Japanese Mythology · deity

Kagutsuchi

迦具土神

also: Kagutsuchi-no-Kami · Hinode-no-Kami · the Fire God

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The Fire God, whose birth in the flames of childbirth kills his mother Izanami, driving the Kojiki's Yomi-separation episode.

Kagutsuchi · 玉蘭斎貞秀 · undated · Wikimedia Commons (institution in source file) · Public domain

The account

Who they are

Kagutsuchi (also Hinode-no-Kami, 'Fire God') is the deity of fire, born in the Kojiki's sequence as the child whose birth kills his mother: Izanami, giving birth to him, is burned by the fire of childbirth and dies [S1]. His birth is the catalytic event of the myth: it sends Izanagi down to Yomi and produces the separation of the living and dead realms [S1]. He is associated with fire, heat, and (in some accounts) volcanic/mountain activity. He has little independent mythology beyond this pivotal, tragic birth [S1][S2].

Worth knowing

His birth in fire kills Izanami, triggering the Yomi episode [S1].
Associated with fire and volcanic/mountain activity [S1].

Uncertainties & variants

The precise sequence of the birth sequence (which child, in what order) differs between the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki [S1][S2].
Some accounts give him a further role in conflict with Izanagi; these are less well-attested [S1][S2].

Relationships (6)

Connections

4 rows · 6 recorded edges — identical notes are grouped

Family & kinship

PARENT_OFIzanagi — Izanagi is a parent of the high deity born in the creation sequence.[S1] [S2]

PARENT_OFIzanami — Izanami is a parent of the high deity born in the creation sequence.[S1] [S2]

SIBLING_OFAmaterasu · Tsukuyomi · Susanoo — Siblings among the high deities born of the creator pair.[S1] [S2]

Conflict & enmity

KILLEDIzanami — The fire of Kagutsuchi's birth burns and kills his mother Izanami.[S1] [S2]

Local graph

Their corner of the divine world

View

hierarchical — generations top → bottom, partners side by side

Overlays

FocusKagutsuchiJapanese

zoom 2.34× · medium

parentage
marriage ♥

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

Myths featuring Kagutsuchi

2 stories

Izanagi and Izanami Form the Islands

The creator pair Izanagi and Izanami stand on the Floating Bridge of Heaven (Ame-no-ukihashi) and, with the jeweled spear Ame-no-nuhokohe, stir the brine of the deep sea; the salt that drips from the spear forms the first island, Onogoro [S1]. There they wed and, in a series of 'birthings,' produce the great islands of Japan (naming them as they are formed) and then the deities (kami) who attend them [S1]. The sequence of islands and the sequence of kami are given in the text, though the two lists differ between the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki [S1][S2].

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Izanami's Death and the Separation of the World (Izanagi's Purification)

In giving birth to the fire god Kagutsuchi, Izanami is burned and dies [S1]. Izanagi descends to the Land of Yomi to bring her back; finding her decayed and attended by the 'devils of rotting,' he flees, and the two are separated at the threshold—the mythic origin of the divide between the clean world of the living and the polluted realm of the dead [S1]. Fleeing to the world of the living, Izanagi performs a ritual purification (misogi), washing his body; from his washed body-parts a series of kami are born, and the separation is made permanent [S1]. This is the foundational myth of death, impurity (kegare), and purification in Japanese religion [S1][S2].

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Artworks

Depictions

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