Ajisukitakahikone
Ajisukitakahikone is a kami in Japanese mythology. He is one of the sons of Ōkuninushi and the tutelary deity of Kamo.
Name
The god is referred to both as 'Ajisukitakahikone-no-Kami' and 'Ajishikitakahikone-no-Kami' in the Kojiki, while the Nihon Shoki consistently calls him 'Ajisukitakahikone-no-Kami'. Renditions of the name found in other texts include 'Ajisukitakahiko-no-Mikoto', 'Ajisukitakahikone-no-Mikoto-no-Kami' and 'Ajisukitakahikone-no-Mikoto'.Aji may mean either "excellent" or "flock, mass, many", while shiki is variously interpreted either as a corruption of suki, a derivation from the Baekje word suki "village", a word meaning "blade", or a place name in Yamato Province.
Basil Hall Chamberlain, in his 1882 translation of the Kojiki, left the name untranslated ; likewise, William George Aston merely commented that there is "no satisfactory explanation of this name." Donald Philippi proposed two possible interpretations of the name: "Massed-Ploughs High-Princeling Deity" or "Excellent Shiki High-Princeling Deity". Gustav Heldt's translation of the Kojiki meanwhile renders the name as "Lofty Little Lad of Fine Plows".
Mythology
Parentage
The Kojiki describes Ajisukitakahikone as one of the two children of the god Ōkuninushi by, one of the three Munakata goddesses, the other being .He is frequently portrayed as a baby who is unable to sleep. His mother carried him up and down a ladder in an attempt to make him sleep, this is what causes the sound of growing thunder. In infancy, his crying and screaming were so loud that he had to be placed in a boat and sailed around the islands of Japan until he was calm.
In adulthood, he was the father of Takitsuhiko, a rain god.
Ajisukitakahikone and Ame-no-Wakahiko
When the sun goddess Amaterasu and the primordial god Takamimusubi, the rulers of the heavenly realm of Takamagahara, decreed that the earth below should be ruled over by Amaterasu's progeny, they dispatched a series of messengers to its ruler, Ōkuninushi, to command him to cede supremacy over the land. One of these, Ame-no-Wakahiko, ended up marrying, one of Ōkuninushi's daughters, and even plotted to gain the land for himself. After eight years had passed, a pheasant sent by the heavenly gods arrived and remonstrated with Ame-no-Wakahiko, who killed it with his bow and arrow. The arrow flew up to Takamagahara, but was then promptly thrown back to earth; it struck Ame-no-Wakahiko in the chest while he was asleep, killing him instantly.During Ame-no-Wakahiko's funeral, 's brother Ajisukitakahikone, a close friend of Ame-no-Wakahiko, arrived to pay his condolences. As he closely resembled Ame-no-Wakahiko in appearance, the family of the deceased mistook him for Ame-no-Wakahiko come back to life. Offended at being mistaken for his friend, Ajisukitakahikone in anger drew his ten-span sword, hacked to pieces the funeral hut where Ame-no-Wakahiko's corpse was laid and the funeral held, and then kicked it away. The ruined hut landed in the land of Mino and became a mountain called Moyama.
Ajishikitakahikone, still fuming, then flew off, the radiance that exuded from him being such that it illuminated the space of two hills and two valleys., wishing to reveal to the mourners her brother's identity, then composed the following song in his honor: