View source for Kaya-no-hime

{{Short description|Shinto kami}}
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=ja|otherarticle=カヤノヒメ|date=October 2022}}
{{Page numbers needed|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox deity
| type         = Japanese
| name         = Kaya-no-hime
| deity_of     = Goddess of vegetation, grass and fields
| member_of    = 
| image        = 
| caption      = 
| other_names  = {{Nihongo|Kanoyanohime-no-Kami|鹿屋野比売神|}}, {{Nihongo|Kusanooyakaya-no-hime|草祖草野姫|}}, {{Nihongo|Kusano-hime|草野姫命|}}, and {{Nihongo|Nozuchi|野槌|}}
| script_name  = Japanese
| script       = 草祖草野
| parents      = [[Izanami]] and [[Izanagi]]
| siblings     = [[Ōyamatsumi]]
| offspring    =
| gender       = Female
}}

{{Nihongo|'''Kaya-no-hime'''|草祖草野|}}, also called {{Nihongo|'''Kanoyanohime-no-Kami'''|鹿屋野比売神|}}, {{Nihongo|'''Kusanooyakaya-no-hime'''|草祖草野姫|}}, {{Nihongo|'''Kusano-hime'''|草野姫命|}}, or {{Nihongo|'''Nozuchi'''|野槌|}} (meaning Moorland Elder),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kayanohime • A History of Japan - 日本歴史|url=https://historyofjapan.co.uk/wiki/kayanohime/|access-date=2020-10-14|website=A History of Japan - 日本歴史|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&q=Nozuchi-no-kami&pg=PA501|title=Japan Encyclopedia|author=Louis-Frédéric|date=2005|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01753-5|language=en}}</ref> is the Japanese goddess of vegetation, grass, and fields. She is considered protector of fields.<ref> {{Cite book|last1=Picken|first1=Stuart D. B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yA3_QqC6pPgC&dq=Kaya-no-hime&pg=PA99|title=Essentials of Shinto: An Analytical Guide to Principal Teachings|last2=Picken|first2=Stuart|date=1994|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-26431-3|language=en}} </ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Buttimer|first1=Anne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zUHFyGQcJxgC&q=Nozuchi-no-kami&pg=PA51|title=Nature and Identity in Cross-Cultural Perspective|last2=Wallin|first2=L.|date=1999-07-31|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-0-7923-5651-6|language=en}}</ref> She is also considered the ancestor of [[herb]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Aveni|first=Anthony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueolEAAAQBAJ&dq=Kaya-no-hime&pg=PA144|title=Creation Stories: Landscapes and the Human Imagination|date=2021-04-20|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-25124-1|pages=144|language=en|author-link=Anthony Aveni}}</ref>

She is the daughter of [[Izanami]] and [[Izanagi]]. She is married to her husband and brother [[Ōyamatsumi]], and gave birth to eight deities. Some versions of her origin story claim she is also the mother of [[Konohanasakuya-hime]].<ref> {{Cite book|last1=Coulter|first1=Charles Russell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWxekbhM1yEC&dq=Kaya-no-hime&pg=PT604|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities|last2=Turner|first2=Patricia|date=2013-07-04|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-96397-2|language=en}} </ref>

== Worship ==
In the past, people often prayed to her before cutting down wood or reeds for building.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hastings|first1=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ5DAQAAMAAJ&q=Kaya-no-hime&pg=PA467|title=Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics: Sacrifice-Sudra|last2=Selbie|first2=John Alexander|date=1921|publisher=T. & T. Clark|isbn=978-0-567-06509-4|language=en}}</ref> She was worshipped because the plants that she favored provided the raw materials for furniture and houses.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Aston|first=W. G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FT6yDwAAQBAJ&dq=Kaya-no-hime&pg=PA120|title=Shinto|date=2019-09-25|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|isbn=978-3-7340-7989-4|pages=120|language=en}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Shinto]]
[[Category:Japanese goddesses]]
[[Category:Kunitsukami]]


{{Japan-myth-stub}}