Aha Nagi (沫那藝神, “Calm Foam Man”)1 is a kami of Shintō. He appears in two early texts, which give him different families: the Kojiki makes him a son of the estuary kami, while one version of the Nihongi makes him the father of Izanagi.
Table of Contents
In the Kojiki
The Kojiki states that he is the son of Hayaakitsuhime and Hayaakitsuhiko, the estuary kami. He was the first of eight children, his siblings being Awa Nami, Tsuranagi, Tsuranami, Amenomikumari, Kuninomikumari, Amenokuizamochi and Kuninokuizamochi.
In the Nihongi
He is mentioned in only one version of the Nihongi, where he is stated to be the father of the kami Izanagi and the son of a kami called Ame Yorodzu.2
This mention comes much earlier in the Nihongi‘s text. In the section that corresponds to the Kojiki‘s list of Hayaakitsuhime and the other kami, he is not mentioned; the Nihongi merely states:
Izanagi and Izanami then produced the sea, the rivers, and then the mountains, after the Eightfold Isles.2
Name
His name is associated with the portion of a river’s mouth that is closest to the land.1
See also
References
- Heldt 2014.
- Aston (1896) 2008, vol. 1.
Bibliography
Aston, W.G., trans. (1896) 2008. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. Vol. 1. Cosimo.
Heldt, G., trans. 2014. The Kojiki: An Account of Ancient Matters. New York: Columbia University Press.
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