#Yahata no megami

[tanuki-kimono]

Megami project by Miki Katoh (calendar version on kadokawa + schedule available on amazon.jp). Shown here are the following goddesses:

Benzaiten (弁財天): the Japanese form of Saraswati, auspicious goddess of everything that “flows” (water, music, speech, knowledge etc) often shown holding a biwa lute

Yahata no megami (八幡女神): one of the mythical “mothers” of emperor Ojin (the other one being famous empress Jingu), considered as an incarnation of the god of war Hachiman who tamed demons

Okamuzumi no megami (大神実女神): a goddess embodying proto-Japan’s take on China’s peach of eternity, used in some myths by Izanagi to ward off demons

Oto Tachibana hime (乙橘姫): wife of the mythical prince Yamato Takeru, who threw herself into raging waves to appease Watatsumi the god of the sea and save her people

Shinatsu hime (志那都姫): a goddess of wind born after Izanagi and Izanami created the eight islands of Japan. Those primordial winds, sometimes female sometimes male, are also given other names depending on the text

Himiko (卑弥呼): legendary priestress queen said to have ruled during Yayoi period. Here she is depicted wearing a necklace of magatama beads - amulets powerful enough to be part of Japan’s imperial treasures