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{{short description|Japanese kami of swords}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Japanese
| name = Futsunushi-no-Kami
| image = 経津主尊 Futsunushi by 八島岳亭 Yashima Gakutei.jpg
| caption = ''Futsunushi no mikoto'' by [[Yashima Gakutei]]
| god_of = God of swords and warfare
| script_name = Japanese
| script = 経津主神
| other_names = Futsunushi-no-Mikoto (布都怒志命, 布都努志命)<br/>Iwainushi-no-Kami (斎主神, 伊波比主神)<br/>Katori Daimyōjin (香取大明神)<br/>Katori-no-Kami (香取神)<br/>Katori-no-Ōkami (香取大神)
| cult_center = [[Katori Shrine]], [[Kasuga-taisha|Kasuga Grand Shrine]]
| symbols = 
| consort = 
| parents = Iwatsutsunoo and Iwatsutsunome
| siblings = 
| children = Ame-no-Naemasu-no-Mikoto
| texts = ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'', ''[[Fudoki|Izumo Fudoki]]'', ''Hitachi Fudoki'', ''[[Kogo Shūi]]'', ''[[Sendai Kuji Hongi]]''
}}

{{Nihongo|'''Futsunushi'''|経津主神|Futsunushi-no-Kami|extra=also {{lang|ja|布都怒志命}} or {{lang|ja|布都努志命}}, {{transl|ja|Futsunushi-no-Mikoto}}}}, also known as {{Nihongo|'''Iwainushi'''|斎主神 or 伊波比主神|Iwainushi-no-Kami}}, is a [[List of war deities|warrior]] [[kami|god]] in [[Japanese mythology]]. Also known under the epithet '''Katori Daimyōjin''' ({{lang|ja|香取大明神}}) after his shrine in northern [[Chiba Prefecture]] (historical [[Shimōsa Province]]), [[Katori Jingū]], he is often revered alongside [[Takemikazuchi]] (the god of [[Kashima Shrine]]), with whom he is closely associated.<ref>{{cite book|title=Namazu-e and Their Themes: An Interpretative Approach to Some Aspects of Japanese Folk Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1P4UAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA58|year=1964|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=58–|id=GGKEY:2TUFXDJBJPN}}</ref> He is the general of Amaterasu and regarded as a legendary ancestor of the [[Mononobe clan]],<ref name="Como2008">{{cite book|author=Como, Michael I.|title=Shotoku: Ethnicity, Ritual, and Violence in the Japanese Buddhist Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1iraBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT121|date=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988496-4|pages=121}}</ref> and like Takemikazuchi is one of the tutelary deities of the [[Fujiwara clan]].<ref name="Grapard1993">{{cite book|author=Grapard, Allan G.|title=The Protocol of the Gods: A Study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PI133z1ObW4C&pg=PA39|date=1993|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-91036-2|pages=39–40}}</ref>

==Name==
One theory interprets the ''futsu'' ([[Old Japanese]]: ''putu'') in Futsunushi's name as an [[onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] sound of a sword swinging and cutting something.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Newman |first1=Jesse C. |title=History of Kyudo and Iaido in Early Japan |date=2015 |publisher=AuthorHouse |page=92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uhw6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT92}}</ref><ref name="Aston">{{cite book |last1=Aston |first1=William G. |title=Shinto - The Ancient Religion of Japan |date=2015 |publisher=Read Books Ltd |page=115 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DNPOCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT115 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429040813/https://books.google.com/books?id=DNPOCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT115#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lancashire |first1=Terence |title=Gods' Music: the Japanese Folk Theatre of Iwami Kagura |date=2006 |publisher=Florian Noetzel |page=277}}</ref> A connection with the term ''furu'' ('to shake') has also been proposed.

''Nushi'' (OJ: ''nusi''), meaning 'master' or 'ruler', is derived from a contraction of the [[Japanese particles#no|possessive particle]] ''no'' and ''ushi'' (OJ: ''usi''), of the same meaning.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Matsuoka |first1=Shizuo |title=Nihon Kogo Daijiten (日本古語大辭典) |date=1929 |publisher=Tōkō Shoin |page=980 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMZnXlFd8KsC&pg=PP160 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429040815/https://books.google.com/books?id=NMZnXlFd8KsC&pg=PP160 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The name ''Iwainushi'' ([[Historical kana orthography|historical orthography]]: いはひぬし, ''Ihahinushi''; OJ: ''Ipapinusi'') meanwhile is a contraction of ''iwai no ushi'' (斎之大人), 'master of worship'.<ref name="Grapard1993"/><ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book II |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=79}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kitagawa |first1=Joseph M. |title=Religion in Japanese History |date=1990 |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lani3dFCC9UC&pg=PA31 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429040715/https://books.google.com/books?id=lani3dFCC9UC&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Mythology==
===Parentage===

A variant account of [[Izanagi]] and [[Izanami]]'s begetting of various gods (''[[kamiumi]]'') cited in the ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'' states that when Izanagi killed the newborn fire god [[Kagutsuchi]] (whose birth caused the death of his wife Izanami), the drops of blood from his [[Totsuka-no-Tsurugi|sword]] congealed to form the rocks by the heavenly river (天の安河, ''ame no yasukawa'') from which Futsunushi was born. The blood which dripped from the sword's [[Japanese sword mountings#Tsuba|hilt ring]] then turned into two gods named Mikahayahi-no-Kami (甕速日神) and Hihayahi-no-Kami (樋速日神); Mikahayahi is here identified as Takemikazuchi's parent. Another variant meanwhile states that Kagutsuchi's blood spurted out and transformed into two gods named Iwasaku-no-Kami (磐裂神) and Nesaku-no-Kami (根裂神). Their children, the male Iwatsutsunoo-no-Kami (磐筒男神) and the female Iwatsutsunome-no-Kami (磐筒女神), begat Futsunushi.<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book I |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=23}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kuroita |first1=Katsumi |title=Kundoku Nihon Shoki, vol. 1 (訓読日本書紀 上巻) |date=1943 |publisher=Iwanami Shoten |pages=33, 39–40 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1904260/21 |access-date=22 March 2020 |archive-date=20 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420183827/https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1904260/21 |url-status=live }}</ref> This is the version followed in the main narrative of the work's second volume.<ref name="Aston67">{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book II |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=67}}</ref> Likewise the ''[[Kogo Shūi]]'' identifies Futsunushi as the son of Iwatsutsunome.

===Subjugation of the land===
====''Nihon Shoki''====
[[File:Bentenjima on Inasa Beach.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Inasa Beach ([[:ja:稲佐の浜|稲佐の浜]] ''Inasa-no-hama'') in [[Izumo, Shimane|Izumo]], [[Shimane Prefecture]]]]
Both Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi are closely associated with the 'transfer of the land' (''[[kuni-yuzuri]]'') myth cycle, which relates how the deities of [[Takamagahara]] (the 'Plain of High Heaven') sent various messengers down to earth, to [[Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni]] (the 'Central Land of Reed-Plains,' i.e. the land of Japan), in order to demand that its inhabitants submit to their rule.

The main narrative of the second volume of the ''Nihon Shoki'' relates that after the failure of the earlier messengers, Ame-no-Hohi and Ame-no-Wakahiko, to perform their mission, the gods of heaven headed by the primordial deity [[Kotoamatsukami|Takamimusubi]] decide to send Futsunushi, the son of Iwatsutsuno'o and Iwatsutsunome, as their new emissary. Hearing this, the god Takemikazuchi - here identified as the son of Hihayahi - indignantly protests that he is also a stalwart warrior (''masurao'') like Futsunushi; the gods then agreed to assign him as Futsunushi's companion. The two then make their way to the shores of Itasa (五十田狹之小汀, ''Itasa no ohama'') in the [[Izumo Province|land of Izumo]], demanding that the earthly deity Ōnamuchi ([[Ōkuninushi]]), the ruler of Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, relinquish his authority. At the counsel of his son, [[Kotoshironushi]], Ōnamuchi agrees to cede the land and withdraws into invisibility. After this, Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi proceeded to slay all those who refused to submit to them. A variant account adds that the two finally dispatched the god of weaving, Takehazuchi-no-Mikoto (建葉槌命), to subdue the last remaining rebel, the star god [[Amatsumikaboshi|Kagaseo]] (香香背男). With all resistance gone, the two gods went back to heaven to report the success of their mission.<ref name="Aston67"/>

A variant account has Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi putting to death the evil deity Amatsumikaboshi (Kagaseo) in heaven first before they descend to Izumo. The account adds that it was at this time that Iwainushi-no-Kami (possibly another name for Futsunushi), the deity enshrined in [[Katori Shrine|Katori]], received the epithet ''iwai no ushi'', 'master of worship.' In this version, Ōnamuchi initially refuses the demand of the two envoys. After Futsunushi goes back to Takamagahara to report, Takamimusubi sends him back to Ōnamuchi, this time with promises of rewards should he comply. Ōnamuchi finally accepts their terms and appoints the god of roads and borders, the ''[[Kunado-No-Kami|funato no kami]]'' (岐神) as his replacement. He then finally disappears into the unseen world. Futsunushi, with the ''funato no kami'' as his guide, then makes his way around Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni, killing those who resisted him and rewarding those who submitted.<ref>{{cite wikisource |author-first= William George |author-last= Aston |chapter= Book II |wslink= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |plaintitle= Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697 |year= 1896 |publisher= Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.|wspage=79}}</ref>

====Other texts====
[[File:Straight, Double-Edged Sword Blade (Ken) MET sfeah06-310-8s1.jpg|thumb|A double-edged straight sword (''[[Tsurugi (sword)|tsurugi]]'') from the [[Kofun period]] (5th century)]]
Two legends from Ou District (意宇郡) of Izumo Province (modern [[Yasugi, Shimane|Yasugi]], [[Shimane Prefecture]]) recorded in the [[Fudoki|Izumo ''Fudoki'']] feature Futsunushi.
{{quotation|''Township of Tatenuhi.'' It is 10.7 miles northeast of the district office. At this place Futsunushi stitched up a rip in his sturdy shield of heaven. Thus it was named Tatenuhi, meaning "shield fastening."<br/><br/>
''Township of Yamakuni.'' It is 10.9 miles southeast of the district office. Futsunushi came to this place during a campaign. He said, "This is the land I wish to behold forever." Because of this the place is called Yamakuni, meaning "land to behold forever."<ref>{{cite book |title=Records of Wind and Earth: A Translation of Fudoki, with Introduction and Commentaries |date=1997 |publisher=Association for Asian Studies, Inc. |translator=Aoki, Michiko Y.|pages=83–84}}</ref>}}

The ''Fudoki'' of [[Hitachi Province]] (modern Ibaraki Prefecture) also refers to a deity named 'Futsu-no-Ōkami' (普都大神) who is often identified with Futsunushi.

{{quotation|District of Shida. . . . An elder reports that at the beginning of Heaven and Earth, when the vegetal world was speaking words, a ''kami'' came from Heaven. Its name is the Great ''kami'' Futsu. In its rounds of the Central Plain of Reeds [Japan], it pacified various rebels. Once this Great ''kami'' had accomplished its work of civilization, it conceived in its heart the desire to return to its celestial abode. It therefore left its weapons and gear on earth, and, mounting a white cloud, returned to Heaven.<ref name="Grapard1993"/>}}

The ''kuni-yuzuri'' myth featured in the ''Izumo no Kuni no Miyatsuko no Kanʼyogoto'' (出雲国造神賀詞 "Congratulatory Words of the Chieftain of Izumo"), a ritual declaration (''[[norito]]'') delivered by the province's governor or ''[[kuni no miyatsuko]]'' at the imperial court upon his appointment, has Futsunushi being dispatched with the deity Ame-no-Hinadori-no-Mikoto (天夷鳥命), the son of Ame-no-Oshihomimi, son of the sun goddess [[Amaterasu]] and the Izumo magnate clan's divine ancestor.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=De Bary |editor1-first=Wm. Theodore |editor2-last=Keene |editor2-first=Donald |editor3-last=Tanabe |editor3-first=George |editor4-last=Varley |editor4-first=Paul |title=Sources of Japanese Tradition: From Earliest Times to 1600 |date=2001 |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tNJ_s2FEOWcC&pg=PA38 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429040706/https://books.google.com/books?id=tNJ_s2FEOWcC&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Takioto |first1=Yoshiyuki |title=Izumo no Kuni no Miyatsuko no Kan'yogoto no Shinwa (出雲国造神賀詞の神話) |journal=Komazawa Shigaku |date=2012 |volume=78 |pages=1–17 |url=http://repo.komazawa-u.ac.jp/opac/repository/all/32737/rsg078-01-takiotoyoshiyuki.pdf |publisher=[[Komazawa University]] |language=ja |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://repo.komazawa-u.ac.jp/opac/repository/all/32737/rsg078-01-takiotoyoshiyuki.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Nishioka |first1=Kazuhiko |title=Amenooshihomimi |url=http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/dbSearchList.do?class_name=col_eos&search_condition_type=1&db_search_condition_type=4&View=2&startNo=1&focus_type=0&searchFreeword=Amenooshihomimi&searchRangeType=0 |website=Encyclopedia of Shinto |publisher=Kokugakuin University |access-date=2020-03-25 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Futsunushi is absent in the ''Kojiki'', where the envoys sent by the heavenly ''kami'' are Takemikazuchi and the bird-boat deity [[Kamiumi#Birth of the gods|Ame-no-Torifune]].<ref name="Kojikip47">{{cite book |editor=Keizai Zasshi-sha |title=Kokushi Taikei, vol. 7 (国史大系 第7巻) |publisher=Keizai Zasshi-sha |page=47 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/991097/37 |chapter=Kojiki |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=19 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419123750/https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/991097/37 |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''Kojiki''<nowiki/>'s ''kamiumi'' myth identifies Takemikazuchi - here given the aliases 'Takefutsu-no-Kami' (建布都神) and 'Toyofutsu-no-Kami' (豊布都神) - as one of three gods born from the blood that fell from the blade of Izanagi's sword (the other two being Mikahayahi and Hihayahi),<ref>{{cite book |editor=Keizai Zasshi-sha |title=Kokushi Taikei, vol. 7 (国史大系 第7巻) |publisher=Keizai Zasshi-sha |page=15 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/991097/21 |chapter=Kojiki |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=28 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128005229/https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/991097/21 |url-status=live }}</ref> although the ''kuni-yuzuri'' portion refers to him as the son of the deified sword itself, there given the name Itsu-no-Ohabari (伊都尾羽張).<ref name="Kojikip47"/>

===The Sobataka deity===
[[File:Sobataka-jinja (Okura, Katori) haiden.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Sobataka Shrine (Ōkura, Katori, Chiba Prefecture)]]
Sobataka Shrine (側高神社) in Ōkura, Katori is reckoned as the first and most important auxiliary shrine of Katori Jingū. Its deity, whose identity is kept secret since antiquity and thus is known merely as the 'Great Deity of Sobataka' (側高大神 ''Sobataka-no-Ōkami''),<ref>{{cite web |title=香取市／側高神社 |url=https://maruchiba.jp/sys/data/index/page/id/7583 |website=Marugoto-e! Chiba (まるごとe! ちば) |access-date=2020-03-25 |language=ja |archive-date=25 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325125758/https://maruchiba.jp/sys/data/index/page/id/7583 |url-status=live }}</ref> is the subject of a legend involving the god of Katori Shrine. 

The story relates that the Sobataka deity, acting under the orders of the god of Katori, raided the [[Mutsu Province|land of Mutsu]] and stole 2,000 horses from the local ''kami''. When the god of Mutsu gave chase, the Sobataka deity drained [[Lake Kasumigaura]] using a '[[Tide jewels|tide-ebbing jewel]]' (干珠 ''kanju''), allowing the horses to cross over to the other shore. After the horses have safely crossed, the Sobataka deity then used a 'tide-flowing jewel' (満珠 ''manju''), to restore the lake to normal, trapping the pursuer in an island in the middle of the lake known as Ukishima (浮島 'floating island', part of modern [[Inashiki, Ibaraki|Inashiki]], [[Ibaraki Prefecture]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=Katori-gun shi (香取郡誌) |date=1921 |publisher=Chiba-ken Katori-gun |pages=362–363 |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/965696/208 |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429171631/https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/965696/208 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Offspring==
[[File:Matami-jinja (Katori-jingu).JPG|thumb|Matami Shrine (Katori, Chiba Prefecture)]]
The deity Ame-no-Naemasu-no-Mikoto (天苗加命), worshiped in Matami Shrine (又見神社) in Katori, is considered to be Futsunushi's son. Ame-no-Naemasu is reckoned as the ancestor of the Katori clan (香取氏), which traditionally served as priests in Katori Shrine. The Katori later assumed the name 'Ōnakatomi' (大中臣) after a grandson of [[Ōnakatomi no Kiyomaro]], of the influential [[Nakatomi clan|Nakatomi (Ōnakatomi) clan]], was adopted into the clan.<ref>{{cite book |title=Katori Jingū-shi (香取神宮志) |date=1938 |publisher=Katori Jingū Shamusho |pages=5, 38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RCadk3cESkgC&pg=PP25 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429040706/https://books.google.com/books?id=RCadk3cESkgC&pg=PP25 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Katori-shi (香取氏) |url=http://www.harimaya.com/o_kamon1/syake/north/s_katori.html |website=家紋World - World of KAMON |access-date=2020-03-25 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930062918/http://www.harimaya.com/o_kamon1/syake/north/s_katori.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Worship==
===Shrines===
As the deity of Katori Jingū, Futsunushi also serves as the deity of shrines belonging to the Katori [[Shinto shrine#Famous shrines and shrine networks|shrine network]] (香取神社 ''Katori Jinja''). In addition, Futsunushi is also enshrined in [[Kasuga-taisha|Kasuga Grand Shrine]] alongside Takemikazuchi, [[Ame-no-Koyane]] (the divine ancestor of the Nakatomi and Fujiwara clans), and [[Himegami]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Grapard, Allan G.|title=The Protocol of the Gods: A Study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PI133z1ObW4C&pg=PA39|date=1993|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-91036-2|pages=29}}</ref> in [[Shiogama Jinja|Shiogama Shrine]] in [[Miyagi Prefecture]] alongside Takemikazuchi and [[:ja:シオツチノオジ|Shiotsuchi-no-Oji]] (the ''kami'' of salt making), in Nukisaki Shrine (貫前神社 ''Nukisaki Jinja'') in [[Tomioka, Gunma|Tomioka]], [[Gunma Prefecture]] alongside a goddess known only under the generic epithet 'Hime Ōkami' (比売大神),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nukisaki.kazelog.jp/ |title=Nukisaki Shrine Official Website (一之宮 貫前神社) |access-date=2020-03-25 |language=ja |archive-date=25 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325141503/http://nukisaki.kazelog.jp/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and as an auxiliary deity in [[:ja:千葉神社|Chiba Shrine]] in [[Chiba, Chiba|Chiba City]].<ref>{{cite web |title=千葉神社について |url=https://www.chibajinja.com/about/gosaijin/index.html |website=Chiba Shrine Official Website |access-date=2020-03-25 |language=ja |archive-date=26 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026145529/http://www.chibajinja.com/about/gosaijin/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A number of other shrines throughout the country also enshrine Futsunushi in an auxiliary capacity.

===As patron of martial arts===
[[File:Iizasa Chōisai Ienao.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Iizasa Chōisai Ienao]]]]
Both Futsunushi and Takemikazuchi were reckoned as eminent war gods (軍神 ''ikusagami'', ''gunjin'') since antiquity. The ''[[Songs to Make the Dust Dance on the Beams|Ryōjin Hishō]]'' compiled in 1179 (the late [[Heian period]]) attest to the worship of the gods of Katori and Kashima as martial deities at the time of its compilation:

{{Quote|text=<poem>These gods of war live [[Kantō|east of the barrier]]:{{efn|During the Heian period, the expression 'east of the barrier' (関の東 ''seki-no-hi(n)gashi'', whence derives the term 関東 ''Kantō'') referred to the provinces beyond the checkpoints or barrier stations (関 ''seki'') at the eastern fringes of [[Kinai|the capital region]], more specifically the land east of the checkpoint at Ōsaka/Ausaka Hill (逢坂 'hill of meeting', old orthography: ''Afusaka''; not to be confused with the modern city of [[Osaka]]) in modern [[Ōtsu]], [[Shiga Prefecture]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marshall|first1=Yuko|title=Heterogeneous Japan: The Cultural Distinctions Between Western and Eastern Japan|date=2008|page=6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8EdvhO4Xkn4C&pg=PA6|access-date=25 March 2020|archive-date=15 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215161620/https://books.google.com/books?id=8EdvhO4Xkn4C&pg=PA6|url-status=dead}}</ref> By the Edo period, ''Kantō'' was reinterpreted to mean the region east of the checkpoint in [[Hakone]], [[Kanagawa Prefecture]].}}
[[Kashima Shrine|Kashima]], Katori, [[Suwa-taisha|Suwa no Miya]], and [[Shirahige Shrine|Hira Myōjin]];
also [[Awa Shrine|Su]] in [[Awa Province (Chiba)|Awa]], [[:ja:下立松原神社|Otaka Myōjin]] in [[Shirahama, Chiba|Tai no Kuchi]],
[[Kusanagi|Yatsurugi]] in [[Atsuta Shrine|Atsuta]], and [[Tado Shrine|Tado no Miya]] in [[Ise Province|Ise]].</poem>|title=''Ryōjin Hishō''|source=song 258<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kim|first1=Yung-Hee|title=Songs to Make the Dust Dance: The Ryōjin Hishō of Twelfth-century Japan|date=1994|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-08066-9|pages=144–145a|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFlSLX-nCeEC&pg=PA144}}</ref>}}

The two ''kami'' have been worshiped by many eminent swordsmen such as [[Iizasa Ienao|Iizasa Chōisai]], the founder of [[Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū]], and [[Tsukahara Bokuden]], the founder of [[Kashima Shintō-ryū]]. Indeed, Chōisai was reputed in legend to have developed his swordsmanship style after being taught secrets of strategy by Futsunushi in a dream. Even today, many [[kendo]] [[dōjō]] in Japan enshrine either or both of these deities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kiyota |first1=Minoru |title=Kendo: Its Philosophy, History and Means to Personal Growth |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |page=35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WcJmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT35 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429040717/https://books.google.com/books?id=WcJmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT35#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Alexander C. |title=Kendo: Culture of the Sword |date=2015 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=47–49 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RaXOCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429040716/https://books.google.com/books?id=RaXOCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Under ''shinbutsu-shūgō''===
A collection of medieval legends, the ''[[Shintōshū]]'', identifies the Katori deity as a [[Honji suijaku|manifestation]] of the eleven-faced form of the [[bodhisattva]] [[Avalokiteśvara]] ([[Guanyin|Kannon]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Katori Jingū (香取神宮) |url=http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/hisadome/honji/files/KATORI.html |website=Honji suijaku shiryō binran (本地垂迹資料便覧) |access-date=2020-03-25 |language=ja |archive-date=10 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810212014/http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/hisadome/honji/files/KATORI.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==

*[[Isonokami Shrine]]
*[[Kasuga-taisha]]
*[[Katori Shrine]]
*[[Kuni-yuzuri]]
*[[Mononobe clan]]
*[[Nakatomi clan]]
*[[Takemikazuchi]]
*[[Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=54

[[Category:Japanese gods]]
[[Category:Japanese mythology]]
[[Category:Japanese swords]]
[[Category:Shinto]]
[[Category:Shinto kami]]
[[Category:War gods]]
[[Category:Amatsukami]]
{{Kasuga Faith}}
{{Shinmei shrines}}