Jewelled Spear of Heaven

The Jewelled Spear of Heaven and the Mighty Pillar of Heaven are two items mentioned in the kojiki, kujiki and nihongi.

The Jewelled Spear of Heaven

The Spear (Amenonuhoko, 天沼矛 or 天之瓊矛 or 天瓊戈) is noted to have been used by Izanami and Izanagi. Using it they churned up the sea, and the brine which fell from it piled atop one another and created the first land which they called Onogoroshima.¹²

It is noted that in the kujiki that Izanami and Izanagi made the Jewelled Spear the central pillar of their house.²

The Jinnō Shōtōki says that there was a legend stating the Spear was kept in the area later chosen for the site of the Ise Grand Shrine.³

The Mighty Pillar of Heaven

The Pillar (天御柱) is noted to have been upon the island of Onogoroshima after Izanami and Izanagi decended to dwell upon it. This pillar they walked around, pretending to ‘meet’ for the first time before proceeding through secual congress to give birth to the first eight islands of Japan.¹

One version of the nihongi states it was set up on the island by these two kami once they arrived.²

Footnotes

1. Yasumaro. O, translated by Gustav Heldt. (2014) “Kojiki. An Account of Ancient Matters”. New York: Columbia University Press.
2. Aston. W.G. (1896) “Nihongi Volume 1: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to AD697”. Tuttle Publishing.
3. Varley, H.P (1980) “A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa.” New York: Columbia University Press.

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