Amami-Amami-Kiyo Legend

The Amami-Amami-Kiyo Legend is a creation narrative unique to the southern Ryukyuan islands, centred on the deity Amami-Kiyo (also written 阿摩美久) descending from heaven to create the islands of Amami and Okinawa. According to the compiled histories of the Ryukyuan court, Amami-Kiyo received a mandate from the heavenly ruler, descended to the Ryukyuan realm, and together with Shineri-Kiyo (*shinerikyo*) established the islands, rice cultivation, and ritual practices. On Amami-Ōshima, Amami-Kiyo is revered as the founding ancestor deity (*soshingami*), and the story has been repeatedly transmitted through the ritual prayers (*norito*) of the *noro* (shrine priestesses) and in oral accounts of island creation.

The narrative structure comprises three phases: the heavenly mandate and descent; the formation of islands and the bestowal of rice and ritual knowledge; and the elevation of Amami-Kiyo as ancestor deity, with multiple landing-site traditions across different islands. This represents a southern-island variant of creation mythology parallel to the island-forming myths recorded in the classical Japanese chronicles, and serves as the mythological foundation for both *noro* ritual practice and *utaki* (sacred grove) veneration. The narrative shares a common southern-island motif: the arrival of a deity from the oceanic other-world.

The tradition is widely distributed across the Amami Islands (Kikai, Tokunoshima, and Okinoerabu), with particularly strong associations in the Kasari district of Amami City. The island of Kudaka in adjacent Nanjo, Okinawa, is locally identified as Amami-Kiyo's first landing place, and Seifa-Utaki shrine there stands as the primary sacred site for the pan-Amami–Okinawan creation-narrative sphere.