Umashi-Ashikabi-Hikoji-no-Kami

Umashi-Ashikabi-Hikoji-no-Kami is a solitary deity (hitorigami) recorded at the opening of Kojiki (712 CE) and Nihon Shoki (720 CE). At the time when the land was still young and adrift like floating fat, drifting like a jellyfish, this deity came into being as a generative force in the manner of a reed-shoot (ashikabi) sprouting upward. The deity is the fourth member of the Kotoamatsukami group, preceding Kamiyo Nanayo. Kojiki, upper volume, opening, records: 'When the land was young and drifting like floating fat, drifting like a jellyfish, there came into being, by something that sprouted upward like a reed-shoot, a deity whose name is Umashi-Ashikabi-Hikoji-no-Kami.' Nihon Shoki (Jindai-jo, first-segment alternate texts) preserves a corresponding account; the deity is positioned as a personification of the life-force of the reed-shoot. After his arising, he concealed himself. As a solitary deity he has no consort. The Kotoamatsukami group includes Ame-no-Minakanushi-no-Kami, Takamimusubi-no-Kami, Kamimusubi-no-Kami, and Ame-no-Tokotachi-no-Kami, with Umashi-Ashikabi-Hikoji standing as the fourth: all are solitary deities who concealed themselves, forming a special lineage of the three creator-deities plus two, distinct from Kamiyo Nanayo. Principal places of veneration are limited, but he is venerated at Kamumusubi-Miosa Shrine in Asago, Hyogo, and Ashihara Shrine in Kamikita, Aomori. As a deity expressing the manifestation of life-force, he is sometimes invoked in the kinen-sai (prayer for harvests) tradition.