Page:The Thunder-Weapon in Ancient Japan.djvu/8

140 deities for a number of reasons, usually because of their strange or suggestive shapes, but in this one case there may well be a connection between “stone-gods” and thunder.

The most famous Isonokami Shrine is at Tambaichi a few miles south of Nara. The central object of worship at this shrine is the Furu-no-mitama or Futsu-no-mitama, the name of a sword given by a thunder deity, Takemikazuchi-no-kami , to Jimmu Tennō , the mythical first emperor, during the latter’s campaign to subdue the future capital region. In the name of the deity appears the word “thunder,” and in the names of the sword are the words futsu, an onomatopoeic word for cleaving, and furu (sometimes written even in this name as ), “to shake,” which are naturally associated with thunder or thunderbolts as well as with a sword. It is perhaps not too bold to conclude that this particular “stone-god shrine” may actually be dedicated to a thunderbolt (stone sword) from a Japanese Thor.

Closely associated with the Isonokami Shrine of Tambaichi is the Futsu-no-mitama Shrine at Isonokami village in northern Bizen. It can be no mere coincidence that this shrine, located in the “stone-god village,” bears the name of the central deity of the Tambaichi “stone-god shrine” and that it is dedicated to the “serpent cleaving blade” (or ) of the greatest storm-thunder god of all, Susanoo-no-mikoto. The evidence clearly indicates that both shrines belong to a common cult of the stone sword thunderbolt.