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Amenosagume
ah-meh-noh-sah-GOO-meh
Also Known As
Ame-no-Sagume
Category
Half-Human Beings
Personality
Origin
Unclear; linked to Takamagahara and Naniwa (Takatsu) in the chronicles
Amenosagume
ah-meh-noh-sah-GOO-meh
Basic Description
A goddess written as Ame-no-Sagume in the Kojiki and Ame-no-Sagume in the Nihon Shoki. She appears as an attendant to Ame-wakahiko (Ame-no-Wakahiko) and is known for declaring the pheasant messenger’s cry ominous. Often read as a divinatory figure concerned with omens, she has been interpreted in folklore studies as a prototype for the amanojaku (contrarian spirit). Sources differ on whether she belongs among the heavenly gods or the earthly deities, leaving her divine status unusual.
Folklore & Legends
During the pacification of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, a pheasant called Naki-me was sent to summon back Ame-no-Wakahiko, who failed to report. Ame-no-Sagume pronounced the pheasant’s call inauspicious, prompting Ame-no-Wakahiko to shoot it. The arrow reached the high deity Takagi, was sent back after a declaration, and returned to pierce Ame-no-Wakahiko’s chest—the tale of the returning arrow. Fragments of the Settsu no Kuni Fudoki and poems in the Manyoshu note that Ame-no-Sagume stopped at Takatsu in Naniwa aboard the heavenly rock-boat (Ama-no-Iwafune), linking her to the Naniwa Takatsu locale.
Detailed Analysis
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