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Asia
Explore myths, traditions and legendary beings grouped under Asia.
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Nai-no-kami
Nai-no-kami (also written Nai no Kami or translated as the “Earthquake Kami”) is a Japanese divine figure or ritual designation associated with earthquakes. The name belongs to the older religious vocabulary of Japan, bu…
Naka-yama-tsu-mi
Naka-yama-tsu-mi is an obscure mountain kami associated with the mythic birth of mountain deities from the dismembered body of the fire god Kagutsuchi in Japanese mythology. The name is often written in English as Naka-y…
Namazu
Namazu is the giant catfish associated with earthquakes in Japanese folklore and early modern popular imagery. In the best-known version of the tradition, a huge subterranean catfish lies beneath the Japanese islands. Wh…
Ninigi-no-mikoto
Ninigi-no-mikoto is a kami of Japanese mythology who is presented as the grandson of Amaterasu Ōmikami and the ancestor of Japan’s imperial line. In the mythic genealogies preserved in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, he desc…
O-ana-mochi
O-ana-mochi is a rare English rendering of a name associated with the Japanese kami usually identified as Ōnamochi, Ōnamuji or Ōnamuchi no Mikoto. In the major traditions of Japanese mythology, this figure is generally u…
Okuninushi
Ōkuninushi, also written Okuninushi or Ōkuninushi-no-Kami, is one of the most important deities in Japanese mythology. He belongs especially to the religious traditions of Izumo, a region on the western coast of Honshū, …
Oyamatsumi
Oyamatsumi, also written Ōyamatsumi or Ōyamatsumi-no-kami, is a kami of mountains in Japanese mythology. He appears most prominently in the Kojiki and in related accounts preserved by the Nihon Shoki, where he belongs to…
Oni
Oni are frightening supernatural beings in Japanese mythology, folklore and religious imagination. They are often portrayed as large, muscular humanoids with horns, brightly coloured skin, sharp fangs and an iron club, b…
Toyotama-hime
Toyotama-hime is a prominent woman of Japanese mythology, best known as the daughter of the sea deity Watatsumi and the wife of the divine hero Hoori. Her story belongs to the mythic genealogy that leads to Japan’s first…
Raijin
Raijin is the Japanese kami, or supernatural deity, associated with thunder, lightning and violent storms. He is commonly shown as a fierce, oni-like figure surrounded by a ring of drums, which he beats to produce thunde…
Raiju
Raiju (雷獣, usually read raijū) is a creature of Japanese folklore associated with thunder and lightning. Its name means “thunder beast,” from rai, “thunder,” and jū, “beast” or “animal.” Unlike a single god with one esta…