Kuraokami- Japanese GodDeity"Dragon of Rain"
Also known as: 闇淤加美神, 闇龗, and Kura-okami-no-Kami
Description
Born from the blood that ran down Izanagi's sword-hilt after he beheaded the fire god Kagutsuchi. From the destruction of fire, a dragon deity of rain. At Kifune Shrine, the imperial court sent black horses to summon storms and white horses to clear the sky.
Mythology & Lore
Birth from the Sword's Blood
When the fire god Kagutsuchi fatally burned his mother Izanami during childbirth, Izanagi drew the sword Ame-no-Ohabari and beheaded his son. From the blood and body of the slain fire god, deities spilled into the world. The Kojiki records that Kuraokami was born from the blood that collected at the hilt of the sword and dripped through Izanagi's fingers. Alongside Kuraokami came Kuramitsuha, a closely associated water spirit. Both were dragon deities of rain, born from a god of fire's death.
The Horses of Kifune
Kifune Shrine sits in the mountains north of Kyoto, at the headwaters of the Kamo River. During the Heian era, the imperial court sent horses to the shrine according to a strict code: a black horse when rain was needed, a white horse when clear skies were desired. The Engishiki of 927 formalized the practice, listing Kifune among the official shrines entitled to government offerings. The rains that fell in those mountains fed the Kamo River and the rice paddies of the capital below. A drought at Kifune was a drought in Kyoto.
The shrine's own founding tradition says a divine being arrived at the site by boat, traveling upstream from the mouth of the Yodo River to its mountain source. A journey against the current, water climbing toward the sky.