Amatsu-Mikaboshi
Amatsu-Mikaboshi, also called Ame-no-Kagaseo or Hoshi-no-Kami Kagaseo, is a god of stars who appears in Japanese mythology. No reference to Mikaboshi is made in the Kojiki, however, he plays a minor role in the Nihon Shoki as a deity insubordinate to the amatsukami during the latter's subjugation of the land.
Name
The deity is referred to as both Ama-tsu-mika-hoshi and Ama-no-kagase-o in the Nihon Shoki. With the name Kagaseo theorized to come from the word kagayaku.Furthermore, the component mika, from Mikaboshi, is interpreted as being derived from ika, which prompted the kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane to identify Amatsu-Mikaboshi with the planet Venus.
Mythology
In the Nihon Shoki, during the amatsukamiA second account provided in the Nihon Shoki instead presents Mikaboshi as an amatsukami, who is slain by Takemikazuchi and Futsunushi before their descent to earth:
These are virtually the only passages in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki that deal with a kami of stars, and, uniquely, present the deity as antagonistic towards the amatsukami.
Worship
The in Hitachi enshrines Mikaboshi-Kagaseo as a landlord deity alongside Takehazuchi-no-Mikoto. Additionally, a "spirit-housing stone" within the shrine's precincts is believed to contain Mikaboshi's "violent spirit".Mikaboshi is also enshrined at various ' and ' throughout Japan.