god: Izanagi “the male who invites”

god of: all that is light and heavenly

Izanagi and his wife, who’s also his sister, Izanami, created the world. They did this by throwing a jewel crested spear into the ocean and when they pulled it free, the water that dripped from it formed the island of the Japanese archipelago, which is where the first gods and humans were born.

His wife died and went to the underworld after giving birth to their son Kagutsuchi, so Izanagi went after her. But when he got there she refused to go with him. He was furious with her and vowing to kill 1000 of her people a day and she vowed to created 1500 of her people a day. When Izanagi returned from the underworld without his wife, he was unclean and he started the first cleaning rites. When he washed his left eye he created Amaterasu. When he washed his right eye Tsuki-Yumi was created. And here’s the funny part, from his nose, Susano-oh was created.
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god: Izanami “the female who invites”

god of: personification of the Earth and darkness

Izanami is the wife and sister of Izanagi and together they created Onogoro. She died giving birth to their son Kagutsuchi and Izanagi went into the underworld to retrieve her. But she didn’t want to go back. Then I think that there’s something about her getting mad at him for stealing the entrance to the underworld and tries to trap him there. He was so mad at Izanami that he vowed to kill 1000 of her people a day and she vowed to create 1500 of her people a day.
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god: Kagutsuchi (Ho-Masubi)

god of: fire

He is the son of Izanagi and Izanami. After his mother died while giving birth to him, his father came back from trying to save her and cut Kagutsuchi into eight pieces. The eight pieces formed eight mountain gods, and from his blood eight gods where formed.
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god: Takami-Musubi

god of: Japanese Shintoism, the creator. Spirit of divine love

Rules the world with his wife Amaterasu and is grandfather to Ninigi-no-mikoto.
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god: Amaterasu (Omikami “illustrious goddess”) “shining heaven” or “she who shines in the heavens”

god of: the Plain of Heaven.

She is the eldest daughter of Izanagi and because she was so bright and radiant she was sent up to the Celestial Ladder to heaven where she has ruled ever since.

When her brother Susano-oh ravaged the earth she hid in a cave and closed it with a large boulder. Because she wasn’t around the world was ruled by demons and was dark and lifeless. The other gods tried to get her to come out but she refused. It was Uzume who finally got Amaterasu to come out of the cave. Uzume made the gods laugh at her and Amaterasu emerged from the cave to see what they were laughing at. When she emerged there was a streak of light across the land (what is now called dawn) and saw her reflection in a mirror that Uzume had set up. When she got closer to the mirror to see herself better the gods grabbed her and returned her to the sky, thus bringing light back into the world.

She created India and the art of weaving with the loom and taught the people how to work the land and cultivate silkworms.

Her main sanctuary is on Honshu. The temple is pulled down every twenty years and rebuilt. In the inner sanctum a mirror represents her body.
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god: Tsuki-Yumi

god of: the mood

Brother to Amaterasu and was born from Izanagi’s right eye during his cleansing process. When he was born he climbed up the Ladder to Heaven.
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god: Susano-oh (Susanowa, Susanoto, etc.)

god of: Winds, Storms, Ocean, and Snakes

Susano-oh was born from the nose of Izanagi and given control over the seas. Susano-oh is a brave, lawless, headlong god with, I’m guessing, a temper because both the land and ocean were both effected by his outrages. He could lay ruin to the land with his storms and darken the skies. Eventually this was his downfall. The gods got so fed up with his pestering that he was banished to Izumo. It was in Izumo that he met Princess Kushinada and fell in love with her. But soon she would be sacrificed to Orochi (Koshi). So, Susano-oh volunteered to kill the beast. I can’t really remember much of this part… so we’ll skip a bit. After defeating it, Susano-oh cuts it up into pieces and finds a sword in it’s tail. What happened to the sword (Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi “grass cutting sword”) I don’t really know. I’ve read that Susano-oh gave it to the gods and I have read that Okuni-Nushi tricked Susano-oh out of it. Either way, Susano-oh doesn’t have the sword.
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god: Okuni-Nushi

god of: Magic and Medicine

He is the son of Susano-oh and has died twice, both times resurrecting himself. Because of this he became a symbol of dying and budding nature. Before Amaterasu sent her grandson Ninigi to rule the earth, Okuni-Nushi ruled it. Instead of earth, he was given the unseen world (spirits and magic) to rule over. He then went down into the underworld and after a bit managed to trick his father out of his sword. (I have also read that Susano-oh gave the sword to the gods)
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god: Uzume “whirling” (The Daughter of Heaven and Heavens Forthright Female)

god of: joy, happiness, good health

After Susano-oh was so loud that Amaterasu hid in a cave, it was Uzume who finally got her to emerge from the cave. Uzume got the gods to laugh so hard at her curlew dances that Amaterasu was curious and came out of the cave bringing light back into the world.

Uzume brother Ninigi married her to the diety who guards the Floating Bridge to Heaven.
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god: Ninigi-no-mikoto (Prince-Ear-of-Rice and Plenty)

god of: rice, ancestral god of the Japanese imperial family.

Ninigi is the grandson Amaterasu and Takami. He was sent to earth by his mother to be in charge of political affairs.

Ninigi and his sister Uzume descended to earth and were met by the deity who guards of the Floating Bridge of Heaven. Ninigi was afraid, but not Uzume, and so the god of the paths showed Ninigi the regions he would be governing. As gratitude, Ninigi gave his Uzume to marriage to him, (Him being the deity) and he, Ninigi, married Ko-no-Hana.
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god: Ko-no-Hana “child-flower”, symbol of delicate earthly life.

god of: She is the Blossom Princess.

Ko-no-Hana is the daughter of Oho-Yama, the mountain god. When Ninigi asked Yama for Hana’s hand in marriage, Yama had proposed that Ninigi marry his eldest daughter Iha-Naga. But because Ninigi loved Hana ever since they met on the seashore, he chose Hana. They had three sons (I only have two on here) Hoderi and Hoori. And they lived happily ever after… Well, Hana wasn’t happy, nor did she live! Because Ninigi was a very jealous god, Hana was forced to retreat into the woods and live in a small hut. Apparently, she later set killed herself by setting the hut on fire while she was still in it.
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god: Omitsunu.

god of: King of Izumo, which is where the Assembly of Gods is.

The Assembly of Gods meets every October to decide the fates of the humans. (I believe they also did some stuff with their love life… decided the fate of their love life… or… something) He is the grandson of Susano-oh and the son of Nushi. He did something like enlarging his kingdom by pulling up an island out of the sea with a rope.
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god: Hoderi “Fire Shine”

god of: I don’t even know if he’s a god…

All I know about him is that he became a fisherman…
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god: Hoori “Fire Fade”

god of: Eventually became the ancestor of the Japanese emperors.

He became a hunter… and married the sea gods daughter. (the actually met after a fight that Hoori had with Hoderi over a lost fish hook. Hoori went to the bottom of the sea to find it, met Otohime and fell in love with her. When they married her father order all the fish to look for the fish hook until they found it.) Top