Gods of Abstractions
Izanagi and Izanami.—I have little doubt that these deities (see above, [p. 21]) were suggested by the Yin and Yang, or male and female principles, of Chinese philosophy. They were probably introduced into Japanese myth in order to account for the existence of the Sun-goddess and other deities, and to link them together by a common parentage. Their names are supposed to be connected with a verb, izanafu, to invite, and to refer to their mutual invitation to become husband and wife. They are not important in ritual.
Musubi means growth or production. In the old myths there are two Musubi deities, viz. Taka-musubi and Kamu-musubi (high-growth and divine-growth). It is not difficult to conjecture that ‘high’ and ‘divine’ were originally nothing more than laudatory epithets of one and the same personage. Poetry recognises only one God. In later times there were no fewer than eight Musubi who had shrines in the precincts of the Imperial palace. The worship of this god is now much neglected.
Kuni-toko-tachi.—Nothing is really known of this deity. The name means literally ‘land (or earth)-eternal-stand,’ and I offer as a mere conjecture that he is a personification of the durable character of the earth. The circumstance that he is the first god of the Nihongi myth led to his receiving a prominence in later times which is justified by nothing in the older religion. There was an abortive attempt to make of him a sort of Supreme Deity, and to substitute his worship for that of the Food-goddess at Ise.