no kami, said to be the child of Oho-toshi, the Harvest-God, is referred to in one of the norito. Motoöri fails to identify him or her. Hirata thinks that Asuha is for ashiba, that is, foot-place, and that it means the plot of ground on which the dwelling stands. He mentions a practice by persons whose friends were absent on pilgrimages of making a model of a house with a thatched roof to which they offered tea and rice every morning. They could not tell him what God it was whom they wished to propitiate. Hirata had no doubt that it was Asuha. He quotes an old poem which says: "Until he returns, I will pray to the God Asuha of the middle of the courtyard." Sir E. Satow calls Asuha no kami the "guardian deity" of the courtyard. I do not deny that this conception existed. But we must not lose sight of the earlier phase of thought in which the courtyard is itself the deity.

Other Earth-Gods. – Another obscure earth-deity is Haigi no kami, said to be the God of the space between the door of the house and the outer gate. The soil of the earth is deified under the names of Uhijini, Suhijini, and Hani-yasu-hime, personifications of mud, sand, and clay respectively. The two former are just mentioned in myth. Hani-yasu means "clay easy," the latter adjective indicating its plastic quality. Clay was probably deified because it forms the material for the Kamado, or kitchen-furnace, and is therefore deserving of gratitude for its service in restraining the unruly element fire. The water-gourd was deified for the same reason.

Earthquake-Gods. – The old myths say nothing about earthquakes, and although they are mentioned several times in the historical part of the Nihongi, in only one case[116 - Nihongi, ii. 366.] is a God of Earthquakes spoken of. In a. d. 684 there was a great earthquake, and a new island was formed at Idzu. A drumming sound was heard, which was thought to be made by the Gods in constructing it. The Shoku-nihongi, a continuation of the Nihongi, states that in the reign of Shōmu (724-48), there were shrines to the God of Earthquakes in all the provinces. But any God might cause an earthquake. There is a legend that the God of Kashima (Take-mika-dzuchi) sealed down the Earthquake-God-he has no particular name-by placing over him the Kaname-ishi, or pivot-stone, which is still to be seen near his shrine.

The comparative insignificance of this deity in a country so notoriously subject to these convulsions as Japan is an instructive commentary on Buckle's well-known views of their importance in promoting superstition.

Mountain-Gods. – Most mountains of importance have their deity, who sometimes belongs to the general pantheon and is at others a specific mountain deity. The Mountain-God sometimes assumes the form of a serpent.

Though Japan has one hundred volcanoes, of which half are more or less active, the feelings excited by volcanic phenomena have left little trace in the religion. The Kojiki, Nihongi, and Norito do not recognize any worship of volcanoes. Perhaps the Aso-tsu-hiko and Aso-tsu-hime of the Nihongi[117 - I. 198.] are to be reckoned an exception. These are no doubt personifications of Mount Aso, a remarkable volcano in the province of Higo, which is frequently referred to in later history. The drying up or overflowing of a lake within its crater was supposed to portend famine, pestilence, drought, or the death of the sovereign. A ninth-century notice states that the Mikado informed the Sun-Goddess that "the miraculous pond in the district of Aso recently dried up for about four hundred feet, and in the province of Idzu there has been an earthquake. After divination I learnt that a drought, plague, or war would ensue. In order that this land might be peacefully ruled by the Sun-Goddess, I, having chosen a day of happy omen, send out the messengers (named) and present offerings." On another similar occasion, the God Hachiman was appealed to for help. The God (or Gods), however, of Aso itself was not wholly neglected. There were shrines to him on the mountain, with hereditary guardians to attend to them, and we hear of an offering of a horse. But volcano gods were in no high estimation. In 860 a Satsuma volcano received the junior branch of a lower division of the fourth rank, which is much as if Vesuvius were awarded the Italian equivalent for a D.S.O.

A great eruption of a mountain in Deha in the ninth century was attributed to the wrath of Oho-mono-imi (the Food-Goddess), on account of a pollution of the mountain water by dead bodies.

Fuji no yama is worshipped under the name of Sengen or Asama. At the present day nearly every volcano has its deity and a small shrine.

Mountain Class-Deities. – The Kojiki and Nihongi mention a Mountain-God or Gods,[118 - See 'Ch. K.,' p. 33.] called Yama tsu mi (mountain-body), as among the children of Izanagi and Izanami, or as born from the blood of Kagutsuchi when slain by his father. We hear little more of him or them. The Mountain-God was worshipped before cutting trees for shrines or palaces.

Sea-Gods. – The chief sea-deities of Shinto are the three Gods produced by Izanagi[119 - See above, p. 95. (#Page_95)] when he washed in the sea after his return from Yomi. They are named respectively Soko-tsu-wata-dzu-mi (bottom-sea-body), Naka-tsu-wata-dzu-mi (middle-sea-body) and Uha-tsu-wata-dz-umi (upper-sea-body). Their chief shrine is at Sumiyoshi, near Sakai, and they are prayed to for rescue from shipwreck and for fair winds.[120 - See Index-'Sumiyoshi.'] These three Gods are frequently spoken of as one. Hirata identifies them with Toyotama-hiko, whose legend is related above.[121 - See p. 114. (#Page_114)]

With Toyotama-hiko there is associated a fabulous animal called a wani, usually written with the Chinese character for crocodile. There can be little doubt that the wani is really the Chinese dragon. It is frequently so represented in Japanese pictures. I have before me a print which shows Toyotama-hiko and his daughter with dragons' heads appearing over their human ones. This shows that he was conceived of not only as a Lord of Dragons, but as a dragon himself. His daughter, who in one version of the story changes at the moment of child-bearing into a wani as her true form, in another is converted into a dragon. In Japanese myth the serpent or dragon is almost always associated with water in some of its forms.

We also hear of a Shiho-tsuchi, or brine-father, and of local harbour deities.

River-Gods. – The River Gods have no individual names. They are called generally midzu-chi, or water-father. Japanese dictionaries describe the midzu-chi as an animal of the dragon species with four legs. Hepburn, in his 'Japanese-English Dictionary,' calls it a large water-snake. The difference is not material. The dragon-kings of Chinese myth (of whom Toyotama-hiko is an echo) are in India the Naga Raja, or cobra-kings.

The conception of a stream as a snake, serpent, or dragon, or of one of these animals as the embodiment of a water-deity is widespread. Dennys, in his 'Folk-Lore of China,' quotes from the North China Herald the following: "The River-God is in every case a small water-snake which popular fancy has converted into a deity." Robertson-Smith, in his 'Religion of the Semites,' says that "the living power that inhabits sacred waters and gives them their miraculous or healing quality is very often held to be a serpent, a huge dragon, or water monster." Reville tells us that "Le serpent joue en effet un grand rôle symbolique dans le culte de Tlaloc (the Mexican Rain and Water God) en tant qu'il represente l'eau qui coule, les nuages, les cours d'eau." It is easy to understand how a river, with its sinuous course and its mysterious movement without legs, should come to be thought of as a great serpent, especially if we remember the aquatic habits of some of the ophidia. Rivers have their favourable and their maleficent aspects. On the one hand they furnish water for irrigation, and on the other they cause destruction and loss of life by their floods, metaphorically expressed by the serpent's poison. The River-Gods are prayed to for rain in time of drought. We hear oftener of their sinister aspect. The Perseus and Andromeda incident related above is probably a trace of former human sacrifices to rivers, of which further evidence is afforded by the following extracts from the Nihongi: -

"a. d. 379. This year, at a fork of the River Kahashima, in the central division of the Province of Kibi, there was a great water-dragon which harassed the people. Now when travellers were passing that place on their journey, they were sure to be affected by its poison, so that many died. Hereupon Agatamori, the ancestor of the Omi of Kasa, a man of fierce temper and of great bodily strength, stood over the pool of the river-fork and flung into the water three whole calabashes, saying: 'Thou art continually belching up poison and therewithal plaguing travellers. I will kill thee, thou water-dragon. If thou canst sink these calabashes, then will I take myself away, but if thou canst not sink them, then will I cut thy body to pieces.' Now the water-dragon changed itself into a deer and tried to draw down the calabashes, but the calabashes would not sink. So with upraised sword he entered the water and slew the water-dragon. He further sought out the water-dragon's fellows. Now the tribe of all the water-dragons filled a cave in the bottom of the pool. He slew them every one, and the water of the river became changed to blood. Therefore that water was called the pool of Agatamori."

"a. d. 323. In order to prevent the overflowing of the Northern river the Mamuta embankment was constructed. At this time there were two parts of the construction which gave way and could not be stopped up. Then the Emperor had a dream, in which he was admonished by a God, saying: 'There are a man of Musashi named Koha-kubi and a man of Kahachi named Koromo no ko, the Muraji of Mamuta. Let these two men be sacrificed to the River-God, and thou wilt surely be enabled to close the gaps.' So he sought forthese two men, and having found them, offered them to the River-God. Hereupon Koha-kubi wept and lamented, and plunging into the water, died. So that embankment was completed. Koroma no ko, however, took two whole calabashes, and standing over the water which could not be dammed, plunged the two calabashes into the mid-stream and prayed, saying: 'O thou River-God, who hast sent the curse [to remove which] I have now come hither as a sacrifice! If thou dost persist in thy desire to have me, sink these calabashes and let them not rise to the surface. Then shall I know that thou art a true God, and will enter the water of my own accord. But if thou canst not sink the calabashes, I shall, of course, know that thou art a false God, for whom why should I spend my life in vain?' Hereupon a whirlwind arose suddenly which drew with it the calabashes and tried to submerge them in the water. But the calabashes, dancing on the waves, would not sink, and floated far away over the wide waters. In this way that embankment was completed, although Koromo no ko did not die. Accordingly Koromo no ko's cleverness saved his life. Therefore the men of that time gave a name to these two places, calling them 'Koha-kubi's Gap' and 'Koromo no ko's Gap.'"

These stories, like that of Perseus and Andromeda, and the Roman legend that Hercules substituted images of straw for the living men hurled into the Tiber from the Sublician bridge, belong to a period when the belief in the efficacy of human sacrifice for propitiating river-deities had been considerably shaken. The abolition of sacrifices of living men at the tombs of deceased Mikados is part of the same movement in the direction of a greater regard for human life. The decay of the cult of rivers is also to be inferred from a statement in the Nihongi (a. d. 642) that prayers to the River-Gods for rain were condemned by the Government as yielding no good result. Reading Buddhist Sutras was equally ineffectual, but prayers by the Mikado to the four quarters of Heaven in Chinese fashion were more successful.

There is a superstition at the present day that the mouths and pools of rivers are haunted by monsters called kappa, which destroy human beings and domestic animals.

Rain-Gods. – Two special Rain-Gods are mentioned in the Nihongi, namely, Kura o Kami (valley-august-god) and Taka-o-Kami (height-august-god). Both are often called simply O Kami, and are conceived of as having dragon shape. But praying for rain was by no means confined to them. The Yengishiki gives a list of eighty-five shrines to which messengers were despatched by the Court to pray for rain. These included many river and water deities, such as the Yamaguchi (mountain-mouth) and Mi-kumari (water-distributor) Gods; but the Wind-God, the Rice-God, the Thunder-God, and many others were added. Even deified men like Temmangū; might be prayed to for rain. The following is a modern method of causing rain. A procession is formed, a Shinto priest carrying gohei at its head. Next to him follows a conch-blower, and then some men carrying a dragon made of straw, bamboo, &c. Two flags inscribed to the Dragon-kings come after. Next follows a drum, then the people in disorderly rout, shouting, "The black clouds of the honourable peak: from the west the rain comes pouring." The ceremony ends by the straw dragon being plunged into a waterfall.

Water from the sacred lake of Haruna is supposed to produce rain. It is carried to the required place by relays of couriers, for if it stopped on the way the rain would fall there instead.

Well-Gods. – Sacred wells are known in Japan. They are called mi-wi (august well) or mana-wi (true well). There is one at Kitsuki, in Idzumo, called the ama no manawi (heaven-true-well), whence sacred water is drawn. Wells or well-gods are widely worshipped, usually in association with such household deities as Ashiba no Kami (the site deity) and Kamado no Kami (the furnace deity). We hear of an Iku-wi no Kami (live-well-god) and a Fuku-wi no Kami (luck-well-god). Special wells were sunk for the water used in the ohonihe ceremony, and worship paid to them.

Well-diggers (idohori) at the present day sometimes purify the ground previously to beginning their operations and set up gohei. In fine weather, at night, they apply their ears to the ground, when they can hear the water-veins below. Old wells should not be wholly closed, or blindness to one of the family will be the result. Hence to appease the God of the well a bamboo is let down into it before filling it up. Wells are worshipped at the New Year.

Water-Gods. – The element of water generally is deified under the name of Midzuha no me (water-female). She is said to have been produced from the urine of Izanami when dying, or, according to another account, from the blood of Kagu-tsuchi when he was slain by Izanagi.[122 - See above, p. 92. (#Page_92)] The Jimmu legend says that the water used in sacrifice to Musubi was entitled Idzu no Midzuha no me, that is to say, "sacred-water-female," thus identifying the element with the deity to whom it belongs.

Wind-Gods. – The Nihongi speaks of one Wind-God named Shinatsu-hiko (wind-long-prince). He was produced from Izanagi's breath when he puffed away the mists which surrounded the newly formed country of Japan.[123 - Nihongi, i. 22.] The conception of the wind as the breath of the Gods is also found in the Vedas and elsewhere. In the latter part of the Nihongi frequent mention is made of embassies to Tatsuta, in Yamato, to pray to the Wind-Gods for a good harvest. A norito addressed to them[124 - See Index-'Wind-Gods.'] makes two Wind-Gods-one masculine, named Shinatsu-hiko, and one feminine, called Shinatobe. They are also referred to as Ame no Mihashira (august-pillar[125 - In Yucatan there were four Wind-Gods, who upheld the four corners of Heaven.] of Heaven) and Kuni no Mihashira (august-pillar of Earth). Hirata supposes that it was by them that communication was maintained between earth and sky in the Age of the Gods, and that it is due to their agency that the prayers of men are heard in Heaven. Their shintai is a mirror.

Another Wind-God is Hayachi, that is, the swift father, or perhaps swift wind. He is more especially the whirlwind. He acted as the messenger of the Gods in bringing up to Heaven the body of Ame no waka-hiko, who had died on earth.

Take-mika-dzuchi and Futsunushi. – There is much confusion as to the character and functions of these two deities. They are associated in myth and in worship.[126 - See above, p. 109. (#Page_109)] Their two oldest shrines at Kashima and Kadori are close to one another, and they are worshipped together at Kasuga and other places. Indeed Hirata argues that they are one and the same deity. He points out that Futsunushi is not mentioned in the Kojiki story of the pacification of Japan in preparation for the advent of Ninigi, and that the same authority gives Toyo-futsu no Kami and Take-futsu no Kami as alternative names of Take-mika-dzuchi. On the other hand, the Jimmu legend calls Futsu no mitama,[127 - Nihongi, i. 115.] apparently a variant of Futsunushi, the sword of Take-mika-dzuchi, and ascribes a different parentage to these two deities. There are other features in the Nihongi myths which are inconsistent with the theory that they are identical.

Take-mika-dzuchi means "brave-dread-father." His name is frequently written with Chinese characters which imply that he is identical with Ika-dzuchi, or the Thunder-God. This is probably correct, although it is to be remembered that Ika-dzuchi had in more ancient times the more general signification "dread father," and is applied to other than thunder deities.

In Futsu-nushi the latter element admittedly means "master." But I cannot accept Motoöri's explanation of futsu as an onomatopoetic word expressing the sound made when a thing is cleanly cut or snapped off.

The following facts suggest a different derivation: -

1. The Sun-mirror (hi-kagami, which may also mean "fire-mirror") is called in one writing[128 - Nihongi, i. 44.] the Ma-futsu no kagami (true-fire-mirror).

2. Ama no hihoko is said to have brought over with him from Korea a hi-kagami.

3. Futsu is the regular Japanese phonetic equivalent of the Korean pul, "fire." In Furu-no mitama and Furu-musubi (for Ho-musubi) we have an intermediate form between futsu and pul. There is a God called Saji-futsu or Satsu-futsu, for which the Korean phonetic equivalent would be Sal-pul. This would mean "living fire" (Cicero's "ignis animal"). I have no doubt that Saji-futsu is an alias of Futsu-nushi.

4. Futsunushi was produced from the blood of Kagu-tsuchi, the God of Fire, when the latter was slain by Izanagi.

The inference from these data is that Futsunushi is a Fire-God of Korean origin.[129 - Is it possible that Fuji no yama is really for Futsu no yama, the mountain of fire?]

But while there is a strong probability that Take-mika-dzuchi and Futsunushi were originally Thunder and Fire deities, by a tendency which there is for nature-gods to become credited with providential functions, to the neglect or oblivion of their proper natural powers, these two deities have in historical times been universally recognized as war-gods. The myth which represents them as subduing Ohonamochi and makes Futsu no mitama a sword contains the germ of this view of their character. A poet of the Manyōshiu speaks of praying to the God of Kashima when about to start on a warlike expedition. Fencing and horsemanship were under Futsunushi's special protection. The shintai of both Gods, to some worshippers the Gods themselves, were swords. That of Take-mika-dzuchi was a sword, five feet long, which at the annual Kashima festival was drawn from its sheath and worshipped by the priests,[130 - The sword was deified in Teutonic myth.] all the people present wearing swords and drawing them before the shrine. It is probably as a war-god that he was constituted the Ujigami of the arrow-makers, and that offerings of horses were made to him. When savage tribes were subdued or foreign invaders repulsed these Gods led the van and were followed by the other deities. They were supposed to extend their special favour and protection to the Mikado, who sent frequent embassies to their various shrines. They were also prayed to for a calm passage for envoys to China, and for children. Predictions of the quality of the harvest were recently, and probably still are, hawked about by persons in the garb of Shinto priests, called Kashima no koto-fure, that is to say, "notifications from Kashima." Believers in the ghost and grave theory of the origin of religion will be interested to learn that not far from Kashima there is a large sepulchral mound called Kame-yama (pot-hill). On the 8th day of the 1st month an Imperial envoy offers gohei here and recites a norito. There are dances and music, and the mound is solemnly circumambulated. Traditions exist of a great battle in this neighbourhood. Smaller sepulchral mounds are also met with here, as at all ancient centres of authority in Japan.

Ika-dzuchi. – Take-mika-dzuchi having been converted into a war-deity and general Providence, the Thunder itself continued to be worshipped under the name of Ika-dzuchi, "dread father," which is short for Naru ika-dzuchi, "the sounding dread father." He is also called Naru kami, or "the sounding God." Kami-nari (god-sound) is the modern word for thunder. There are numerous shrines to this deity. By the Ika-dzuchi, which were generated from the putrefying corpse of Izanami, we must understand not thunders but personified diseases, the word being taken in its etymological signification. The Kojiki, however, in this passage does undoubtedly say "thunders." The distinction into "eight thunders" is a fancy of the writer, little recognized in later ritual. The Nihongi ignores it.

The following story from the Nihongi illustrates Japanese ideas respecting the Thunder-God: -

"a. d. 618. This year Kahabe no Omi was sent to the province of Aki with orders to build ships. On arriving at the mountain, he sought for ship timber. Having found good timber, he marked it and was about to cut it, when a man appeared, and said: 'This is a thunder-tree, and must not be cut.' Kahabe no Omi said: 'Shall even the Thunder-God oppose the Imperial commands?' So having offered many mitegura, he sent workmen to cut down the timber. Straightway a great rain fell, and it thundered and lightened. Hereupon Kahabe no Omi drew his sword, and said: 'O Thunder-God, harm not the workmen; it is my person that thou shouldst injure.' So he looked up and waited. But although the God thundered more than ten times, he could not harm Kahabe no Omi. Then he changed himself into a small fish, which stuck between the branches of the tree. Kahabe no Omi forthwith took the fish and burnt it. So at last the ships were built."

Other Fire-Gods. – Futsunushi's quality as a Fire-God had been quite forgotten even in the Kojiki and Nihongi times. But there are several other Fire-Gods, or perhaps we should rather say local or occasional variants of the same deity. Kagu-tsuchi, or "radiant father," is the name given to a Fire-God in the Nihongi, where he is said to have caused the death of his mother Izanami. Kagu contains the same root as kagayaku, to shine. It also occurs in Kaguyama, a sacred mountain in Yamato, from which the needful objects for sacrifice were in early times provided. This God is worshipped under the name of Ho-musubi or "fire-growth"[131 - "So called," says Hirata, "because heat makes things grow."] on the summit of Atago, a mountain near Kiōto. There are many hill-shrines to this deity near other cities in Japan. His business is to give protection against conflagrations.

The Jimmu legend speaks as if fire-worship arose from the deification of the sacrificial fire. But there must have been other reasons. The domestic fire renders important services to mankind, and its relation to the sun is unmistakable. Indeed the Japanese call fire and sun by the same name, hi. Fire has also its terrible aspect, which is recognized in myth and norito.[132 - See Index-Ho-shidzume, Fire-drill.]

Hirata identifies the God with the element. He is obviously a class, and not an individual God. There is a festival at the present day called the Hi-taki-matsuri (fire-kindle-festival), when bonfires are lit, and small offerings made to the flames.

Furnace Gods. – Along with the Gods of Fire we may place the deities of the domestic cooking furnace, namely Kamado no Kami and Kudo no Kami. They are barely mentioned in the Kojiki and not at all in the Nihongi. They have no myth, and although there is a norito addressed to them it contains nothing characteristic. This worship is nevertheless general, from the Mikado's palace to the home of the peasant. Sometimes we find a single deity, sometimes a married pair called Okitsu-hiko and Okitsu-hime, sometimes as many as eight co-existing furnace-gods are met with. The vulgar call him an aragami (rough deity), and represent him with three heads, a notion which, according to Hirata, is taken from Indian myth. Usually the cooking furnace is the deity. The Japanese kitchen wench at the present day calls her cooking range Hettsui-sama, the termination sama implying personification and respect. She thinks it unlucky to lay down an edge-tool on it. But the God is also conceived of as detached from the furnace. Thus he is said to have taught the art of cooking to mankind. In that case the kama, or pot, is his shintai, or material representative. There was a Kama-matsuri (pot festival) at Kiōto before the revolution. It was celebrated at the beginning of the year, when Shinto priests read harahi. The pot was addressed in song and adjured to bring plenty of customers, usually by dyers and others in whose business caldrons were used.