deities for a number of reasons, usually because of their strange or suggestive shapes,[1] but in this one case there may well be a connection between “stone-gods” and thunder.
The most famous Isonokami Shrine is at Tambaichi 丹波市 a few miles south of Nara. The central object of worship at this shrine is the Furu-no-mitama 布留御魂 or Futsu-no-mitama 布都御魂, the name of a sword given by a thunder deity, Takemikazuchi-no-kami 建御雷神, to Jimmu Tennō 神武天皇, the mythical first emperor, during the latter’s campaign to subdue the future capital region. In the name of the deity appears the word “thunder,” and in the names of the sword are the words futsu, an onomatopoeic word for cleaving,[2] and furu (sometimes written even in this name as 振), “to shake,” which are naturally associated with thunder or thunderbolts as well as with a sword. It is perhaps not too bold to conclude that this particular “stone-god shrine” may actually be dedicated to a thunderbolt (stone sword) from a Japanese Thor.
Closely associated with the Isonokami Shrine of Tambaichi is the Futsu-no-mitama 布都之魂 Shrine at Isonokami village in northern Bizen 備前. It can be no mere coincidence that this shrine, located in the “stone-god village,” bears the name of the central deity of the Tambaichi “stone-god shrine” and that it is dedicated to the “serpent cleaving blade” 斬蛇之釼 (or 斷蛇之釼) of the greatest storm-thunder god of all, Susanoo-no-mikoto.[3] The evidence clearly indicates that both shrines belong to a common cult of the stone sword thunderbolt.[4]
- ↑ None of the many Ishigami 石神 place names (strangely all located in east and north Japan) listed in Yoshida Tōgo’s Dainihon chimei jisho 吉田東伍，大日本地名辭書 seem to have any connection with thunder. Yanagida Kunio in his Ishigami mondō 柳田國男，石神問答 (Tōkyō 1906) has a detailed study of certain aspects of the so-called “stone-gods” of Japan. His main thesis is that deities known as shakuji, sakuji, or sakoji 石神 are not “stone-gods” (ishigami 石神) as such but that the characters in these cases may be used purely phonetically.
- ↑ Cf. Matsumoto 68-9.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedr7 - ↑ Yoshida discusses at length the obvious relationship between these two shrines and attempts to decide their relative priority (cf. Yoshida 283-4, 912-3). This question has no bearing on our problem, for all that is important to us is the close association in both cases of an Isonokami and a divine thunderbolt sword.
It is worth noting that futsu, the main element in the name of the Tambaichi
