Ame-no-Nuboko
Amenonuhoko (天沼矛 or 天之瓊矛 or 天瓊戈, "heavenly jeweled spear") is the name given to the spear in Japanese mythology used to raise the primordial land-mass, Onogoro-shima, from the sea. It is often represented as a naginata.[1]
According to the Kojiki, Shinto's genesis gods Izanagi and Izanami were responsible for creating the first land. To help them do this, they were given a spear decorated with jewels, named Ame-no (heavenly) nu-hoko (jewelled spear), by older heavenly gods.[2] The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Ame-no-ukihashi ("floating bridge of heaven"), and churned the sea below with the naginata. When drops of salty water fell from the tip, they formed into the first island, Onogoro-shima. Izanagi and Izanami then descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island.[3][4]
References
- ^ Daniel C. Pauley. Pauley's Guide: A Dictionary of Japanese Martial Arts and Culture. p. 4. ISBN 0615233562.
- ^ Jean Herbert (2010). Shinto: At the Fountainhead of Japan. p. 220. ISBN 0203842162.
- ^ Joseph Jacobs; et al. (1899). Folk Lore. Vol. 10. Folklore Society of Great Britain. pp. 298–299.
- ^ D.B. Picken (2004). Sourcebook in Shinto. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 8. ISBN 0313264325.
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