Takeminakata


Takeminakata, also known as Minakatatomi or Takeminakatatomi, is a kami in Japanese mythology. Also known as Suwa Myōjin or Suwa Daimyōjin after Suwa Grand Shrine in Nagano Prefecture in which he is enshrined alongside his consort Yasakatome, Takeminakata is historically worshiped as a god of [List of List of wind deities|wind deities|wind], [List of List of water deities|water deities|water] and agriculture, as well as a patron of hunting and warfare, in which capacity he enjoyed a particularly fervent cult from various samurai clans during the medieval period such as the Hōjō or the Takeda. Takeminakata was also held to be the mythical ancestor of certain families who once served at the shrine as priests, foremost among them being the Suwa clan, the high priests of the Upper Shrine of Suwa who were also revered as living vessels of the god.
There are multiple, often conflicting accounts regarding the deity. The mythology of the imperial court as recorded in the Kojiki and the Sendai Kuji Hongi portrays Takeminakata as a son of the god Ōkuninushi who was defeated by the heavenly deity Takemikazuchi and fled to Lake Suwa. Local traditions from Suwa itself, however, present markedly different narratives. These portray him, for example, as an invading deity who subjugated the area's indigenous gods, as an unseen divine presence that chose a young boy as its human embodiment, or as a serpentine or dragon-like being. As worship of the Suwa deity spread throughout Japan from the medieval period onward, additional legends developed, shaped by regional adaptation and the syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto. These later stories often diverged from both Suwa's own traditions and the Yamato court's account, portraying the Suwa deity, for example, as a king from India who manifested in Japan, or identifying him with figures such as the warrior Kōga Saburō.

Name

The god is named 'Takeminakata-no-Kami' in both the Kojiki and the Sendai Kuji Hongi. Variants of the name found in the imperially commissioned national histories and other literary sources include the following:
  • Minakatatomi-no-Kami
  • Minakatatomi-no-Mikoto-no-Kami
  • Takeminakatatomi-no-Mikoto
  • Takeminakatatomi-no-Mikoto-no-Kami
The etymology of the name 'minakata' is unclear. While most commentators seem to agree that take- are honorifics, they differ in how to interpret the other components of the name. Some of the proposed solutions are as follows.
  • The Edo period kokugaku scholar Motoori Norinaga explained both take- and mi- as honorifics, with kata as yet another tatae-na meaning "hard" or "firm". Basil Chamberlain followed Motoori's lead and rendered the god's name as 'Brave-August-Name-Firm' in his translation of the Kojiki.
  • Ōta Akira interpreted take-, mi- and -tomi as honorifics and took Nakata to be a place name: Nakata District in Awa Province, where stands. Ōwa Iwao suggests that the presence of Azumi people in both Awa and Shinano, as well as the possible connection between the Azumi and the Lower Shrine of Suwa, may explain the similarity between 'Takeminakata' and 'Takeminatomi'.
  • Minakata has also been linked to the Munakata of Kyushu. Matsuoka Shizuo interpreted Minakatatomi as originally being a goddess – citing the fact that the deities of Munakata shrine were female – that was later conflated with the male god Takeminakata.
  • Another explanation proposes minakata to mean "south". A variant of this hypothesis sees the name as hinting at a connection between the god and metalworking, in which the southern direction is important: Mayumi Tsunetada for instance proposed that Takeminakata's name refers to the southern pillar of a takadono. Gustav Heldt's translation of the Kojiki, where the name is translated as 'Brave Southward Smelter', follows this interpretation.
  • Yet another theory interprets mi- to mean "water", pointing to the god being a water deity perhaps associated with Lake Suwa. The full name is thought to derive from a word denoting a body of water or a waterside region such as 水潟 or 水県 - "water" + agata "country.
  • An alternative explanation for the word -tomi'' is to link it with dialectal words for "snake", thereby seeing the name as hinting to the god being a kind of serpentine water deity.

''Suwa Daimyōjin''

During the medieval and early modern periods, the god enshrined in Suwa Grand Shrine – specifically, in the Upper Shrine located southeast of Lake Suwa – was popularly known as Suwa Daimyōjin or Suwa Myōjin, a name also applied via metonymy to the shrine itself. The name 'minakata' was rarely used, if at all, during this period: indeed, medieval documents from Suwa Shrine simply refer to the god as sonshin / sonjin or myōjin. This however is hardly unusual, as before the early modern period use of titles such as myōjin or gongen for various gods and their shrines were so widespread that these deities were rarely referred to by their classical names.
Other epithets applied to the Suwa deity include Nangū Daimyōjin, Hosshō Daimyōjin, a combination of the two such as Nangū Hosshō Daimyōjin, or Suwa Hosshō Kamishimo ''Daimyōjin. Some of the war banners used by Sengoku daimyō Takeda Shingen for instance contain the inscription Suwa Nangū Hosshō Kamishimo / Jōge Daimyōjin. A hanging scroll given by Emperor Go-Nara to the Upper Shrine in 1553, written in the emperor's own calligraphy, refers to the god as Suwa Shōichii Nangū Hossho Daimyōjin.
A number of explanations have been proposed for the origin of the term Nangū. One theory posits it to refer to the geographical location of the Upper Suwa Shrine, which is located southeast of Lake Suwa, at the southern half of Shinano Province, while another claims it to be derived from 'Minakatatomi', one of the variant names for the deity, with minakata being apparently understood to mean "south". The term has also been interpreted to come from the medieval belief that the Suwa deity was the guardian of the south side of the imperial palace or the Shinto-Buddhist concept that the god is an enlightened being who manifested in this world, which in Buddhist cosmology is the southern continent of Jambudvīpa.
Aside from Suwa Shrine, Nangū was also applied to Kanayamahiko Shrine in Mino Province and Aekuni Shrine in Iga Province. A song in the late Heian period anthology Ryōjin Hishō associates the three shrines together, with Suwa Shrine being identified as the "head" of the three Nangū shrines, the shrine at Mino as the "midmost shrine", and the shrine at Iga as the "youngest shrine" .''
Hosshō, meanwhile, is believed to refer to the concept of the dharmakāya, the formless, transcendent ultimate truth that is the source of all buddhas, which are its physical manifestations. A certain medieval legend claims that the Suwa deity chose an eight-year-old boy to become his priest while declaring: "I have no body and so make this priest my body".

Mythology

In imperial mythology

Parentage

Takeminakata is portrayed in both the Kojiki and the Sendai Kuji Hongi as a son of the god Ōkuninushi, although the former does not include him in its genealogy of Ōkuninushi's children. The Kuji Hongi meanwhile identifies him as the son of Ōnamuchi with one of his wives, Nunakawahime of Koshi.

Defeat by Takemikazuchi

Takeminakata appears in both the Kojiki and the Kuji Hongi in the context of Ōkuninushi's "transfer of the land" to the amatsukami, the gods of the heavenly realm of Takamagahara.
When the heavenly deities, headed by the sun goddess Amaterasu and/or the primordial deity Takamimusubi, sent Takemikazuchi and another messenger to demand that Ōkuninushi relinquish his authority over the earthly realm of Ashihara no Nakatsukuni to Amaterasu's progeny, he told the messengers to consult his son Kotoshironushi, who immediately accepted their demands and advised his father to do likewise. Upon being asked if he had any other sons who ought to express their opinion, Ōkuninushi told the messengers that he had another son named Takeminakata. Takeminakata then appeared, bearing a heavy boulder on his fingertips, challenging Takemikazuchi to a test of strength. Takeminakata attempted to grab the messenger's arm, but Takemikazuchi transformed them into a column of ice and then a sword blade, frightening him. Takemikazuchi then retaliated by grasping and crushing Takeminakata's arm "like a young reed." The defeated god fled to "the sea of Suwa in the land of Shinano," where he was cornered. To save his life, Takeminakata vowed never to leave Suwa and gave his assent to his father's and brother's decision. With Takeminakata's surrender, Ōkuninushi finally ceded the land to the amatsukami and withdrew himself into the unseen spirit world.

Variants and retellings

''Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba''
The opening section of the Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba, a Nanboku-chō period compilation of legends and other information regarding Suwa Shrine and its festivals completed in 1356, retells the Kuji Hongi version of this story, albeit with Takeminakata's shameful defeat in the hands of Takemikazuchi notably omitted.
Originally, it was believed that the compiler, Suwa Enchū, a member of a branch of the Suwa clan based in Kyoto, deliberately edited the story to cast the shrine's deity in a more favorable light. However, recent scholarship by Ryōtarō Maeda suggests Enchū did not have access to the Kuji Hongi text itself; rather, he appears to have relied on an abridged excerpt titled "The Matter of Suwa Shrine" that happened to omit the passage describing Takeminakata’s defeat. This text is found appended to the Kojiki Jōkan-shō, a manuscript copy of the Kojiki's kuni-yuzuri account preserved in the library of Shinpuku-ji in Nagoya.
This excerpt is thought to have been produced by the Urabe clan, a priestly lineage associated with the Yoshida and Hirano Shrines in Kyoto influential in the Department of Divinities. The Urabe frequently utilized the Kuji Hongi as a primary reference for inquiries regarding shrine origins. During his research for what would become the Ekotoba, Enchū is known to have consulted with two Urabe clan members—Urabe Kanetoyo of the Yoshida branch, then serving as senior assistant director of the Jingi-kan, and Urabe Kanemae of the Hirano branch. It is highly probable that one of these men provided Enchū with the redacted account.
The ambiguity in the classical Chinese syntax also allowed Enchū to reinterpret the narrative. While the original myth has Takemikazuchi transforming his own arm into ice and a sword, the Ekotoba presents it as Takeminakata manifesting these elements as a display of his power. This reinterpretation transformed Takeminakata from a defeated figure into a triumphant god who chose to remain in Suwa of his own volition.
A Shinto-Buddhist liturgical text composed by Enchū around the same time period as the Ekotoba, the Suwa Daimyōjin Koshiki, makes use of the Kugi Hongi account in a similar vein:
This more heroic depiction of Takeminakata in the Ekotoba and the Kōshiki had a lasting impact, especially before the Kojiki became widely popular during the Edo period. It introduced this version of the myth to the Suwa region, where it influenced subsequent texts.
According to Maeda, the Ekotoba was probably not introduced to Suwa before the 17th century, although the Kōshiki seems to have been known earlier among Suwa Shrine’s priestly families, as indicated by allusions in late 15th-century documents produced by the Upper Shrine’s Moriya clan. Over time, the Ekotoba gained acceptance among Suwa’s priestly clans, who produced numerous copies of it. For example, the Shinshu Suwa Daimyōjin Engi, written in 1684 by the hatamoto Suwa Morieda, the younger brother of Suwa Tadaharu, the third daimyō of Takashima Domain, retells the reinterpreted kuni-yuzuri myth. Morieda framed Takeminakata's actions in a Neo-Confucian light, comparing his ceding of the land to a meritorious act of filial piety comparable to Taibo's renunciation of the throne of Zhou.
Even in the 19th century, when knowledge of the Kojiki and its less flattering account of Takeminakata's defeat became more widespread, this positive reinterpretation persisted within Suwa: a mid-19th century genealogical chart of Takeminakata issued by the Upper Shrine for instance quotes the Shinshu Suwa Daimyōjin Engi. A document submitted in 1834 to the Commissioner of Shrines and Temples by the Lower Shrine's Momoi clan of priests relates the following:
A third text found in the Moriya family archives titled "The Origin of Suwa Daimyōjin" features Takeminakata striking fear into Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi after displaying his power to them, only agreeing to cede Ashihara no Nakatsukuni after he was convinced by their reasoning. The three then go to Suwa, where they defeat the local deity Moriya.
Other versions
Similar attempts at retelling or reinterpreting the myth in a more positive way are found in other texts. In one version, for instance, Takeminakata is portrayed as going to Suwa not so much to flee from Takemikazuchi but to pacify it under the orders of his father Ōkuninushi.
A variant found in a commentary on the Nihon Shoki penned by a 15th-century monk named Shun'yu, the Nihon Shoki Shikenmon, claims 'Suwa Daimyōjin' to be the third son of the deity Sannō Gongen, the guardian deity of Mount Hiei. After engaging in a failed rebellion against Amaterasu, the deity surrendered and settled down in the land of Shinano.
Local legends from within Nagano Prefecture claim Takeminakata to have passed or stayed in various places within the region during his escape. A local legend in Shimoina District for instance claims that Takemikazuchi caught up with the fleeing Takeminakata in the modern village of Toyooka, where they agreed to an armistice and left imprints of their hands on a rock as a sign of their agreement. The rock, bearing the gods' supposed handprints, is found in Otegata Shrine in Toyooka. After Takemikazuchi's departure, Takeminakata temporarily resided in the neighboring village of Ōshika, where he discovered hot springs of saltwater while hunting for deer.
The contest between Takemikazuchi and Takeminakata has also been sometimes interpreted as an origin myth for sumo wrestling and aiki. This interpretation apparently follows an alternative reading of the text which sees Takemikazuchi as not so much crushing and tearing Takeminakata's arm off but seizing him by the arm and throwing him into the ground.

Other myths

Entry into Suwa

A foundational myth from the Suwa area portrays the advent of Suwa Myōjin and his conflict with the local god Moriya. This story is recorded in several medieval texts, each with unique details.
The Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba relates a variant of this myth as an origin story of Fujishima Shrine in Suwa City, one of the Upper Shrine's auxiliary shrines where its yearly rice-planting ceremony is traditionally held. In this version, the deity of Fujishima Shrine - usually equated with Suwa Myōjin - defeats "Moriya the evil outlaw" with a wisteria branch:
Another version of this myth is recorded in the Suwa Nobushige Gejō. This document purports to be a formal petition submitted in 1249 by the Upper Shrine of Suwa's high priest or Ōhōri, Suwa Nobushige, to the Kamakura shogunate in order to assert the Upper Shrine's primacy and legitimacy over the Lower Suwa Shrine. However, it is now regarded by some scholars as apocryphal, likely a forgery created in the 14th century or later. In this version, the Suwa deity is portrayed as descending from heaven in order to take possession of the land of 'Moriya Daijin'.
This portrayal of Suwa Myōjin as a heavenly deity can also be observed in other texts such as the Inako Ōmatsubara Daimyōjin Engi, the origin narrative of Matsubara Suwa Shrine composed in 1340, where Suwa Myōjin describes his descent couched in Buddhist terminology:
Moriya being called 'Minister Moriya' in the Gejō suggests that the deity was already being conflated with the historical figure Mononobe no Moriya at the time the text was composed. The Suwa Daimyōjin Kōshiki already hints at this connection by drawing a parallel between the two figures:
The local deity Moriya's outright conflation with Mononobe no Moriya can already be observed in the Jinshi Keizu, a lineage record of the Kyoto branch of the Suwa clan attributed to Suwa Sadamichi, Enchū's third great-grandson and the copyist of the extant Kōshiki manuscript. The text dates the arrival of Suwa Myōjin during the reign of Emperor Yōmei - the precise era of the historical conflict between Prince Shōtoku and Mononobe no Moriya - and describes him as defeating 'Moriya' in a battle at Mount Moriya. This same variant appears in another genealogical record of the Suwa clan.
While medieval sources situated the battle between the two deities on the slopes of Mount Moriya near the Upper Shrine, Edo period texts present a variant tradition placing the conflict along the Tenryū River in present-day Okaya, where a shrine to Moriya stands. On the opposite shore stood a late 6th-century burial mound, which eventually came to be identified as the "Fujishima Shrine" of the myth. Local folklore recounted that wisteria vines from these opposing sites once entwined over the river, flourishing into a natural canopy so dense it resembled a massive bridge, until they were cut down by order of the local daimyō in the late 17th century.
Growing familiarity with the Kojiki's negative portrayal of Takeminakata gradually reshaped local tradition. For instance, the Jinchō Moriya-shi Keifu, compiled in the early Meiji period, recontextualizes the local conflict: it depicts 'Minakatatomi-no-Mikoto' battling Moriya after he had "fled from Izumo to the sea of Suwa." This version definitively harmonized the originally unrelated myths, setting the precedent for subsequent retellings.
Besides Moriya, local folklore describes other deities who submitted to or resisted the Suwa deity's rule. One such figure was Yatsukao-no-Mikoto, also known as Ganigawara, portrayed in a late legend as a powerful horse breeder who is said to have opposed both Takeminakata and his new ally, Moriya. According to this story, Ganigawara held Moriya in contempt for surrendering and had his servants harass him. When the harassment escalated to violence against Takeminakata's dwelling, Takeminakata retaliated. In the ensuing battle, Ganigawara was mortally wounded. Begging Moriya for forgiveness, he entrusted his youngest daughter to Takeminakata, who in turn gave her in marriage to the god Taokihooi-no-Mikoto, also known as Hikosachi-no-Kami, who had been injured by Ganigawara's men.
In another legend, a god named Takei-Ōtomonushi swore allegiance to Takeminakata and became the ancestor of a line of priests in the Lower Shrine known as the Takeihōri. Yet another story relates that the Suwa deity forbade the goddess of Sakinomiya Shrine in Owa, Suwa City from building a bridge over the creek before her shrine as punishment for her refusal to submit to him.

The ''Ōhōri''

Before the abolition of the Suwa Shrine's traditional priestly offices during the Meiji period, the Upper Shrine's high priest or Ōhōri was a young boy chosen from the Suwa clan, who was, during his term of office, considered to be a living god, the visible incarnation or 'body' of the unseen god of the shrine.
The legend of how Suwa Myōjin chose his first priest is recounted in various sources:
Although most sources identify the boy as Arikazu, a semi-legendary figure who is said to have lived in the 9th century during the reign of Emperor Kanmu or his immediate successors Heizei or Saga, two genealogical lists - of disputed historical reliability - instead identify the first priest with an individual named Otoei or Kumako, a son of Mase-gimi or Iotari, head of the Kanasashi clan and kuni no miyatsuko of Shinano during the late 6th century.

The King of Hadai

A medieval Buddhist legend portrays Suwa Myōjin as a king from India who later achieved enlightenment and went to Japan to become a native kami.
A short text attached to a late 15th century copy of an ordinance regulating the Upper Shrine's ritual purity taboos originally enforced in 1238 and revised in 1317, the Suwa Kamisha monoimi no rei no koto, relates that 'Takeminakata Myōjin' was originally the ruler of a certain Indian kingdom called 'Hadai' who survived an insurrection instigated by a rebel named 'Moriya' during the king's absence while the latter was out hunting deer. After going to Persia to rescue its inhabitants from an evil dragon, the king ruled over it for some time as 'Emperor Suwa' before retiring to "cultivate the seedling of virtue and realize the Buddhist path." He eventually manifested in Japan, appearing in various places before finally choosing to dwell in Suwa.
The Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba relates a slightly different, fuller version of the first half of this story as an origin myth for the Upper Shrine's hunting ceremony held every seventh month of the year at Misayama on the slopes of the Yatsugatake Mountains:
If one should inquire about the origins of this hunt: long ago, the Daimyōjin was the king of the land of Hadai in India who went out to hunt at Deer Park from the twenty-seventh to the thirtieth day of the seventh month. At that time, a traitorous vassal named Bikyō suddenly organized an army and sought to kill the king. The king, ringing a golden bell, looked up to heaven and shouted eight times: "I am now about to be killed by this rebel. I have hunted animals, not for my own enjoyment, but in order to lead them to the Buddhist path. If this my action is in accordance with Heaven's will, may Brahmā save me."

Brahmā then saw this and commanded the four great deva-kings to wield vajra-poles and destroy the army. It is said that the Misayama of today reflects that event.
... One should know, therefore, that the deity's compassionate hunting is an expedient means for the salvation of creatures.

Regarding the Upper Shrine's hunting rituals, the Monoimi no rei asserts that
hunts began in the deer park of Hadai-no-kuni . hawks began in Magada-no-kuni.

The second half of the legend is used by the Ekotoba's compiler, Suwa Enchū, in a liturgical text, the Suwa Daimyōjin Kōshiki, where it is introduced as an alternative, if somewhat less credible, account of the Suwa deity's origins that nevertheless should not be suppressed. In this text, the king of Hadai is claimed to be a great-great-grandson of King Siṃhahanu, Gautama Buddha's grandfather. Bikyō, the rebel who raised up an army against the king in India - identified as an incarnation of the Demon King - is also said to have eventually manifested in Japan, opposing the deity in Suwa as "Moriya the evil outlaw."
A similar account appears in a work known as the Suwa Jinja Engi or Suwa Shintō Engi, wherein the Suwa deity is identified as the son of Kibonnō, the son of Amṛtodana, one of Siṃhahanu's four sons. The Lower Shrine's goddess, meanwhile, is the daughter of Prasenajit, claimed here to be the son of Dronodana, another son of Siṃhananu.
The ''Suwa Mishirushibumi''
During the Misayama festival as performed during the medieval period, the Ōhōri recited a ritual declaration supposedly composed by the Suwa deity himself known as the Suwa Mishirushibumi, which begins:
I, Great King Suwa, have hidden my person during Sexagenary cycle| the Yang Wood Horse.

'Suwa' and Yang Wood Horse the seal - these three are all one and the same.

Within the text, King Suwa declares the Ōhōri to be his 'true body' and the Misayama hunting grounds below Yatsugatake to be another manifestation of himself that cleanses the three evils: evil thoughts, evil speech and evil actions. He promises that whoever sets foot at Misayama will not fall into the lower, evil realms of existence ; conversely, the god condemns and disowns whoever defiles the hunting grounds by cutting down its trees or digging out the soil.
A commentary on the Mishirushibumi, the Suwa Shichū, elaborates on the text by retelling the legend of Suwa Myōjin's consecration of his first priest:
The Daimyōjin was born during the Yang Wood Horse and disappeared during the Yang Wood Horse.

Sokutan Daijin was the Daimyōjin's uncle who accompanied him from India. When the Daimyōjin was to disappear, he took off his garments, put them on the Daijin, and dubbed him the Misogihōri. He then pronounced a vow: "You shall consider this priest to be my body."

The same text identifies the god's uncle Sokutan Daijin with Arikazu.

Suwa Myōjin and the frog god

Two texts, the Monoimi no rei and the Suwa Shichū, mention an oral legend about Suwa Myōjin pacifying the waves of the four seas by subduing an unruly frog god.
Suwa should be read as "the waves are calm." When a frog god, being a harmful god, caused suffering to the realm, the Daimyōjin quelled it and came to reside here; the four seas were calm, it is called Suwa.

After defeating this frog, Suwa Myōjin then blocked the way to its dwelling - a hole leading to the underwater palace of the dragon god of the sea, the Ryūgū-jō - with a rock and sat on it.
This story functions as an etiological legend for the annual sacrifice of frogs held every New Year's Day in the Upper Shrine as well as yet another folk etymology for the toponym 'Suwa', here explained as deriving either from a term for a wave lapping onto the sea's edge or a reference to the deity's pacification of the waters: "the waves are calm."
The portrayal of Suwa Myōjin's enemy as a frog also hints at the deity's character as a serpentine water god. The frog god itself has been interpreted either as representing the native deities Mishaguji and/or Moriya, with its defeat symbolizing the victory of the cult of Suwa Myōjin over the indigenous belief system, or as a symbol of the Buddhist concept of the three poisons, which Suwa Myōjin, as an incarnation of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, his esoteric aspect Vajrasattva and the Wisdom King Trailokyavijaya, is said to destroy.

The dragon (serpent) deity of Suwa

Folk belief has long held the god of Suwa Shrine to assume the form of a serpent or dragon. Consequently, the deity appears as such in a number of folktales and anecdotes.
In one such story, Suwa Myōjin once came to Izumo Province in the form of a dragon so gigantic that only his head can be seen; his tail was still at Suwa, caught in a tall pine tree by the shores of the lake. The other gods, upon seeing him, were so astounded and frightened at his enormous size that they exempted him from attending their yearly meetings. Thus, the deity of Suwa is claimed to be one of the very few kami in Japan who do not leave their shrines during the month of Kannazuki, when most gods are thought to gather at Izumo and thus are absent from most of the country. The supposed tree where the dragon's tail was caught is locally known as Okakematsu.
A variant of this story transposes the setting from Izumo to the Imperial Palace in Kyoto; in this version, the various kami are said to travel to the ancient capital every New Year's Day to greet the emperor.
Another popular story promulgated by wandering preachers associated with the shrines of Suwa during the medieval period claimed the Suwa deity to have originally been Kōga Saburō, a warrior who temporarily became a dragon or a snake after a journey into the underworld.

''Omiwatari''

Cracks and ridges that form on a frozen Lake Suwa during cold winters have traditionally been interpreted as the trail left behind by Suwa Myōjin as he leaves the Upper Shrine and crosses the lake to meet his wife enshrined on the Lower Shrine on the opposite shore. Called Omiwatari, the cracks were considered to be a good omen for the coming year. The priests of the Grand Shrine of Suwa traditionally used the crack's appearance to divine the quality of the year's harvest. For the locals, the crack also served as a sign that the frozen lake was safe to walk upon. Conversely, the omiwatari's failure to appear at all or the cracks forming in an unusual way were held to be a sign of bad luck for the year.
Since the late 20th century, the omiwatari has become a much rarer sight than it was in the past due to rising temperatures caused by global warming.

As god of war

Suwa Myōjin is also considered to be a god of war, one of a number of such deities in the Japanese pantheon. The Ryōjin Hishō compiled in 1179 also attest to the worship of the god of Suwa in the capacity of god of warfare at the time of its compilation, naming the shrine of Suwa among famous shrines to martial deities in the eastern half of the country.
During the medieval period, legends claiming Suwa Myōjin to have appeared and provided assistance to eminent figures such as Empress Jingū or the general Sakanoue no Tamuramaro during their respective military campaigns circulated.
The god of Suwa was also credited with the attempted Mongol invasions of Japan under Kublai Khan. The Taiheiki recounts a story where a five-colored cloud resembling a serpent rose up from Lake Suwa and spread away westward to assist the Japanese army against the Mongols.
On the seventh day, when the Imperial devotions were completed, from Lake Suwa there arose a cloud of many colours, in shape like a great serpent, which spread away towards the west. The doors of the Temple-treasury of Hachiman flew open, and the skies were filled with a sound of galloping horses and of ringing bits. In the twenty-one shrines of Yoshino the brocade-curtained mirrors moved, the swords of the Temple-treasury put on a sharp edge, and all the shoes offered to the god turned towards the west. At Sumiyoshi sweat poured from below the saddles of the four horses sacred to the deities, and the iron shields turned of themselves and faced the enemy in a line.

Analysis

Takeminakata in the ''Kojiki''

Takeminakata's abrupt appearance in the Kojiki's version of the kuni-yuzuri myth has long puzzled scholars, as the god is mentioned nowhere else in the work, including the genealogy of Ōkuninushi's progeny that precedes the kuni-yuzuri narrative proper. Aside from the parallel account contained in the Kuji Hongi, he is altogether absent from the Nihon Shoki's version of the myth. Early documents from Izumo such as the province's Fudoki also fail to mention any god named 'minakata', nor is there apparently any sign of Takeminakata worship in Izumo in antiquity.
Pre-modern authors such as Motoori Norinaga tended to explain Takeminakata's absence outside of the Kojiki and the Kuji Hongi by conflating the god with certain obscure deities found in other sources thought to share certain similar characteristics. While a few modern scholars still suppose some kind of indirect connection between the deity and Izumo by postulating that Takeminakata's origins lie either in peoples that migrated from Izumo northwards to Suwa and the Hokuriku region or in Hokuriku itself, others instead propose that the connection between Takeminakata and Izumo is an artificial construct by the Kojiki's compilers.
The contest between Takeminakata and Takemikazuchi - an element absent in other versions of the kuni-yuzuri myth cycle - is often explained as being either a new myth invented to serve the interests of the imperial court and the Fujiwara clan, descendants of the Nakatomi clan that had worshiped Takemikazuchi as a patron deity, or an adaptation/reversal of a myth concerning a battle between an interloping god and a local deity preserved in the Suwa region, with Takeminakata being recast into the role of the subjugated earthly kami.

Suwa Myōjin and Moriya

The myth of Takeminakata's arrival in Suwa and his defeat of the god Moriya has been interpreted as the mythicization of a historical event in which a local lineage of chieftains who ruled the Suwa area was subjugated by invading outsiders, who subsequently set themselves up as the new rulers of the region - all the while still retaining the subjugated clan in an important position as the wielder of spiritual and ritual authority. This theory explains the relation between the Suwa and Moriya priestly families of the Upper Shrine of Suwa as that of the Moriya clan being the regional power supplanted by the newly arrived Miwa clan.
While one theory places this event during the end of the Jōmon period, thus portraying the new arrivals as agrarian Yayoi tribes who came into conflict with indigenous Jōmon hunter-gatherers, others instead propose this conflict to have taken place during the late Kofun period, when keyhole-shaped burial mounds containing equestrian gear as grave goods - up to this point found mainly in the Shimoina region southwest of Suwa - begin to appear in the Lake Suwa area, replacing the kind of burial that had been common in the region since the early 5th century. This theory thus supposes these migrants to have been a clan allied with the Yamato kingdom that specialized in horse breeding and horseback riding. Indeed, the Yamato polity showed strong interest to Shinano because of its suitability as a place for grazing and breeding horses and considered it a strategic base for conquering the eastern regions. This clan, the Miwa, is thought to be related to either the Kanasashi clan, an offshoot of a local magnate clan that later became the high priestly family of the Lower Shrine of Suwa, or the Miwa clan originally based on the area around Mount Miwa in Yamato Province. The theory suggests based on archaeological evidence that the Miwa came to the Suwa Basin from Shimoina, making their way northwards along the Tenryū River. In conjunction with this hypothesis, it is pointed out that in the Nobushige Gejō, the Suwa deity is said to have descended from heaven bringing with him bells, a mirror, a saddle and a bridle.
This theory that the legend of the Suwa deity's victory over Moriya reflects historical fact has recently come into question. Due to similarities between certain variants of this myth and medieval legends surrounding Prince Shōtoku's defeat of Mononobe no Moriya, some see the myth as being highly influenced by such stories about Shōtoku, while others regard it as an outright invention modeled on these legends. Aoki theorizes that the myth developed somewhere during the late Heian and early Kamakura periods, when the deity of Suwa came to be venerated as a warrior god, and cautions against uncritical application of this story to known archaeological data.

Takeminakata in imperial sources

While the Kojiki does not yet explicitly mention the worship of Takeminakata in Suwa, by the following century, we see the name applied to the god worshipped in what is now the Grand Shrine of Suwa: aside from the Kuji Hongi's reference to Takeminakata being enshrined in 'Suwa Shrine in Suwa District' the Shoku Nihon Kōki mentions the deity 'Minakatatomi-no-Kami of Suwa District, Shinano Province' being promoted from rankless to junior fifth rank, lower grade by the imperial court in the year 842 CE.
During the 850-60s, Takeminakata and his shrine rose very rapidly in rank, being promoted to the rank of junior fifth, upper grade in 850, to junior third in 851, to junior and then senior second in 859, and finally to junior first rank in 867. The influence of the Kanasashi-no-toneri clan is thought to be behind the deity's sudden progress in rank.
After a few decades, the 'Register of Deities' section of the Engishiki speaks of the 'Minakatatomi Shrine' as enshrining two deities and being the two major ('eminent') shrines of Suwa district. By 940, the deity had been promoted to the highest rank of senior first.

Consort and Offspring

Yasakatome

Suwa Myōjin's spouse is the goddess 'Yasakatome, most often considered to be the deity of the Lower Shrine of Suwa or the Shimosha. Unlike the relatively well-documented Suwa Kamisha, very little concrete information is available regarding the origins of the Shimosha and its goddess.
Yasakatome's first historical attestation is in the Shoku Nihon Kōki, where the goddess is given the rank of junior fifth, lower grade by the imperial court in the tenth month of Jōwa 9, five months after the same rank was conferred on Takeminakata. As Takeminakata rose up in rank, so did Yasakatome, so that by 867 CE, Yasakatome had been promoted to senior second. The goddess was finally promoted to senior first rank in 1074.
Stories and claims about the goddess are diverse and contradictory. Regarding her parentage for instance, the lore of Kawaai Shrine in Kitaazumi District identifies Yasakatome as the daughter of Watatsumi, god of the sea,
which has been seen as hinting to a connection between the goddess and the seafaring Azumi clan. Another claim originating from sources dating from the Edo period is that Yasakatome was the daughter of Ame-no-yasakahiko, a god recorded in the Kuji Hongi as one of the companions of Nigihayahi-no-Mikoto when the latter came down from heaven.
The ice cracks that appear on Lake Suwa during cold winters, the omiwatari'' are reputed in folklore to be caused by Suwa Myōjin's crossing the frozen lake to visit Yasakatome.

Princess Kasuga

The Kōga Saburō legend identifies the goddess of the Shimosha with Saburō's wife, whose name is given in some variants of the story as 'Princess Kasuga'.

Children

In Suwa, a number of local deities are popularly considered to be the children of Suwa Myōjin and his consort. Ōta lists the following gods:
  • Hikokamiwake-no-Mikoto
  • Tatsuwakahime-no-Kami
  • Taruhime-no-Kami
  • Izuhayao-no-Mikoto
  • Tateshina-no-Kami
  • Tsumashinahime-no-Kami
  • Ikeno'o-no-Kami
  • Tsumayamizuhime-no-mMikoto
  • Yakine-no-Mikoto
  • Suwa-wakahiko-no-Mikoto
  • Katakurabe-no-Mikoto
  • Okihagi-no-Mikoto
  • Wakemizuhiko-no-Mikoto
  • Moritatsu-no-Kami
  • Takamori-no-kami
  • Enatakemimi-no-Mikoto
  • Okutsuiwatate-no-Kami
  • Ohotsuno-no-Kami
  • Ōkunugi-no-Kami

Claimed descendants

Suwa clan

The Suwa clan who once occupied the position of head priest or ōhōri of the Suwa Kamisha traditionally considered themselves to be descendants of Suwa Myōjin/Takeminakata, although historically they are probably descended from the Kanasashi-no-toneri clan appointed by the Yamato court to govern the Suwa area in the 6th century.

Other clans

The Suwa ōhōri was assisted by five priests, some of whom were also considered to be descendants of local deities related to Suwa Myōjin/Takeminakata. One clan, the Koide, the original occupants of the offices of negi-dayū and gi-no-hōri, claimed descent from the god Yakine. A second clan, the Yajima, which served as gon-no-hōri, considered the god Ikeno'o to be their ancestor.

Worship

Shrines

As the gods of the Grand Shrine of Suwa, Suwa Myōjin/Takeminakata and Yasakatome also serve as the deities of shrines belonging to the Suwa shrine network all over Japan.

As god of wind and water

The Nihon Shoki's record of Yamato emissaries worshipping the god of Suwa alongside the gods of Tatsuta Shrine - worshipped for their power to control and ward off wind-related disasters such as droughts and typhoons - implies that the Yamato imperial court recognized the deity as a god of wind and water during the late 7th century. One theory regarding the origin of the name 'minakata' even supposes it to derive from a word denoting a body of water.
Snake-shaped iron sickle blades called nagikama were traditionally used in the Suwa region to ward off strong winds, typhoons and other natural disasters; it was once customary for nagikama to be attached to wooden staves and placed on one corner of the rooftop of the house during the autumn typhoon season. Nagikama are also traditionally hammered onto the trees chosen to become the onbashira of the Suwa Kamisha and Shimosha some time before these are actually felled. In addition to these and other uses, the blades are also distributed to function as shintai for branch shrines of the Suwa shrine network.

Association with snakes and dragons

Suwa Myōjin's association with the snake or the dragon in many stories featuring the god such as the Kōga Saburō legend might be related to his being considered as a deity presiding over wind and water, due to the association of dragons with winds and the rain in Japanese belief.

Under ''shinbutsu-shūgō''

During the Middle Ages, under the then-prevalent synthesis of Buddhism and Shinto, Suwa Myōjin was identified with the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, with the goddess of the Shimosha being associated with the thousand-armed form of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. During the medieval period, Buddhist temples and other edifices were erected on the precincts of both shrines, including a stone pagoda called the Tettō - symbolizing the legendary iron tower in India where, according to Shingon tradition, Nagarjuna was said to have received esoteric teachings from Vajrasattva - and a sanctuary to Samantabhadra, both of which served at the time as the Kamisha's main objects of worship.
With the establishment of State Shinto after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and the subsequent separation of Buddhism and Shinto, the shrine monks attached to Buddhist temples in the Suwa shrine complex were laicized, with Buddhist symbols and structures being either removed or destroyed; Buddhist ceremonies performed in both the Kamisha and the Shimosha, such as the yearly offering of the Lotus Sutra to Suwa Myōjin, were discontinued.

As god of hunting

Suwa Myōjin is also worshipped as a god of hunting; not surprisingly, some of the Kamisha's religious ceremonies traditionally involve ritual hunting and/or animal sacrifice.
For instance, the Frog Hunting Ritual held every New Year's Day involves the shooting of frogs captured from a sacred river or stream within the Kamisha's precincts with miniature arrows. This ritual - which has come under harsh criticism from local activists and animal rights groups for its perceived cruelty to the frogs involved - was traditionally performed to secure peace and a bountiful harvest for the coming year.
Another festival, the Ontōsai or the Tori no matsuri currently held every April 15, feature the offering of seventy-five stuffed deer heads, as well as the consumption of venison and other game such as wild boar or rabbit, various kinds of seafood and other foodstuffs by the priests and other participants in a ritual banquet.
One of the Suwa Kamisha's hunting festivals, the Misayama Festival, formerly held in a field - the kōya - at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains for five days, was one of the grandest festivals in Suwa during the Kamakura period, attracting many of the samurai class from all across Japan who engaged in displays of mounted archery, bouts of sumo wrestling and falconry as part of the festivities, as well as people from all walks of life. The Shimosha also held its own Misayama Festival at the same time as the Kamisha, in which various warrior clans also participated.
Suwa Myōjin's association with the mountains and hunting is also evident from the description of the ōhōri as sitting upon a deer hide during the Ontōsai ritual as practiced during medieval times.

Suwa Myōjin and meat eating

At a time when slaughter of animals and consumption of meat was frowned upon due to Mahayana Buddhism's strict views on vegetarianism and the general Buddhist opposition against the taking of life, the cult of Suwa Myōjin was a unique feature in the Japanese religious landscape for its celebration of hunting and meat eating.
A four-line verse attached to the Kōga Saburō legend popularly known as the Suwa no kanmon encapsulates the justification of meat eating within a Buddhist framework: by being eaten by humans and 'dwelling' inside their bodies, ignorant animals could achieve enlightenment together with their human consumers.
The Kamisha produced special talismans and chopsticks that were held to allow the bearer to eat meat. Since it was the only one of its kind in Japan, the talisman was popular among hunters and meat eaters. These sacred licenses and chopsticks were distributed to the public both by the priests of the Kamisha as well as wandering preachers associated with the shrine known as oshi, who preached the tale of Suwa Myōjin as Kōga Saburō as well as other stories concerning the god and his benefits.

As war god

Suwa Myōjin is also considered to be a god of war, one of a number of such deities in the Japanese pantheon. Besides the legend of the god's apparition to Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, the Ryōjin Hishō compiled in 1179 also attest to the worship of the god of Suwa in the capacity of god of warfare at the time of its compilation, naming the shrine of Suwa among famous shrines to martial deities in the eastern half of the country.
During the Kamakura period, the Suwa clan's association with the shogunate and the Hōjō clan helped further cement Suwa Myōjin's reputation as a martial deity. The shrines of Suwa and the priestly clans thereof flourished under the patronage of the Hōjō, which promoted devotion to the god as a sign of loyalty to the shogunate. Suwa branch shrines became numerous all across Japan, especially in territories held by clans devoted to the god.
The Takeda clan of Kai Province were devotees of Suwa Myōjin, its most famous member, the Sengoku daimyō Takeda Shingen being no exception. His devotion is visibly evident in some of his war banners, which bore the god's name and invocations such as Namu Suwa Nangū Hosshō Kamishimo Daimyōjin. The iconic horned helmet with the flowing white hair commonly associated with Shingen, popularly known as the Suwa-hosshō helmet, came to be reputed in some popular culture retellings to have been blessed by the god, guaranteeing success in battle to its wearer. Shingen also issued an order for the reinstitution of the religious rites of both the Kamisha and the Shimosha in 1565.