Owatatsumi-no-Kami

Owatatsumi-no-Kami (大綿津見神) is a sea deity recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE) and Nihon Shoki (720 CE). The Nihon Shoki writes the name as Sukunaikoto-no-Mikoto, Kaijin, or Kaijin-Toyotamahiko. "Wata" is the ancient term for sea, and "mi" denotes divine spirit; the deity personifies the sea itself. He is the ancestral deity of the Azumi clan and stands at the center of the marine clan tradition. According to the Kojiki upper scroll on deity-birth, he is born as the child of Izanagi and Izanami. In the Yamasachihiko / Umisachihiko cycle, he appears as Watatsumi-no-Okami (Toyotamahiko) at the sea palace, gives his daughter Toyotamabime in marriage to Yamasachihiko, and grants him the tide-flowing and tide-ebbing jewels. The head shrine is Shiga Umi Shrine in Fukuoka, located at the home of the Azumi clan on Shika-no-shima.