Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi

Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi
Shrine dedicated to the two of them located on the premises of Tsuno Shrine[citation needed][verification needed]
Genealogy
Parents
ChildrenKushinadahime

Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi are a pair of Japanese deities.[1] They are the parents of Kushinadahime, the wife of Susanoo-no-Mikoto.[2] The serpent killed their other 7 daughters.[3][4]

Their names mean foot stroking elder and hand stroking elder respectively.[5][6][7] They are considered Kunitsukami.[5][4] They are the only two deities of the Kojiki explicitly stated as elders.[8]

Ashinazuchi brought alcohol to Susanoo in order to kill Yamata no Orochi[9][4] alongside Tensazuchi.[4] Susanoo got the serpent drunk with the alcohol and killed it for them.[10]

In the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, the god Susanoo, after his banishment from the heavenly realm Takamagahara, came down to earth, to the land of Izumo, where he encountered an elderly couple named Ashinazuchi and Tenazuchi, both children of the mountain god Ōyamatsumi. They told him of a monstrous creature from the nearby land of Koshi known as the Yamata no Orochi ("eight-forked serpent") that had devoured seven of their eight daughters. Upon hearing this, Susanoo agreed to kill the serpent on condition that they give him their sole surviving daughter, Kushinadahime, to be his wife.[11][12] After he was successful they became grandparents of Yashimajinumi.[13] They were granted the title of Inada palace master.[14][15]

They are enshrined in Hikawa Shrine, Saitama representing love as a married couple alongside Kushinadahime and Susanoo.[16]

  1. ^ Frédéric, L. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Harvard University Press reference library. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  2. ^ "My Shinto: Personal Descriptions of Japanese Religion and Culture". www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  3. ^ "Yamata no Orochi". kikuko-nagoya.com. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  4. ^ a b c d Borgen, Robert; Ury, Marian (1990). "Readable Japanese Mythology: Selections from Nihon shoki and Kojiki". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. 24 (1): 80. doi:10.2307/489230. ISSN 0885-9884. JSTOR 489230.
  5. ^ a b Drott, Edward R. (2016-04-30). Buddhism and the Transformation of Old Age in Medieval Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-8248-5150-7.
  6. ^ Herbert, Jean (2010-10-18). Shinto: At the Fountainhead of Japan. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-90376-2.
  7. ^ Borgen, Robert; Ury, Marian (1990). "Readable Japanese Mythology: Selections from Nihon shoki and Kojiki". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. 24 (1): 64. doi:10.2307/489230. ISSN 0885-9884. JSTOR 489230.
  8. ^ Drott, Edward R. (2016-04-30). Buddhism and the Transformation of Old Age in Medieval Japan. University of Hawaii Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-8248-5150-7.
  9. ^ "'The Dragon' from Japanese mythology KOJIKI". kojiki.co. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  10. ^ "Amulets – Rokusho Jinja (shrine)website" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-10-16.
  11. ^ Chamberlain (1882). Section XVIII.—The Eight-Forked Serpent.
  12. ^ Philippi, Donald L. (2015). Kojiki. Princeton University Press. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-1400878000.
  13. ^ "Encyclopedia of Shinto - Home : Kami in Classic Texts : Yashimajinumi". eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp.
  14. ^ Borgen, Robert; Ury, Marian (1990). "Readable Japanese Mythology: Selections from Nihon shoki and Kojiki". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. 24 (1): 61–97. doi:10.2307/489230. ISSN 0885-9884. JSTOR 489230.
  15. ^ Borgen, Robert; Ury, Marian (1990). "Readable Japanese Mythology: Selections from Nihon shoki and Kojiki". The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese. 24 (1): 81. doi:10.2307/489230. ISSN 0885-9884. JSTOR 489230.
  16. ^ "What Is a Temple: Three Shrines of Love in Japan! - Sakuraco". 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-10-16.