Uwatsu-Watatsumi-no-Kami

Uwatsu-Watatsumi-no-Kami is a sea-deity recorded in the misogi (purification) section of Kojiki (712 CE), one of the three Watatsumi deities. Kojiki, upper volume, misogi section, records: 'When [Izanagi] rinsed at the surface of the water, there came into being Uwatsu-Watatsumi-no-Kami, and next Uwatsutsu-no-O-no-Mikoto.' When Izanagi performed purification at the Awakihara of Tachibana-no-Odo in Hyuga, Tsukushi, after returning from Yomi-no-Kuni, the three Watatsumi and three Sumiyoshi deities arose paired at the three levels of bottom, middle, and surface; Uwatsu-Watatsumi stands as the sea-deity of the upper layer. His father is Izanagi (as generative deity by misogi); alongside him arose Sokotsu-Watatsumi-no-Kami and Nakatsu-Watatsumi-no-Kami (the three Watatsumi) and the corresponding three Sumiyoshi deities. In the broader Watatsumi tradition, the deity is positioned as the father of Hoori's wife Toyotama-bime and her sister Tamayori-bime, linking the imperial line to the sea-deity lineage. He is principally venerated at Shikaumi Shrine on Shika Island in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka (one tradition of ichinomiya of Chikuzen Province), where the three Watatsumi deities are venerated together as the ancestral shrine of the Azumi-no-Muraji preserving the rites of the ancient sea peoples. The three Watatsumi deities, paired with the three Sumiyoshi at Sumiyoshi Taisha in Settsu, were widely revered as guardians of maritime traffic and fishery from northern Kyushu through the Seto Inland Sea.