Mitoshi-no-Kami

Mitoshi-no-Kami, also read Otoshi-no-Kami, is a grain deity whose genealogy is recorded in Kojiki (712 CE). His father is Otoshi-no-Kami, a child of Susanoo, and his mother is Kayohime; his siblings include Wakatoshi-no-Kami and O-Kayamatotomi-no-Kami. He is identified in later usage with Toshigami, Toshitokujin and the year-deity. Nihon Shoki (720 CE) does not record him. Kogo Shui (807 CE) recounts that when the fields of Otokonushi-no-Kami were about to wither from the wrath of Mitoshi, white pig, white horse and white fowl were offered to placate the deity, told as the origin of rituals for harvest and pest-protection. He is the nephew of the grain deity Ukanomitama-no-Kami and stands at the central axis of the rice-cult lineage. The total head shrine is Katsuragi Mitoshi Jinja in Gose, Nara, the head of the Mitoshi and Otoshi shrines across Japan. In folk practice the kadomatsu is the year-deity's vessel and the kagamimochi the offering, and the deity stands at the center of New Year rites.