Raijin was born from the rotting body of Izanami in Yomi, one of the eight thunder kami that dwelled in her decomposing flesh when Izanagi broke his vow and looked upon her.
⚠ The Kojiki names eight specific thunder kami (Yakusa no Ikazuchi) in Izanami's body. Raijin as a unitary thunder god is a later syncretic development combining these figures with Buddhist Taishakuten imagery.
Fujin and Raijin stand together as twin guardians at temple gates across Japan, wind and thunder inseparable — their pairing at Sanjusangendo and Sensoji enshrining a bond older than Buddhism's arrival, two forces of storm that no tradition ever separates.
After Sugawara no Michizane's death in exile, devastating thunderstorms struck the capital and lightning killed his political enemies — the Kitano Tenjin engi emaki depicts storm demons in Raijin's own iconography above the stricken court, the dead scholar's fury and the thunder god's power fused into one force.
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