Amamikyu

Amamikyu (also written Amamiku or Amamikyo) is the creator goddess of Ryukyuan mythology. The Ryukyu royal court history Chuzan Seikan (1650, compiled by Sho Shoken) records that the Heavenly Emperor commanded the Sun God to form the land of Ryukyu, sending Amamikyu and her consort Shinerikyu to shape the soil, plants, and people. Ryukyukoku Yuraiki (1713) expands this account with the order in which Amamikyu established the principal utaki (sacred sites). Her descent on Kudaka Island is recorded as the first foundation of a sacred site. The children of Amamikyu and Shinerikyu are placed at the origin of the Ryukyuan royal lineage in the genealogies of the First and Second Sho dynasties; the office of Kikoe-okimi (the supreme priestess of the kingdom) stood at the head of state ritual in succession to Amamikyu. Central sites of veneration include the utaki of Kudaka Island in Nanjo, Okinawa, and Sefa-utaki (a component of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu'), where the Kikoe-okimi was installed in the Oarori rite. Utaki veneration tracing back to Amamikyu is widely distributed from the Ryukyu islands to the Amami archipelago.