Japanese Mythology · primordial

Amenominakanushi

天御中主
also: Amanominakanushi · Ame-no-Minakanushi (Nihon Shoki)
primordialcreationhigh heaven

The primordial deity of the High Plain of Heaven (Takamagahara), who in the Kojiki 'gave birth to' or commanded the birth of the creator pair Izanagi and Izanami.

AM
The account

Who they are

Amenominakanushi ('Lord of the Center of the High Plain of Heaven') is the deity of the heavenly highland in the Kojiki. In the creation passage, after the primordial beings are named, it is the 'high plain of heaven' and its deities that produce the pair who will form the islands: the Kojiki says the kami of the high plain 'gave birth' to Izanagi and Izanami and ordered them to shape and settle the earthly islands [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. The Nihon Shoki gives a parallel but differently-worded account, and the precise mechanism (whether 'birth' is literal or a ritual/creative command) is one of the classic ambiguities in Japanese cosmogony [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch. He functions less as a character and more as the heavenly authority from which the creative pair is sent.
Worth knowing
  • The 'center of the high plain' (Amenominaka) is the axis of the heavenly realm [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗.
  • The Kojiki frames his act as a command/order to Izanagi and Izanami to shape the islands [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗.
Uncertainties & variants
  • Whether Amenominakanushi is a distinct progenitor, a title, or a collective of the high-plain kami is debated; the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki word the 'birth/order' of the creator pair differently [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch.
Relationships (2)

Connections

Creation

CREATEDIzanagi — The high-plain deity 'gives birth to' / commands the birth of Izanagi.[S1] [S2]
CREATEDIzanami — The high-plain deity 'gives birth to' / commands the birth of Izanami.[S1] [S2]
Local graph

Their corner of the divine world

View
hierarchical — generations top → bottom, partners side by side
Overlays
FocusAmenominakanushiJapanese
JAPANESE · 21♥♥♥Kusanagi-no-Tsu…Yasakani no Mag…Yata no KagamiAme-no-NubokoAme-no-UzumeAmenominakanushiInariIzanagiIzanamiTakamimusubiKotohikoneKushinada-himeNinigiŌkuninushiSarutahikoTakemikazuchiYamata-no-OrochiYamato TakeruAmaterasuKagutsuchiKonohanasakuya-h…SusanooTsukuyomiToyotama-himeHooroni (Ōyahata)
zoom 2.34× · medium
  • parentage
  • marriage ♥

far = primordials · medium = all · close = detail — scroll/pan, click a deity to focus

Myths featuring Amenominakanushi

1 story

The Primordial Beginning and the High Plain of Heaven

In the Kojiki's opening, when 'the heavenly high plain had just come into being,' the first-born deity Takamimusubi ('the high divine origin of heavenly things') is named, and the deities of the High Plain of Heaven (Amenominakanushi) 'give birth to' or command the birth of the creator pair Izanagi and Izanami, ordering them to shape and settle the earthly islands [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗. This establishes the vertical cosmology: a high heavenly realm above, an earthly realm below, with the creative pair sent from above to order the world below [S1]S1 · *Kojiki* ('Records of Ancient Matters', 712 CE), trans. Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882/1933) — PRIMARY TRANSLATION — https://sacred-texts.com/Open source ↗[S2]S2 · *Nihon Shoki* ('Chronicles of Japan', 720 CE) — PRIMARY TEXT (annalistic + mythographic) — (translation: G. Cameron, 1968; see Internet Arch.

READ THE STORY →

← Japanese MythologyAll galleries