Watatsumi is the Shinto sea god, ruler of an undersea palace, the Ryugu, and father of Toyotama-hime. When Hoori loses his brother's fishhook and descends to the palace to find it, Watatsumi shelters him, has the hook recovered from a fish, gives him two tide-controlling jewels to overcome his brother, and gives him Toyotama-hime in marriage. He is worshipped today chiefly at shrines associated with the sea and with the Ryugu legend, among them Kaijin Jinja on Tsushima Island.
Facts
Cult
Principal Cult CentreKaijin Jinja on Tsushima Island, and the wider Ryugu-jinja network associated with his undersea palace 1 Attributes and IconographyWatatsumi rules an undersea palace, Ryugu-jo, the setting of the fishhook myth in which Hoori visits him. Later tradition increasingly pictures Watatsumi as a dragon or dragon king presiding over that palace, a form absorbed from Chinese dragon-king imagery rather than native to the Kojiki's own account, which describes his realm and his daughter Toyotama-hime but not his own body. 2 Origins
Origin of the NameWatatsumi joins the archaic wata, sea, with tsu, a possessive particle, and mi, spirit or deity, giving spirit of the sea directly. 2 Attestation
Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 HistoricityNot a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 2 Practice
LineageFather of Toyotama-hime, whom he gave to Hoori in marriage. 1 Function
Domain / Function Attributions
Mythic AssociationSheltered Hoori in his undersea palace, recovered his brother's lost fishhook, gave him tide-controlling jewels, and gave him Toyotama-hime in marriage. 2 Belief
TheologyPolytheistic: many gods 1 History
Historical NoteGave Hoori two tide-controlling jewels to overcome his brother, a gift that in the myth secures Hoori's authority over his elder sibling Hoderi. 1 Watatsumi
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Correspondences & Relations
Connections
Children
Daughter of the sea god Watatsumi.
Source KojikiDonald L. Philippi (translator)
Same Figure, Narrative Entry
Worshipped In
Source Shinto: A HistoryHelen Hardacre
Sources
1. Shinto: A History
2. Kojiki
Donald L. Philippi (translator), University of Tokyo Press, 1968View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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