Page:Shinto, the Way of the Gods - Aston - 1905.djvu/154

144 no miya (No. I shrines) of later times represent the old Gods of localities.

The Kunari no kami, or Kunari-hime, were also apparently local earth-deities. Kunari is for kuni-nari (earth-become).

Ohonamochi.—In the case of the great Earth-God of Japan, namely, Ohonamochi, the direct worship and personification of the country have already retired into the background. The myths speak of him not as the land itself, but as the maker of the land. His functions are variously described as constructing, measuring out, consolidating, subduing, and ordering or governing. The Idzumo Fudoki frequently calls him the ame no shita tsukurashishi Oho-kami, that is to say, "the great God who made the Under-Heaven." The spear which he carries is indicative of warlike prowess and political sway, while the mattock given to him by one myth points rather to agricultural development. He is also, along with Sukuna-bikona, the instructor of mankind in the arts of medicine and magic. The usual tendency to enlarge the sphere of nature deities by attributing to them providential powers is illustrated by a poem in the Manyōshiu in which he is appealed to for the protection of the ship of an envoy who was about to proceed to China.

He could assume the form of a snake or of a human being.

The name Ohonamochi tells us nothing. It means great-name-possessor, and is simply honorific. An alternative title is Oho-kuni-nushi, or great land-master, Kuni-nushi being perhaps an honorary epithet equivalent to "king." Another name of this deity, Oho-kuni-dama (great land spirit), is more significant. It shows that he was regarded as one of the Kuni-dama or earth-deities mentioned above. His Earth-God quality is also implied by the alias Oho-toko-nushi, or great-place-master.

This God belongs mainly to the Idzumo group of myths. He is the son of Susa no wo, also an Idzumo God. The