Amenosagume

ah-meh-noh-sah-GOO-meh

📖 Detailed Description

Amanosagume is a priestess-like goddess named in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki whose pronouncements of fortune and ill omen can overturn situations. Said to have accompanied Ame-no-Wakahiko, she once declared a singing woman’s voice inauspicious, reflecting an older stratum where divine intent and spoken proclamation tied closely to political ritual. The Kojiki writes her as Amasagume, while the Nihon Shoki uses Amanosagume. Fragments of the Settsu Fudoki and Man’yō poetry tell that she moored in Takatsu aboard the Heavenly Rock Boat, linking her to the toponym lore of Naniwa. Whether she is counted among heavenly or earthly deities varies by source, and honorifics applied to her are inconsistent. Folklore studies sometimes view her as a prototype of the contrary amanojaku, though others stop short of a direct syncretism. Few rites to her survive today: at Hirama Shrine in Wakayama she is revered as Amasagume-no-Mikoto, and at Shoten Shrine in Sagami she is remembered as a goddess who seeks bonds. Avoiding creative additions, her character within the sources can be summarized as a goddess who moves events through divination and declarative speech.