In Japanese mythology

Japanese mythology

Japanese mythology is a system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculturally based folk religion. The Shinto pantheon comprises innumerable kami...

, is one of the two god

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

s born from "something like a reed

Reed bed

Reed beds are natural habitats found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions andestuaries. Reed beds are part of a succession from young reed colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground...

 that arose from the soil" when the earth was chaotic

Chaos (cosmogony)

Chaos refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos in the Greek creation myths, more specifically the initial "gap" created by the original separation of heaven and earth....

. In the Nihon Shoki

Nihon Shoki

The , sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki, the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical...

, he is named "Kuni-toko-tachi no mikoto" and is the first of the first three divinities born after heaven and earth were born out of chaos, and is born from something looking like a reed-shoot growing between heaven and earth.

Kunitokotachi is described as a hitorigami

Hitorigami

Hitorigami are kami which came into being alone, as opposed to those which came into being as male-female pairs. According to the Kojiki, this group included the "three deities of creation" and the "separate heavenly kami.". They are described as hiding themselves away once they achieved awareness...

 and genderless in Kojiki

Kojiki

is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

while as a male god in Nihon Shoki.

Yoshida Kanetomo

Yoshida Kanetomo

was an Japanese Shinto priest in the Momoyama period. He was a seminal figure in the evolution of a coherent descriptive and interpretive schema of Shinto ritual and mythology.-Career:...

, the founder of the Yoshida Shintō

Yoshida Shintō

also frequently referred to as was a prominent sect of Shintō that arose during the Sengoku Period through the teachings and work of Yoshida Kanetomo. The sect was originally an effort to organize Shintō teachings into a coherent structure in order to assert its authority vis-a-vis Buddhism...

 sect, identified Kunitokotachi with Amenominakanushi

Amenominakanushi

In Japanese mythology and Shintoism, Amenominakanushi was the first kami to come into being in the Plain of Heaven as a "solitary kami" . He was acknowledged as one of the zōka sanshin and one of the five kotoamatsukami .Amenominakanushi is found at the very beginning of the Kojiki...

 and regarded him as the primordial god of the Universe

Universe

The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...

.