Kunado (also read Kunato or Funado, a boundary or "come not" deity) is one of three road deities addressed together, with Yachimata-hiko and Yachimata-hime, in the norito for the Michiae no Matsuri, the Festival of the Road Gods preserved in the Engishiki of 927 CE. The rite was recited twice yearly at the four corners of the roads leading into the old capital, and the three were called on jointly to ward off demons and epidemic spirits before they could enter the city.
Facts
Function
Domain / FunctionProtection and guardianship 1 Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 2 Attestation
Veneration TodayHistorically attested; no continuous cult 1 The Michiae no Matsuri itself, the rite that names this deity, fell out of use during the mid-Heian period as the newer Festival of the Four Directions took over its protective role; no source here traces a continuous line from this specific rite to any modern cult. HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1 Origins
Origin of the NameAlso read Funado; born, in the Kojiki, from the staff Izanagi threw down behind him to bar the way when fleeing the underworld, making him a guardian of boundaries and roads. 2 Cult
Attributes and IconographyKunado no Kami is a boundary and crossroads deity, and the physical objects that represent him in practice are not statues in his own likeness but sae-no-kami roadside markers, stones set up at village boundaries and crossroads to block the entry of evil spirits and epidemics, a function recorded in the Heian-period Engishiki's ritual prayers for the roadside deities. 1 Attributions
Mythic AssociationInvoked together with Yachimata-hiko and Yachimata-hime at the four corners of the roads into the old capital, warding off demons and epidemic spirits. 1 History
Historical NoteThe rite calling on Kunado, Yachimata-hiko and Yachimata-hime was recited twice yearly at the four corners of the roads leading into the old capital, preserved in the Engishiki of 927 CE. 1 Correspondences & Relations
Connections
Addressed By
Source Engishiki: Procedures of the Engi EraTranslated by Felicia Gressitt Bock
Worshipped In
Source Shinto: A HistoryHelen Hardacre
Sources
1. Engishiki: Procedures of the Engi Era
Translated by Felicia Gressitt Bock, Sophia University, 1970View the Source 2. Shinto: A History
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