Cult of Gods

Tsukuyomi

Japanese (Shinto) tradition. See the whole pantheon.

Domains
the moon, night
Parents (per the sources used)
Izanagi
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'Sangoku ken', a 19th-century woodblock print.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 'Sangoku ken', a 19th-century woodblock print.

Key myth

Born from Izanagi's right eye. In the Nihon Shoki he kills the food goddess Ukemochi in disgust, after which Amaterasu will no longer face him, which is why sun and moon are apart.

Where sources differ or caution applies. The Kojiki gives few details; the killing story is in the Nihon Shoki.

Primary sources

  • Kojiki, Book 1
  • Nihon Shoki, Book 1

All sources for the Japanese (Shinto) pantheon

Lineage in the sources used: Izanagi.

Place in the family graph

Choose a deity to see where it comes from. Dashed lines are links the sources describe that are not parent and child.

IzanagiIzanamiAmaterasu ŌmikamiTsukuyomiSusanooKagutsuchiŌwatatsumiTakemikazuchiAme-no-UzumeŌkuninushiNinigiInari Ōkami

More traditions

Odin rides to Hel, W. G. Collingwood, after the Poetic Edda.NorsePapyrus of Ani, British Museum (New Kingdom), a Book of the Dead.EgyptianA chaos monster and a sun god, drawn by L. Gruner for A. H. Layard's Monuments of Nineveh.MesopotamianVishvarupa Vishnu, Kashmir or Himachal, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collection.Hindu

Elsewhere in the world

Deities in other traditions who share a theme with Tsukuyomi: the moon. This is overlap in one area only.

Egyptian

Thoth

writing, moon, wisdom

Roman

Diana

the hunt, the moon, childbirth

Compare across cultures