Itsu-no-Ohabari

Itsu-no-Ohabari-no-Kami is a personified sword-deity recorded in Kojiki (712 CE). In the upper volume, kami-umi section, Izanagi-no-Mikoto draws his ten-grasp sword and strikes off the head of his son Kagutsuchi-no-Kami; the sword is named Itsu-no-Ohabari. Blood adhering to the sword splashes against a rock and gives rise to Mikahayahi-no-Kami, Hihayahi-no-Kami, and Takemikazuchi-no-Mikoto, expressing the personification of the sword itself. In the later kuni-yuzuri section, he reappears as Ame-no-Ohabari-no-Kami dwelling at the upper reaches of the Heavenly River, where he is summoned to dispatch his son Takemikazuchi as envoy. He arises as a generative deity originating from Izanagi's sword; with the alternative designation Ame-no-Ohabari-no-Kami he stands as the father of Takemikazuchi (Takemikazuchi-no-O). The three lightning deities arising with him from the blood of the sword form a key lineage of weapon-deity worship. He shares closely related qualities with the Futsu-no-Mitama sword enshrined at Isonokami Jingu in Tenri, Nara, and is positioned at the origin of sword-deity worship in early Japan.