Umashikabihikoji no Mikoto - Umashikabihikoji no Mikoto

Japanese: 可美葦牙彦舅尊 - うましあしかびひこじのみこと

A god who appears at the beginning of Japanese mythology, when the world was created. Umashi is a complimentary title, ashikabi means young reed shoots, and hikoji means male, and he is interpreted as a wonderful male god of reed shoots. In the Kojiki, he is recorded as Umashiashikabihikochi, and is counted as one of the first five gods, "Beten no Kami," beginning with Ame-no-Minakanushi. In the Nihon Shoki, he appears in three of the six different versions, and there is also an expression that the first god (Kunitokotachi no Mikoto) appeared like a "reed fang," which shows that the life force of reed sprouts was imagined as a symbol of an origin. Was he a god who was thought of in the lives of people engaged in farming? <References> Obayashi Taryo, "The Origin of Japanese Mythology," Saito Shizutaka, "The Structure of the Opening of the Chapter on the Age of Reeds in the Nihon Shoki" (Kokugakuin Magazine, Vol. 92, No. 1)

(Keiko Terada)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

日本神話の冒頭部,天地創成時に出現する神。ウマシは美称,アシカビは葦の若芽,ヒコジは男性の意と考えられ,素晴らしい葦の芽の男性神と解される。『古事記』では宇摩志阿斯訶備比古遅神と記され,天之御中主神に始まる冒頭の5神「別天神」の1神に数えられている。『日本書紀』では,6異伝のうちの3つに登場するが,冒頭の神(国常立尊)を「葦牙」のように出現したとする表現もあり,葦の芽生える生命力は,ひとつの始源の象徴としてイメージされていたことがわかる。農耕に従事する人々の生活のなかから思考された神か。<参考文献>大林太良『日本神話の起源』,斉藤静隆「『日本書紀』神代巻冒頭部の構成」(『国学院雑誌』92巻1号)

(寺田恵子)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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