View source for Ukanomitama

{{short description|Japanese deity of agriculture}}
{{Expand Japanese|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Japanese
| name = Ukanomitama-no-Kami
| image = Statue of Ukanomitama at Ozu-jinja.jpg
| caption = Heian period statue of Ukanomitama at [[:ja:小津神社|Ozu Shrine]] in [[Moriyama, Shiga|Moriyama]], [[Shiga Prefecture]]
| god_of = Goddess of food and agriculture
| script_name = Japanese
| script = 宇迦之御魂神
| other_names = Ukanomitama-no-Mikoto (倉稲魂命)<br/>
Mikura-no-Kami (御倉神)<br/>
Miketsukami (御食津神, 三狐神)
| cult_center = [[Fushimi Inari Taisha]], [[Kasama Inari Shrine]], [[Yūtoku Inari Shrine]] and others
| symbols = 
| consort = 
| parents = [[Susanoo-no-Mikoto]] and [[Kamuōichihime]] (''[[Kojiki]]'')<br/>[[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]] (''[[Nihon Shoki]]'')
| siblings = [[Toshigami|Ōtoshi]] (''Kojiki'')
| children = 
| texts = ''[[Kojiki]]'', ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'' and others
}}
'''Ukanomitama''' (宇迦之御魂神 – Mighty Soul of Sustenance<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ukanomitama • A History of Japan - 日本歴史|url=https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/ukanomitama/|access-date=2021-09-11|website=A History of Japan - 日本歴史|language=en-GB|archive-date=2021-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911120355/https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/ukanomitama/|url-status=live}}</ref> - ''[[Kojiki]]'') (倉稲魂命 - ''[[Nihon Shoki|Nihongi]]'') is a ''[[kami]]'' in classical [[Japanese mythology]], associated with food and agriculture, often identified with [[Inari (mythology)|Inari]], the deity of rice.

==Name and mythology==
The ''Kojiki'' identifies Ukanomitama (宇迦之御魂神 ''Ukanomitama-no-Kami'') as the child of [[Susanoo]] by his second wife Kamu-Ōichihime (神大市比売), who was a daughter of [[Kamiumi|Ōyamatsumi]] (大山津見神), the god of mountains. This text portrays Ukanomitama as the younger sibling of the harvest deity [[Toshigami|Ōtoshi-no-Kami]].<ref name="chamberlain">Chamberlain (1882). [https://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj027.htm Section XX.—The August Ancestors of the Deity-Master-Of-The-Great Land.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729184045/https://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj027.htm |date=2020-07-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press|page=92}}</ref>

A variant account recorded in the ''Nihon Shoki'' meanwhile portrays Ukanomitama (here referred to as 倉稲魂命 ''Ukanomitama-no-Mikoto'') as an offspring of [[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]] who was born when the two became hungry.<ref name="Aston20">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=22}}</ref>

The deity's name is understood as being derived from ''uka no mitama'', "august spirit (''mitama'') of food (''uka'')".<ref name="chamberlain"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press|page=621}}</ref> While the above texts are silent regarding the deity's gender, Ukanomitama has long been interpreted to be female, perhaps due to association with other agricultural deities such as [[Toyouke-Ōmikami|Toyouke]] or [[Ukemochi]].

==Family tree==
{{Eight generations of Izumo}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|last1=Aston|first1=William George, tr.|title=Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697|date=1896|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|location=London|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nihongi:_Chronicles_of_Japan_from_the_Earliest_Times_to_A.D._697}}
*{{cite book|last1=Chamberlain|first1=Basil, tr.|title=A Translation of the "Ko-Ji-Ki," or "Records of Ancient Matters"|date=1882|publisher=Lane, Crawford & Co.|location=Yokohama|url=http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/index.htm}}
*Philippi, Donald L. (2015). ''Kojiki''. Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-1400878000}}.

==See also==
*[[Toyouke-Ōmikami]]
*[[Ukemochi]]

{{Inari Faith}}

[[Category:Shinto kami]]
[[Category:Food deities]]
[[Category:Agricultural gods]]
[[Category:Agricultural deities]]
[[Category:Inari faith]]
[[Category:Kunitsukami]]

{{Japan-myth-stub}}