Kamuy-huci (カムイフチ, Kamui Fuchi ) is the Ainu kamuy ( goddess ) of the hearth . Her full name is Apemerukoyan-mat Unamerukoyan-mat ( Rising Fire Sparks Woman/ Rising Cinder Sparks Woman ), and she is also known as Iresu Kamuy ( People Teacher ). She is among the most important kamuy of Ainu mythology, serving as keeper of the gateway between the world of humans and the world of kamuy .
7-410: Kamuy-huci is a woman who lives in the hearth. Her position is so important that she never leaves her home. Accordingly, the hearth fire must never be extinguished completely. There are a few myths of Kamuy-huci's origins. In the most common, she descends from the heavens, accompanied by Kanna Kamuy , the kamuy of thunder and lightning. In another version, she was born from the fire-producing drill and
14-512: Is a deity of great importance to the Ainu, who historically subsisted largely on hunting, fishing, and gathering. She was born from the fire-producing drill, and is sometimes said to be the sister of Kamuy-huci , the hearth goddess, or of Shiramba Kamuy , god of vegetation. Hunters worshipped her to assure a successful hunt, and fishermen to ensure a full catch. She is also invoked to aid in childbearing. This article relating to Japanese mythology
21-455: Is sometimes called Isosange Mat ( Bringing-down-game Woman ) and Kamuy Paseguru ( Potent Kamuy ). Hasinaw-uk-kamuy is depicted as a woman with long hair who wields a bow and arrows, who often carries a child on her back. She is accompanied by, or sometimes appears in the form of, a small bird, which shows hunters the way to game. She is also represented by the aconite plant, with which Ainu hunters poisoned their arrows. Hasinaw-uk-kamuy
28-423: Is the sister of Hasinaw-uk-kamuy , the goddess of the hunt. A third holds that she is the daughter of an elm tree by the prime originator Kanda-koro-kamuy . Kamuy-huci instructed Ainu women in the making of kut ( sacred girdles ). For this gift she earned the name Iresu Kamuy ( People Teacher ). She is one of the most powerful kamuy in Ainu mythology. In one myth, her husband is seduced by Wakka-us-kamuy ,
35-424: The deity of fresh water. Kamuy-huci, insulted, challenges her rival to a duel of sorcery, from which she emerges victorious with relative ease. Her chastened husband returns home. Kamuy-huci is a guardian of the home, and also the judge of domestic affairs. Those who pollute a hearth or fail to maintain proper domestic relationships are said to incur her punishment. To aid her in these duties, since she does not leave
42-449: The hearth . Transmigration is a tenet of Ainu mythology, so it was doubly important for the hearth to be kept pure, because the souls of the departed who lived there would be assigned to new bodies in time. Hasinaw-uk-kamuy Hasinaw-uk-kamuy (ハシナウ・ウｸ・カムイ; also Hash-Inau-uk Kamuy , Hashinau-uk Kamuy or simply Hash-uk Kamuy ) is the Ainu kamuy ( goddess ) of the hunt. She
49-402: The hearth, she employs a number of other kamuy , including Mintakoro-kamuy, the guardian of a home's premises, and Rukoro-kamuy, the kamuy of the privy. In addition to being the center of the Ainu household, the hearth was considered a gateway by means of which humans and kamuy could communicate. It is also the abode of the dead; the Ainu word for ancestor translates as those who dwell in
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