Sarutahiko Ōkami

Sarutahiko Ōkami
Someone dressed as Sarutahiko at a festival

Sarutahiko Ōkami is a god in Japanese mythology.[1] His main shrine is Sarutahiko Shrine in Ise, Mie

He married the goddess Ama-no-Uzume after she went down to Earth. She persuaded him to let Ninigi-no-Mikoto and the rest of the Amatsukami (heavenly gods) go down to Earth..[2]

People believe he has the power to expel evil.[3]

Later, Uzume and Sarutahiko fall in love and get married. Their descendants became the sarume clan.[4][5][6]

He has the title Ōkami (大神,; lit:great god) which is a rare and powerful title. Only six other kami have it, the other six are Izanagi, Izanami, Michikaeshi[a], Sashikuni, Inari, and amaterasu. Sarutahiko and Inari are the only ones called Okami that are kunitsukami, or earthly kami, all the others are Amatsukami (heavenly deities).[7]

His name means monkey-field-prince.[8][1]

Notes

  1. ↑ also known as Yomido ni sayarimasu ōkami (?) who is the kami of the great rock used by Izanagi to obstruct the way to Yomi, and thus, preventing emergence of evil spirits from the Underworld

References

  1. 1 2 Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko (1987), The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual, Princeton University Press, pp. 42-43.
  2. ↑ Ashkenazi, Michael (2008). Handbook of Japanese mythology. Handbooks of world mythology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-0-19-533262-9.
  3. ↑ "Dedicated to Sarutahiko Okami, the Kami of Guidance｜みちひらきの大神 猿田彦神社". www.sarutahikojinja.or.jp. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
  4. ↑ Picken, Stuart D. B. (2004). Sourcebook in Shinto: Selected Documents. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-26432-0.
  5. ↑ Roberts, Jeremy (2009). Japanese Mythology A to Z. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-2802-3.
  6. ↑ Coulter, Charles Russell; Turner, Patricia (2013-07-04). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-96397-2.
  7. ↑ "Kami – OCCULT WORLD". Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  8. ↑ Ashkenazi, Michael (2003). Handbook of Japanese Mythology. ABC-CLIO. pp. 70. ISBN 1-57607-467-6.
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