Kamuy-huci (カムイフチ, ''Kamui Fuchi'') is the
Ainu
Ainu or Aynu may refer to:
*Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East
*Ainu languages, a family of languages
**Ainu language of Hokkaido
**Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands
**Sakhalin Ainu la ...
''
kamuy'' (''goddess'') of the
hearth
A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...
. 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''.
Depiction
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
An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which can ...
completely.
[Ashkenazy, Michael. ''Handbook of Japanese Mythology''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2003. 191-192]
Mythology
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 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
Kanda-koro-kamuy is the Ainu ''kamuy'' (''god'') of the sky. He is the prime originator of Ainu mythology, responsible either directly or indirectly for the creation of all things.
Mythology
While Kanda-koro-kamuy is believed to be a powerful ' ...
.
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
Wakka-us Kamuy ( Ainu ワッカウシカムイ) is the Ainu ''kamuy'' (''goddess'') of fresh water. She is also known as Petorush Mat (''Watering-place Woman'').
Depiction
Wakka-us Kamuy is portrayed as a long-haired woman who is a skilled dancer ...
, 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 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 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.
In popular culture
*
Typhlosion's Hisuian Form is possibly based on a psychopomp. Due to the setting of
Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the first game it appeared in, in an
Ezo-inspired region, it may be specifically inspired by Kamuy-huci.
See also
*
Kitchen god
*
Zàojūn, Chinese kitchen god
*
Kōjin, Japanese kitchen god
*
Hestia, Greek goddess of the hearth
*
Vesta (mythology), Roman goddess of the hearth
Notes
References
*Ashkenazy, Michael. ''Handbook of Japanese Mythology''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio, 2003.
*Etter, Carl. ''Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan''. Chicago: Wilcox and Follett, 1949.
*Munro, Neil Gordon. ''Ainu Creed and Cult''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
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Domestic and hearth deities
Ainu kamuy
Fire goddesses