Toyouke- Japanese GodDeity"Goddess of the Outer Shrine"
Also known as: 豊受大御神, Toyouke Ōmikami, Toyouke-no-Ōmikami, and Toyouke-hime
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Description
Amaterasu could not eat in peace alone. She summoned Toyouke from Tanba to Ise to prepare her sacred meals, and for over fifteen centuries, the goddess of food has nourished the supreme kami of Japan twice each day without interruption.
Mythology & Lore
The Summons from Tanba
According to the Shintō Gobusho, Toyouke was originally enshrined in Tanba Province. In 478 CE, during the reign of Emperor Yūryaku, Amaterasu spoke through a dream: she could not eat in peace alone. She wanted Toyouke brought to Ise to prepare her sacred meals.
Toyouke was transferred from Tanba to a site near Amaterasu's Inner Shrine, and the Outer Shrine, the Gekū, was built to house her. Amaterasu was supreme, and Toyouke fed her. Twice each day, the Gekū priesthood prepares the shinsen, the sacred food offerings, and presents them to Amaterasu at the Naikū. This ritual has continued without interruption for over fifteen centuries.
The Watarai Claim
The Watarai priests who served as Toyouke's hereditary clergy at the Gekū did not accept that their goddess was merely Amaterasu's cook. In the Kamakura period, they built Ise Shintō, a theological system that identified Toyouke with Ame-no-Minakanushi, the first kami to have existed. If Toyouke was the primordial deity of creation, she stood alongside Amaterasu or above her. The Naikū's ritual precedence was never overturned, but pilgrims to Ise still worship at the Gekū first.
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