Ame-no-Nuboko
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Izanami_and_Izanagi_create_the_1st_Japanese_isles%2C_Kobayashi_Eitaku_MFA_1880s.jpg/220px-Izanami_and_Izanagi_create_the_1st_Japanese_isles%2C_Kobayashi_Eitaku_MFA_1880s.jpg)
Ame-no-Nuboko (天沼矛 or 天之瓊矛 or 天瓊戈, "heavenly jeweled spear"), also known simply as the Tenkei (天瓊, "heavenly spear"), is the name given to the spear in Shinto 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 achieve this, they received a spear decorated with jewels from the older heavenly gods.[2] The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Ame-no-ukihashi, 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]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Daniel C. Pauley (2009). Pauley's Guide: A Dictionary of Japanese Martial Arts and Culture. p. 4. ISBN 978-0615233567.
- ^ Jean Herbert (2010). Shinto: At the Fountainhead of Japan. p. 220. ISBN 978-0203842164.
- ^ 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.