222 Handbook of Japanese Mythology NATIONAL SHINTO¯ See Kokka-Shintπ. NIHONJIN-RON The special unique qualities of the Japanese people. Modern myth. See Japanese Uniqueness. NINIGI-NO-MIKOTO Grandson of Amaterasu-π-mikami and founder of the imperial house. Ninigi-no- mikoto, known as the heavenly grandson, was charged with assuming rule over the Central Land of the Reed Plains, which under ∏kuninushi’s governance had become troubled and disordered. He received the position after his father had abdicated in his favor. Five future clan heads, and several deities, some armed, were assigned as his assistants; they eventually became the ujigami (ancestral deities) of several clans. This myth, argue many scholars, may well be an account of the struggle between the Yamato and other nations (and traditions) for control of the Japanese islands. Ninigi-no-mikoto (his full name is given as Am§-Nigishi-Kuninigishi- Amatsu-hiko-no-ninigi-no-mikoto) was given three items as symbols of his rank and mission and as shintai (objects of worship). These were the string of myriad magatama jewels, the mirror that drew Amaterasu from her cave, and the sword Kusanagi that Susano-wo had cut from the tail of the eight-headed serpent and given Amaterasu in apology for his sinful acts. In his conquest, Ninigi was guided by Sarutahiko-no-kami, and advised by Ama-no-uzume. He settled in Himuka on the island of Kyushu. Besides the story of his descent from heaven, which constituted a charter for the Yamato ruling house in its conquest of Japan—most notably of its most serious rivals in Izumo—Ninigi features in two other myths concerning his spouse and children, whose significance is that they mark the beginning of the process of separation between the deities and the emperors, their descendants. Ninigi-no-mikoto met Kπnπhanasakuya-hime and proposed marriage. Her father, the earth-mountain kami Oyamatsumi-no-kami, agreed, and sent the bride rich bridal gifts along with Kπnπhanasakuya-hime’s ugly older sister as sec- ond bride. Ninigi sent the older ugly bride back and was upbraided by his father- in-law, who explained that the elder sister brought longevity and steadfastness, the younger flourishing like blossoms. Because Ninigi had sent the elder back, the lives of the children of the heavenly deities would be brilliant but short. As a consequence, the emperors’ lives have generally been short. The day after the wedding, Kπnπhanasakuya-hime announced she was preg- nant. Ninigi suspected the child was not his. To counter that, his wife set the Deities, Themes, and Concepts 223 birth-sequestration hut aflame after sealing the entrances. If the child was of divine descent, she announced, it would survive, but if it were the child of an earthly deity, it would perish. The child, Hoderi-no-mikoto, survived the flames. In these myths the Kπjiki and Nihonshπki authors were explaining the para- dox of the avowed divinity of the emperors and their very clearly human nature. In fact, the latter halves of both books are a record of not-so-glorious lives of a series of emperors, their assignations, plots against them, murders, and other events: a mundane record of petty rulers that could be found in any culture. The authors were in effect saying that notwithstanding this evidence of humanity and mortality, the rulers of Japan were descended from a line of deities, and were in fact deities themselves. The combination of the two messages—political superi- ority and its charter, and the divinity/humanity paradox—were at the basis of the Japanese state, and survived as its political manifesto to World War II and beyond. It is this myth, perhaps more than any other, which allows the Japanese to think of their emperor—and by extension, of the Japanese state and the Japanese peo- ple—as a unified, heaven-descended, yet clearly human, group of people. See also Amaterasu-π-mikami; Divine Descent; Divine Rulership; Izumo; Kπnπhanasakuya-hime; ∏kuninushi; Oyamatsumi-no-kami; Sarutahiko-no- kami; Yamato. References and further reading: Aston, William G., trans. 1956. Nihongi. London: Allen and Unwin. Philippi, Donald, trans. and ed. 1968. Kπjiki. Tokyo: Tokyo University Press. NI-O¯ Two giant figures who are protectors of sacred precincts positioned at the entrance to many shrines and temples. They are otherwise known as Kongπ-rik- ishi (Thunderbolt strongman), and shown, seminude, muscles bulging, and faces in terrifying rictuses, on either side of a temple’s entrance. They are sometimes said to be two demons who became the zealous disciples and self-appointed bodyguards of the Buddha. One displays a hand-gesture signifying pacification of enemies. His mouth is open, uttering the syllable om (the first word; the alpha) and named Misshaku (also identified with Aizen Myπ-π). The other, Kongπ (identified with Fudπ Myπ-π), may hold a kongπ (thunderbolt weapon), and his mouth is closed as he utters the syllable hum (the final word; the omega). Many centuries ago a certain king’s wives bore him sons after word of the Buddha’s preaching had reached his ears. The first wife bore a thousand sons, whom the king wished to have attain perfect enlightenment. The second bore only two sons. One of these two vowed to turn the Wheel of the Law for his thousand brothers; the other vowed to protect the first while he worked. The first was Misshaku, the second Kongπ. The Ni-π represent the duality and union Misshaku, a ferocious temple Ni-o¯ guardian, in threatening posture (T. Bognar/TRIP) Deities, Themes, and Concepts 225 of the material and spiritual, and are in reality (say Buddhist believers) a single god known as Misshakukongπ who lives on Mt. Meru and can manifest himself in myriad ways. In effect he is the material manifestation of Dainichi Nyπrai. The Ni-π are very popular figures. They have the power to protect babies as well as offering protection against thieves. Because they are barefoot, many peo- ple offer them oversized straw sandals to protect their feet. Rikishi, strongman wrestlers, have been important ritually in Japan since the Nara period. Sacred wrestling bouts were organized during that period and continue to this day in the tradition of ∏zumo (grand sumo). Wrestlers and wrestling are considered sacred activities, and sumo bouts take place in a pavilion considered a Shintπ shrine under the auspices of an umpire dressed in clothes similar to a Shintπ priest’s. As can be seen from the competition between Amaterasu and Susano-wo, wrestling (along with archery) was a means for both divination and trial by com- bat. In fact the shiki leg movements and hand-clapping that are performed by all sumo wrestlers before a bout are echoes of the ritual Amaterasu carried out before her bout with her brother. It is not surprising to see, therefore, that the idea of a wrestler being in some way sacred has permeated Japanese Buddhism as well. In modern Japan some of this feeling still persists at a popular level: rikishi (a colloquial term nowadays for sumo wrestlers) are in great demand during Set- subun rituals, when oni are exorcised from Japanese houses in midwinter. See also Amaterasu-π-mikami; Kongπ; Oni; Susano-wo References and further reading: Cuyler, P. L. 1985. Sumo: From Rite to Sport. Tokyo: Weatherhill. NUSAKORO KAMUI (AINU) The “community-founding” kamui, he represents the dead and is sometimes identified with his brother, Kinashut Kamui, the snake deity. As his name indi- cates, he is the spirit, and possibly the origin, of nusa (inau), the shaving-tipped wands that represent the kamui in any ritual. He is assisted by Yushkep Kamui, the spider. Nusakoro Kamui is sometimes said to be a female deity. In either case, one of the major responsibilities of this deity is to preserve the row of inau arranged in a sort of fence outside the house. This is where the kamui came to talk and gossip. Nusa played an important role in the ritual lives of the Ainu, and like almost all important objects it was deified. Nusakoro Kamui is a messenger to the gods, expressing the Ainu people’s admiration and reverence, and carrying to the gods the people’s gifts of wine, lacquer boxes, and other riches. In practice, different inau were carved to represent/serve as messengers to individual gods. Perhaps more than any other god except Kamui Fuchi, Nusakoro Kamui represents the very strong interdependence between the Ainu and their gods and surroundings. 226 Handbook of Japanese Mythology See also Kinashut Kamui; Kamui Fuchi; Yushkep Kamui. References and further reading: Munro, Neil Gordon. 1962. Ainu Creed and Cult. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; London and New York: K. Paul International, distributed by Columbia University Press, 1995. Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. 1974. The Ainu of the Northwest Coast of Southern Sakhalin. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Philippi, Donald L., trans. 1979. Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans: The Epic Tradi- tion of the Ainu. Princeton: Princeton University Press. O¯ GETSUHIME See Food Deities. OKAMUTSUMI-NO-MIKOTO A kami responsible for protection of humankind from painful suffering and pressing troubles. When Izanagi was pursued by Izanami in the underworld, he came upon three peaches. The peaches, representing life, helped him ward off the one thousand five hundred warriors and the eight thunder-snake deities sent after him. In gratitude he deified them as Okamutsumi-no-mikoto and bid this kami to protect humankind. The idea of the peaches may well be an intrusion from a scholar with Chi- nese learning. Certainly the idea of peaches as protectors and bearers of life (as well as the fruit itself) was introduced from China fairly early in the relations between the two cultures.