{{short description|Japanese deity of agriculture}} {{Expand Japanese|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox deity | type = Japanese | name = Ukanomitama-no-Kami | image = Statue of Ukanomitama at Ozu-jinja.jpg | caption = Heian period statue of Ukanomitama at Ozu Shrine in Moriyama, Shiga Prefecture | god_of = Goddess of food and agriculture | script_name = Japanese | script = 宇迦之御魂神 | other_names = Ukanomitama-no-Mikoto (倉稲魂命)<br/> Mikura-no-Kami (御倉神)<br/> Miketsukami (御食津神, 三狐神) | cult_center = Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kasama Inari Shrine, Yūtoku Inari Shrine and others | symbols = | consort = | parents = Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Kamuōichihime (''Kojiki'')<br/>Izanagi and Izanami (''Nihon Shoki'') | siblings = Ōtoshi (''Kojiki'') | children = | texts = ''Kojiki'', ''Nihon Shoki'' and others }} '''Ukanomitama''' (宇迦之御魂神 – Mighty Soul of Sustenance<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ukanomitama • A History of Japan - 日本歴史|url=https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/ukanomitama/|access-date=2021-09-11|website=A History of Japan - 日本歴史|language=en-GB|archive-date=2021-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911120355/https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/ukanomitama/|url-status=live}}</ref> - ''Kojiki'') (倉稲魂命 - ''Nihongi'') is a ''kami'' in classical Japanese mythology, associated with food and agriculture, often identified with Inari, the deity of rice.
==Name and mythology== The ''Kojiki'' identifies Ukanomitama (宇迦之御魂神 ''Ukanomitama-no-Kami'') as the child of Susanoo by his second wife Kamu-Ōichihime (神大市比売), who was a daughter of Ōyamatsumi (大山津見神), the god of mountains. This text portrays Ukanomitama as the younger sibling of the harvest deity Ōtoshi-no-Kami.<ref name="chamberlain">Chamberlain (1882). [https://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj027.htm Section XX.—The August Ancestors of the Deity-Master-Of-The-Great Land.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729184045/https://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj027.htm |date=2020-07-29 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press|page=92}}</ref>
A variant account recorded in the ''Nihon Shoki'' meanwhile portrays Ukanomitama (here referred to as 倉稲魂命 ''Ukanomitama-no-Mikoto'') as an offspring of Izanagi and Izanami who was born when the two became hungry.<ref name="Aston20">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=22}}</ref>
The deity's name is understood as being derived from ''uka no mitama'', "august spirit (''mitama'') of food (''uka'')".<ref name="chamberlain"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Philippi |first1=Donald L. |title=Kojiki |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press|page=621}}</ref> While the above texts are silent regarding the deity's gender, Ukanomitama has long been interpreted to be female, perhaps due to association with other agricultural deities such as Toyouke or Ukemochi.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book|last1=Aston|first1=William George, tr.|title=Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697|date=1896|publisher=Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|location=London|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nihongi:_Chronicles_of_Japan_from_the_Earliest_Times_to_A.D._697}} *{{cite book|last1=Chamberlain|first1=Basil, tr.|title=A Translation of the "Ko-Ji-Ki," or "Records of Ancient Matters"|date=1882|publisher=Lane, Crawford & Co.|location=Yokohama|url=http://sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/index.htm}} *Philippi, Donald L. (2015). ''Kojiki''. Princeton University Press. {{ISBN|978-1400878000}}.
==See also== *Toyouke-Ōmikami *Ukemochi
{{Inari Faith}}
Category:Shinto kami Category:Food deities Category:Agricultural gods Category:Agricultural deities Category:Inari faith Category:Kunitsukami
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