Kuni-no-Tokotachi

In Shinto faith, Kuninotokotachi (国之常立神, Kuninotokotachi-no-Kami, in Kojiki) (国常立尊, Kuninotokotachi-no-Mikoto, in Nihon Shoki (no-Mikoto here being an honorific of divinity) or Kuni-toko-tachi[1] is one of the two Gods born from "something like a reed that arose from the soil"[2] when the Earth was chaotic. In the Kojiki, he is the first of the seven generations of Divinities born after the first five divinities were born at the time of the creation of the Universe. In the Nihon Shoki, he is the first of the three divinities born after Heaven and Earth were born out of chaos, and is born from something looking like a reed-shoot growing between heaven and earth.[3] He is known by mythology to reside on top of Mount Fuji (富士山).

Kuninotokotachi is described as a hitorigami and genderless in Kojiki, but is described as a male god in Nihon Shoki.

Yoshida Kanetomo, the founder of the Yoshida Shintō sect, identified Kuninotokotachi with Amenominakanushi and regarded him as the primordial god of the Universe.

He is a Hitorigami, or a singular divinity born early in the universe.[4]

He came after Amenotokotachi and before Toyokumonu [ja]

Kuni-no-Tokotachi
Toyokumo [ja]
Uhibi [ja]Suhiji [ja]
Tsunugi [ja]Ikugu [ja]
Ihodonoji [ja]Otonobe [ja]
Omodaru [ja]Ayakashikone [ja]
IzanagiIzanami
  1. ^ Evans Lansing, Smith; Brown, Nathan Robert (2007). The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology. New York: Alpha Books. p. 14. ISBN 9781592577644.
  2. ^ Masaki Tsugita, Kojiki, 1977, ISBN 4-06-158207-0
  3. ^ Nihongi - Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 (tr. from the original Chinese and Japanese by W.G. Aston, Charles E. Tuttle Cy. 1990)
  4. ^ "Encyclopedia of Shinto - Home : Concepts of Kami : Hitorigami". 2011-05-18. Archived from the original on 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2023-03-22.