TYPE: Creator God
ORIGIN: Shinto [Japan]
INFORMATION: One of seventeen beings involved in creation. His consort is Izanami-No-Kami. They are strictly of Japanese origin with no Chinese or Buddhist influence. Jointly they are responsible to the other fifteen primordial deities to "make, consolidate and give birth to this drifting land". The reference, in the Kojiki sacred text, is to the reed beds which were considered to float on the primal waters. The pair were granted a havenly jeweled spear and they stood upon the floating bridge of heaven, stirring the waters with the spear. When the spear was pulled up, the brine which dripped from it created the island of Onogoro the first dry land, believed to be the island of Nu-Shima on the southern coast of Awagi. According to mythology, the pair created two beings, a son Hiruko and an island Ahaji. They generated the remaining fourteen islands which make up Japan and then set about creating the rest of the Kami pantheon. Izanagi's most significant offspring include Amaterasu, the sun goddess, born from his nose and Susano-Wo, the storm god born from his left eye, who are the joint rulers of the universe. ALso Izanagi-No-Mikoto.