Otoshi-no-Kami

Otoshi-no-Kami (大年神) is an earthly deity recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE). He is the child of Susanoo and Kamuoichihime, and he governs the ripening of rice and the calendar of the year. He stands at the center of the Toshigami tradition by which the year-deity visits each household at New Year, a tradition widely practiced into the present. According to the Kojiki upper scroll, the lineage section of Otoshi records that Susanoo and Kamuoichihime produced two children: Otoshi-no-Kami and Ukanomitama-no-Kami. The continuing passage records that Otoshi married Inohime, Kayohime, and Amechikarumizuhime, producing numerous children including Mitoshi, Oyamakui-no-Kami, and Hayamato, forming a broad lineage of grain and mountain deities. Principal shrines include Katsuragi Mitoshi Shrine in Nara and Otoshi Shrine in Shimane.