AMENOMINAKANUSHINOKAMI

The kami 'master of the august centre of heaven', the first of the heavenly deities mentioned in theKojiki, together with the twomusubikami. His name does not recur in the Kojiki and he is not mentioned in theNihongi. He is enshrined as the sole kami in some shrines. A large number ofmyokenshrines originally dedicated to the pole-star were 'Shinto-ised' in theMeijiperiod and identified instead as Ame-no-minaka-nushi shrines. Ame-no-minaka-nushi-no-kami was regarded byHirata, Atsutaneas the supreme deity of Shinto and he is often presented in modern Shinto theology as the creator kami, particularly since the creative process described in theNihongirelies instead on the Chinese concepts of yin and yang.