Who Is Sarutahiko (Sarutabiko)?
The guide god who led the heavenly grandson
Sarutabiko-no-Kami
Sarutahiko (Sarutabiko-no-Kami) is an earthly god in the Kojiki who guided Ninigi on his way down from heaven. He is known as a god who opens the way.
When Ninigi was about to descend, Sarutahiko stood at Ame-no-Yachimata, the crossroads between heaven and earth, shining up on the High Plain of Heaven and down on the land below. When Ame-no-Uzume went alone to ask his name, he answered that he had heard the child of the heavenly gods was coming down and had come to lead the way, and he served as guide all the way to Takachiho. Afterward, Ame-no-Uzume escorted him back to his home in Ise. It is said that while fishing in the sea at Azaka, his hand was caught by a hirabu shellfish and he drowned, and three spirits with their own names were born at that time.
The Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) describes him with a long nose and eyes shining like mirrors, and one theory says this became the model for the image of the tengu. He is enshrined at Sarutahiko Shrine in Mie Prefecture and elsewhere.
