{{Short description|Japanese folk deities of an area}} {{Nihongo||地主神|'''Jinushigami'''}}, also known as {{Nihongo||地神|'''jigami'''}}, {{Nihongo||土地神|'''tochigami'''}}, {{Nihongo||地の神|'''chi no kami'''|also read as '''''ji no kami'''''}}, or {{Nihongo||地主様|'''jinushisama'''}}, are Shinto folk deities,<ref>Kamata, T. (2017). Myth and Deity in Japan: The Interplay of Kami and Buddhas: Vol. First edition. JPIC[出版文化産業振興財団].</ref> or kami, of an area of land (the name literally means "land-master-kami").
Their history goes back to at least the 9th century and possibly earlier. Originally, jinushigami were associated with new areas of land opened up for settlement. New residents of the land created shrines to the local resident kami either to gain its blessing/permission, or to bind it within the land to prevent its interference with, or cursing of, nearby humans. Jinushigami may be either ancestors of the original settlers of an area, or ancestors of a clan.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=213 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518230601/http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=213 | archive-date=2011-05-18 | title=Encyclopedia of Shinto - Home : Kami in Folk Religion : Jinushigami }}</ref> They are also known as Landlord deities<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/jrj/10/1/article-p102_6.xml | author=Sujung Kim | title=Shinra Myōjin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean.” | year=2019 | location=Honolulu | publisher=University of Hawai‘i Press | isbn=978-0-82487-799-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9641 | script-title=ja:Nainokami | 國學院大學デジタルミュージアム | access-date=2023-09-16 | archive-date=2023-04-07 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20230407201919/https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9641 | url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> and sometimes described as genius loci.<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/hawaii-scholarship-online/book/17762/chapter-abstract/175508683?redirectedFrom=fulltext | doi=10.21313/hawaii/9780824839314.003.0009 | chapter=Matricial Gods | title=Protectors and Predators | date=2015 | last1=Faure | first1=Bernard | pages=299–329 | isbn=978-0-8248-3931-4 }}</ref>
Ōkuninushi is sometimes considered a Jinushigami of Japan as a whole.
Hokora are often created for Jinushigami,<ref name=":0">{{cite web | url=https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9956 | title=Jinushigami | | script-title=ja:國學院大學デジタルミュージアム | access-date=2023-09-16 | archive-date=2023-04-07 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20230407040316/https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9956 | url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> natural objects like trees are also often seen to be yorishiro or shintai for them.<ref name=":0" />
The goal is to convince the cthonic deities of the ground to allow occupation.<ref name=":0" />
Shinra Myōjin is considered such a deity and to have originated in Korea.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kim |first=Sujung |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVrGDwAAQBAJ |title=Shinra Myōjin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian "Mediterranean" |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-8248-8173-3 |pages=30 |doi=10.1515/9780824881733 |access-date=2023-02-20 |s2cid=243035601}}</ref>
==Pop culture== In the manga series ''Kamisama Kiss'' by Julietta Suzuki, the heroine Nanami Momozono becomes the '''tochigami''' of a derelict shrine.
==See also==
* Dizhu shen * Te-ki-tsu
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Shinto shrine}}
Category:Shinto terminology Category:Shinto kami Category:Tutelary deities Category:Chinjusha Category:Regional deities Category:Chthonic beings Category:Japanese folk religion