Hitorigami (独神) are

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...

deities (

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the ...

) who came into being alone, as opposed to those who came into being as male-female pairs. According to the ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperi ...

'', this group includes the "three deities of creation" and the "separate heavenly kami."Encyclopedia of Shinto – Home : Concepts of Kami : Hitorigami
/ref> They are described as hiding themselves away once they achieved awareness. Most are said to have been created from the "male essence" and, as such, are male in gender. Two hitorigami, Kunitokotachi and

Amenominakanushi Ame-no-Minakanushi (アメノミナカヌシ, lit. "Lord of the August Center of Heaven") is a deity (''kami'') in Japanese mythology, portrayed in the ''Kojiki'' and the '' Nihon Shoki'' as the very first or one of the first deities who manifes ...

, summoned the divine pair of

Izanagi Izanagi (イザナギ/伊邪那岐/伊弉諾) or Izanaki (イザナキ), formally known as , is the creator deity (''kami'') of both creation and life in Japanese mythology. He and his sister-wife Izanami are the last of the seven generations of ...

and

Izanami , formally known as , is the creator deity of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial deities that manifested ...

into being and charged them with creating the first land in the swirling salt water that existed below the heavens.

List of ''Hitorigami''

;Three Deities of Creation: *

* Takamimusuhi * Kamimusuhi ;Separate Heavenly Kami: ''(partial list)'' * Umashiashikabihikoji * Amenotokotachi * Kunitokotachi * Toyokumonu

Notes

Shinto kami {{Shinto-stub