Yamato Okunitama

Yamato Okunitama (倭大国魂神) is a kami, the okunitama (国魂; 'country spirit') or tutelary deity of Yamato Province.

They are the ujigami, or 'clan deity', of the Yamato clan, and are worshiped at Ōyamato Shrine. Some scholars interpret the kami as being a variant or epithet of Ōmononushi.

As the Yamato court grew in power, shrines were constructed in more and more places beyond Yamato Province.

The scholar Hirata Atsutane said that the deities who were subjects of morning prayer within Yamato province were Yamato Okunitama, Ōmononushi, and Kotoshironushi.

Yamato Okunitama appears in the Nihon Shoki, as well as the Kogo Shūi. He was formerly worshiped in the imperial palace, but Amaterasu was ultimately promoted over him when Emperor Sujin was disturbed by the presence of two competing kami'. This may be the ultimate reason that Amaterasu is considered to be the main deity of Shinto today. Another interpretation is that Amaterasu's influence actually suffered as a result of this, as the center of her cult moved from the imperial palace to more diffuse locations, culminating in Ise.

Mythical narrative
Yamato Okunitama is prominent in the Nihon Shoki's myths set during reign of Emperor Sujin. In the Nihon Shoki, Amaterasu, via the Yata-no-Kagami and the Kusanagi sword, and Yamato Okunitama were originally worshiped in the imperial palace's great hall. Similar events also covered by the Kogo Shūi.

The narrative relates that pestilence struck during the 5th year of Sujin's rule, and ultimately killed half of the Japanese population. Peasants abandoned their fields in the following year, and rebellion became rampant. To relieve the suffering of his people, the emperor turned his attention towards the gods. At the time both Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and Yamato Okunitama were enshrined at the imperial residence. Sujin became overwhelmed with having to cohabit with these two powerful deities, and set up separate housings for them. Amaterasu was moved to a village named Kasanui in Yamato Province, where a himorogi altar was built out of solid stone. Sujin placed his daughter Toyosukiiri-hime in charge of the new shrine, where she would become the first Saiō, entrusted with her the mirror and sword, she brought them to the village of Kasanuhi. Meanwhile, Yamato Okunitama was entrusted to another daughter named Nunaki-iri-hime, but shortly afterwards, her health began to fail. It is recorded that she became emaciated and lost all of her hair, which rendered her unable to perform her duties. These efforts still did not alleviate the ongoing plague, so Sujin decreed that a divination be performed sometime during the 7th year of his reign, that would involve him making a trip to the plain of Kami-asaji, and invoking the eighty myriad deities. This mode of worship is seen as being potentially linked to a social order of greater complexity, and the organization of the deities of the many clans across the region.

After these events, the Nihon Shoki narrative continues that Sujin's aunt Yamatototohimomoso-hime (倭迹迹日百襲媛命), the daughter of the seventh emperor Kōrei, acted as a shrine maiden, and was possessed by a god who identified himself as Ōmononushi, possibly the same entity as Yamato Okunitama. Ichishi no Nagaochi would conduct the rites pertaining to Okunitama, replacing the emaciated Nunaki-iri-hime. Ichishi no Nagaochi would be the ancestor of the Yamato clan. This replacement is taken as a shift towards a more patriarchal religion. This god claimed responsibility for the plague, announcing that it would not stop until he was venerated. Although the emperor propitiated to the god, the effects were not immediate. Sujin was later given guidance in the form of a dream to seek out a man named Ōtataneko and appoint him as head priest. He eventually found him in Izumo Province. When he was found and installed, the pestilence eventually subsided, allowing five cereal crops to ripen. Out of an abundance of caution, the Emperor also appointed Ikagashikoo (伊香色雄) as kami-no-mono-akatsu-hito (神班物者), the 'one who sorts the offerings to the gods'. To this day the Miwa sect of the Kamo clan still claims descent from Ōtataneko, while Ikagashikoo was a claimed ancestor of the now extinct Mononobe clan.



Nihon Shoki
See the references under Nihon Shoki for an extended bibliography
 * , alt-link English translation
 * , searchtext resource to retrieve kanbun text vs. English tr. (Aston) in blocs.
 * , modern Japanese translation.
 * sacred texts
 * , annotated Japanese.