Kuyebiko was the Shinto scarecrow god. Originally he functioned as the protector of the rice fields, a task assigned him by his father Inari the rice god.
He was considered to be incarnate in all scarecrows and eventually came to be considered as a divinitory deity who knew everything that transpired under the heavens.
The leap from being the god of scarecrows to divinitory deity came about because of the never- closing eyes of scarecrows. Continue reading
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FUNADAMA – Shinto goddess of ships and boats. Like Toyota she was a daughter of the sea god Watatsumi. (Remember, I mostly go by the Kojiki and the Nihongi, the earliest written accounts of Shinto myths. Those two books refer to the humanoid Watatsumi as the god of the sea. Ryujin the dragon god of the sea came from later traditions. )
Sailors, fishermen and all travelers by sea, river or lake would pray to her Funadama for protection and there is still a Continue reading
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UZUME – This daughter of the gods Izanagi and Izanami was the goddess of dancing, a skill that served her in good stead in two major Shinto myths. When the sun goddess Amaterasu had hidden herself away in a cave, Uzume danced naked as part of the plot concocted by the god of wisdom Omoigane to lure Amaterasu back out into the world.
In the other major myth Uzume is part of the retinue of the god Ninigi when Amaterasu sends him down to rule over ancient Japan. Their descent was blocked by Sarutahiko, the god who guards Ukihashi, the floating bridge between Continue reading
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INARI – The Shinto rice god. His wife was the goddess Ukemochi and when she was slain by the moon god he married Mitama, the goddess of agriculture. His son was the scarecrow and divination deity Kuyebiko. There are even versions of Shinto myths in which Saki is said to be Inari’s daughter and the goddess of the intoxicating drink Saki like Dionysus is the god of wine in Greek myths.
Inari often roamed the rice fields of Earth, sometimes in the form of a fox, his familiar animal. This connection between the rice god and foxes came from the way foxes often Continue reading
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This sun goddess was the chief deity of the Shinto pantheon. In the Nihongi she is the daughter of both Izanagi and Izanami but in the Kojiki she springs from Izanagi’s left eye. During one of the conflicts with her brother Susanowo the storm god she withdrew to a cave in protest of the storm god’s incessant belligerence. Susanowo had been overstepping his bounds by Continue reading
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Kuyebiko was the Shinto scarecrow god. Originally he functioned as the protector of the rice fields, a task assigned him by his father Inari the rice god. He was considered to be incarnate in all scarecrows and eventually came to be considered as a divinitory deity who knew everything that transpired under the heavens.
The leap from being the god of scarecrows to divinitory deity came about because of Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
For more of the Shinto deities I’ve covered here at Balladeer’s Blog click here: http://www.makethelist.net/the-top-10-deities-in-shinto-mythology/
JUROJIN – The god of longevity who granted a long life and watched over the elderly. He was depicted as a Continue reading
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