Suhichini-no-Kami

Suhichini-no-Kami (須比智邇神, also read Suhijini-no-Kami) is the third-generation female deity of the Seven Generations of the Age of the Gods recorded in the Kojiki (712 CE). Paired with the male deity Uhijini-no-Kami, she forms the first male-female pair of deities, interpreted as the personification of the stage at which the earth begins to take shape. According to the Kojiki upper scroll on the Seven Generations, "next there appeared a deity named Uhijini-no-Kami, next his sister Suhichini-no-Kami". Within the Seven Generations, following the solitary deities Kuninotokotachi-no-Kami and Toyokumono-no-Kami who appeared as the first and second generations, she stands as the third generation, with subsequent generations being Tsunoguhi and Ikuguhi, Otonoji and Otonobe, Omodaru and Ayakashikone, and finally Izanagi and Izanami. The element "u" denotes mud, "su" sand, marking the deification of the stage of land-formation. She is venerated as part of the Seven Generations collective at Mononobe Shrine in Oda, Shimane, and Miyaura Shrine in Kagoshima.