Oyamakuhi no kami (大山咋神)

Oyamakuhi no kami is a Japanese deity. The god is also called Yamasue no onushi no kami.

He is the son of Otoshi no Kami and Amenochikarumizu hime.

The 'kuhi' of his name means pile, (heavy beam of timber) indicating that he is a deity who drives a pile of heavy timber into Oyama ("Big Mountain"), and the mountain's owner. According to the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters - Japan's oldest historical record), the deity is enshrined in Hieno-yama (later called and Mt. Hiei) and Matsuo, Kazuno District, and Narikabura is where the deity resides.

Since Enryaku-ji Buddhist Temple of the Tendai sect was built on Mt. Hiei, the deity also came to be regarded as the guardian deity of the Tendai sect and Enryaku-ji Temple. The god is also called "Sanno," the king of Mt. Hiei. A Shinto school derived from the Tendai sect was called "Sanno Shinto," later changed to "Sanno Ichijitsu Shinto" by Tenkai (a priest of the Tendai sect, who lived in the early Edo period). Dokan OTA built Hie-jinja Shrine by moving Oyamakuhi no kami from Kawagoe-hiyoshi-sha Shrine to make it the guardian deity of Edo-jo Castle. During the Edo period, the deity was regarded as that of the Tokugawa family, and since the Meiji period, it has been regarded as the guardian deity of the imperial palace.

Hiyoshi-taisha Shrine at the foot of Mt. Hiei is the headquarters of all the Hie-jinja Shrines that worship Oyamakuhi no kami across the country. Later, Omononushi (a deity in Japanese mythology) was enshrined in Hie-jinja Shrines; Omononushi is called "Obie" ("Big Hie") and Oyamakuhi no kami "Kobie" ("Small Hie"). "Sanno" is the general term for these two deities. Omononushi is enshrined in Nishihongu ("West Main Shrine") and Oyamakuhi no kami in Higashihongu ("East Main Shrine").

Besides, the two deities are enshrined in Higashihongu (Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo Prefecture), and also in Matsuo-taisha Shrine (Nishikyo Ward, Kyoto City).

[Original Japanese]