Every certificate this Bureau issues names the god that has taken up residence in that particular stick. These twenty-five are the kami currently able to do so. Which one arrives is decided by the stick's element and by whatever stands out most about it — the bend, the char, the fork, the moss, the mud, the sun-bleached grain.
The fire god, last child born to the goddess Izanami — his flames killed her at birth, and his father Izanagi cut him down with a ten-span sword. From the spilled blood came the gods of mountains and thunder. He is worshipped as the kami who both raises fire and quells it.
The one-eyed smith god, said to mirror the ironworkers who stared into the furnace until they lost an eye. He governs the forging of blades and iron. Scorched wood and charcoal-dark sticks are his domain.
The great kami of the ocean itself. In myth he received the hunter-prince Hoori in his undersea palace and gave him the two jewels that command the tides. Driftwood, and any stick worn smooth by water, has passed through his hands.
A water goddess born of Izanami. She guards wells, springs and irrigation channels, calling rain in drought and drawing it back in flood. She watches over sticks found by rivers or in damp ground.
A water deity born from Kagutsuchi's blood, taking the form of a dragon. He rules the rain on high peaks and the snow in the valleys, and is petitioned for rain at Kifune Shrine. A stick that coils like a serpent carries him.
A war god born from the blood on the blade that slew Kagutsuchi. In the myth of the land's surrender he planted his sword upside down in the waves and sat cross-legged on its point to face down Okuninushi. Enshrined at Kashima.
A young thunder god born to Tamayori-hime and a deity who had taken the shape of a vermilion arrow; he is said to have risen into the sky on a peal of thunder. Enshrined at Kamigamo, he strikes away misfortune and defilement.
The sword god who pacified the Central Land alongside Takemikazuchi. The 'futsu' in his name is said to be the sound of a thing cut clean through in one stroke. Enshrined at Katori, he settles into anything straight and sharp.
The wind god born from Izanagi's breath, who is said to have blown away in one gust the morning mist that lay over the land. Light, slender sticks and anything shaped to cut the air belong to him.
The god who lost a trial of strength against Takemikazuchi during the land's surrender and withdrew to Suwa, guarding that country ever since as lord of wind, rain and the hunt. That contest is told as the origin of sumo. He fills thick, powerful sticks.
The great kami who rules every mountain, and father of the blossom princess Konohanasakuya. The trees that grow on the slopes, the rock and the ore beneath them, are all his. Any stick picked up in the hills was his first.
The earth deity born of Izanami, governing soil itself — from the clay fired into vessels to the ground that holds a rice field. A stick caked in mud, or half-buried when found, was in this kami's arms.
The lord of Izumo, who shaped the land together with the dwarf god Sukunabikona and later ceded it to the heavenly gods. He survived trial after trial, and is invoked for endurance and for the binding of ties. He rests in wood that has weathered many seasons.
The deity of grain and abundance, enshrined at Inari shrines across Japan and served by foxes as messengers. A stick tinged vermilion, or found in the season of ripening, bears this kami's mark.
The deity of trees themselves, born to Izanagi and Izanami. Every tree in the world is a part of him — and most of what this Bureau appraises is, traced back far enough, a piece of his body.
A son of Susanoo, said to have brought tree seeds down from heaven and sown them across Japan until the country turned green. He is enshrined in Kii. He settles into a branch of good stock, grown straight.
The mother goddess who birthed the islands together with Izanagi. Bearing the fire god burned her to death, and she became ruler of Yomi, the land of the dead — a kami who knows both life and its end. She dwells in wood that has begun to rot, or lay buried in leaf litter.
The storm god cast out of the High Plain of Heaven for his violence. He descended to Izumo, slew the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi, and offered the sword found in its tail to his sister Amaterasu. Wood snapped raw, or found the morning after a storm, is his.
A serpent with eight heads and eight tails, said to span eight valleys and eight ridges. Susanoo cut it down, and the sword Kusanagi emerged from its tail. Less a god than a raging spirit — but a stick that coils and forks many times carries it.
The sun goddess who rules the High Plain of Heaven. Enraged by her brother Susanoo, she shut herself in a cave and the world went dark; the other gods danced before the entrance until her curiosity at their laughter drew her out and light returned. She rests in wood bleached pale by the sun.
Goddess of beauty that blooms like cherry blossom and, like it, falls. Daughter of the mountain god Oyamatsumi, she is also worshipped as the deity of Mount Fuji. Slender, delicate sticks and branches still holding buds reflect her.
The very first deity to appear in the High Plain of Heaven at the moment heaven and earth divided. He spoke nothing, showed no form, and only his name was written down. He inhabits the quiet stick that belongs to no element.
The deification of heaven's standing firm forever. A solitary kami without consort, recorded as having hidden himself away the moment he appeared. He is the god of the straight upright shaft itself.
The deification of the earth standing firm forever — held to be the root of the land itself, whose nature is not to move. He dwells in sticks driven deep into the ground, or still trailing their roots.
A deity small enough to sit in a palm, who arrived from across the sea and built the land together with Okuninushi. He is credited with bringing medicine and brewing. He inhabits the short stick that should not be underestimated.