The most secret Primordial Pair: Kamuro-gi and Kamuro-mi

We tag the following passages for their great value in giving us important insights into the premier strata of the Japanese deity pantheon:

“… in the Kojiki 1.1 we find:

At the time of the beginning of heaven and earth, there came intonexistence in Takamanohara a deity called Ame-no minaka-nushi-no Kami, next Taka-mi-musubi.ni Kami. These three deities all came into existence, as single deities, and their forms were not visible. Next, when the land was young, resembling floating oil and drifting like a jellyfish, were sprouted like reed-shoots [ashi-kabi].175

It is important to note that the three first gods of the Kojiki creation myth are invisible and worshipped in the Imperial Palace but otherwise only at Ise and in some other minor shrines,176 as well as those of ancient esoteric sects, especially in Kyushu.177 however, the ancient prayer (Norito) texts of the period reveal that these are two gods who existed even before all other creation, the male Kamuro-gi and the female Kamuro-mi.178

Interestingly, these two (apparently, very secret) primordial gods occur only in ritual and are never mentioned even in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. However, they survived in Norito, in oharae purification rituals, and in worship at Ise and other shrines. They may, especially represent the Primordial Pair in Indo-European terms, Father Heaven and Mother Earth… The ultimate primordial gods often are surrounded by secrecy. They are known to only a few initiated specialists.”

Source:  “The Origins of the World’s Mythologies” by Michael Witzel