Yachihoko-no-Kami

Yachihoko-no-Kami is recorded in Kojiki (712 CE) Upper Volume as one of the alternate names of Okuninushi-no-Kami. The principal deity of the Izumo cycle carries several names, including Onamuji-no-Kami, Ashiharashikoo-no-Kami, Utsushikunitama-no-Kami and Yachihoko-no-Kami, the last used in courtship narratives. The Okuninushi genealogical passage opens his courtship of Koshi-no-Kuni's Nunakawa-Hime with the line, "When Yachihoko-no-Kami journeyed to woo Nunakawa-Hime of Koshi," continued in a long song-cycle exchanged at the door of her house. Yachihoko stands by the door of Nunakawa-Hime and sings, "When the sun hides behind the green hills, the night will draw near"; Nunakawa-Hime answers in song. Through the same name the relationship with his principal wife Suserihime-no-Mikoto is also told. His genealogy is that of Okuninushi: his father is Amenofuyukinu-no-Kami, descendant of Susanoo, and his mother is Sashikuni-Wakahime; his principal consort is Suserihime, daughter of Susanoo. The Sendai Kuji Hongi gives Takeminakata-no-Kami as the child of Yachihoko by Nunakawa-Hime. He is enshrined at Izumo Taisha and at Nunakawa Jinja in Itoigawa, where Nunakawa-Hime is also enshrined.