One of three gods born when blood from the hilt of the sword that killed Kagutsuchi struck the rocks. The Kojiki calls him Takemikazuchi-no-o, also known as Takefutsu and Toyofutsu.
By his very birth, he is a sword-stroke that became a god.
When the High Plain of Heaven demanded the land below, this kami was the last envoy sent. He came down at the little shore of Inasa in Izumo, planted his ten-span sword upside down in the waves, sat cross-legged on its point, and put the question to Okuninushi.
When Okuninushi's son Takeminakata refused and challenged him to a trial of strength, Takemikazuchi took his hand and flung him away like a reed pulled from the ground — the scene traditionally held to be the origin of sumo.
Thunder and the sword. He is enshrined at Kashima Jingu in Ibaraki, and was invited to Kasuga Taisha in Nara as the tutelary kami of the Fujiwara.
During Emperor Jimmu's eastern campaign he did not descend himself but sent down the sacred blade Futsu-no-Mitama to save the army. This kami works as a sword whether or not he appears.
In the precinct of Kashima Jingu lies the kaname-ishi, the pivot stone, said to pin down underground the great catfish that causes earthquakes. A god of thunder is thus also holding the shaking of the earth. The power that strikes from above and the power that presses from below belong to the same kami.
To set out on a journey is called kashima-dachi in Japanese — from the frontier guards who, bound for the east, first paid their respects at Kashima Jingu.
The god of arms was also the god who saw travellers safely off. In this kami, the power to strike and the power to send someone on their way are one and the same.
A lightning-struck tree, a branch broken from a split trunk, a stick whose fracture runs sharp and clean.
What the Bureau looks for here is straightness and a point. Born of a cutting stroke, standing as a sword, throwing his opponent down — he rarely descends on a curved stick. Straight, tapered, and impossible to hold without wanting to raise it.
Note: this section is the Bureau's own reading, not a record from the chronicles.
The share of issued certificates in which this kami appeared. It shifts as more sticks are appraised. Variant spellings are reconciled before counting.
No published certificate bears this kami yet.