Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (ツクヨミノミコト, 月読命), or simply Tsukuyomi (ツクヨミ, 月読) or Tsukiyomi (ツキヨミ), is the moon kami in Japanese mythology and the Shinto religion. The name “Tsukuyomi” is a compound of the Old Japanese words tsuku (月; “moon, month”, becoming modern Japanese tsuki) and yomi (読み; “reading, counting”). The Nihon Shoki mentions this name spelled as Tsukuyumi (月弓; “moon bow”), but this yumi is likely a variation in pronunciation of yomi. An alternative interpretation is that his name is a combination of tsukiyo (月夜; “moonlit night”) and mi (見; “looking, watching”). -no-Mikoto is a common honorific appended to the names of Kami; it may be understood as similar to the English honorific ‘the Great’.

In Man’yōshū, Tsukuyomi’s name is sometimes rendered as Tsukuyomi Otoko (月讀壮士; “moon-reading man”), implying that he is male

Myth

Tsukuyomi was the second of the “three noble children” (三貴子, Mihashira-no-Uzu-no-Miko) born when Izanagi-no-Mikoto, the kami who created the first land of Onogoroshima, was cleansing himself of his kegare while bathing after escaping the underworld and the clutches of his enraged dead sister, Izanami-no-Mikoto. Tsukuyomi was born when he washed out of Izanagi’s right eye. However, in an alternative story, Tsukuyomi was born from a mirror made of white copper in Izanagi’s right hand.

Tsukuyomi angered Amaterasu (who in some sources was his wife) when he killed Ukemochi, the megami of food. Amaterasu once sent Tsukuyomi to represent her at a feast presented by Ukemochi. The megami created the food by turning to the ocean and spitting out a fish, then facing a forest and spitting out game, and finally turning to a rice paddy and coughing up a bowl of rice. Tsukuyomi was utterly disgusted by the manner of which the exquisite-looking meal was made in, so he killed her.

Amaterasu learned what happened and she was so angry that she refused to ever look at Tsukuyomi again, forever moving to another part of the sky. This is the reason that day and night are never together. This is according to one of the accounts in the Nihon Shoki. Tsukuyomi does not have such significance in the Kojiki, in which there is a similar tale about Susanoo-no-Mikoto killing a similar food megami named Ōgetsuhime, who is often conflated with Ukemochi.

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    1·
    6 minutes ago

    “trolling” implies a lack of sincere belief. i assure the lemmygrad mods that everything i said about “AI” was genuine. wtf is going on over there? keep it up and you’ll ban most of hexbear for the generative ai-skeptic position.

  • UmbraVivi [he/him, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    4 hours ago

    People talk a lot about school shootings in the US but what I find scarier as a non-American is the random shootouts that happen as part of escalating arguments. Like two dudes get in an argument and in a normal place there’d be some bloody noses and concussions, absolute worst case someone gets stabbed. But in the US someone pulls out a gun and suddenly everyone around could randomly die to a stray bullet. Chuds always yap about “criminals will still be able to get guns” but the problem isn’t hardened criminals, the problem is impulse killings. The fact that “road rage shootings” are a thing is absolutely mortifying to me, like you could literally get shot in the head at any moment because some mentally unstable burgerlander thinks you’re going too slow.

  • PowerLurker [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    6·
    5 hours ago

    wage labor is metling my brain this place stinks this place sucks it would help if i particularly liked even one (1) of ,my colleagues but i do not, ain’t that just the way

  • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    7·
    5 hours ago

    Just found out that my neighbor who moved out a couple months ago didn’t tell the landlord and just bailed on the rental agreement. Funny stuff, wish I’d known I’d have totally squatted in that unit, it’s bigger than where I’m at now.

    • AernaLingus [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      4 hours ago

      If you’re using uBlock Origin (which you ought to be!):

      1. Right-click the tagline, then click “Block element…”
      2. You should now see a red box around the tagline. To make sure it’s working, click the “Preview” button in the uBlock Origin dialog box in the lower right-hand corner.
      3. If the tagline disappears (and doesn’t take anything else along with it), click “Create”.
      4. If there was a problem with the filter, click “Pick”, try to re-target the tagline, and click “Preview” again to see the result (see step 3).

      Alternatively (and if you’re on mobile, this is the only option):

      1. Go to the uBlock Origin settings (on Desktop: click the icon in the upper-right, then the ⚙ symbol. On mobile Firefox: tap ⋮ → “Extensions” → ⚙️ next to uBlock Origin → “Settings”)
      2. Click the “My filters” tab (you may need to swipe left or right at the top of the screen to scroll in order to make the tab visible on mobile)
      3. Add the following rule on its own line: hexbear.net###tagline > p
      4. Make sure that “Enable my custom filters” is checked, then click “Apply changes” in the upper-left.
    • ClathrateG [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      4 hours ago

      dems fighting words blob-stabby

      jk(ish) if you have AdBlock Plus or UBlock Origin on your browser you can use the block element function to select the tagine label and block ot

  • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    6·
    5 hours ago

    writing a story

    want to do a story where the main character is a cute maid

    end up writing about how her job sucks and she does a ton of unpaid labor just to keep it

    every time