Ame-no-Hohi- Japanese GodDeity"Ancestor of the Izumo Priests"
Also known as: 天穂日命, Amenohohi, and Ame no Hohi no Mikoto
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Description
Sent from heaven as Amaterasu's first envoy to demand Ōkuninushi surrender the earthly realm, Ame-no-Hohi defected, won over by the very god he was sent to subdue. His disloyalty became a founding act: his descendants serve as priests of Izumo Grand Shrine to this day.
Mythology & Lore
The Defection
Ame-no-Hohi was the second of five male deities born when Susanoo chewed Amaterasu's magatama beads during the ukei oath-trial. He was a son of the sun goddess herself, brought into being from her most prized possessions.
When the heavenly gods resolved to extend their sovereignty over Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, the Central Land of Reed Plains, they chose Ame-no-Hohi as their first envoy. He descended to confront Ōkuninushi, the great earthly deity who held the land, and bring back word of his surrender.
Three years passed. No word came. The Kojiki records that Ame-no-Hohi "curried favor" with Ōkuninushi and entered his service. The heavenly gods sent a second envoy, Ame-no-Wakahiko, who also fell under Ōkuninushi's sway and was killed by a returning arrow for his treachery. Only the warrior Takemikazuchi, dispatched as the third envoy, succeeded. He drove his sword point-first into the crest of a wave off the Izumo coast and sat cross-legged on the blade. Ōkuninushi, faced with that, agreed to yield the land.
Priest of the God He Chose
Ame-no-Hohi never returned to heaven. His descendants became the Izumo no Kuni no Miyatsuko, the hereditary priests of Izumo Grand Shrine, tending the cult of the very god their ancestor had been sent to overthrow. The Izumo no Kuni Fudoki of 733 CE traces their lineage. Two branches of the family, the Senge and the Kitajima, served as chief priests of Izumo Taisha through the centuries and into the modern era. The envoy's betrayal became the priesthood's origin.
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