Nakime

Nakime is recorded in Kojiki (712 CE) and Nihon Shoki (720 CE) as a deified pheasant. In the Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni pacification passage of Kojiki Upper Volume, Ame-no-Wakahiko fails to report back to Takamagahara after taking Shitateruhime, daughter of Okuninushi, as wife. Amaterasu-Omikami and Takamimusuhi-no-Kami dispatch "Nakime the pheasant" to question the breach of mission. Ame-no-Wakahiko, prompted by Amenosagume, shoots Nakime with Ame-no-Makakoyumi and Ame-no-Hahaya, the bow and arrows he received from the heavenly deities. As a deified pheasant Nakime has no recorded father, mother, consort or children; her narrative role is that of envoy of the heavenly deities. No major shrine takes her as chief deity, but the arrow that, returned by Takagi-no-Kami's test of intent, struck Ame-no-Wakahiko in the chest, became the origin of later archery-rite traditions. The Moyama tradition site (Moyama Tenjin Jinja, Mino, Gifu) preserves the narrative of Ame-no-Wakahiko and Nakime.