Amanozako
Encyclopedia

Amanozako is a monstrous goddess mentioned in the Kujiki
Kujiki
, or , is a historical Japanese text. It was generally believed to have been one of the earliest Japanese histories until the middle of the Edo period, when scholars such as Tokugawa Mitsukuni successfully contended that it was an imitation based on the Nihon Shoki, the Kojiki and the Kogo Shūi...

, an ancient Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese text, which states that she originated when Susanoo
Susanoo
, also known as is the Shinto god of the sea and storms. He is also considered to be ruler of Yomi.-Myths:In Japanese mythology, Susanoo, the powerful storm of Summer, is the brother of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, and of Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon. All three were born from Izanagi, when...

 let his own ferocious spirit build up inside him until he vomited her out. The Wakan Sansai Zue
Wakan Sansai Zue
The is a Japanese encyclopedia published in 1712 in the Edo period. It consists of 105 volumes in 81 books. Its compiler was Terashima or Terajima , a doctor from Osaka. It describes and illustrates various activities of daily life, such as carpentry and fishing, as well as plants and animals, and...

 describes this deity as having a furious temper, a beastly head with a long nose, long ears, and great fangs so strong they can chew metal blades ragged, and to be capable of flying for a thousand ri
Li (unit)
The li is a traditional Chinese unit of distance, which has varied considerably over time but now has a standardized length of 500 meters or half a kilometer...

.

Amanozako was illustrated by Toriyama Sekien
Toriyama Sekien
thumb|200px| was an 18th century scholar and ukiyo-e artist of Japanese folklore. He was the teacher of Utamaro and, before taking up printmaking, a painter of the Kanō school. Toriyama is most famous for his attempt to catalogue all species of yōkai in the Hyakki Yakō series.-References:...

 in the third volume of his Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki
Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki
is the second book of Japanese artist Toriyama Sekien's famous Gazu Hyakki Yakō series, published ca. 1779. These books are supernatural bestiaries, collections of ghosts, spirits, spooks and monsters, many of which Toriyama based on literature, folklore, other artwork...

.
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