WaterSaltRiceSakePurification at the riverWhite cloth
Invocation Approach
Tone
Reverent clean
Address
Izanagi-no-MikotoFather of the KamiThe Male Who Invites
Relationship
The first ancestor who set the boundary
Warning
He closed the door between the living and the dead and it stays closed
Resonance
Those who keep a shrine those in purification those standing at a threshold
Symbols
Ame no nubokoJeweled spearThe boulder of yomotsu hirasakaMisogiThe three noble childrenThe wagtailThe islands
Mythology Summary
Izanagi and Izanami stand on the floating bridge of heaven and stir the primeval brine with the jeweled spear Ame-no-nuboko, and the brine that drips from it becomes the first island, Onogoro. The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki then have them circle a pillar and give birth to the islands, the sea, the rivers, the mountains and the kami of the land; when Izanami dies in childbirth and Izanagi follows her to Yomi, she becomes the ruler of the dead, and he flees and seals the pass with a boulder. His purification in the Tachibana River at Awagihara produces Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo.
Modern Practice
He is the kami of the boundary and of purification: misogi, standing in cold running water and letting the pollution go, is the practice, done at a river or under a waterfall with white cloth and no petition beyond being made clean.